Monday Inspiration

Today was a hard day to get motivated after a fun and relaxing weekend with Ryan. Work was busy and my body didn’t feel like working out. But alas, I dragged myself to the gym for my lunch time spin class. As I was walking past City Sports, their window display caught my attention.


I will train harder.
I will run faster.
I will stretch deeper.
I will SWEAT!

Loved it – I thought it was a pretty cool window display. And that was my motivator for the day and the week. I thought of this window during spin class. There wasn’t many people in attendance, probably about half the bikes were full. We started with the usual warm-up, jumps and off to the first seated climb for a full song. The rest of the class consisted of hills or sprints, where we ended on a 5 minute hill and 20 second sprint at the end. The hardest circuit we did was ten 10-second sprints, where the recovery was standing position. I found this hard because I went ALL OUT on the sprints and it was a struggle to transition to standing (or also known as running position). This really burned my quads. But it was a good workout and my body *glistened* at the end. The SWEAT was accomplished.

*What inspires you to workout?*

Right now I think there are many motivating and inspiring factors. The obvious to stay in shape and to lose weight. I’m happy with where my body is at now, but would be happy to lose another 10-20. I’ve come a long way since college but miss my pre-college bod.

Cops for Kids with Cancer:
But my biggest inspiration is running the Boston Marathon for Cops for Kids with Cancer. My great uncle is a retired Boston superintendent-chief of police of Boston. He joined forces with other cops and the Garda Detective Pat Hanlon of the Immigration Unit in Cork, Ireland. Together, these forces raise money for kids with cancer. The money mainly goes to the Pediatric Oncology Unit at Mass General Hospital and the floating hospital for Children at the New England Medical Center. More recently, this organization has been able to provide scholarship money directly to families who have kids with cancer to help with-treatment expenses. THESE children are my inspiration for my Boston Marathon training. I think of them when the run gets hard and I want to give up. Running to stay in shape is an added bonus. But my heart is with these kids. There’s nothing I like more than to be able to help someone. If you’d like to make a donation to my fundraiser please visit my website. My goal is to raise $3,500. Lauren's Fundraising Website

Week in Review:
Last week I was able to get in my lunch-time spin on Monday and Thursday, ran 45 minutes on the treadmill with my friend Katie on Tuesday, rested Wednesday and Friday. I never gave myself time to recover after running Derry, and they were much needed.

Saturday I ran 10 miles with my Team Challenge friends Meredith and Katie. We ran the Minuteman Path from Somerville into Arlington Center and back. The path wasn’t as plowed as we thought. (For those of you not in MA, we’ve been absolutely hammered with snow and about 2-3ft more to come this week.) It made for a tough run, slower pace than usual, and a few stops for my Crohnies :) All in all, it was a beautiful day and nice to spend time running with the girls to catch up.

Week Ahead:
With the impending snow, my mid-week runs will definitely end up on the treadmill. Tomorrow night I’m hoping to get in 5 miles on the treadmill, doing some interval speedwork. Wednesday’s run will depend on the weather and if I get to the gym. Thursday I’ll do spin and Friday I’d like to finally use the gift certificate from Ryan to Back Bay Yoga Studio. I’ve been saying for some time now that I will get some yoga in. My training plan says yoga on Fridays. I’m hoping to make it concrete.

This week’s long run calls for 11 miles – gearing up for the Hyannis Half Marathon on Sunday February 27th. A couple of the girls are out of town, so I’ll probably do a solo run around the city again.

Song of the Post: "All of the Lights" - Kanye West ft: Rihanna