Five whole months, I thought. No problem, I thought. It can’t be harder than running a marathon 13 weeks pregnant, I thought. That was me, a year ago, entering the NYC Marathon lottery for the fifth time. I probably won’t even get picked, I thought, reflecting on my previous unsuccessful attempts. But then I did get picked. And then, in June, I had a baby.
Race: The 122nd Boston Marathon
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Time of Year: Marathon Monday; Patriots’ Day; the third Monday in April
Hi all! I know I’ve been out of it for the past several weeks on this blog, but I’ve been moving to Boulder, starting a new job, buying a house, doing all kinds of home improvement and decorating activities, etc. etc. I haven’t been running a ton, but I did do the classic Boulder Skyline Traverse a few weekends ago (mostly hiking, admittedly!), swept a portion of the Never Summer 100K, and have done some cool hiking in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Photos and other updates available on Instagram. Now that I’m fairly settled in Boulder, I’m finally getting focused back on races! MOST IMPORTANTLY…
What: TCTC Bayshore Marathon 2017
When: Saturday of Memorial Day weekend
Where: Traverse City, Michigan — Cherry Capital and Caribbean of the Midwest. If you make a mitt with your left hand, this race is at the inside top of your pinky.
Weather: Sunny, 60-70 degrees. Felt pretty warm in the final miles of the race. Luckily most of the race is at least partially shaded, so no sunburn for me.
Race: Kiawah Island Marathon 2016
Location: Kiawah Island, South Carolina, about 40 minutes from the Charleston Airport, at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort
Size: About 1000 marathoners, plus about 2800 half marathoners
Time of Year and Weather: Saturday in early December. Race day was sunny, breezy at times, with temperatures in the 40s. Perfect running weather. This course has the potential to get windy, but I lucked out and it wasn’t bothersome.
Yesterday I ran the Bank of America Chicago Marathon! This was my 14th state and my 19th marathon. Here is my recap and review.
Race: Bank of America Chicago Marathon
Location: Chicago, Illinois.
Size: Big! Over 37,000 marathoners. (But no half option! YAY!)
Sorry for the delay! I traveled around after the Mesa Falls Marathon (post on that travel to come!) and wasn’t able to do a write up right away. But here it is!
Race: 20th Annual Mesa Falls Marathon
Location: Finish/packet pickup was in Ashton, Idaho, in eastern Idaho about 2 -2.5 hrs from the Jackson Hole, WY airport. Note for sea-levelers: Ashton is 5,259 feet above sea level (and note, a week of easy running at a similar altitude is not sufficient acclimation).
Time of Year: End of August, on a Saturday.
Weather: Can vary, but for me it was wonderful — started in the high 40s at 6:30 am and ended in the low 70s, I think. Temperature felt good the whole time running but a little cold standing at the start.
Number of Runners: 146
Other Races: Half marathon, 10K, 5K, fun run.
Hi all,
I have been totally delinquent — too busy watching the Olympics (eventing!!!) to blog. Oh, and running and hiking (Billy Goat, Old Rag) and sleeping and OTF-ing and reading some awesome books (Into Thin Air (read it twice in row…), How Bad Do You Want It, A Walk in the Woods) and listening to the Ultrarunner Podcast and watching awesome documentaries (Meru and Sherpa) and modern dancing and trying my darnedest to eat reasonably healthy. Busy busy but mostly good stuff! Training is going well for Mesa Falls, and Chicago is just around the corner so I am working on my A-race mentality and getting all the pieces in place to give myself the best shot at a PR/BQ. Oh AND I entered the Big Sur lottery. Slim odds, but as they say, if you don’t play you can’t win. But the BIGGEST update…
Given a crazy summer schedule, I am not planning on doing weekly training recaps for my Mesa Falls Marathon training. HOWEVER, I had a shockingly spectacular — dare I say, breakthrough — training week last week, and so I wanted to share some of the changes I made to my training that worked for me.
Hi all! Writing here from the comfort of my sweet, sweet air-conditioned home. This Memorial Day weekend I ventured up to Burlington, Vermont and ran the Vermont City Marathon, marathon number 17 for me and state number 12. But it almost didn’t happen! Suspense!
athlettuce 