Running the 2010 Boston Marathon for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Putting aside today’s Patriots loss to the Ravens (turns out that working the Sunday shift today and missing the game was the best thing that could have happened to me), it’s been a pretty good decade so far.

I got to see BU — yes, your Defending National Champion Boston University Terriers — knock off BC Friday night at an extremely cold Fenway Park. There are few adjectives that could aptly describe just how cold it was sitting in the rightfield grandstands — “benumbing” might be one. But it was still fun to see a great college hockey game.

Earlier that day, I banged out an 11-mile long run, which started in Wellesley and headed into the Newton Hills. In my mind, this is always the toughest part of the marathon course because it starts with a seemingly bottomless descent (nicknamed “Hell’s Alley,” and, as bad as the drop is, it’s about 50 times worse having to run back up the hill on your return leg).

My run basically started down Hell’s Alley, crossed over the Route 128 interchange and veered right past the landmark fire station that turns you onto Commonwealth Ave. I basically ran 5.5 miles out and came back — that covered two of the three hills that make up “Heartbreak Hill,” but I didn’t trudge up the third, steepest hill (because, really, was that necessary?)

My pace was shocking enough that I thought my watch might have stopped or the GPS function disconnected — it was an 8:42/mile pace. For me, that’s probably the fastest I’ve ever run the hills.

Yes, ever.

And while I definitely felt like I had run hard and that I couldn’t have done much more, it was cool to be picking up the pace a little. Around this time last year, I was struggling.

So we’ll see if the good times can keep coming into the new decade.

Usually it starts about an hour or two after I finish the marathon.

After the “congratulations” and “what was it like?” and “on a scale of 1 to 10, how close to death do you feel?” someone always asks me this inevitable question:

“So are you going to do it again next year?”

And every year, I know in my head that I’m going to fill out the application for the following year, hope to make the team, and give Boston another go.

But I always answer the friend with this empty and ambiguous reply: “I don’t know. We’ll see. You never know.  I’ll probably just make up my mind in the fall.”

The friend usually comes back with some kind of cut-the-bullshit look and says, “You’re going to keep doing this until you’re 50, aren’t you?”

So anyway, I’m officially doing the marathon again this year. Even before I crossed the finish line last year, I knew I wanted to do this again. It’s a lot of fun, a great way to stay in shape and an awesome cause.

Clearly, there are also a ton of selfish reasons to run, too. When else can you get cheered on for four hours straight by strangers on the side of the road? How often do you really get to wear a medal for a day without being accused of showing off? And, yes, running is a pretty easy way to double the size of your free T-shirt collection.

Anyway, I’ve been trying to stay in relatively decent shape during the “off-season” summer months, but it’ll be a lot of fun to get back on the road with Team in Training. Our official kick-off is Saturday, Nov. 7 and our first team run will be the following Saturday in Wellesley.

The good news for all of you is that I can start raising money right away, so here is my first official plea of the new marathon season: Please support my 2010 Boston Marathon run and make a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. To donate, click here.

Other than that, I have nothing else to add except this: There are only 171 days until Marathon Monday.

Here are stats from my last four long runs from the last four Saturdays:

Saturday, March 7
Distance: 16.71 miles
Time: 2:30:13
Avg. Speed: 8:59/mile

Saturday, Feb.28
Distance: 15.36 miles
Time: 2:17:54
Avg. Speed: 8:58/mile

Saturday, Feb. 21
Distance: 14.47 miles
Time: 2:15:39
Avg. Speed: 9:22/mile

Saturday, Feb. 14
Distance: 15.01
Time: 2:21:23
Avg. Speed: 9:25/mile

Many local celebrities attended the fundraiser.

Once again, we had a very successful fundraiser at Kitty O’Shea’s in Faneuil Hall this year. Somewhere between 50 and 75 people made the trek into the city. We raised just under $1,600 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Some lined up hours ahead of time hoping to get a ticket to our fundraiser.

Most of you probably know that I’m a reporter for The Salem News. This week, the newspaper is launching a Boston Marathon blog dedicated to running and to highlighting the hundreds of runners on the North Shore who will be running the marathon in April. I’ll be contributing regularly to the blog and so will fellow Salem News reporter and TNT teammate Bruno Matarazzo. To check it out, visit http://blogs.salemnews.com/bostonbound.

Also, just a reminder that our annual TNT fundraiser will be held Saturday, Feb. 21, beginning at 6 p.m. at Kitty O’Shea’s in Faneuil Hall. We’ll be raffling off some pretty cool prizes, including Celtics tickets, a stay at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, and several Boston restaurant gift certificates. Admission is $20 and all money we collect that night will go to the LLS to support our marathon runs.

Your Boston University Terriers aren’t just the No. 1 college hockey team in America right now, they’re also 2009 Beanpot Champs.

A proud moment for BU alumni everywhere.

It’s also the worst night of the year to be working at The Daily Free Press. I still remember nights lasting until 7 a.m. with all of us putting out the Beanpot edition. Yup, those were good times.

I guess I shouldn’t complain about running hills anymore. As tough as Saturday’s 14-mile, all-vertical (at least that’s what it felt like) run was, it seems to have paid off. Tonight, I had, by far, my fastest training run of the season. It helped that a lot of the snow and ice has finally melted. I also have to give credit to the 8-minute live version of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and some Springsteen tunes on my iPod. But it’s great to see some progress as training continues.

Distance: 5.01 miles
Time: 41:01
Pace: 8:11 min/mile
Max Pace: 6:37 min/mile

That’s by far the fastest 5-mile time I’ve had all season. The next closest was a 42:23 time I had on Nov. 3.

And that pace of 8:11 is also the fastest I’ve had for any run of any distance all season. Second would be an 8:24 pace on Dec. 2, which was a 4-mile run.

So overall, I’m pretty psyched with the way things are going so far.

“Hills” is the best headline I could come up with for this post because I’m completely exhausted. We did about 14 miles up nearly every hill on the marathon course today, including Heartbreak Hill. Just completely exhausting. Really, there’s no need for anyone to run that many hills. No reason whatsoever. Pretty sure every time I ran up a hill, there was another one right behind it. I think I was horizontal at one point.

Anyway, here are the numbers:

Distance: 13.6 miles
Time: 2:06:24
Avg Pace: 9:17 min/mile
Max Pace: 7:42 min/mile
Elevation Gain: 1,542 feet (Complete lie. It was 7 million feet at least)

Full details of each painful mile here.

Congrats to the winners of the 2009 Super Bowl Squares Pool. Exactly 20 people bought 90 squares — enough to raise $430 for the LLS. Each winner also took home $100.

They are: Caitlin & Sarah Dybick, Bill Yelenak and Charlie Pumphrey.

I will post photos from the check presentations as they become available.