Women's Half Marathon Auckland, New Zealand July 1, 2018 2:35:09 Temp: 40s-50s What I wore:hat, tank top, a ZOOMA half zip, a Skirt Sports Lotta Breeze Skirt, compression socks, and Altra One 2.5 When we first started planning our trip to New Zealand and Australia, I immediately began looking for races. I had a couple on my list and as it turned out, the Women's Half Marathon worked perfectly for our travel plan. What I didn't anticipate was my ankle injury and a beer festival. That's right - the Great Australasian Beer Spectapular was happening in Auckland the day before the race. There was no way Beer Geek was going to be missing out on that. My only hope was to moderate my drinking. I succeeded, sort of. Sunday … [Read more...]
Half Marathon #75: Frederick Running Festival Half Marathon
Frederick Running Festival Half Marathon May 5, 2018 2:22:18 Temp: 50s-60s What I wore:hat, tank top, arm sleeves, a Skirt Sports Gym Girl Ultra Skirt, compression socks, and Altra One 2.5 The weather prediction for this race was originally pretty unpleasant - 50s and rainy. But we got lucky and the rain moved out and it ended up being ok running weather, although a bit humid and warm near the end. I stayed in Frederick the night before at a friend's house, so race morning was pretty easy. I walked over to the start, arriving 10 minutes early, and ran into another Ragnar Ambassador. A few minutes later, it was go time. As soon as I started running, I could tell I was tired. This was my third half marathon in 3 weeks, … [Read more...]
Half Marathon #74: National Women’s Half Marathon
National Women's Half Marathon April 29, 2018 2:11:57 Temp: mid 40s to low 50s What I wore:hat, tank top, Reebok half zip, , a Skirt Sports Lotta Breeze Skirt, compression socks, and Altra One 2.5 Once again Mother Nature decided to mess with us. Saturday was a warm and gorgeous day. Sunday dawned cold and windy. Yes, layers again. Sigh. Also, sticking with this spring's theme, I hadn't planned to run this race, but when the opportunity to transfer a cheap bib happened, I took it. Nevermind that I was getting up at 2am the morning before to volunteer. Who needs sleep anyways? I got up at 4am and was out the door to meet some MRTT friends by 5:10am. I had on one of Jones' outgrown sweatshirts and a pair of toddler mittens and … [Read more...]
The year without a spring
After a long winter, there's nothing I love more than the first few runs of spring where a skirt and tank top are the perfect clothing. That time when it's warm enough to not need layers, but not so warm that you feel like you are melting at the end of the run. Yeah, we aren't going to get that weather this year. I know that Virginia is lucky - we aren't getting the snow and cold that states farther north are, but I'm so over being cold. And I'm even more over the temperature swings. One day it's too hot to run outside because it's in the high 80s and I'm not acclimated to it. The next day I'm pulling out my Toasty Cheeks Tights again. I think I've worn my gloves on runs more in April than I did in February. And to add insult … [Read more...]
Lifetime Half Marathon #71: Rehoboth Beach Half
This year has been filled with amazing races. I tried out a couple of new races that I loved: St. Patrick's Day 10K and the Navy Air Force Half Marathon. I also returned to some old favorites: Marine Corps 17.75K, GW Parkway 10 Miler (one of my all time favorite races), Marine Corps Marathon, and then, just this past weekend, we went back to Rehoboth Beach for their half marathon. I know that the topic for Tuesdays on the Run this week is "Favorite Race in 2017", but really they were all my favorites. So, I'm going to recap my most recent favorite race. Rehoboth Beach Running Company Half December 2, 2017 2:12:48 Temp: low to mid 40s What I wore:hat, tank top, Reebok half zip, a Skirt Sports Happy Girl, compression socks, and Altra … [Read more...]
