I cannot say that I’m always the most eloquent of writers. I cannot say that I’m much of anything a lot of the time, but when it’s just me and the path that lay ahead, I become a runner.
In Minnesota, we usually receive good running weather for about 3 weeks of the year. When those weeks come, you take advantage and lace up the running shoes and enjoy the adventure.
We’re having one of those weeks currently. It’s no surprise as the leaves are starting to change from the deep
Hello All!
I have to confess, I’ve been a lurker for YEARS (probably somewhere around 2012), and enjoyed every minute of reading about the ups and downs of your running adventures. I lack confidence in my writing ability and meeting new people, but I thought with the new format, I would try to come out of the creepy lurking shadows and at least let you all know that I exist. I was quite crushed when I read that RW was removing the loop, and I’m not much of a “Facebooker,” so that wasn’t g
Write a race report my hearts not in or navel gaze about race recovery? Door #2? Great.
Was feeling like I'm not bouncing back after a recent marathon and I decided to seek some facts from the marathons I have records of my after training for (not going to track down the paper ones, can't track down the ones I wrote on my mirror in college in dry erase marker, and the internet ate some when different platforms changed their programs and didn't store/migrate info...hmm, sound familia
The disadvantage of coming of age in the early ‘70s is that there was no such thing as a professional runner. We were amateurs, every one of us. Now, I know what you’re thinking: But seriously, AB, were you actually good enough to run professionally? And of course, that question is completely beside the point. Back then, Steve Prefontaine was tending bar in Eugene, Oregon, when he wasn’t breaking every American record. And as for me, I was…well, never mind.
But those days are long gone,
I need accountability.
There are random sticky notes around my house with motivational fitness quotes. Some of them have come down. The rest have become white noise that should come down.
I read an article a few months ago about training with your cycle and adopted the strategy which basically gave me permission to take it easy on the days I feel most like taking things easy. According to the article however, the first week of my cycle is supposed to be the week to amp up the high i
So I was lying in bed the night before the race. As one does, I mentally went over the course - all the turns and hills and how I should feel at different parts of the course. Strategy and splits. Often this leads to nerves and many minutes of restlessness and anxiety. But this time, I wasn't feeling any pressure. This would be the 17th time I've done this race. The 103rd 10K of my career. I knew what to expect. I had goals, but they didn't seem to matter that much. I quickly drifted off to slee
I've been severely lacking in miles in September as I dealt with the stress of the house purchase and then having to pack up my life and move to my parents until I actually close on the house or the deal goes dead and I have to find a new rental. No idea why I always give running the short end of the stick when I'm stressed because it's probably what I need most. I plan to get back to it tonight after my work day wraps up. I'm at our State capitol office this week and next week for special me
It’s been exactly one year since I went from Loop lurker to contributing Loopster!
I think of my running life in 2 parts: before baby and after. As a quick recap, I spent my 20’s running a few 5K’s each year with a 10K sprinkled here or there. I didn’t run in high school or college (at least not deliberately) but got in the habit with a group of ladies in grad school when we all needed the stress relief and break from the grueling program. Every time I ran with the girls or in a race, I ju
Chicago is my home town....I was born in that city and I go back at least once a year. Chicago has been one of my bucket list marathons for some time now; however, it turns out it is just not meant to be for me. At least not for me this year.
This all started about the first week of August when I was innocently changing weights on a barbell to do a little Les Mills Body Pump. I was bent over moving a weight bench and stayed in that position to put on the 10 lbs weights on each side of
This is a copy and paste from my personal blog page, but I wanted to start somewhere!
The Short:
I ran a bright, shiny new half marathon PR of 1:20:50 under circumstances that were not nearly as ideal as those I had for my previous PR of 1:21:26. I walked away from this race feeling like I'd nailed one of my best workouts ever, but not exactly like I'd raced or PRed (you'll have to read The Long for an explanation of why). However, the more I analyze this race the happier I become wi
This week marks the first week months? years? That I have put in 6 days of exercise.
Monday: Elliptical 30 minutes
Tuesday: Elliptical 30 minutes AND a full day without any candy or the Brownies that people bring into work. HUGE!!!
Wednesday: Upper Body Weights
Thursday: 3 mile run 38:53 (Another awesome food day!!!)
Friday: 30 minutes Elliptical, Lower Body Weights New Leg Press PR: 210lb
Saturday: 3 mile run
A late night last night of pizza and movies at the BF’
Sometimes I stand in awe of the crap I've dealt with in life when others seemingly float through on the arches of rainbows with unicorns that poop gold nuggets. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, I'm Superwoman by now.
My house purchase has hit another delay and I'll be lodged at ma & pa's in the basement till the end of October it seems. I have no words for the asinine process of dealing with mortgage companies and the documentation needed to prove you aren't
Back in the days when I coached cross country one of the first things I addressed, at the start of the first practice, was weather and the cancellation policy. Basically the policy went like this: If the weather is bad enough to cancel a meet, then practice is cancelled. I left the parents an out (we're talking about fourth through eighth graders), but in five years of coaching I never cancelled a practice, and I only remember ending one early once.
