I'm not one to stay up super late on NYE, but ironically, last night I was up late thanks to insomnia. Thank you 2020 for one last kick in the teeth. So, I'm up a bit later than normal and sucking down caffeine like it's my job. Seems appropriate to hook up with Deb and Coco for a coffee date. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that normally I spend December wrapping things up here on the blog and setting up my goals for the next year. Last year was so weird that I just couldn't seem to wrap (ha!) my head around it. I'm pretty sure I didn't run a single in person race. I ran a ridiculous number of virtual races, but I never got more than 4 miles from my house in any of those races. I even ran a 50K in 2 mile loops near my … [Read more...]
Last Coffee Date of 2020
2020 has been a year of major ups and downs. In some ways, it's been the hardest year of my life, but there have been some really amazing things as well. Beer Geek and I got to go on vacation in Bermuda before the world shut down and we celebrated 25 years of marriage. Jones graduated high school and got a major scholarship to college. Shoo finished middle school and is actually doing surprisingly well with online high school. So, when I struggle to not slide into darkness, I have to remind myself that not everything sucks. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that I continue to struggle with running. It's not the actual running that's a problem - it's the motivation to do it. Once I'm out there, running itself is usually fine. … [Read more...]
October Visit to the Runfessional: Exhaustion
It's that time of the month again - time to confess all of our running/fitness sins with Marcia over at Marcia's Healthy Slice. I must runfess that I have been meaning to write more than twice a month for a while now, but I'm finding that I'm definitely suffering from pandemic brain. I only have so much focus in any given day and I'm pretty much done by the time I actually have time to write a post... I must runfess that I ran both a 50K and a marathon this month and still only barely managed to break 100 miles. I was horribly undertrained, so "ran" might be an exaggeration. I will post an actual recap soon, but let's just say I'm happy to be done and hella surprised that I was not sore after either race. I did, however, manage to … [Read more...]
July Runfessions: Surviving the Humidity
How on earth are we at the end of another month? I mean, I'm never a fan of Virginia in July, but I can't believe it's already over. It was a busy month, but in a totally different way than normal. I'm joining Marcia for a few runfessions to close out July. I must runfess that I have been in hot pursuit of the 1000 mile pin for the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee. While I'm generally not a "virtual race" kind of girl, this one has been hugely motivational for me. I get up every day and cover at least 8 miles. Pretty much every single day. Since I don't run 8 miles a day (pretty much ever right now), I've become a walker. I've always only been a walker if I was going to a destination. Now I wander around my neighborhood for miles … [Read more...]
Runfessions of a Run from Home Runner
Here we are, a crazy number of days into Virginia's Stay at Home order. Today, the Northern Virginia area began Phase 1, which means more things will be open at reduced capacity and with masks required in establishments. To be honest, it's not really going to change my behavior (we are super careful), including that I will continue to run the majority of my runs right out my front door. But I do have some runfessions, so I'm linking up with my buddy Marcia to share them with you. I runfess that I never really got into Virtual Races. I always had enough real races on the calendar that I didn't need them. I still don't LOVE virtuals, but I've registered for a few. Everything I've registered for has had one thing in common: the money … [Read more...]
Tips for Running a Virtual Race
It's now been 2 months since races started getting canceled. Two months of not getting that motivation that races provide. Two months of missing the social interaction of running with (possibly 1000s) of your best runner friends. Naturally, runners are looking for something to fill that need. At the same time, organizations are trying to bring in income or fulfill the promise they made to provide a race or, unfortunately, take advantage of the situation. Yes, I've heard rumors of fake virtual races out there. So, here are my tips to have a successful virtual run. Choose a legit race. OK, maybe you didn't get a choice because the virtual is the option given to you for a canceled race. But if you are looking for a new race, there are … [Read more...]
The Week I Ran ALL the Miles
If you've been around these parts for a while, you know I thrive on doing crazy things. I've never quite crossed over to an ultra runner or even a consistent marathon runner, but I love to do things like Ultra Ragnar (6 runs instead of 3) and multiple marathons or half marathons in back to back days. So, it should come as no surprise that I jumped on the Yeti 24 hour ultra. What may be a surprise is that I did that on Tuesday and then on the weekend, I jumped on another challenge - 42.5k in 42 hours. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I was not in any way trained up for either one. But when have a I ever let that stop me. For those who don't know, the Yeti involved running 5 miles every four hours for 24 hours, basically 6 runs … [Read more...]
Runfessions of a Stay at Home Runner
Funny how when I was actually a stay at home mom and runner, I never actually stayed at home. That is so not the case anymore - I've literally run every day for the last 30 days without going farther than 2 miles from my house. So what kind of runfessions might I have with such a small running area. I'm joining Marcia from Marcia's Healthy Slice to share... I must runfess that I never thought that I'd start a run streak when I was under "stay at home" orders, but here I am. It's actually working great for me because it helps with my mental health and it gets me moving every single day. And since I'm running most of my runs super close to home (short runs are on a quarter mile loop...), it's nice to only have to run for 15ish minutes … [Read more...]
Running safely in the days of Covid 19
If you've been around this blog for a while, you know that one of the main reasons I run is to combat depression. It helped me overcome postpartum depression and it has helped me many times in situational depression. If there was ever a time when situational depression would rear its ugly head, isolation due to Covid 19/coronavirus is that time. I am currently on day 19 of a minimum of 15 minutes a day running streak, in an attempt to keep from a downward slide. So, obviously I'm concerned with running without putting myself or others at risk. I live in a highly populated area. It's not quite like living downtown with all the high rises, but there are a lot of people in my area. Gone are the days when I'd go on a 10:30am run and see … [Read more...]
Drinking coffee by myself
This weekend is the coffee date link up with Deb and Coco. Sadly, given the current pandemic, there will be no in person coffee dates. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that I hosted a "Corona Relay" this weekend. Every runner had to run 3 legs in 24-36 hours. I managed 13.3 miles (math error, oops) in 24 hours. I had to do the last 3 on my treadmill because it was mid afternoon on a gorgeous day. The number of people walking past my house was ridiculous. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that I'm on day 11 of a run streak. I am happier on days when I run, so now I'm running every day. Today was leg day, so I only got in a mile and I did it on a T intersection near my house. I had to run it 8 times to get a … [Read more...]
Keeping my sanity during the Covid-19 / coronavirus pandemic
AKA how I'm only losing my shit occasionally during the coronavirus pandemic. I'm not going to pretend that I'm not stressed and that I haven't had moments of panic or that I haven't yelled at my kids, but for the most part, I'm doing ok. But it's not just "luck" that I'm doing ok. I had to institute some things to take care of myself and make this situation bearable for me. My number one rule: Cut myself (and my family) some slack. My kids are doing online learning now. I can still work for two of my jobs. My house needs a spring cleaning. Yada yada yada. Bottomline is that there's plenty for me and them to do. Some days we get shit done. Some days we don't. And that's ok. I've started a run streak. I realized late last week that … [Read more...]
Running in the age of Coronavirus / COVID 19
I'm gonna just put this out there: I am 100% in favor of social distancing. 100.Percent. I am far from panicked, but I do believe it's a necessary step based on everything I've read and some personal friends who are in the trenches. I may not be a doctor, but I am a research librarian. Long before this blog became a thing, I was trained in how to evaluate sources and how to synthesize information. So, now that we've got that out there. Let's chat. Today (yesterday?) alone, we saw the cancellation of 100s of races. I saw a lot of sadness, and anger, and disappointment. All of these are absolutely valid emotional responses. I get it. I don't currently have any races coming up on the calendar (I know, what?) and we managed to put on … [Read more...]
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