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 #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...]
Marine Corps Marathon Do Over
Last year was supposed to be my last marathon for a while and definitely was my last planned Marine Corps Marathon. Yet, here I sit, days away from running MCM again. While I'm still slightly unclear on how I moved from not wanting to run it to signed up, I know that once I signed up, I had a goal. My goal? To run the race with the mental strength I had last year, but the pace I had on my second marathon. To say I'm nowhere near that pace would be an understatement. I have no one to blame but myself. And I know I'll have fun at MCM (and in some ways it will be more fun because I won't be "racing"), but it's not going to be the race I would have liked for my final (for now) marathon. I'd love to go back and start my training over. … [Read more...]
Lifetime Half #59, State #31: New England Series – New York
Today is Tuesdays on the Run and our topic is "what you find on the road." Oddly, I've never really found anything interesting, including no money, so I don't have much to say. So, I'm going off topic and finally recapping my last race of the 7 half marathons in 7 days. New England Series: New York May 21, 2016 2:17:36 Temp: mid 50s but warmed up fast What I wore: hat, tank top, a Skirt Sports Gym Girl Ultra, Wonder Woman socks, and Altra One 2.5 This was race seven of the New England Series. (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut preceded it.) The race took place at the Ulster County Fairgrounds in New Paltz, NY. I had done this course before as a full marathon, but thankfully it was … [Read more...]
Lifetime Half #58, State #30: New England Series – Connecticut
New England Series: Connecticut May 20, 2016 2:18:10 Temp: low 50s What I wore: hat, tank top, a Skirt Sports Happy Girl skirt, Beer socks, and Altra One 2.5 Happy Global Running Day! I'm celebrating with a beer run this evening, but instead of a Global Running Day post, I'd rather recap my Connecticut race. It was a really good one! This was race six of the New England Series. (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island preceded it.) The race took place on the Iron Horse Greenway in Simsbury, CT. It was one of the longer courses at 2.184 miles, which meant we only had to do 6 laps. This distance is my favorite. It long enough to feel like you are making significant progress with each lap, without being so … [Read more...]
Five things to know about Mainly Marathons
I love Mainly Marathons. I fell in love with the series on Day 2 of the very first series I did in 2013. I'd found my tribe. All the crazies that were running around in circles for a ridiculous number of miles each day? These are my people. I've now done four full series and parts of two others. I've done 25 half marathons and 2 marathons with them (and now I'm looking at doing a 50K with them in the fall.) Obviously I love running races with Mainly Marathons or I would not go back each year. But there are some things I've learned while doing these races that are useful to know going in. And if you haven't decided you want to run a series, go read my 5 reasons to run a Mainly Marathons series and then come back. The courses … [Read more...]
Lifetime Half #57, State #29: New England Series – Rhode Island
New England Series: Rhode Island May 19, 2016 2:22:09 Temp: low 50s What I wore: hat, tank top, a half zip, a Skirt Sports Happy Girl skirt, Features compression socks, and Altra One 2.5 This was race five of the New England Series. (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts preceded it.) The race took place at the Coventry Center Park in Rhode Island. It was a really short course, so we'd have to do 11 laps. Luckily, it was all paved, with only one hill to speak of. I was feeling a little rough. My right glute was staging a protest and decided it did not want to participate in the race. This made running a little bit of a challenge. However, the weather was basically perfect and Beer Geek told me we had no time … [Read more...]
Lifetime Half #56, State #28: New England Series – Massachusetts
New England Series: Massachusetts May 18, 2016 2:37:33 Temp: mid-50s-60s What I wore: hat, tank top, a half zip, a Skirt Sports Happy Girl skirt, compression socks, and Altra One 2.5 This was race four of the New England Series. (Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont preceded it.) The race took place at the Northfield Mountain Recreation Center. My quad was feeling a bit sore, but otherwise I felt pretty good at the start line. (Apparently I planned to sleep-run this one) Then we began moving and I realized my legs were pretty fatigued. And then we turned onto the grass field. Running on grass is a special kind of hell. This was thick, in need of a mow, grass. I felt like my feet got stuck with every step. It was exhausting! I … [Read more...]
Five Favorite Things about our New England Trip
At this point, I've completed 5 of 7 half marathons. We've had an amazing trip so far. Maine was an ok race, New Hampshire was good, Vermont was awesome, Massachusetts kicked my butt, and Rhode Island went well. We've driven all over the area in the Ford Mustang the rental agency gave us instead of a compact LOL. I've visited a tri-point (where three state borders come together), the Rhode Island high point, and all the counties in Vermont and New Hampshire that Beer Geek needed to visit. We are having a wonderful time celebrating 21 years of marriage doing the things that make us both happy. (OK, I'm tolerating the geeky stuff LOL) Since it's Friday Five, here are five things I'm loving about this trip... Beer Geek running with me - … [Read more...]
Lifetime Half #55, State #27: New England Series – Vermont
New England Series: Vermont May 17, 2016 2:15:19 Temp: Low 40s and sunny What I wore: hat, tank top, arm sleeves, Brooks Nightlife jacket, a Skirt Sports Happy Girl skirt, Features compression socks, and Altra One 2.5 Vermont was state #3 in the New England Series. (Maine recap and New Hampshire recap) After a somewhat fast and definitely hilly race in New Hampshire, I had no idea what to expect when we got to the Vermont course. My quads were tight and sore and I was tired from not sleeping well. It was a beautiful day though and the course was a simple out and back on the Toonervlle Trail, a paved rail trail. I was happy to see Kim again and planned to just run easy. I started the race with my buddy, Nads. (There are a lot of … [Read more...]
