It’s Thursday, so that means it’s time for Take it and Run Thursday from the Runner’s Lounge. Today’s host is Joanna and she asks:
What is your favorite race? Do you live for the marathons or crave a 5k? Would you rather race in the morning, afternoon, or at night? Do you like big races with tons of people and encouraging crowds or do you prefer the smaller hometown races?
My answer: my favorite race is any race I can walk to from my house. I’m really lucky because throughout the year, I can run a 5K, 10K, half marathon, or 5 mile race, all without going more than a mile from my house. Extend that to about 3 miles and I can add a 10 miler, a 12K, and the Marine Corps Marathon. I love to run races that I don’t have to worry about parking or bag drops or being away from the boys for huge amounts of time.
I have recently discovered a love for the 10K though. I’ve been a big fan of the half marathon for a while and will definitely run that a lot this coming year, but the 10k is awesome. It’s long enough that I don’t have to run at “puke threshold” the whole time, but short enough that I can really push myself and not worry about having to walk at the end. Even on a bad day, I can finish 10K in an hour and be back home to my family, feeling like I’ve gotten a great workout and not encroached upon our family time on the weekend.
I don’t have any real strong opinions on size. The Army 10 miler and the Marine Corps Marathon are both huge and overwhelming, but well run. They take a little more stress and planning, but I still enjoyed them. But, I’ve also run some races with only a couple hundred people and enjoyed those just as much. For me, the perfect size means there’s at least one person to “chick” at the end. ;o)
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Today’s run took place on the treadmill. The weather was an awful combination of cold, wet, windy and dark and I just wasn’t feeling the love. I ran a decent 4.5 miles. I’m still trying to make up for the measly 7 miles I ran last week, so I’ve been adding in as much extra mileage as I can on each run.
In totally unrelated news, I think my cat had H1N1. He has asthma, but for about a week, you could hear him wheezing with every breath. He also started spending all of his time on the basement couch, rather than his usual underfoot behavior. Then he stopped eating much for a couple of days. I was just about to take him to the vet and suddenly, he was back to normal. He’s an old cat and we’ve made the decision to keep him comfortable, but to not take drastic measures to keep him alive, so I’m thrilled that he seems to have at least one more kitty life in him. What a strange week we’ve had…
your cat has asthma? seriously? is it ok that I find that really funny? *grin*
You are so fortunate to live so close to many races…that's awesome!
That's great that you're so close to so many races–definitely not the case for me, although there's a new turkey trot about 5 mins away I'm gonna do this year.Glad your kitty is better!
OK, that's weird. All week I have been telling my husband that our cat has swine flu. He's just been totally off, sneezing, sleeping a lot more than usual (which, OK, I know cats do a lot of). Huh!
poor kitty, I hope he is okay now… isn't it great to have so many amazing races so close to home. I need to take advantage of it more b/c i'm sure we will move and it will no longer be the case for us.
Poor kitty. I'm glad he seems to be feeling better. How cool that you have so many races near your house! I'm jealous!
The cat!? Crazy. I have heard about it on the news a bunch recently.I'm TRYING to fall in love with shorter distances and the puke threshold.
I would love to have a race that I could walk to! Or even run to (like 2 miles away!) Maybe next summer when there are a lot of races I will be able to do that.
It's amazing having so may options so close to home. That way a race doesn't have to take up half the day.Good to hear your kitty is feeling better; you may have had the first feline case of H1N1!
Ack! I've been thinking about doing my last run b/f the marathon on a treadmill, too, b/c it is so yucky out! I also love being so close to so many races! We're lucky that we don't have to travel to have cool races!