#MCM Marathon Crush Monday

This past Monday was the 119th Boston Marathon. I can honestly say that in my five years of living in Boston Marathon Monday is always one of my favorite days of the year. I love the spirit of the city on Marathon Monday. It feels like everyone is out to help and support each other, from the marathon runners and volunteers on the sidelines to people sharing pints at the bar. It's an amazing day.

Every year that I don't run the marathon (three years since I moved to Boston, and this year included) I get serious FOMO. I got such a case of FOMO this year that I signed up for the Chicago Marathon Lottery on a whim. (Whoops! You may be getting a lot of Marathon Motivation posts if I'm accepted - stay tuned!)

This year my friend JE ran the marathon for Cradles to Crayons, and this post is dedicated to her. She's my #MarathonCrushMonday. (See what I did there?) You might remember I posted a little bit about JE's training here. I am so proud of my little friend. She is admittedly not a runner, but trained through one of the hardest training seasons in history to be prepared for this day. Not only was it one of the hardest training seasons in history, marathon Monday was a cold, rainy, WINDY day. (Mother Nature, couldnt you cut them a break). Despite the hardship, JE never stopped smiling. Some of our friends met up with her from miles 17-25, and each of them said she was soaked, soggy, and smiling ear to ear the entire time! She raised over $10,000 for her charity, and earned every mile of that race. JE I hope Boston now has a very special place in your heart! It's such an incredible accomplishment!

I love this super sweet picture of JE hugging her dad. He's tearing up. He was so proud!

So as I mentioned I get serious Marathon FOMO, so I decided to do a Barry's Bootcamp workout on Monday morning. It was an Arms and Abs class, and for those of you who know Barry's, this was a "dirty thirty" class. You essentially spend 30 minutes on the treadmill and 30 mins on the floor without breaks - Killer! What I loved about this class is that the instructor modeled the tread workout after the marathon - 26 minutes, where every minute mimicked a mile of the marathon in incline and speed. It was such a cool way to celebrate the iconic day, and it really kicked my butt!


For breakfast I came back and had a delicious new shake I concocted. The Marathon Macaroon. (Are we seeing a theme here?) This shake sort of happened by accident when I added almond extract on a whim.

Marathon Macaroon

1 scoop vanilla protein

2 cups cold (cool-ish) coffee

5 ice cubes

A tsp of almond extract