I've done a few "year in review" posts so far this month and it appears that my year was pretty amazing. But I haven't looked back at my goals since June, so it's time to take a quick look and see which ones I met, which ones I missed, and which ones I completely forgot I had. … [Read more...]
Double agent? Ultra? Both or nothing?
Two months from now I'll be done with the Hansons Marathon Training method. Two months from now I'll likely be hobbling around the house after the Marine Corps Marathon. My running plans stop there. I have nothing on the horizon - no half marathons, no trips for a race, no grand scheme to moon up or run a series or find some new level of crazy. So today, I'm joining Amanda at Running with Spoons and thinking out loud about the rest of my fall. I have options. I just don't know which one makes sense. Work on my Double Agent status. As a member of both Half Fanatics and Marathon Maniacs, I'm already a Double Agent. But like HF and MM, Double Agents have levels. I'm level 7 in HF (Venus) and level 4 in MM (Iridium). I'm at … [Read more...]
Treating myself with a Katie Mae Quilt
If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll remember that last year I decided to run 13 half marathons in 79 days. It wasn't just an arbitrary goal - I wanted to reach Venus level with the Half Fanatics. OK, well maybe that is arbitrary LOL. Of course, that got me 13 for 2015 and that just wasn't going to fly, so I found 2 more half marathons. And then it got all crazy up in here and I ran 2 more. Oops. 17 half marathons in one year. … [Read more...]
Half Marathon #11 for 2014: Marine Corps Historic Half
Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon May 19, 2014 2:23:17 Temp: high 40s and sunny to start but quickly warmed from there What I wore: hat, short sleeve shirt, Skirt Sports Happy Girl skirt, PROCompression socks, and my trusty Altra Intuitions I've run this course before (back when I was much faster), so I knew what to expect. My parents were coming for the weekend and my dad was going to run it with me. Unfortunately, my mom had to stay home, so dad just came down. We ended up cancelling our hotel rooms and driving down the morning of the race. Remember a few days ago when I said that I wasn't worried about not being able to physically handle a race? Famous.last.words. About 15 minutes before the race, my stomach went … [Read more...]
Half Marathon #7 for 2014: Riverboat Series Day 4 – Mississippi
Riverboat Series Half Marathon -Mississippi April 15, 2014 2:17:19 Temp: low 40s and windy What I wore: hat, Bondi band, short sleeve shirt, YMX arm sleeves, Skirt Sports Happy Girl skirt, PROCompression socks, Brooks Essential Run jacket, gloves, and my trusty Altra Intuitions Once again, the weather decided to throw us for a loop. It was cold and windy, but sunny. I was so glad that on a whim I'd packed a pair of gloves and my arm sleeves! The course was another mostly flat 1.31 mile out and back. Thanks to the previous day's rain, the course was changed a bit and I liked the change a lot. This was the first race where I could tell I had trained hard all winter and I felt AWESOME the entire time. The good: The course was … [Read more...]
Half Marathon #6 for 2014: Riverboat Series Day 3 – Arkansas
Riverboat Series Half Marathon -Arkansas April 14, 2014 2:24:22 Temp: low 60s and damp at the start, torrential downpours at the end What I wore: hat, short sleeve shirt, Skirt Sports Happy Girl skirt, PROCompression socks, and my trusty Altra Intuitions How shall I describe this race? Never.a.dull.moment. We started the day by following Google map's directions to the start. Their directions involved gravel roads on the levee, big puddles, and cows standing mere inches from the road. Thankfully, Beer Geek grew up driving on roads like that, so we beat the GPS time by 3 minutes. (If I'd been driving, we'd still be out there...) The race only got better from there... The course was a 1.31 loop that half marathoners had to … [Read more...]
