The highlight of this trip of course was the wedding, but since there ended up being some interesting adventures besides that, it seems a shame to ignore all of it. There’s a ton of stuff from the last two weeks and just a little running. Feel free to skip whatever you like.
A few weeks ago I had nearly reached my limit with Mrs. Dave’s mother of the bride crises. No way could I tell her to just chill the heck out, whether I agreed with her or not. Nor could I bring myself to give Big Mac a
People are asking, "How was your race"? How'd you do?" and I have to pause because I don't want to say, "Well, I missed all my goals and ran 4:06" because that really doesn't tell the story. Boston 2019 was a fabulous time, as Boston always is. It is really not about how the race went. It is about soaking in the atmosphere and being part of a running carnival. Walking the streets surrounded by runners in their Boston jackets. Feeling like part of a secret club that you were lucky enough to ea
I really enjoy the Rock the Parkway half marathon, and it's one of the few events I run year after year: 2015, 2017, 2018, and now 2019 (I wanted to run it in 2016 too, but it didn't work out that year)! This year I planned to wait until the last minute to commit to running it, since it was 3 weeks after the Chisholm Trail Marathon and because I wasn't running well enough to be competitive until fairly recently. The marathon went well enough that I thought I could run a half time that would
This was not one of my better run races; not by long shot. I’m not really upset by that though.
First the basic facts:
This was my second Boston and 12th marathon finish.
Finish time of 3:28:52 was my third fastest marathon and a minute faster than last year..
My PR from last fall was 3:17:53.
Goal for Boston was 3:15.
The weather forecasts a week or so before the race was predicting conditions very similar to last year: cold, wet, and significant headwinds. As the r
I was never into golf growing up. I always thought it was the most boring sport on earth. I've actually never liked watching sports that I wasn't good at playing myself - golf (love now), tennis (love now), and basketball (that one I still can't watch) mainly. However, the last few years, I've started paying attention to golf and tennis. I actually really like watching golf on Sundays and I can even name quite a few players! I know little history about any of the players, but I'm learning. I lea
I'll admit to a little clock watching today, ahead of the next great western adventure. This time tomorrow I'll be on a plane, heading for Seattle to see Big Mac get married. Unlike myself, who's enjoyed watching this beautiful young woman grow up and fill the world with her music and joy, Mrs. Dave has worried and fretted that the day would never come. That may be the biggest difference between the two of us, and maybe why we've stayed together so long. Her believing that I need her to worry ab
I'm trying to increase the distance of my long runs. I have been trying for quite awhile but I've been rather unsuccessful. A few years ago, something changed and it has taken a long time for me to accept that this is probably the new "normal". I used to read other runner's blogs and wonder why they talked about the pain of running so much. Since I was already a somewhat older runner, (in my forties), and I ran pain free most of the time. I didn't understand why it would be so painful for so
Allow me to reintroduce myself. I used to post in the old Loop hosted on the Runner's World site. I was known there as Kingcoffee. I used to love posting blogs and reading other peoples blogs and comments. I stopped doing that because my life became so busy that I could barely find the time to run much less write about it. I started my own company and it took up so much of my time that I didn't have any left for much else. I thought that, if I started my own company, I wouldn't have a "jo
Last week was up and down some. After the good/bad Tempo Tuesday, I had a decent Wednesday (7), then a really good 6 miles on Thursday.
There was trouble Thursday, though, because I wasn't running six miles - I was running ten. Just after six I turned into the wind for the ride home and ... BAM! Hit me like a ton of bricks. Back in mile 5 I'd passed a woman on the sidewalk, we waved and smiled. After a quarter mile or so of the struggle bus, she came past me from the other direction. She s
For March, I barely ran just over marathon distance the whole month and only ran six times. But you know what? They were all happy runs! I had definitely thought I’d run more than six times but that’s how it worked out and I’m good with it! I really feel that March was a chill out and reflect month because I certainly did a lot of both. I’ve been taking the barbell and spin classes regularly, and had many dog-walking miles that add up. JFRing + enjoyable classes + dogs = HAPPY PLACE
I also
PreambleI got chosen for the GDR lottery last July while still wearing a boot for my second stress fracture of 2018. I had 9 months to heal, build a base, and train for a race completely out of my wheel house. Sure, I've run longer distances and done a few gnarly trail runs/races, but nothing of this magnitude. It would likely be one of the hardest races I'd run to date and I was excited about doing something really, really tough.I ran a couple of marathons over the fall (NYC, Rehoboth) and deci
March 2019 in Review
Total mileage for the month: 320.4
Feb. 25-March 3: 90.3 (2:40 strength training)
March 4-10: 86.2 (2:37 strength training)
March 11-17: 77.7 (2:21 strength training)
March 18-24: 71.3 (1:01 strength training)
March 25-March 31: 50.2 (1:37 strength training)
Matching March!
