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...]
Lifetime Half #54, State #26: New England Series – New Hampshire
New England Series: New Hampshire May 16, 2016 2:22:45 Temp: mid-30s and really windy What I wore: hat, tank top, arm sleeves, a half zip, Brooks Nightlife jacket, a Skirt Sports Happy Girl skirt, Features compression socks, and Altra Impulse I was feeling a bit tired for this race and the temperature had dropped quite a bit overnight and the winds had picked up. I put on all.the.layers because I was afraid I'd be cold (and ended up regretting this.) This race took place in Greenfield State Park in New Hampshire and would consist of 6 loops. I like even number loops, so that worked for me. I was excited to see Kim as she and her husband had come out to run New Hampshire and Vermont. The course had a few spots of challenging … [Read more...]
Lifetime Half #53, State #25: New England Series – Maine
New England Series: Maine May 15, 2-16 2:29:30 Temp: low 50s, cloudy, and windy What I wore: hat, short sleeve shirt, arm sleeves, a Skirt Sports Happy Girl skirt, compression socks, and my trusty Altra One 2.5 Sunday was the kickoff of the 2016 Mainly Marathons New England Series in Sanford, Maine. Beer Geek and I had spent the last two days driving up from Virginia - in a Mustang that the rental agency gave us when they didn't have a compact LOL. It was a bit chilly at the start, but mostly because it was quite windy. I started out on the first lap wearing my Brooks Nightlife jacket, but quickly ditched that at the first opportunity. I spent the rest of the race in short sleeves and arm sleeves. I kept thinking I'd take off the … [Read more...]
Lifetime half #52, State #24: Independence Series – New Jersey
Independence Series: New Jersey May 7, 2016 2:25:18 Temp: low 40s and cloudy What I wore: hat,tank top, half zip, Skirt Sports Happy Girl skirt, Features Compression socks, and my new Altra Paradigms This race was not on my radar until Shoo's soccer season messed up all of my planned races for April and May. Clinton, NJ is a four hour drive and the race was on a Saturday, so it was my "last ditch" option to get in a New Jersey race this spring. I had mixed feelings when I decided that I needed to do this race. After all, I love Mainly Marathons, but the logistics were a bit daunting. But, I committed, and I did it. Friday was a rainy day here. I made a rookie mistake and waited until after my kids came home from school to leave … [Read more...]
Jumping back on the Hansons Marathon Method plan
Have you ever sat down at your calendar and gone "OMG, how is it that I only have 6 weeks left to train?" No? I mean, I'm notorious for running the random half marathon undertrained and I ran Marine Corps with a 5 week taper last fall, but I've ALWAYS done major training for the Mainly Marathons Series that I've done. Yet, here I sit, 6 weeks out from the start of 7 half marathons in 7 days and this is the first week in ages I've run more than 3 times in a week. Oops. Thanks to RNR DC, UC Charlotte half, and tomorrow's 17.75 race, I feel like I've got the ability to cover a half marathon again. So, now it's time to get back on track with back to back runs and mileage building. It occurred to me that perhaps I should have a plan, so I'm … [Read more...]
Center of the Nation Series Half Marathon Day #6 – Colorado
Center of the Nation Series Half Marathon - Colorado September 19, 2015 2:32:59 Temp: 40s at the start, high 50s by the finish What I wore: hat, Wonder Woman tank top, Brooks jacket, Skirt Sports Happy Girl Skirt(this is an affiliate link), compression socks, and Altra Running One 2.5 (affiliate link). I was venturing into new territory here - I'd done 5 half marathons in a row before, but this was #6. All things considered, I felt pretty good (in large part thanks to massages.) My plan was to leave it all out on the course. And I did. But mostly because I really did not have that much left in me. The course was mostly a dirt path in the woods - much easier on my body than concrete and less likely to trip me than the trail of … [Read more...]
State #25!!!: Colorado – Half Marathon 4 of 5
Short story: I finished. It wasn't my slowest day. Long story: For the fourth race of the Dust Bowl Series, we ran in Lamar, CO. Thanks to our decision to switch to a B&B, we had a yummy breakfast before the race instead of having to make a PB&J in the room. It was also closer to the race start, so we didn't head over until 6am. (As an aside, three of the races were in central time and the last two were in mountain time. I just stayed on central time, which means we went to sleep at 8:30pm mountain. I'm so time confused right now, it's not even funny.) It was chilly again, but not as bad as the previous day. I opted for fewer layers on the bottom, but still wore my arm warmers and two pairs of gloves. Thanks to … [Read more...]
State #23: Oklahoma – Half Marathon 2 of 5!
Short story: I finished. Long story: Tuesday was the second day of the Dust Bowl Series. We ran on a concrete path around a small lake in Guymon, OK. The path was exactly one mile in length, so the half marathoners had to run 13 laps, with a small out and back at the end. Thankfully, they set us up with chip timing, so we had help keeping track. When I originally signed up for the Series, I was dreading the one mile loops. As it turned out, there was a lot of awesome to it. Beer Geek had food poisoning, so he took my picture before I left and then I caught a ride to the start with another runner. (I LOVE this part of the running community!) One of the first purchases I made when we got to the Dust Bowl area was a … [Read more...]
State #22: Texas – Half Marathon 1 of 5!
Short story: I finished. Long story: Monday was the first day of the Dust Bowl Series and we ran around Lake Rita in Dalhart, Texas. It was a 6.55 mile loop that the half marathoners ran twice. It was a "crushed gravel" surface, but really felt more like running on sort of packed dirt. As a pavement runner, I found it took a lot of my energy, but it did make things easier on my foot. We started "dark and early", but thankfully it was mostly light by the time we actually hit the path. It was quite chilly and I couldn't feel my feet until about the end of the first mile. The scenery was lovely in some parts and very desolate feeling in others. Sadly, I spent most of the 13 miles by myself as we were all spread out. The … [Read more...]
Run, Walk, or Crawl
It seems like only yesterday I was joking about doing 5 half marathons in 5 days, but it's been 8 months in the making. When Kim and Jess started talking about it on Facebook, I never thought I'd actually do it (and sadly I'm the only one of the three of us doing it). But I made the "mistake" of sharing the idea with Beer Geek, and next thing I knew, it was the plan. Since then, I've run a lot of miles. Not as many as planned thanks to a bit of a detour. But a lot. And tomorrow we leave for the adventure! But the big question is "What are my goals?" All along, I've said that my goal was to finish all five, preferably upright and smiling. At one point when training was going well, my goal was to run all 5 in under 2:30. Now, … [Read more...]