The point: I was going to be there f
The Overlook 50K was created by Ann Trason and is run mostly on the Western States course. Most of you know that I hired Ann as my coach a few years ago when I trained and ran my first Western States race. Despite the painful DNF (did not finish) there, I had a wonderful journey, highlighted by Ann Trason's inspirational tutelage.
I came into this race pathetically under-trained, with no long trail runs for about 4 months. Still, I was hopeful that I could fake my way to a finish and get a
As you're probably aware, Florida is hot. Most of Florida really doesn't have "seasons." Down south they have "my face is melting" and "oh, it'll take me 20 minutes to get a sunburn" as their seasons. Way up here in the panhandle, just south of the Georgia border we actually have something more akin to seasons. It's not like up north, north, though. Our fall basically just means that there's much less humidity and the temps are only gonna reach 85-88. The mornings, though, are quite awesome. we'
The Marshall University Marathon is my home course. I've run the half multiple times, hosted the very first ever official Loopfest (we called that one Loopsterfest) in my home, and I'm on the marathon planning committee. Last year I couldn't run because I had had my ankle surgery three weeks prior, but I dragged a folding chair and the official Loop cowbell to the side of the 5K and cheered on TO, who had dropped in to run it, then I drove to a spot along the marathon course and cheered on vario
Hello all! It's been a very long time since I posted and since this is all new, thought I'd jump on the band wagon and share my latest race.
I haven't blooped for such a long time because I never felt like I had anything interesting to say. My running in the past year has been pretty mundane (at least compared to a lot of you). I became a "Mimi" last February to twin boys! They are my first grandchildren and they have changed my life and my priorities for sure. Running use to be such a
This week has kinda felt like week one of running for me. Those weeks where you just can’t get in a rhythm, can’t get the legs to move like you want, and just can’t find the pep in your step… those weeks only make us stronger, right? I know that it does but it can be hard to accept that at the time.
Last night, I had 4 mile tempo @ 9:00 on the training log. I’ve been doing a mile warm-up and a mile cool-down before/after all of my speed work and I can certainly feel the benefits of it. I ra
"Biggest sandbag job of all time?" -NavEng, posted to my Strava feed, 10/2/17.
I suppose I deserved that. Two days prior to the race I posted a rant in Loopville about injuring my back and complained that I didn't think I could run the race. A quick recap in case you missed that: After the best training cycle to date I was down to the last 5 days before the marathon. Everything was pointing to a huge PR. (Even bigger than the expected PR in Philly... Before the weather go
BTW -- ocrunnergirl = fivestarks
Wondering if I should just have Cliff change me back to fivestarks. I like ocrunnergirl better because that's who I feel I am - a girl who grew up in Ocean City. Also belatedly I realized that it could stand for Obstacle Course (runner girl) but that was not intended.
____
My healing from the hamstring tear has been fraught with ups and downs.
One PT tells me I'm fine to do anything that doesn't hurt. The next tells me that I can only do 1 mil
Advice wanted!
I really miss not having a running event on the calendar. And I was mourning the fact that I probably won't have one there for a long while yet... until I remembered that autumn is the start of the holidays and therefore the wonky little local races that are perfectly acceptable to run/walk in. So how feasible do you think a Turkey Trot is for a 32wk pregnant lady? Good idea for motivation to keep me active or just asking to be disappointed again if I don't feel up to it by t
Hello new Loop! I'm looking forward to catching up on what everyone has been up to.
My race report which I've copied below was originally posted on my Wordpress blog, but I thought I'd try cross-posting here. Happy Trails!
Recovery from Lost Soul was painfully slow. My quads were exceptionally sore and despite my best efforts to give my body the nutrients and rest that it needed, it still felt like I was barely making progress. In the week after Lost Soul I did absolutely no
I’ll do the best I can to not drone on forever.
1. Decided to run a marathon For the first time.
2. Signed up for Wineglass in Corning where all the awesomeness recently took place.
3. Trained through a 15 miler in spring
4. Realized I’m insane, I hate racing, always have hated racing, hate any mile over 13, planned to drop to the half at Wineglass, can’t drop down - half is full, decided I’d still go and cheer, I’m good at cheering.
5. Find house of my dreams, proceed
Howdy Loopsters!!! Wow, this is so easy! Thanks Dave for getting this going. You da best!
So let's see. I did my first 100k last month. Woodstock. Everything that could go right did go right. It was so easy and I stayed positive the whole time! Weird!
Anyways, I took a few weeks off, then ran a few, then had eyeball surgery last Friday. I just ran my first post-op run. It was kinda hard! On my run I saw the two neighborhood zebras that make appearances at a little horsey pad
Well hello there new Loop. MK here. I was a regular around the old Loop parts oohhh 5+ years ago... but that was seriously a lifetime ago. I'm sure I'm more likely an unfamiliar face nowadays than a familiar one, but I'm hoping to get back at it. Although, as much as I'd like to contribute more often, I will probably be sticking more so to a lurker status, as running has taken a huge backseat to life.
Right now, this is my current status:
He won't let me put him dow
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