I Did It!

Running a marathon has been on my bucket list for a while. While it wasn’t easy, and took two years to actually get there and a whole lot of support from my friends, family and co-workers, I’m thrill to say “I Did It!”

 

Here is a sweet round up of the best posters along the course: 23 Best Marathon Signs

I definitely remember seeing #1 and thinking of my sister-in-law Courtney, #6, #9, I didn’t see #12 but that song was on my playlist thanks to Matt, and a lot of signs like #14 (sorry Mom, I don’t know why people are so mean to you). The other sign I saw a lot of said “You are running better than the government” but it wasn’t included in this round up.

All in all, the marathon was a great experience (although I am still trying to recover). It was a great day to be a New Yorker, especially one who loves Boston. Thank you to everyone who helped get me across the finish line!

10 Miles a Week

When Matt told me that he was only going to run 10 miles PER week for the marathon, I was skeptical. He tried to reassure me that his CrossFit training would get him across the finish line, but I still couldn’t buy into it. About a month ago, Matt did a half marathon and finished in just over 1 hour and 40 minutes. I was impressed; but still, that was only half the distance of a marathon.

Well on Sunday, Matt proved me wrong. He ran his first marathon in 3 hours and 46 minutes. And while the last 5 miles were rough, he finished with a smile on his face. I am so proud of him and totally inspired to run next year!

 

On a totally unrelated note – be on the look out for the very first GUEST BLOGGER post. It is definitely going to be a good one. And if you want to write a guest blog, let me know!

 

Do Something

 

Since 1996 the Vh1 Do Something Awards honor  athletes, music artists and actors that have portrayed a social issue during the year. Back in August we (Robin Hood) were nominated for one of these awards.

After joining forces during our benefit, Robin Hood and Lady Gaga launched a contest on Facebook for a $1 million giveaway to support New York City teens living in poverty. The objective was to raise awareness of the needs that exists in the city for homeless teens, while allowing fans to vote for one of the five organizations up for the grand prize. Within a week we garnered over 1,036,000 votes and a tremendous amount of support.

We were honored to be nominated and even more honored to win the award. As a result, the trophy, a giant silver shoe with wings attached, made its way to our office. In typical Robin Hood fashion, we decided to share the award with everyone in the office. Since the silver shoe made its way to “the hood” it has become an award that we share with each other when someone in Sherwood Forrest “does something awesome.” Obviously it has been my goal to win this award since its inception!

As the “mentor” for our marathon team, I have been SWAMPED the past few weeks in preparation for this Sunday’s ING NYC Marathon. Sometimes I let the stress get the better of me and I’ve even let my blogging slip… Needless to say, I was in need of a little PMA (positive mental attitude). So I couldn’t have been happier when I received the award and my co-worker sent the following email explaining why I won:

For those of you not on the eighth floor, Molly has just been awarded the fancy silver Do Something shoe. Why? Molly has been slaving away tirelessly to make sure that the Robin Hood marathon runners are well prepared for this weekend.  She’s organized weekly runs, weekly spin class, fancy shirts and all manner of other events and fundraising so that the runners run well and that they raise oodles of money for poor New Yorkers. Additionally, although the two concerts are now in the rearview mirror, Molly had the (in my view) difficult and thankless task of calling many of our donors and giving them the opportunity to choose between the rescheduled BEPs concert and the Sting concert the following evening.  Molly was sitting near my office on 7 at the time, and she must have made the same phone call about 1000 times.  And the net result?  Two terrific events that each raised money from donors excited to be at their concert of choice. Definitely embodies the spirit of Doing Something! Please congratulate Molly for Doing Something!

 

I would like to thank my family for supporting me for the past 28 years. I would also like to thank my loving husband who has dealt with my stress, crankiness and has definitely taken a back seat to my job for the past week or so. I promise that things will get better once the marathon is over.

Thank you to Robin Hood for being the best place ever to work!