September was a whirlwind month for me. I'm still trying to recover - and October is not exactly laid back either. I'm pretty sure that I have coffee running in my veins at this point. So, it seems appropriate to jump in on Deb and Coco's coffee date. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that I LOVE working for ZOOMA and the other project I took on. But going up to 30 hours a week of working has been quite a shock to my system. Something had to give and it feels like the blog has taken the brunt of that. I hope to get back to commenting and responding once Amelia Island is done. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that I'm nervous about the Marine Corps Marathon. I've had training issues in the past, but I've always had a … [Read more...]
Friday Runfessions: 58 Days and Counting
This month has flown by as I madly juggle all of the balls I have in the air. Some days I predict things will completely fall on my head, but most of the time I manage to pull things out. As we approach the first of the fall ZOOMA races, I'm only mildly in panic mode. But it's the last Friday of the month and time to join my buddy Marcia in the runfessional. I have to runfess that this is the worst training season I've ever had for a marathon. I just can't find my ability to care. At least in the past, I've at least been trying. Maybe because it's my fifth MCM, which means I get into Runners Club when I finish. I think I might be suffering from a case of senioritis. I must also runfess that I've totally given up on a training … [Read more...]
Have Skirt Sports, Will Travel #sisterhoodofthetravelingskirt
Post contains Affliliate links, which means that if you purchase through them, I get paid a small commission. It's been about 7 years since I first put on a Skirt Sports skirt and went out for a run. That first skirt was the Happy Hour skirt (basically a Happy Girl without the pockets). I fell in love with that skirt - for running. As I slowly built up my collection (I was the queen of clearance sales and ebay), I got in the habit of putting on a running skirt, running bra, and tank top when I'd get up. As a stay at home mom to two, I needed to be ready at any moment to head out on a run. Slowly but surely, the Happy Girl became a staple in my "mom uniform." In the last few years, my non-Skirt wardrobe has dwindled. I … [Read more...]
August Coffee Date: Pour me another, please!
It always amazes me how fast the months slip by. It's hard to believe I wrote my last "coffee date" post from New Zealand. We've been back 3 weeks and I still feel like I'm trying to catch up. Apparently, taking two full weeks off from life does not work well for me. Anyways, I’m joining up with my friends Deborah and Coco for a virtual coffee date as well as linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for Friday Five 2.0. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that I haven't made it to bed before 1am in over a week. And it's not like I'm sleeping in - I've gotten up in time to run at 6:30am a couple of days and I've had early commitments several days. I live for the few days I've gotten to sleep in, but … [Read more...]
Tips for preparing for running Ragnar on an ultra team
Last weekend I ran Ragnar PA on an ultra team. Generally speaking, an ultra team has 6 members and one van, as opposed to 12 members and two vans. This means that you are running twice as many miles and have no time as the "inactive van." As you might guess, this makes it an entirely different experience. To be honest, I loved it! I don't think I'll ever go back to a regular team. Before you can even prepare though, your team has to decide if everyone will be doing 6 runs or 3 LONG runs. While I can't say this would be the case for every location, for Pennsylvania (and DC) doing 3 long runs means you could very well be doing a half marathon or longer in the middle of the night and then be doing the same at noon. No thank you! I'd much … [Read more...]
Five things every injury prone runner should have
Confession: I've run lots of miles and made lots of stupid running choices for years with minimal issues and almost no injuries. But every once in a while, I do something that lands me on the injured reserve. Luckily, I have all the things to get myself back up and running fairly quickly. Here are the things I recommend every runner have to both prevent and help heal running injuries. Foam Roller - this simple, inexpensive tool is perhaps the most important thing every runner should have in their arsenal. A few minutes spent rolling before and after a run can make all the difference in the world. There are a ton of routines on various running sites, but Amanda at Run to the Finish has a great overview of foam rolling for … [Read more...]
