Day 152 - Acupuncture

"Marathoners are redefining what it means to be an athlete." - Bill Rodgers

Miles Ran: 489.78 Dollars Raised: $3,512.60

And so...Marathon weekend begins.

Katharine and I met at the Fenway T stop, official pick-up card in hand, and made our way down to the Expo (aka a Runner's Dream, we were like kids in a candy store). As we made our way in it all started to hit us. Here were runners from all over the country flooding our city to participate in the event we've all been training for for months. We picked up our numbers, and it was official!

The expo was awesome/overwhelming--for which we were both SO happy to have gone when we did instead of trying to brave the masses over the weekend. I was surprised at how it compared to Disney's Princess Expo, granted that one was geared entirely towards women. This was just HUGE, but primarily made up of running apparel and things to sample. We did walk away with some great goodies though: 5 pairs of really good running socks for $10, a green New Balance shirt with the 8 cities on it (and a free New Balance hat!), some stickers, posters, shoelaces, and a Nalgene with a design of the major landmarks along the route! I even actually ran into the guy who works at Revolution Fitness, George, that we see every time we come in for our training runs.

This display was of past jackets from the past 20 years or so!

After the Expo I had some time to kill before I had acupuncture over at OMBE. So I took my time strolling down Boylston, taking in the calm before the storm. The bleachers were empty, the skeletons of the medical tents were up, but one of my favorite pieces of art was freshly painted :)

I had forgotten to bring a pair of shorts with me to acupuncture, so I made a quick stop in Filene's Basement and got some pink linen Vineyard Vines shorts, and when I was waiting in line the girl in front of me gave me a coupon for 20% off! Then I went a block down for my best, and more interesting acupuncture session yet. We did our normal routine, where I tell Jessica whats been going on with aches and pains, then she sticks all the needles in me, and then does a little stim treatment on my ankle/foot. I listened to Yo-Yo Ma for two sessions of 15 minutes, and was SO happy when Jessica said she had more in store. She massaged my VERYYY tight calf muscles to the point that now I feel like I have new legs haha I was so glad she was able to do it just when I needed it. Then, she told me she was going to work on some acupressure points with me. I had no idea of what she was doing until after, and when I finally got to look in a mirror. She used these veryyyy tiny little balls, that I assume have little pricks at the end of them, and inserted them INTO my ear at 3 different pressure points. One is for pain, one is for my foot/ankle, and the last is for sleep/anxiety. Basically when I feel like I need to I just apply pressure to these balls and it should help. I can keep them in until Monday she said!! They're covered by a little piece of sticky clear tape. I kind of feel like an alien... check em out!

Weird huh?

When I arrived home, to my surprise and delight, there was a BEAUTIFUL flower arrangement waiting for me outside my apartment door. I had no idea who it was from until I opened the card to find a very thoughtful, supportive note from all of my best friends from college. I melted. It meant so much to me and was such an overly nice and remarkable gesture. It also resulted in some much needed chat time on the phone with some of them and really was the perfect way to end the day. I'm looking forward to what the rest of the weekend will bring!