Wendy Mastripolito

Déjà vu Marathon November 9, 2013 147 total, 15 marathoners Time: 4:10:58 1 mile loop...26+ times.. I don’t know seemed kinda cool to me.. at least when I signed up for it way back in the summer when it was nice and warm.   It was 36 degrees when I arrived at the starting line of the Deja Vu Marathon and I was cold... I was cold to the bone cold... and really crabby about having to run long.. in the COLD.. did I mention I was cold?!    You will see in the race reports below I mention about being mentally tougher...    SCRATCH that out... My tolerance for adversity GONE... I don’t know, perhaps I am getting soft.. or maybe the old bones are just sick and tired of the FNING COLD. So step back a moment... yeah I said it right.. I would be running for about 4+ hours on a figure 8 loop to complete a marathon.. yeah that’s right.. thats 26+ laps and not so many people smile when they do that.. and there is a reason for that.  So lets picture thi...

Today would have been your 69 birthday... Happy Birthday MOM!... I love you!... and I miss you!.... it’s been over a year now.. and the days don’t ever seem as bright.. and the nights seem that much longer... but the legacy of your love prevails. Today would have been your day... you loved your birthday...the party and birthday cake ... and oh how I wish you could see your great grandson, Carter, what a beautiful happy baby, an amazing testament of how well you helped raise Heather.  Mom, he is beautiful, as Heather is, and she is such a great mom, you would have been soo proud to see...  and your grandsons... wow they have done wonders in their sports and in school, they are truly going to make a great impact in this world..mom you would be so proud.   But I have to say, you would be most proud of your son, your leaving us hit him so hard and he held it together and kept strong.. he kept strong for the family and mom he has starting to run... oh w...

So what’s a Mastripolito to do on a “peaceful” Saturday morn at Mount Krumpet? Get out the paint gear and gettum painted (the outside of the house that is) ... in the garage and find the right brushes, paint, gloves, ladder, back in the garage for painting shoes and old painting clothes... and that’s odd... hey Joe I think someone may have lost a dog or something...noticing that the SAME car pulled into our cul-d-sak... 10 times... and well.... set up the paint stuff... and gotta getter done... lovely day to paint...  ....you know sitting way up here on mount Krumpet you can hear everything in the valley, in the woods... and those damn dogs in the distance barking and barking and ...here comes that damn car again... ...  I march myself down to the street in my rubber duckies & painting gear and stop the lady who is on her 15th time down our road.. What's you looking for I ask...?   She stops and explains that her older neighbor's 2 dogs bolted out the back d...

Today is Throwback Thursday and is also approx the 7 year anniversary of my running journey.. well let me correct that.. the start of my running journey as an "ADULT". I did run a few years in high school.... but then took a little break of some 20 years or so...just to catch my breath..... This week marks a great time in my life. Here is an exert from the beginning of the madness.. that first week of running...back in 2006... I knew NOTHING of the world that I have lived in these last few years... The Quest  Fall 2006   A flyer appears in my mailbox. It’s a 5K run on September 30th to benefit our local firefighters. They are offering medals for the top three placers, hmm, medals....oh I likely medals... I carefully reread the flyer,  3.1 miles... in 4 weeks... oh heck yeah I so can do this.. no problem!  I skip across the room and excitingly show Joe the flyer.   "Do you think a month is enough time to get ready to run this 5K?.. (how can ...

End of an Era I completed my 4th Eagleman Triathlon on Sunday and I have to say that after all these years, I am still in love with this damn race. I knew this year would be my last. IT was the plan, I wasn’t even supposed to start this year, as I didn’t really bike or swim much since January... and well, what the hell. I smirked as I felt my first jellyfish.... I smirked as I sloshed through ankle deep mud..... I smirked when I felt the crosswinds.. I smirked at the hot asphalt... and I SMILED as I crossed that finishline. I am closing this chapter in my life for now. Looking back this would have been my 6th Eagleman, baring the DQ’d (disqualified) in 2010, and the didn’t start in 2012 due to mom’s passing... so officially it’s my 4th and MY LAST, for now. SEE...I set out on this jaunt 7 years ago with visions of qualifying for Kona... the Hawaii full Ironman. But being really naïve can make you grow up real fast. I worked my arsh off that first year and thought that the p...