Run Local, Buy Local, Wear Local
I've lived in the DC area for more than 20 years. While sometimes I still wonder how that happened (I grew up as a military brat and moved all the time), this area has become my hometown. And with 16 years of running under my belt, I've run most races and run all over the DMV. So, when Lisa from District Line Co told me about her new design, I was all over it. (Yes, I'm getting a free t-shirt, but I also have bought several shirts she's designed for MRTT.) When Lisa McLaughlin founded District Line Co in 2014, she had a mission: to promote the love of local with shirts that feel like home. Her designs have captured iconic skylines and the hearts of the people who live beneath them. She’s based in Arlington, Virginia and she sources her … [Read more...]
It’s too hot for a February Runfession
I think that Mother Nature is suffering from hot flashes this winter. I'm used to a few random "I can wear a skirt and maybe a tank top" days, but it seems like we've had more than normal. And even when it's "cold", it's late fall cold, not winter cold. We haven't even had a real snow yet. (Watch, now March is going to be a mess.) Because the weather has been so iffy, I runfess that I shifted my runs around and made a rookie mistake. I moved my long run to Wednesday to avoid the rain on Thursday and Friday. I was supposed to do 10 miles, but completely crashed and burned at 6.5. Why? Because it was 80*. Homey don't play dat in February. Hell, Homey don't play dat in June! Because that run sucked so much, I runfess that I have … [Read more...]
Final Runfessions for 2017
Here we are with three days left in 2017. It's the final Friday Five of the year and the final Runfessions. And I have to admit that I do have a few runfessions to share... As I write this, I'm 4.8 miles from 1400 for the year and 7.1 miles from 100 from December. I must runfess that it's kind of killing me that I can't make both work out to a nice number for the total. Obviously, I'll be running at least the 7.1 to reach my 100 mile goal for every month in 2017. I have to runfess that I haven't run a whole lot this month and most of it has been on the treadmill. I'm really enjoying the Faster Way to Fat Loss workouts (affiliate link), but they aren't conducive to getting an outside run in most days. I've been doing warmups and … [Read more...]
Tips and Tricks for a Fit Winter
Winter is coming! Or at least that's the rumor I've heard LOL. Our weather has been all over the place this fall. MCM was borderline hot. The other day it was cold and rainy. Sunday it's supposed to be in the mid 70s again. I can't keep up! But I know that it's inevitable and the cold days will come. Buy the appropriate gear - While not all of my workouts are going to be outside, I try to run outside as often as I can. I only stay inside if it's icy or it's super cold AND windy. One of the most important things for me is a decent wind breaking running jacket. If you have that, you can layer as many layers as you need under it to stay warm. That kid from the Christmas Story? Yeah, that's me on the run in the winter. Find some … [Read more...]
Time for some marathon runfessions
It's the last Friday of the month, so it's time to runfess the sins of October. Since the Marine Corps Marathon is fresh in my mind, all of my runfessions are related to that (or at least to the marathon distance). I runfess that within hours of finishing the marathon, I was considering running another one as a redemption race. I know I can do better than that under different conditions. Luckily, I very quickly realized that "Nah, I'm good" and signed up for Rehoboth Beach as a half marathon. I runfess that at the end of the race, I realized I'd done the whole thing on about half a gu, multiple half cups of Gatorade, and a mini Coke. No wonder I was dragging from about the halfway point. I run most of my half marathons without … [Read more...]
How the marathon taper is like waiting to give birth
In two days, I'll be lining up with 30,000 of my closest friends, ready to run my 4th Marine Corps Marathon. I haven't been this trained for the race since I ran it for the first time in 2008. Which means, for the first time in a while, I went into taper actually NEEDING to taper. I was exhausted and had been for weeks. And when you go from 50-60 mile weeks down to the 20s, you end up with a little extra time on your hands. As I did crazy things like weed through all of our off season clothes, I realized that the last time I felt this driven to clean clean clean, Shoo arrived a few hours later. This led me to the realization that tapering has a lot in common with the final days of pregnancy. You'll find yourself doing the oddest … [Read more...]
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