Party Re-cap

Last night was the Team Eye & Ear Kickoff Party held at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. It was so nice to meet a lot of my teammates and compare training & fundraising strategies. The evening started off with a talk from MEEI's President & CEO, John Fernandez, and he gave a great talk about how our fundraising money will help the hospital's programs. It was also great to finally meet Kristina Sym, who is the Special Events Coordinator at MEEI and has been patiently answering all of my emails these past couple of months. Perhaps the highlight of the night was getting to listen to Bill Rodgers and Zeus Estrada talk about their extensive marathon (and ultramarathon) experience.

Asking for advice on marathon techniques I've found sort of to be to the equivalent of asking someone for advice on a golf swing. That is, if you ask 10 different people how to practice chipping & putting, you'll get 10 different answers. The same has been true for marathons. I've been asking people what they eat, how to train, etc. etc. and while most of their advice makes sense, it's hard to know what is the "best" answer. Bill and Zeus' talk last night really shed light on a lot of lingering questions I've had and gave advice I haven't heard yet- like training for downhills just as you would for uphills. They were happy to answer any questions and really took the time to speak to us individually, which just demonstrated what nice guys they are and how they want to share their love for the sport with us. Bill was even nice enough to agree to have a picture taken for the blog. Thanks Bill!

Here I am with running legend Bill Rodgers!