.2 mile swim – 10 mile bike – 2 mile Run Crazy Nut... It's very exciting to be able to do shorter triathlons, as I don’t put any hard core expectations on myself... but to get it done and win, right?      My races are like mini epic adventures and this short one was not lacking in the fun department... first off the fact it was an afternoon/evening triathlon with a 4pm start.. just gotta love that sleep in, do what you want all day, then mosey on down to the race venue later.  So not really getting the fact that I am not swimming in the actual open bay area... I arrived and looked out at the ominous bay and thought well its only a .2 mile swim... I shouldn’t have issues, swam in worse....and so as I bond with nature and gaze upon the wondrous grey skies, someone mentions the fact that we were swimming in the canal behind us.. SNAP.. NO shit and really... dude this is going to be cake...  A point-to-point swi...

So excited for this new chapter in my life..!! ..... Supervisor Talent Social Marketing for QVC QVC has been my passion for 24 years .....to think when I started in 1989 as a wee pup that I would grow into such a professional young lady.  TO think how did this happen and I can only say that it's truly the direct result of a fantastic man who was my mentor, my coach, and truly another father to me for the last 14 years of my life.  My Boss, the Executive Vice President of QVC's Customer Fulfillment Services, John Hunter.  See I was his Executive Assistant for 14 of those 24 years...working side by side with him, learning the nuances that were QVC, learning what it meant to exceed the expectations of every customer, to keep our word and do the right thing, to be responsible for our actions, and continually strive to improve, and above all to make a difference!  To say he molded me into an intelligent, professional young lady would...

Pooh… Perhaps the grandeur that I build up in my head weighed down my legs?... Or perhaps sometimes, just sometimes... a race is well just... POOH??! B ut what I thought would happen at Saturday's Shamrock 8K in Virginia Beach did not... and that simple undisputed fact pisses me off.. I was ready to run a PR.... I was hoping for a top 5 age group placing or at least no worse than a top 10 age group placing....I was hoping to crack into the 37's.  I am a strong 5 miler.... I was hoping for confetti and flashbulbs..I was hoping for a magnificent moment... and well... What I delivered to myself.... was my second worst 8K time ever, an over 40 min time and a 20th age group placing...... POOH! No... I was not willing to accept the fact that this will be the 6th time i have run this race and have (sans the first year) never placed over a 40 min time or less than a 10th age group placing.  No...I will not accept...

SNAP, CRACKLE, POP... Well it really wasn’t a snap, nor a crackle, nor really a pop… but more like being electrocuted.... ..... that sensation of accidentally touching an electrical wire, when wet, and then as your teeth shake and you recoil, a dagger is thrust into your quad.. yeah.. kinda like that… All forward motion attempted to cease and resist...  Let's go back a few minutes. I am at Delaware University's indoor track and was getting ready to run my first event of the day... I was debating about how to warm up since half the track was closed off for the 60 meter sprints and if I should wear spikes or not… hmmm.. Running in spikes is such a wondrous feeling ….like running barefoot with claws..but no support...hmmm... First call for the mile and I was getting eyed up and down by the gals in my heat…  One of the ladies walks over to me seeing my #6, she is #5 and said, "There is no way i am faster than you"... Indic...

So there comes a day when, as a distance runner, you say... I need speed. I can't recall remembering much about my high school outdoor track, although I am most certain I do remember my high school “coach” screaming at me at the end of the 2 miler that if I had enough energy to sprint the last 200 yards that I didn’t utilize my energy correctly.. thus is born what I still continue to do today.. my ending sprint . It's fairly epic.. and it's probably terribly inefficient, but heck i n 95% of the races I do, of any length, I end up sprinting the last 100 or 200 yards.. and very rarely do I get out paced from that point on. Inefficient?  Probably... In high school, I was an immature, unwilling runner. I only joined cross country because they canned my ass off the field hockey team. Never mind that I scored a goal in try outs and that I was an exceptional runner as the left wing but my motor coordination needed work.. X gets the spot.. off to join the cross country team...