One of my favorite parts of traveling in a foreign country is to go for a run while we are there. It's a great way to combine getting some exercise with doing a bit of sightseeing. But not every location is conducive to a safe run and even those that are, requires some thought before hand. Culture, location, and distance all need to be considered before heading out on a run. Obviously, I'm assuming you already packed appropriate items for running and just need to figure out how and where. When we went to Ireland, I was not able to run much because the roads near where we were had no shoulders and no sidewalks. In New Zealand, I could have run easily in Rotorua and Auckland had a bike/run path right in city centre. In Australia, I was able … [Read more...]
Time for coffee with some friends
Coffee time! I don't often make it for a coffee date with friends these days, but I'm trying to be better about being social. So, I'm joining up with Deborah and Coco for a virtual coffee date. I managed to get a run in with Deborah recently and ran into Coco at an event, so I'm even doing some real life socializing! I’m also 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 went from no races to a huge number of races in a flash this spring. I didn't mean to, but somehow it just happened! Somehow I've run 17.75, a timed trail race, and two half marathon that I did not have on my race calendar. This weekend I'm finally running the Frederick Half Marathon - … [Read more...]
Half Marathon #73: Petersburg Half Marathon
Petersburg Half Marathon April 21, 2018 2:14:01 Temp: mid 40s to low 50s What I wore:hat, tank top, Reebok half zip, , a Skirt Sports Happy Girl, compression socks, and Altra One 2.5 Apparently the theme for this spring is "what the heck do I wear?" I was really torn on how many layers to wear and, in fact, changed my mind many times. At one point I had on a jacket and tights. Thankfully, I had the good sense to take some layers off and ended up dressed perfectly. The Petersburg Half Marathon is about 40 minutes south of Richmond and I happened to be in Richmond for the weekend to go to NASCAR (more on that another day.) Shoo and I were staying with one of his best buddies' family, so I was able to leave him with them and head … [Read more...]
Rating April: #oopsanotherrace
At the beginning of the year, I set up one big scary goal: Take each day as it comes. Roll with the punches and keep on moving forward with a smile on my face. I've struggled with accepting that. The planner in me wanted everything on paper (yes, I still use a bullet journal - writing things by hand works for me), but I have so many balls in the air that I had to pencil it all in. And I'm glad I did. Life had some ups and downs and twists and turns this month, but if it could not have worked out better if I'd planned it in January. The month started with some wacky weather that threw us all into a tizzy. I was going to run RNR Raleigh, but there were too many unknowns and Beer Geek cancelled his trip, so we all ended up staying … [Read more...]
Half Marathon #72: Runners Marathon of Restion
This past week was all kinds of crazy, thanks to the weather predictions. I got the bright idea last week to drive down to Raleigh with Shoo to run RNR Raleigh since Beer Geek and Jones were going on a trip. Well, the crazy weather canceled their trip (they were going on a road that doesn't get plowed - no one expected snow in April!) and I wasn't sure what the weather here was going to do, so I canceled my trip too. Instead of going out of town, I volunteered with Ragnar at the Cherry Blossom Festival. The high point of that was meeting Meb! I also got the bright idea to run a local half marathon instead. I'm trying to get my mileage up for my Ultra Ragnar in Pennsylvania in June and I've just been unmotivated to run long. This … [Read more...]
All my runfessions are “racefessions”
How are we nearing the end of March already? I feel like we have been in the middle of winter all month and now suddenly April is days away. Of course the fact that it has felt like winter for much of March this year might have something to do with it. As we roll into April, I've suddenly realized I have a big deal race coming up in mid-June - my first ultra Ragnar. My horrible lack of running this winter has me a bit panicked and played a part in my runfessions this month. I runfess that I'm running my first timed race. And it's a trail run. That will probably be muddy. Why yes, I am going out of my comfort zone. I signed up for the three hour option of the Rise Run Shine race. If I run more than 13.1 miles, it will count as another … [Read more...]
2018 Predictions: Certainties and Uncertainties
Here we are, two weeks into 2018, and I guess what? I have no idea what the year will bring. At this point in time, I've registered for 1! race - the Frederick Half Marathon. I've bought no plane tickets and made no travel plans. While I am far from a type A personality, I usually at least have things planned and I feel like most of my life, including my running, is like nailing down jello right now. Since the topic for today's Tuesdays on the Run is "2018 Predictions", I'm going to read the lines in my palm and tell you what I see (or something like that...) Things I see as definites: Somehow I WILL manage to run (or at least finish) the 2018 Marine Corps Marathon. I know that I have options to get in, so somehow I'll get in … [Read more...]
Evaluating my 2017 goals
2017 is mere days from ending. I still have 6 more runs and 14.4 more miles to complete my year. I'm taking the boys to visit my parents for a few days - where the temps are barely in the single digits. I have a feeling I'll be hitting the treadmill each day for the three days I'm there. Meanwhile, it's time to evaluate my 2017 so that I can start firming up my 2018. Running Get back into the local race scene. I knocked this goal out of the park. I ran 5 races with Pacers Running - my favorite local race company. Over the years, I have run many of their races and never been disappointed. This women led organization ROCKS the DC area race scene. Find some speed again. I did pretty well with this. I hit my goals at the GW … [Read more...]
Things that make you go hmmm…
This week has been, well, a week. My older son turned 16 - on the same day he had to take the PSATs. Poor kid. I've barely been running. I've just lost all motivation plus suddenly all the things that I ignored this summer are suddenly needing to be done. So today's topic of "Things that make you go hmmm..." seems perfect for where I am mentally right now. Swedish Death Cleaning - I came upon an article about this on Facebook. I'm not sure if it's legit, but I love the idea. The theory is that as you age, you start going through your things and start getting rid of stuff so that you don't leave your family with a ton of crap to dispose of. I have to admit that this resonates with me a lot more than the KonMari method. We've lived in … [Read more...]
Rating my year at the 6 month point
At the end of each month, we've been asking you to rate your running month as part of Tuesdays on the Run. As we close out June, I'm also going to check in on my annual goals too. As far as June goes, it started off strong and then flatlined. My body didn't bounce back as well after the Heartland race series as it has after other series. I really have no one to blame but myself. I did a lot of speedwork this spring, but I didn't do a lot of back to back runs. I also didn't do as many double digit runs as planned. Just this past week, I finally started feeling more like myself on the run. I no longer feel like I'm running through mud. I'm quite thankful for that as the I need all the energy I can find to start Hansons Marathon Method in the … [Read more...]
Lifetime Half #67, State #38, Heartland Series (IA)
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...]
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