Lifetime half marathon #70!!!: Autumn Georgetown Half
Autum Georgetown Half Marathon October 1, 2017 2:22:48 Temp: high 40s up to low 60s What I wore:visor, tank top, Nike arm sleeves, a Skirt Sports Gym Girl Ultra, Altra compression socks, and Altra One 2.5 This has been quite a week and it's only Monday, sigh. My cat managed to jump onto the table at precisely the wrong moment and cause me to throw a bowl of soup across the table. It covered my phone, my computer, and a bunch of important papers. It even got into my hair! I've managed to salvage everything except the computer. It is currently upside down over a fan, with hopes that it will dry out and be usable again. So, instead of following the topic of Tuesdays on the Run, I'm going with a race report since it was … [Read more...]
Lifetime Half #69: Navy Air Force Half Marathon
Navy Air Force Half Marathon September 17, 2017 2:28:42 Temp: 73* with 95% humidity What I wore:visor, tank top, a Skirt Sports Gym Girl Ultra, Balega socks, and Altra One 2.5 I am currently in the highest mileage month of training for the Marine Corps Marathon. I've been running a lot of double digit runs and, quite frankly, getting a bit bored with it. So I suggested to my running partner that we run the Navy Air Force half marathon and then run home instead of running our 16 miles on our usual route. (Don't ever suggest something like this without actually checking the distance to "home".) She was on board, so we both signed up. I had a crazy weekend lined up, so we took the metro over to the expo and picked up our packets … [Read more...]
Lifetime Half #68: ZOOMA Annapolis
ZOOMA Annapolis 2017 June 3, 2017 2:23:16 Temp: Warm What I wore:hat, tank top, a Skirt Sports Happy Girl, Feetures socks, and Altra Escalante (Note that I changed my outfit at the very last moment and did not wear compression socks...) ZOOMA Annapolis 2008 was the first half marathon I ever ran. I made some rookie mistakes and had a miserable race. Since then, I ran it once as a half marathon and once as a 10K, both times as a ZOOMA Ambassador (use code ERIKA2017 for any ZOOMA race). Since 2017 was the 10th year of the half marathon, I decided I needed to run it as a half marathon again, even though I prefer to run the 10K. Why do I prefer the 10k? These ladies. Friday night before the half marathon has become a chance to … [Read more...]
Heading to the Runfessional before I head out of town
I'm not sure I'm actually ready to leave town, but we are heading out today for the Heartland Series. It's been a busy week all around, so I'm leaving a lot of things in a state of not quite done. Oh well, that seems to be my life lately. So, what do I have to runfess to this month? I ran an amazing 10 miler in April and followed that with 20 miles at Ragnar Richmond. My longest run since then was 6.7 miles for Chase the Moon. Somehow all of the long runs I planned just never happened. I had a goal of having ZOOMA Annapolis be my 70th half marathon. It was my 1st and I liked the round number. I blew it by not running the Frederick Half Marathon. Then, once I knew I wasn't hitting my goal, I decided to skip Michigan. So, I'm … [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...]
Lifetime Half #62, State #33: Woodbury Country Mile (MN)
It's Tuesday, so that means it's time for Tuesdays on the Run. Since today is a "free topic" day, I'm going to share my final race report from my trip to Mercury with Half Fanatics. Woodbury Country Mile August 21, 2016 2:21:56 Temp: High 50s to low 60s What I wore: hat, tank top, a Skirt Sports Gym Girl Ultra, compression socks, and Altra One 2.5 After I left the half marathon in Wausau, I drove 2.5 hours to Woodbury MN. Packet pickup was in the local YMCA and literally took 2 minutes. I knew absolutely nothing about the course, but I knew I was in for a small race and prepared to run the race mostly by myself. After packet pickup, I headed to a college friend's house. He was a fraternity brother of Beer Geek's and I hadn't … [Read more...]
5 Reasons Half Marathons are the Perfect Distance
I love half marathons. Most of the time, anyways. Sometimes I hate them. But after 62 of them, I've determined that it's the race distance that I most love to run. I became a half fanatic back when I ran my 3rd half marathon (HF#182), but I had no idea back then that I'd ever run so many. But now I can't seem to stop. It's an attainable distance - A half marathon is a long distance run. There's no getting around that. But MOST runners can work their way up to one and there are many races out there with generous time periods. (Hint: ones that have a marathon on the same course at close to the same time often have the most generous limits.) The training doesn't take over your life - If you are in reasonable shape, you can train … [Read more...]
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