You know its official when you get the t-shirt

You know its official when they hand you your official cotton tshirt, which is the worst kind of fabric for a runner...but whatever, haha.  I'm not going to complain! Also, I apologize for the really awesome look on my face, but hey, I was doing the best I could taking my pic.  Blogging on your own: easy.  Taking pics of yourself to personalize your blog: not so easy and semi-awkward.

Anyway, the whole point of me taking the pic was to show you that I attended my kick-off event at Boston University this morning at 8:30 a.m, which meant I got up when I said I did, roughly at 6:300ooooooum 6:50 this morning.  So, I trekked over to BU where I parked at the Agganis Arena for $1 an hour (pretty good deal, just like the meters!) and made my way to their fitness center.  The event was well organized although it was weird that they had us sectioned off in one part of the basketball courts so that throughout the morning, we heard dribbles and whistles, even when the cancer patients in remission were giving their motivational speeches.  Fail.  (Although I had a little bit of a qualm that they told us to arrive at 8:30 so we could participate in the expo, which had roughly 5 vendors including a weird jewelry party stand, and didn't begin the event until about 10:00, as well as the triathalon mentors wearing their wetsuits with high heels, wigs, and mardi gras gear (I'm not judging), I thought it was a good way to meet my running team.)  The South Boston group consists of 7 runners, and only three of us were there, so I look forward to meeting the rest of our all-female team.

During my time at BU, I was introduced to a Physical Therapy group called Kennedy Brothers, who not only take my insurance but when I get a referral from my doctor in the event of an injury, Team in Training pays my co-pay.  What the what!  That's awesome.  I also got a coupon to Marathon Sports, as they will be my next hot stop when picking up running shoes.  In addition, I got to meet my two running coaches.  My head coach, Becca Neill, has run in 26 marathons and coaches for a For Profit organization called Boston Fit; a professional training program helping runners perfect their running style and PR's.  Hey, that's awesome, because she is training me for FREE...if I raise my $2900 (so get on that people :) please!). After all was said and done, I met a really sweet girl from my running group, met up with another awesome girl who'll be training with me and is one of the mentors for my team, and with a renewed sense of excitedness (which is obviously not a word), I accepted my mission!

My training plan for the week is as follows, as set by my coaches:
Monday- Strength Train
Tuesday-25 minutes easy run
Wednesday-Crosstrain 30 min easy
Thursday-Strength Train (maybe yoga)
Friday-off
Saturday-4 miles easy
Sunday-2 miles easy

Um, I can handle that, since I run more than that in a week already. Slow and steady my friends. I'm going to take this training seriously, so that I can avoid injuries and increase mileage and speed as the program continues.  As I have also been thoughtful of my fueling needs while training...and probably in life... I headed over to the Trader Joes in Coolidge Corner in Brookline after the BU event.  Here are the highlights of what I bought.  Actually its a picture of everything I bought.

Here we have all the essentials in a runner's diet, especially a runner who has never cooked before the last month.

I'll leave you with a quick preview as to the content of my next post entitled, "Endurance Training; Surviving Super Bowl Sunday and its Gut Busting Practices...Maybe"

(This is an actual picture of me with my shopping cart and cookbook.  The recipe I picked for the superbowl literally has four items listed, and I had to keep the book open because I knew I would forget something.  I'm that cooking illiterate.)