PRAYERS

Prayers for the familes who lost loved ones during the recent tornadoes in the U.S.

BOSTON MARATHON

Saturday we met Jenny, Mark and the boys at the hotel in Cambridge, had lunch and then headed in to Boston to pick up the race packets.



Mark and Jenny purchased their Boston jackets. This took top priority. No one was going to go home without " the jacket".

Jenny is excited to get her packet. The expo was really busy so we didn't spend much time there.

Sunday we were to meet up with Mark's family at Quincy Market. We hung out with them and then all 12 of us went to dinner at Ricardo's in Little Italy. Of course the dinner of choice was pasta.

Monday morning dawned bright and sunny, Jenny and Mark had left the hotel at six to meet with Jamie and get the bus to the race start. Tom, Andy, Tom and I got breakfast at the hotel and then left around 9 to ride the T out to the 17th mile.


We had the T figured out and knew we would take the green line to Woodland.I was surprised at all the people lining the race course. Everyone was excited, lots of noise. The boys and I found a good spot to catch the runners as they passed.

We saw the girl all covered in some kind of weird costume, even her face was covered. I don't know how she ran like that.

We saw the elite runners go by. They make it look so easy.





I even noticed the no stopping sign behind us.


I was moved when the troops came marching through with full packs on their backs.

Finally my husband spotted Mark. I yelled his name and he looked but later he said he never saw us.

We waited to spot our daughter. She was wearing a blue shirt. We waited. There were a lot of blue shirts. Then my husband got an up-date. " We've missed her" he said. WHAT! I drove 1800 miles to Boston to watch my daughter run an elite race, one that you have to qualify for, and I missed her running. We never saw her cross the finish line, either. The crowds at the finish line were too thick to move through. Guess she'll have to do it again!


This was one of the best races to be a spectator. Everyone is cheering and the streets are lined with people. They said there were over 500,000 spectators lining the course. We all had a great time at the Boston Marathon.

BOSTON CREAM PIE QUEST

Mark and I had a mission while we were in Boston, to find the best Boston cream pie. Our first sample was a Little Debbi cake that my husband and I found in a Walmart in Hartford.
It was sweet and tasted just like a BCP.

Saturday night was dinner at Legal Sea Food. Time to try another pie. We were surprised it wasn't a slice of cake.

Sunday we headed into Boston and straight for the Omni Parker Hotel. This is the place that started it all.

I was hoping for the 14 layer Boston cream pie but that was only featured for a month to promote a food tv show. Again it wasn't a cake slice.

Sunday night after dinner we stopped at Mike's Pastry in Little Italy. When I saw the line was out the door and down the street I was ready to pass, but Nancy said it was moving fast.

Nancy waited in line and quickly came out with our box wrapped in string and holding this time a slice of cake. We carried it back to our hotel to devour.
Tuesday we took the T to Harvard square in search of Sweet Cupcakes.

This tiny cupcake store was winner of the Best of Boston 2010 for cupcakes.



We looked in the case and there was only one Boston cream cupcake. What to do! But the clerk told us there were more in the back. Whew! One little cupcake is hard to share with four people.

So after eating so many cream pies you would think we'd be sick of them, but on the way out of town we got a text that Mark was having his last Boston cream pie at Legal Sea Food at the airport.

And how did they rate?

Mike's Pastry and Omni Parker Hotel both got a score of 8 out of 10

Sweet Cupcakes was a 7

Legal Sea Food was a 6

Little Debbi a 4

ROAD TRIP

We are heading out for Boston tomorrow. Going to be the cheering squad for Jenny, Mark and Jamie when they run the Boston Marathon. I'm hoping the weather will be fairly warm but am packing mittens, scarf and hat just in case. Since we are driving I can take what I want. I even stopped at the library and have a bag a books to carry with me. Today was boot camp and it was upper body. Thank goodness, last Friday she killed us all with a leg work out in the parking lot. I could barely move on Saturday to get to runners yoga class.

Several of the girls this morning were saying that they were still sore. That's what i like about Shayla she gives us our money's worth.

THE BEAST

Cardio today at boot camp, five stations set up, a minute at each for five times. There was a new piece of equipment, the ropes, that I have seen used on Biggest Loser. It didn't look hard but it was. The rope is heavy and I could feel it in my triceps. I call it the Beast, after the Beast roller coaster, because it makes all these ups and downs in the rope as you yank it. The minute seemed like five. Besides the rope there was abs, box jump, incline walk @ 12 level and pushing the prowler.

I'm on day 5 of no bread . Yesterday I wanted a sandwich so used a large lettuce leaf and spread it with guacamole then cheese, tomato and turkey then put another leaf on top and folded it in half. It was quite tasty and I didn't miss the bread.

BREADLESS

It's day three of no bread. I'm really not missing it but did miss not having my waffle with fruit on Sunday. I really wanted that waffle. At boot camp this morning there were seven of us so we did a circuit of the following: 20 abs our choice bench chest press, her choice of reps and weights 10 hammer curls with weights, sitting on the ball 10 shoulder presses with weights, sitting on the ball 20 tricep dips 10 lateral pull downs And while we were doing these every one in awhile she would holler " down on the floor and do 20 push ups." After four sets of these we did some yoga stretches.

NO BREAD

This morning at boot camp Shayla announced that she wanted us to give up bread for the month of April. What no bread for a month! Then there was a discussion of what bread was. Is French toast bread ? Duh, yes it is along with waffles and pancakes. What about bread crumbs ? Yes bread crumbs, croutons and pizza. She says we have all been eating too much bread and we should see a change in our weight if we try this. I'm going to miss my waffles on Sunday morning but it's only for a month. Today we were doing three different exercises, dead lifts, push ups and C-crunch abs. The sets went like this: 20 reps 15 reps 10 reps 5 reps 10 reps 15 reps 20 reps This came out to 95 reps for each exercise. On the push ups we had to go down on the mat and then lift up our hands and then back up to a push up. Tomorrow is runners yoga.