One of the best things about writing this blog and interacting with like-minded running folks on social media is that I get to experience ‘the first time’ over and over again though my readers. My friends Rebekah and Dawn ran their very first half marathon this weekend and I couldn’t have been more proud. Continue reading
So. I think the universe is out to get me or something. With the recent illnesses and mishaps, I’m beginning to wonder if there’s a conspiracy against me. Why universe? WHY??? So today was the day that I was going to get back in the game. The plan was to get some hot yoga in in the morning, then head on over to Oregon Ridge for some hill training with the group. Well, yoga went well. The rest went to shit. Continue reading
A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are several thousand of them. I’ll be back later this week to tell you about the recon mission we did last weekend on the JFK50 course. Definitely an eye opener. But today, it’s Silent Sunday. Continue reading
So this morning I woke up feeling like a million bucks. Decided to go to the gym for a light workout to get the body moving. I had it all planned in my head. Weights today, a bazillion planks, and a couple of easy glute exercises. Then tomorrow, I was going to go for an easy run, maybe walk, maybe walk run, maybe hit the trails, maybe walk and run on the trails. And Sunday I was going to test drive my body and go for a real run on the trails…short, not long, but enough to shake out the staleness of a stiff body. Continue reading
en·dur·ance
So…after I got home from work yesterday, I opened an ominous letter from the doctor’s office to “return to the center as soon as possible for follow up.” You see, last Wednesday when I went in for the sudden vomit fest, they did a bunch of tests, but I left before all of it came back. I was feeling “better.” Apparently, they had been trying to reach me (so they say…I never got a phone call from my multiple phones) to get me to come back in asap. The rest of the blood work came back, in the doctors words “horrible,” and I was/am battling a serious stomach infection (aka stupid stomach bug) and if she had the results before I left on Wednesday, I would’ve been treated accordingly…and probably would not have ran the 30K. So much for the migraine theory.
Today I ran the hardest race to date. Yes, it was only 30k and for me, it was harder than the HAT Run 50K and it was harder than the North Face 50-miler. There are several reasons why I think I had such a hard time with this race, but in the end, all the reasons point to one answer – I wasn’t prepared.
The morning started off great. The Trail Bandits (that’s what we’re calling us now) all met up at Kendra’s at 6 a.m. and drove to York, PA. I was feeling fine after being very ill on Wednesday and I didn’t think anything of the run. Today’s run would be Meg’s and Reds’ longest trail run to date and Georgene’s longest run ever. Continue reading
Well, sort of. I haven’t been officially accepted in the JFK 50 Miler race, but training starts tomorrow! This past weekend I ran two back to back runs for a total of 20 miles to get me in training mode. Up until a few days ago, the Taroko Gorge Marathon in Taiwan was my target Fall race. When I received an email from the race directors stating that the marathon is still not officially on, I decided I needed to quickly decide on another target race. I thought about running the Baltimore Marathon again so that I can run it with my sole sisters, but honestly, I think deep down I really, REALLY wanted another ultra. Continue reading
I can’t believe it’s been a year last month since I started this blog! Looking back, I have shared so much with you and once again, I’m sorry I haven’t been around so much recently. As I sat back and reflected on the writings of my blog, I couldn’t help but go back to the beginning. You know, when crazy started…this crazy thing in my life called running. How does it happen? How did I start running and end up running ultramarathons? Well, I went back in time to see how crazy began. Continue reading
One of the questions I get asked the most is, “how did you train for your 50-miler?” Well, I tell you, it didn’t go as planned, but I still managed to have a successful run.
First, I didn’t use a full 16- or 18-week training plan. Instead, I piggybacked off of my 50K training and continued on for an additional 9 weeks until the 50-mile race. Was this smart? I have no idea, but it worked out okay for me. Continue reading
Writing this blog seems to be harder than running 50-miles. There’s so much to tell you, but I really don’t want to bore you with the details, but I want to tell you everything! I’d actually be better off writing this:
Dear Diary,
I ran 50 miles.
It was awesome.
Will miss my toenails.
Love, me
I have a draft written that’s already well over 1400 words and I’m only at mile 15. I could turn this into a novel if I wanted to, so I think for now, I’ll break this up in parts and start with just the highlights and then follow up with details later. Continue reading
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