Fit Fun Mom

Two more weeks until Boston! What happened to March and how can it be April already? The past three months since I started working part-time as a substitute aide in the special education classrooms have gone by in a blur of working and training. I think I’m ready for Boston but it doesn’t feel like I’m ready because I’ve squeezed in my training around a very erratic, unpredictable work schedule (if I leave my phone on overnight I will often get a call at 5:30 a.m. to work at 8:30 a.m. that same day). Training has been a priority, just not top priority and that seems to be allowing the taper crazies to get to me a little more this time around (Boston will be full marathon number 7 for me).

Last week was spring break and I took the week to focus on a very important part of my training — altitude training! I’m kidding — my family likes to ski so we went to the mountains in Whistler, British Columbia.

Apparently I’m not the only one who likes to joke. I saw this sign on my run through Stanley Park in Vancouver.

I skied for four days and got in some pretty serious workouts trying to keep up with my kids (ages 13, 11 and 7), all of whom are better skiers than I am. This was one of my favorite trails, a traverse along the Whistler Peak:

Swapped a gorgeous ski trail for a running trail that day!

I made sure to get some running in though too. Check out the moon above Whistler just as the sun was rising over the Valley Trail:

Five miles at an 8:15 pace along the Valley Trail. The cold morning encouraged me to run at a brisk pace!

I also ran 10 miles on the Seawall Trail in Vancouver.

What a treat to do a long run as a tourist in beautiful Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia. I saw many other runners that Saturday morning and I wondered how many of them would also be going to Boston in a couple of weeks!

Now I’m back home and back to reality. I started a second part-time job grading online California state assessment tests. Good thing the training schedule is lighter in these last couple of weeks before Boston! One six-miler for my long run this weekend and before I know it, I’ll be back in Beantown. (I lived there for two years when Mike went to business school at MIT Sloan. It’s where my 13-year-old was born, and where my 11-year-old took her first steps when we went back for a visit 10 years ago!)

Do you like to ski? Have you ever been to Boston? Where should I go to eat when I’m there? We have our old favorites and are definitely planning to go for brunch in the South End (Aquitaine. [ETA — closed for renovations! We now have reservations at Gaslight.]) and Italian in the North End (not sure which restaurant yet. [ETA: Rabia’s!]).