Half Marathon #3: Charlottesville Half Marathon
Charlottesville Half Marathon April 5, 2014 2:20:55 Temp: 49 degrees and windy What I wore: hat, Champion short sleeve shirt, Sugoi arm sleeves, Happy Girl skirt, PROCompression socks, and (of course) my trusty AltraRunning Intuitions I'm not going to lie: this was one of the hardest races I've ever run. I had nothing left at the end. Nothing. Why? Well, here's how I described it on Facebook: The first 6 miles were just relentless. I'd barely get my heart rate down and we'd be going up another one {hill}. Then there was a huge hill at mile 7. 7-11 wasn't bad. 12 nearly killed me and 13 stole my soul... The good: I love visiting Charlottesville. I lived there for 6 years (4 as a student, 2 as a "townie"), so it was … [Read more...]
Half Marathon #2 for 2014: Caesar Rodney
Caesar Rodney Half Marathon March 23, 2014 2:14:38 Temp: 40 degrees and windy What I wore: hat, tank top, Champion Half Zip, Brooks Essential jacket, Happy Girl skirt, PROCompression socks, and (of course) my trusty AltraRunning Intuitions I've run this race before. It was one of my first half marathons. So, I knew the course: fast first 6 miles, wicked hill from 6.5-9ish, downhill/flat until a final wicked uphill finish. I had a plan. All I had to do was execute it. The plan: run it as a training run. My legs were tired from the heavy mileage of the previous week plus the secret to serial half marathoning is to not race every single race. I failed to execute. My average pace at the start of the hills was 9:59. … [Read more...]
Half Marathon #1 for 2014: RnR USA
RnR USA Half Marathon 3/15/2014 2:13:20 Before the race: I had on YMX arm sleeves under my Target sweatshirt. The good: I felt AWESOME during this race. I ran hard and I felt strong the entire time. My fastest mile in the entire race was mile 13 - 9:37. I saw Moms Run This Town friends before the race, cheering partway through the race, and at the finish line. It was so energizing to see people I knew. The Mandarin Orange Gu at mile 9ish. I'd eaten breakfast at 5:30, the race didn't start until 7:30. I needed those calories. I kept my throw away sweatshirt and tied it around my waist. Having it to put on for the metro ride home was priceless. My foot never hurt! I'm totally in love with my Altra … [Read more...]
Running Weatherman’s predictions for RNR
Are you obsessed about the weather for the Rock'n'Roll USA marathon and half marathon this weekend? Are you stalking every weather resource you can, to try and figure out what to wear? Do you have two complete outfits set out, ranging from shorts to fleece lined tights? Well, look no further for information! I got Alex from "The Running Weatherman" to give us his predictions! The Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon and Half Marathon is this weekend, and I've had a number of people asking me about the forecast. The average high for the day is 56 and the average low is 37. The forecast is only a few degrees away from average, with lows expected to be in the upper 30s and highs approaching the 60 degree mark by the afternoon. Running … [Read more...]
Awesome friends + training update
One of the hardest things about reaching for Venus as well as doing 14+ races next year is trying to minimize the costs involved. We have a lot of big things on the horizon, so money needs to be managed carefully if I want to accomplish these goals. I've been taking every chance I can to get the costs down: I'm registering early I'm grabbing every deal I can find I'm using every discount I can get my hands on (thanks, MRTT and Half Fanatics) I'm running mostly local races or ones where I can have a cheap (or free) place to stay 5 of my races are part of Beer Geek's and my kid free vacation this year (What? You don't spend your entire vacation running two hours+ every day???) I'm choosing cheaper races over big name races … [Read more...]
Half Marathon #13 for 2013!
Gar Williams Half Marathon December 15, 2013 2:16:27 This race was sort of anticlimactic. There was no t-shirt. There were no medals. I didn't even take a selfie. I wasn't DFL (dead effing last), but I was close. But there was a huge sigh of relief that I'd finished my quest. The good: The course was on a packed dirt path. It was a small race so parking and bib pickup were a piece of cake. Bagels with nutella at the end. I got to run with my dad! I'm done. The bad: The puddles and the mud. Barely receiving acknowledgement that I'd finished as I crossed the finish line. It was a race organized by a run club. They were all fast. The ugly: The wind. 6.5 miles into a headwind. Uphill. We didn't realize we … [Read more...]