Races:
March 24: Chisholm Trail Marathon in 2:57:18
This was written in October 2018 while I was building my running base after having a baby in July 2018.
My feet ache…I think I need new running and/or walking shoes.
Sometimes I qualify as a stereotypical girl, I find any excuse to buy new shoes…they just typically tend to be running shoes. Although…I do enjoy a nice colorful pump. Oh, and don’t get me started on knee-high boots. They’re the only reason I’m happy for fall, to start wearing those again. But running shoes, definitel
...there will be more epic bloops.
Today, though, there's an encouraging update on marathon training and that's good enough for me.
For the first time in 2019, I've been able to run every single workout on every single day that I planned. Running the stairs and the band/weight workouts were OK, but ... running! Running is so, so much better. I know - I'm preaching to the choir here. Anyway, 45 miles planned, 45 miles completed. The only small compromise was the abbreviated Tuesday Tem
The short:
I love running marathons! On March 24, I finished the Wichita Chisholm Trail Marathon in 2:57:18 (6:45 average pace), placed 3rd overall female, and extended my sub-3:00 marathon streak to 7 in a row. And as always, I grew as a person during those 26.2 miles. The person who finishes a marathon is never the same person who started it!
Official results are here.
Requisite clock shot!
The long:
It's been years
Hey Loopsters! It's been a while, but I wrote this one because I had an epiphany (?) of sorts. I don't want to overshare with weekly updates and whatnot, but I thought this one might be useful to somebody out there.
Hey, hey hey! After last Sunday’s half marathon (read about it here, if you like), I’ve had some thoughts about how it went and what I might have learned from it. There are lessons to be learned from so many races that we run, both the good and the bad (probably the ugly
My brother, Kevin, has three amazing kids: Kolby (8), Kortney (6), and Kacey (2). I am extremely close with them and treat them like they are my own kids. From what I can tell, they absolutely adore me as well and it is such a great feeling. Not only do I always want to be their “cool” aunt but I also want to be their favorite aunt (I have four others to compete with and I’m also the oldest!). Even though I’m older than their other aunts and I’m older than their dad, they think I’m a teenager. I
A year ago I was a week out from my first round of PT since Blue Cross didn't want to approve the MRI my doctor wanted to confirm my meniscus tear. Of course, since I have such a fragile psyche I spent most of my days trying to wrap my head around a life without running. Turn in my "IRUN262" license plate, take the 2016 Boston magnet off Abby, throw away the 20 or so white tech shirts with stains on the armpits that I couldn't wear in public, toss the running shorts and tights, donate my NYCM
I feel like all my posts have been full of dread and woe for months as I complained about aches and pains and slowness. Yet here I am in the midst of Monster Month, with four weeks to race day, and somehow I'm feeling energized and optimistic! Go figure. Shouldn't I be exhausted and sore and negative about now? Well, not so much.
Just finished my two biggest weeks, with 54 and 51 miles. And my gimpy ankle has healed up. My balky knee still aches sometimes, but less and less. It seems the pr
When what you love doing becomes not fun anymore, you should take a step back and assess the situation, right? That is what I’ve decided to do with running, except the step back isn’t to not run at all but to just have fun with running again.
Circa 2011 – North Carolina
The thought of taking a step back or easing off scared the shit out of me. It wasn’t long ago that I started running consistently again. It was the end of 2017 and it feels just like yesterday. It was a dark time f
Flashback to the end of September 2018 (from memory):
There’s a local 5K in the town by our house held by the high school every year. It’s a great race, we live within walking distance the start and finish, it’s reasonably priced, and supports a scholarship for a local high school student, so no excuse not to run really. Side note - the bakery in town provides cupcakes as prizes to the age group winners – best award EVER! This year it was 4 weeks after I was cleared to run- about 10 weeks
No more weird heart rate episodes this week. I'm going to call BS on Garmin for showing that during my Snowbuster. Looking back a few weeks I see little spikes like that sometimes in a run, just never for more than a second or two. I'll keep an eye on it.
Anyway, afterwards, there were a few days of really nasty cold and wind, so I just didn't run. Stairs on Monday, strength on Tuesday.
It was borderline on Wednesday and I was deciding whether another session on the stairs was on tap
Two weeks ago, it rained Monday through Friday and I was over running in the rain. If you live within a 6 hour radius of Atlanta, you probably feel my pain. So. Over. The. Rain. I took my speed workouts to the treadmill and cranked it up to speeds that were close to what I had been running on the track. I noticed after my Tuesday workout I had a bit of soreness in my foot (the same one that wore a boot last year) and then again after my Thursday workout.
I had one of my biggest trai
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