I don't love 14 like I do 13, but that's ok, it can still be an awesome year. I'm a "goals not resolutions" girl, so this format for goals really kept me on track last year, so I'm trying it again. Running Finish another five half marathons in five days. I'm super excited to be sharing this with Kim and I look forward to seeing some of the awesome people I met at Dust Bowl. Running these kind of events is like a running party! Run 14 16 half marathons in 2014. Yes, I did say 16. I only meant to do 14, but well... Run half marathons in 4 new states and one new country. Yes, Ireland, I'm comin' for ya! Fitness/Physical Health Keep moving our whole family down the path towards healthier eating and more … [Read more...]
Call me crazy
So, I've started looking at my plans for 2014. In fact, I've started registering - 6 already paid for and 1 I'll be registering for tomorrow. I'm finding two problems: I'm missing 1 race for the 13 in 79 days (found one) AND I'll have a race every weekend for 6 weeks. I'm not worried about the physical aspect (I'm good at running races at an easy pace), but can I really commit one morning EVERY weekend in May to running a race. Hmmm... I know I can do 14 in 2014, just have to decide if Venus is worth it. Here are my tentative races: March 15, 2014 - Rock 'n' Roll DC Registered. March 30, 2014 - Runners Marathon of Reston (Half ) April 12-16, 2014 - Mainly Marathons Riverboat Series (5 states, 5 days) - … [Read more...]
Trying to reset
I didn't really run last week. I'm not even sure what I did. It was kind of a blur of car buying, insurance fighting, kid wrangling, and job juggling. I just know that by Friday I was wrapped so tight, I thought I was going to shatter. Finally, I went for a run on Saturday. Then I went for my birthday run on Sunday. While I feel like I've got a bit more of a grip on things, I'm still struggling. Since I couldn't resolve any of the things that needed resolving and I refused to do any paid work on my birthday, I opted to begin planning my fall races and doing some of the logistic stuff for the Riverboat Series. I think if I actually sign up for some races, I will be motivated to actually train for them, right? So, here's … [Read more...]
Girls’ Weekend Half Marathon
A while ago K from Just Trying is for Little Girls mentioned she wanted to do the Flying Pirate Half Marathon as her North Carolina race. Somehow, G, T, and I were all able to clear our schedules and join her. We met in Richmond and headed down to the Outer Banks. We made good time going down and hit up the well-organized packet pick-up with time to spare. We then headed down to Cape Hatteras to see the lighthouse, the beach, and grab dinner. T, K, and I watched "Pitch Perfect" while G studied and then it was time to for lights out. Despite not being sure where my body was in its recovery from my previous challenge, I decided to set some goals. It would be disingenuous for me to claim "finishing" as a goal. I've pretty well proved … [Read more...]
Goals Revisited
At the beginning of the year, I declared "This year is going to be epic. I just know it. After all, 13 is my lucky number." And so far, it has been. I trained hard, I broke myself, and yet, somehow, I accomplished my big goal of finishing my five half marathons in five days. Definitely finished upright and smiling. So where do I go from here? I think it's time to get back on track with food, bring in some cross training, and live my life for a little while. Because I already have my sites set on another 5 in 5. That's right. I enjoyed it so much, I'm doing it again. Riverboat Series, you will be mine. Until then, the plan is one half marathon a month, with back to back halves in Rhode Island and Connecticut in … [Read more...]
How I survived 5 half marathons in 5 days
I'll admit that before I started this adventure, I was pretty well convinced I'd end up injured or walking many miles or both. Amazingly, neither happened. Not sure if any of my "necessities" will work for you, but here's how I held my body together for 5 races. Pre-race PB&J. Nuff said. Glide. Anywhere I could think of. During the races Animal crackers. Seriously. Real food as fuel rocks when you are running slow and long. (My usual choice of gummy bears? They are hard when it's below freezing...) Gatorade and Nuun KT-Tape - I'd never have made it without KT Tape on the balls of my feet. Compression socks. I didn't run a single step without a pair on. I used CEP, ProCompression, and Recovery Socks and … [Read more...]
Dust Bowl Series review
Many of you have asked questions about my adventure. I'll try to answer those all here as well as give some (hopefully) useful information. There may be some changes in the future based on feedback from this year's runners. Before I get into what I thought of this series, here are my final results: Dalhart, TX: 2:35:53 Guymon, OK: 2:35:56 Ulysses, KS: 2:28:08 Lamar, CO: 2:30:09 Clayton, NM: 2:25:57 Yes, my last one was almost 10 minutes faster than my first two. My goal was for my last to be my fastest, but if you'd told me that I was going to get stronger and feel better each and every day, I would have told you that you were insane. Yet, that's exactly what happened. So, let's talk about this series. The Dust … [Read more...]
State #26: New Mexico – Half Marathon 5 of 5!
Short story: I finished and I finished STRONG! Long story: The fifth and final day of the Dust Bowl Series was being run at Clayton Lake State Park. The park was about 25 minutes outside of Clayton, New Mexico, so we had to get up seriously dark and early Friday morning. I made a PB&J in the hotel room and then we headed out. When we pulled into the parking lot, I realized it was going to be a hilly sort of day. I was right. This race had a short loop and then four longer loops, which included the smaller loop. As we headed out on the first loop, I knew I was going to hate this course. We ran down an uncomfortably steep hill and then onto a dirt path. The path led us out onto a dam, where we were completely … [Read more...]
What a pretty map!
A day of rest
I did it. Despite many moments of doubt and a few unexpected problems along the way, I finished all five races. I even ran the majority of the miles, which was a personal goal of mine. It was an amazing experience! Now, I'm going to take a few days and enjoy the rest of my vacation with my husband and let my body recover. (For those of you wondering, I'm not even sore. Just my feet hurt.) I'll be back in a few days with the following: a race report for the 5th race - sneak preview for those of you who don't follow me on twitter or Like my page on Facebook: I.was.AWESOME! a review of the Dust Bowl Series my personal lessons learned where I'm going from here A huge thank you to all my friends, family and readers who … [Read more...]
And away we go!
By the time you read this, I'll be at least partway through the first half marathon of the week. Our trip to Denver went mostly smoothly. We had a really full flight, so I ended up gate checking the bag with my running shoes and then spent the whole flight worried that I wouldn't be reunited with them. (Note to self: never again part with the running shoes voluntarily.) We landed in Denver right on time, got our luggage (Yay! Shoes!), got our rental and headed to our friends' house. We then proceeded to go out lunch where I had a margarita. Mile high + slightly dehydrated + strong margarita? Not my smartest move ever. Sunday morning we got up early and had breakfast with our friends. Then we hit the road for the 6 hour drive to … [Read more...]
I may be overpacking…
Last night I started packing for the trip. No, we don't leave for a few days, but I need to be making progress. For the last 7 years, we haven't gone on a vacation that didn't involve at least a few nights at a house or condo with a washer and dryer. (I'm kind of in love with Vacation Rentals By Owner.) I prefer packing light and doing a couple of loads of laundry on vacation. This trip we will be at a different location every night. Since I'm not a fan of putting my running clothes in the dryer (and I'm not going to have an easy place to hang dry), I went with the new outfit each day option. Also, I can't risk losing my shoes, so I'm taking a good sized carry on. This is not the norm for me either. First thing in: my Brooks … [Read more...]
