It's hard to believe that tomorrow the kids go back to school (never mind that most other schools are already back in session.) It feels like just yesterday that we were celebrating the end of another school year. But we had a good summer and this is a huge year here - Jones (who was 7 when I started this blog!) is a senior this year and Shoo is in his last year of middle school. Seriously, where did my babies go? We managed to pack a lot into this summer! Jones and I visited 7 colleges, 2 zoos, an aquarium, an ornithology lab, and an aviary. Shoo got to visit Beer Geek's family, got bitten by a salamander, built his own road bike, and has gone on a few double digit mileage bike rides. On the running front, I got to run a … [Read more...]
Ragnar Minnesota Recap: Team FOMO
At the beginning of the year, I took a look at the Ragnar calendar and realized I only had one race that really fit my calendar and budget: Ragnar Minnesota. Everything else was going to be difficult to squeeze in or involved expensive flights. So, I started reaching out to old teammates, close friends, and a few bloggers to try to create an Ultra team, like we had in Pennsylvania. Long story short - FAIL. One teammate got injured and needed surgery, another had a vacation schedule change, another had other commitments, blah blah blah. After a while, I gave up and decided I'd just run the Madison Mini again. But then I happened to see a post on the MRTT Ragnar group that a team was looking for runners. I spent 10 minutes reaching … [Read more...]
I think I need a coffee IV
How on earth is it August? July FLEW by this year. I'd say I'm not even sure what I did, but really I spent it running, visiting colleges, and trying to keep up with my 3 jobs. Oy. I've drunk an unreasonable amount of coffee to make that happen. So today I'm joining Deb and Coco for a coffee date. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that my training for the 50K is going surprisingly well. (Ask me again tomorrow after my long run.) I've upped my overall mileage and I ran a half marathon at my goal pace last weekend and, except for an awful mile 12, it went well. I'm currently 24 days into a run streak and yesterday I ran twice. And my body seems to be holding up well. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that I managed to … [Read more...]
I’ll take wine instead of coffee…
It's time for the monthly virtual coffee date with Deb and Coco, but this month I had the pleasure of getting to see both of them at a dinner party that Deb threw. So, today we are having wine. If we were having wine, I'd tell you that it was awesome to meet up with a bunch of local MRTT ladies and a few bloggers at Deb's house. I got to meet Kim and Linda and also see the other Deb again. Not only was the food great, but the company was amazing. Kim and Linda were in town for the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler, so hopefully they had a great run today. If we were having wine, I'd also tell you that I volunteered at the Altra booth at the Cherry Blossom expo. I got to try on the new Kayenta (OMG, can't wait to get a pair) and learn … [Read more...]
Starting the month with a whole lotta coffee
I survived! I knew going into this fall that September and October were going to be insane. They did not disappoint! But it's November now and with Shoo's birthday on Halloween, the craziness ends. Time to take a deep breath and get everything under control. Since I actually have time to take a real coffee break, I'm joining Deb and Coco's virtual coffee date. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that I was more sore after the Marine Corps Marathon than I have been after a race in years. Seriously, the lack of a bathroom on our main level darn near killed me. On the bright side, not only did I refuse to walk up and down the stairs to do anything for my kids, I made Shoo be my legs and sent him to get things for me. Thankfully, by … [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...]
School’s out for the summer!
Yes, it really just let out here (actually my middle schooler has a half day today). Yet, somehow I feel like we've been fulfilling our summer plans for a few weeks already. And since today's topic for Tuesdays on the Run is "summer plans", this post will be somewhat retrospective as well as looking to the future. A vacation with Beer Geek in Denver - this trip is already in our rear view mirror. Beer Geek and I hiked all around Denver - hitting Breckenridge, Aspen, Steamboat Springs, Colorado Springs, and Laramie, WY. We hit Pike's Peak, drank at innumerable brewpubs, and survived a crazy hail storm. All in all, it was an amazing vacation together to celebrate 23 years of marriage. Skirt Sports retreat - I had been looking … [Read more...]
It’s better to undertrained than overtrained, right?
In 3 days I'll be hitting the start line of Ragnar Pennsylvania on an ultra team. What's an ultra team? It's a team of 6 instead of 12 - which means you pretty much never have down time and you run twice the number of miles. It seemed like a good idea back when I signed up. And my usual method of running races as training runs was going well. Until it wasn't. I'm honestly still not sure what is going on with my foot and ankle. I've managed to run 7 miles in the last 3 weeks. Seven. I missed 100 miles for the month of May by more than 45 miles and so far in June I've run a 5K. A pain free 5K, thankfully, but only a 5K. I only have to run ten times that between Friday morning and Saturday afternoon - … [Read more...]
Training Plan: Run all the races
Word on the street is that it's spring. I'm not really sure I believe that since I ran a half marathon this past weekend wearing all the layers. All.of.them. But supposedly it's here. Which means it's time for our Tuesdays on the Run discussion of how your spring training is going. Do you have an "A" race coming up? My "A" race this year is Ragnar Pennsylvania. I know that you are thinking "but you run Ragnar every year, how does this require training?" Well, I'm running my first Ultra Ragnar. Yep - half the runners, twice the miles. Now I'm the mini miler on the team, so my mileage may not be more than some runners have in a regular Ragnar, but I don't know the plan yet. So I need to train to run about 30 miles over the course of 36 … [Read more...]
Best gifts for the Ragnarian in your life
It's that time of year! Time for all the bloggers to write gift guides on various topics. We'll tell you what to buy the runner in your life or what winter items to buy or what you should buy for the runner who isn't training right now. Most of the time, when I write a gift guide, I try to include things I've tried. I'd hate to suggest something that turns out to be awful. But I'm coming from a different perspective this time. As a Ragnar runner, here are 5 gifts that are on my Wish List. These fill NEEDS I have, therefor I believe they should be needed by all Ragnar runners. Sound logic, right? I don't actually have any of these, so don't blame me if they don't live up to their claims. Some of the links are affiliate links, which means if … [Read more...]
VA Momentum Growler Relay Race Recap
This weekend I joined some other Ragnar Ambassadors to run a local relay. Instead of 12 runners, two vans, and 200 miles, it was 8 runners running from one brewery to another and back. What could be better than a day spent with running with friends, followed by a party at a brewery. Not much. During the week leading up to the race, one of our runners let us know that he had to drop due to a family issue. Thankfully, a quick post on MRTT netted me a new runner for the group. (I swear I don't know what I'd do without MRTT. So often they come to the rescue.) So, with crisis averted, we worked out our logistics. While it is possible to do this event with two cars and have one "active" vehicle, we decided to all pile into my … [Read more...]
Some things I must runfess…
Here we are at the end of September, ready once again to head to the Runfessional. I have apparently run out of motivation before I've run out of training plan. This week was supposed to be a peak mileage week, but between the exhaustion from Ragnar, the remnants of my cold. and TWO Back to School nights, I've had a hard time even getting out the door. Heck, one day I didn't even get out the door - I ran on the treadmill because it took less thought and effort. *** But I did get out for a 10 mile run on Thursday! Which was totally awesome, until it wasn't. I had a slow warm up mile (mostly due to traffic lights) and then ran by feel for 5 miles. I hit within a few seconds of 10:30 pace each mile without checking my Garmin. What?!? … [Read more...]
