Heartland Series: Iowa June 1, 2017 2:23:21 Temp: Low 50s to mid 60s What I wore:hat, tank top, a Skirt Sports Happy Girl, compression socks, and Altra Escalante Because the Illinois race and Iowa race were literally across the river from each other, we were able to stay in the same hotel for two nights. This meant we could spend our day after the race checking out the local area, rather than doing much driving. Know what was in the local area? The shop from American Pickers and a brewpub, as well as the Buffalo Bill museum. Our final race of the series was going to be followed by an 8 hour drive as we needed to head to Annapolis for the ZOOMA half marathon. In order to buy us some extra time, I decided to take the … [Read more...]
Lifetime Half #66, State #37, Heartland Series (IL)
Today's Tuesdays on the Run topic is "scenes from your run". I love to see the cool places people run on a regular basis. Unfortunately, life has been INSANE lately and all of my runs have been straight out the front door and loops through my neighborhood. Yes, my "run this town" project is going great. I have my neighborhood done at least 8 times now, sigh. So, I'm taking the "link up any running related post" option and writing about race #3 that I did at the Heartland Series. Or maybe I should say race #3 and #4... Heartland Series: Illinois May 31, 2017 2:28:19 and 36:00 Temp: Low 50s to mid 60s What I wore:hat, tank top, a Skirt Sports Happy Girl, compression socks, and Altra One 2.5 Once we finished the Indiana race, we headed … [Read more...]
Lifetime Half #65, State #36, Heartland Series (IN)
Heartland Series: Indiana May 30, 2017 2:18:23 Temp: High 60s to high 70s What I wore:hat, tank top, a Skirt Sports Gym Girl Ultra, compression socks, and Altra Escalante After I finished the Ohio race, we took a day off from running. I already had a Michigan race and I'd already run many back to back races, so we did some touristy stuff instead. We went to a windmill museum, drove by Michael Jackson's birthplace, visited several brewpubs, and visited a beach on Lake Michigan. It was nice to have a full day off to relax, but soon enough it was time to run again. We were now in Central Time, so race start was 5am. However, we decided to keep our bodies on Eastern Time and sleep and eat as if we had not changed time zones. … [Read more...]
Lifetime Half #64, State #35, Heartland Series (OH)
Heartland Series: Ohio May 28, 2017 2:28:09 Temp: High 60s to high 70s What I wore: visor, tank top, a Skirt Sports Gym Girl Ultra, compression socks, and Altra Escalante After two days of driving that included a some fun in Pittsburgh, Beer Geek and I rolled into small town Ohio. We stopped by packet pickup, where I couldn't resist buying myself a new medal hanger, specifically for my Mainly Marathon medals. Then we headed to dinner at the local brewpub. We did a sampler of all of their beers, which prompted the owner to come over and chat with us. Then I proceeded to eat a bison burger as big as my head along with a crazy number of tater tots. (It was so big that a random woman actually stopped by our table to ask me if I ate … [Read more...]
Lessons learned at another multi-race series
I've finished another multi-state adventure. It went both better and worse than I expected. I also learned a few new things at this race. Don't worry, I'll tell you all about each and every race soon. For Friday 2.0 with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness, here's what I learned this time. ChafeX is amazing. Not only does it help prevent chafing, but if you chafe (because you didn't think to put it someplace), it helps you survive the next day's race without crying. When you are running out and backs multiple times, a hilly course is killer. I was quite literally counting how many hills I had left, rather than laps. Salty broth and noodles are better than Gatorade. I swear nothing tastes better 10 or so miles into a … [Read more...]
Packing and planning for a multi-race trip
Time always seems to fly so fast. It seems just yesterday we chose the Heartland Series as our couple vacation this year. Yeah, I know we are weird to go traipsing around the country, running races, as our vacation without kids. Whatever. It works for us. Since we are driving this time, packing is a good bit easier. I can take all.the.things. Or most of them anyways. I did still lay out all of my running outfits and will shortly pull out the gallon bags. Because gallon bags are the best way to pack for a trip that involves running (I use it for Ragnar too.) It keeps the outfit together before the run and then corrals the scent post run. I'm a tiny bit nervous about this series. I'm not worried that I can't run all the miles … [Read more...]
