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...]
The weekend I ran all the miles
Sometimes I intentionally make crazy choices. Sometimes crazy choices find me. This weekend was a case of the latter happening. Back in December, Pacers Running offered an amazing discount if you signed up for 5 races at once. Since they are my local running store and race company, I often run their races. I decided to make the GW Parkway 10 miler my spring goal race and chose 4 other races to run. One of those four was the Clarendon Day Double - a 5k + a 10k with a mile uphill walk in between. Flash forward to September. I realized a couple of weeks ago that Clarendon Day fell on the Sunday after Ragnar DC. Oops? So, I had a lot on my plate for the weekend. I'll do a full Ragnar DC recap in a few days, but short story - I had … [Read more...]
5 Stages of Ragnar Relay Packing
Packing for Ragnar is an art not a science, but I go through the same 5 stages every single time. 1. Panic! You don't know where every thing is, you need to do a load of laundry, and you don't know what you want to wear. This stage is often the longest stage as you throw laundry in the wash and buy a bunch of items via Amazon Prime. Sometimes this stage lasts days. It's ok. You'll get through it. 2. Gathering The gathering phase is the one where you fold all that laundry and find all the random items that have wandered away since your last Ragnar Relay. You also obsessively check your Amazon orders to see when they will be delivered. During this phase, your "staging site" becomes a mound of running clothes, lights, and … [Read more...]
Tips for Captaining a Ragnar Team
So, you're going to run a Ragnar Relay. It might be your first time, but it might not. But someone has convinced you that you should be the captain. Or maybe you were crazy enough to want that responsibility. Whatever. The end result is that you are now the Captain of a team that will be running Ragnar soon. Go read the Bible. Now. OK, by Bible, I mean Race Bible. This is a document put out by Ragnar that has most of what you need to know. Then check out Blognar and the Ragnar website for all sorts of useful information about being a captain and about your particular Ragnar Relay. Now you're ready for my tips. I'm sharing 5 things that will make your experience a better one. Don't put yourself on the financial … [Read more...]
Ragnar Trail Richmond Recap #RagnarTrailRVA
A few weekends ago, I ran Ragnar Trail Richmond on Team No Beer Left Behind. It was a mix of members from my Mad Fox 12 pack team and a few spouses and college friends. It was an incredibly fun experience, but it's taken me nearly two weeks to recover! Our adventure started when two of our teammates went down Thursday to grab a camping spot for us. They chose a nice spot and set up a couple of tents and a canopy. Luckily, they also had their RV because there ended up being a big thunderstorm that night (which would lead to a few muddy spots once the running started.) The rest of us headed down on Friday morning with two cars full of gear and snacks. We made good time and had no problem with gear drop. Our camp site was quite close … [Read more...]
Ragnar Relay and Scott James Jewelry
I know those seem like a random combination, but really they are related. ;o) I recently got chosen to be a Scott James Jewelry Ambassador. I love their stuff and have quite a collection of charms. I received a necklace a few years back that I used to commemorate my journey to Venus and I've also bought a few Ragnar charms. As I gear up to run Ragnar Trail Richmond, I've already picked out the charms I plan to get afterwards (see I told you the two topics were related.) Speaking of Ragnar, another ambassador and I hosted a Ragnar event at Mad Fox Brewpub last night. It was a lot of fun and we had several new to Ragnar people there asking questions. Having run Ragnar DC twice, I had plenty of advice - most of which boiled … [Read more...]
Ragnar DC 2016 Recap: Mad Fox 12 Pack
Once again Ragnar DC did not disappoint. I did not plan to run Ragnar DC this year as the date is right at the beginning of the school year and just a couple of weeks before a conference I attend for work. But when my friend asked me to help captain a team for Mad Fox Brewpub, I couldn't resist. I mean, beer and running. What could be better? This was my first time captaining but I have a lot of friends who've done it, so it went pretty smoothly. We did have a little excitement when our first start time was 1:45, which would mean a midnight finish. Oops. Thankfully, Ragnar fixed that so we started at 8:45am. We also lost one runner about two weeks ago, but were able to replace her quickly. And then I got a text from a runner … [Read more...]
Five tips for a fun Ragnar
I love to run Ragnar! Unlike marathons, which I seem to find myself accidentally signed up for, Ragnar is something I love to do. In fact, eventually, I'd like to run every Ragnar out there (but no, I won't be that person who runs them all in one year LOL. I'm packed and mostly ready to go. Just need to get some sleep and then we'll pack the van in the morning. All of my outfits are in their individual plastic bags (one of the best tips ever!) and I've just got a few last minute things to add in the morning. So here are five tips to make sure Ragnar goes smoothly and is a lot of fun! Upload the pace calculator to Google Drive. This allows you to easily edit it and lets the other van know if the team is getting ahead of or … [Read more...]
Preparing to run Ragnar DC again
I ran my first Ragnar Relay at the Ragnar DC two years ago. It was an amazingly fun experience and I couldn't wait to run one again. We got lucky and our team won a free entry into Ragnar Cape Cod the following spring. I was afraid going in that it wouldn't be as much fun as the first one. After all, the bar had been set pretty high. Ragnar Cape Cod was amazing. I loved the course, my team was amazing, and Beer Geek and I followed up with a week exploring the area. I knew I'd run Ragnar again, but wasn't sure when or more importantly, where. After all, I love to travel and run in new places. I almost ran DC again last year, but life intervened (thank goodness, it was cold and rainy most of the race.) And with going for Mercury … [Read more...]
Runfession is good for the soul
TGIF. This has been a busy week and I'm tired. Thursday was my birthday and it was an ok day (not amazing, but acceptable), until the end of the day. Then I happened to notice that the bubbles from Shoo's bubble bath were coming out of our basement toilet. I'm pretty sure that's not a good sign. I'm hoping that when the plumber shows up it's not a big clog, but I'm mentally prepared for it to be a big deal. Sigh. So, let's get on with some runfessions... I've been using Hansons Marathon Method to train for Marine Corps Marathon. In theory, at least. I haven't hit a full week of training in over a month. And speed work? I don't even know what that is anymore. On Sunday, I finished my goal of 23 half marathons in 23 states in … [Read more...]
It’s a perfect day for a coffee date!
Happy Saturday! I'm sitting here with a cup of coffee, wondering if there is actually enough coffee in the world to get me through the day. It feels like it's been raining for years. I know it hasn't and I know we need at least some of this rain, but I don't do well with multiple grey and wet days in a row. Anyways, I'm joining up with my friends Deborah, Coco, and Lynda for a virtual coffee date. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that instead of running Ragnar Relay, I spent my evening in my nice warm house drinking a pumpkin beer and baking for a recipe post on Monday. While I was a little (tiny) bit sad not to be out with my team, beer and donuts are not such a bad way to spend an evening. … [Read more...]
Ragnar Cape Cod Recap
Ragnar Cape Cod was, in a word, fabulous! I was worried that it would not live up to my memories of Ragnar DC, but it did and then some. I met up with the lovely ladies of Moms Do It All Night Long at the start line early on Friday morning. Several of us had decided to wear our DC shirts, so we looked awesome together. I may now also own the skirt that the others were wearing... We made our way through all of the steps and then saw Deborah off at the start line. … [Read more...]