Lifetime Half #63, State #34: Riverboat Series (MO)
It's Tuesday, so that means it's time for Tuesdays on the Run. I know today we are supposed to talk about race day mistakes, but I'm still trying to recover from our long drive. Instead, here's my race report from state #34! Riverboat Series: Missouri April 15, 2017 2:20:24 Temp: High 60s to high 70s What I wore: visor, tank top, a Skirt Sports Happy Girl, compression socks, and Altra Escalante A few months back, it occurred to me that if I do the Heartland Series in May, I'd be left with a donut hole in the shape of the state of Missouri. Since I knew Beer Geek was not able to take the week of spring break off, I hatched a grand plan. I decided I would find a race in Missouri and I'd take the kids to St. Louis for spring … [Read more...]
Bucket List Race: Utah Valley Marathon
Several years ago, when I first started my quest to run a race in every state, we went to Utah on vacation. I had not yet decided I needed to run half marathons in each state, so I ran a lovely 10K in Provo, UT. I've been kicking myself ever since - I still need to get out there to run a half marathon. Enter the Utah Valley Marathon, Half Marathon, and 10K. Located in the beautiful Provo Canyon, it has a reputation for being scenic and fast. When I was offered the opportunity to run the race, I was super excited: new state, beautiful race, slightly downhill course, and an awesome jacket as the premium because it is their 10 year anniversary. Add in plentiful aid stations (seriously at 2,4,6,8,10,11,12) with water and sports … [Read more...]
TOTR: Tips for planning a racecation
Have you ever gone on a racecation? I love to racecation. In fact, vacationing without a race very seldom happens around here anymore. While I do love a local race (and 2017 is going to be a bit more local focused), combining travel and racing is my favorite. Today on Tuesdays on the Run, we are discussing whether you are more of a weekend warrior (aka local racer) or running off on a racecation. If you've been around my blog for long, you know I'd be traveling and racing every weekend if I could manage it. So, I'm going to share how I go about planning my trips. Decide what aspect is most important to you. Do you have a specific race in mind? Or are you going on vacation and want a race nearby? Or maybe you are on your 50 … [Read more...]
Setting 2017 Goals not Resolutions
Here we are at the start of another year. It seems like 2016 flew by. For me as a runner, it was a really awesome year, but I chose goals that played to my strengths: back to back half marathons, trips to races, etc. I also chose typical things like manage my time better and drink more water, which feel more like "resolutions". Today's Tuesdays on the Run topic is "Runner Resolutions" (yes, I know I need to update my page), but I'm going to talk about some specific goals instead. For several years now, I've used this format and it really works for me. Running Get back into the local race scene. I've been really busy with the traveling and racing and only running half marathons. I used to love to run at the local races, so I've … [Read more...]
50 States Half Marathon Planning
Confession: I haven't run a half marathon since August. In fact, the only race I've run is Marine Corps Marathon. And I only have one more race on my calendar for 2016 - the 5 mile Chocolate Run. I am absolutely OK with how 2016 is wrapping up. In fact, I've actively chosen not to do a local half marathon or any of the other holiday races. But it's time to get the planning started for 2017. I have 17 states left. No, I'm not going to announce that I'm going to knock out all 17 in 2017. Although, how cool would that be? Instead, I'm going to focus on knocking out that chunk in the midwest and the southern east coast. That will just leave me with the western third of the United States, Hawaii, and Alaska AKA all the expensive races for … [Read more...]
Tips for racing in all 50 states
It's been a busy week here in the MCM Mama household. Both boys went back to school this week, soccer games start this coming weekend, and we are a week away from running Ragnar DC. To say I'm a bit frazzled is putting it mildly. To add to the fun, Virginia is pretending it's July again. My Thursday run involved high 80s and 80% humidity. As you might guess if you've been reading here for a while, I ran closer to 6 miles than to the planned 12. At this rate, I'm going to be running MCM without running anything longer than a half marathon. But I'm going to keep my head in the sand on that and focus on what really interests me: racing around the US. I love traveling and there's so much to see in America, so I've been enjoying the adventure so … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- …
- 7
- Next Page »
