One Bad Ass Runner

I wasn't going to write about this race, mostly because I treated it like a long run and I was waiting for me to run the Donut 5K to make a double race report, but I got a migraine the morning of that race and didn't run it, so here it goes. On December 15, I ran the Santa Hustle Half Marathon in downtown Indy. The course starts at the American Legion Mall where the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials are located.The course takes us South and then back North for the most part, in similar fashion as the Indy Monumental race. The day was similar to Monumental with temps in the mid 20s with windchills in the teens and windy. We were supposed to get snow that day, but we were fortunate and the snow was delayed until later that day. Glad that happened because we got 7"+ of snow and not sure if the race would've been held had that occurred the night before. I didn't do the packet pickup the day before, as I didn't want to head to downtown once again (as every d

Today, I ran the Turkey Legs Trifecta, which consists of a 4K followed by a 5K followed by a 6K, each race within the hour.  It was held in trails in downtown that are normally somewhat technical but we were given the pleasure of having rain and mud and cold weather for the event.  It was a blast! Mind you, I have never run two races in one day, least of all one race every hour.  My plan was to have something to eat after each race to keep my hydration and fuel going.  I ended up only eating a banana after the 4K and nothing else the whole time which left me wiped and in need of a nap once I got home.  Lesson learned! I don't normally do trail races (or short races for that matter) but my BFF Mary had mentioned these races were a lot of fun and they included four medals (one for each event and one for the challenge), and it was on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and away from any pending marathons.  Coach and I talked about it and thought it would be fun even when running

Today I ran the Gobbler's Jog 5K (Turkey Trot) in Fishers, IN.  A 5K, you might ask?  Yes, I ran a 5K!  5Ks still suck and I was stupidly slow but I got it done. I registered for this race because it's literally one mile from my house and a smaller event that the more popular Drumstick Dash in Indianapolis.  For one, it was nice not to have to wake up early and drive 20+ minutes to run a 5K with 20,000 other people. Second, the one mile to and from the house would serve as a warmup and cooldown.  So, between these two races, this one won and likely to win every Thanksgiving from now on. The race is put out by a local runner who is also in my Fisher Running Club.  It is a well-organized race and it had enough porta-potties, food, water/Gatorade for the runners and walkers and it was also walker and pet friendly.  I really liked the event. My last turkey trot was 5 years ago, one of the last times Miami wasn't 80F on Thanksgiving Day.  Initially, I wanted to run

After having a horrible marathoning year, what to do?  Run marathons # 50 and 51, of course!  And that's what I did with Chicago and last weekend, with the Indy Monumental Marathon. I have run the Monumental race twice before, once with my BFF Mary (marathon) and once with hubby (half marathon).  So once we decided to move to Indy, I registered for Monumental.  But which race to do?  Since I really have not been training at the level I am used to, my first thought was to run the half marathon, but when I went to register I noticed they had this challenge called the Indython, where you run the Half Marathon at Ft. Ben in October and the Indy Monumental Marathon for an extra medal and 1/4 zip LS tech.  I'm all for extra medal and swag so I registered for the Indython. After we arrived in Indy, I went straight to work and hubby went back to Miami for another month.  My dad was here and he helped with the movers and by the day before the Ft. Ben HM, I was sleeping in my ow

Wow.  So much has passed since I started training I don't know where to start.  In fact, 2019 has been a roller coaster of the kind I've never experienced in my 44 years of life. The year started out with a government shutdown and me having to work throughout the shutdown for 35 days straight without pay and basically sick the whole time, all while trying to train for the Houston Marathon.  It was no surprise that when I started Houston, I quit within 1/2 mile because I felt drained of all my energy, cold to the bone and unable to breathe. The shutdown ended and I started trying to get better but it took weeks until I did.  We decided to defer the Myrtle Beach Marathon to get better (and my husband had hurt his calf so he wasn't running much either), and rather concentrate my efforts into the Glass City Marathon and the Wisconsin Marathon.  Training went OK on my new TM but I never felt like I had kicked whatever ailed me since December.  When Glass City started, I fel

It's been a few weeks since I've checked in here, but I've kept my recovery from the Vitamin D deficiency going with low mileage and some relaxation.  I also got homework from my coach in the form of running books.  But not regular running books but those that deal with the mental aspect of running.  The Vitamin D deficiency was a problem, but I also needed to work on my mental attitude while racing and it was a great time to dedicate for that. Out of all the books I read, my two favorites are Deena Kastor's Let Your Mind Run  and Elizabeth Clor's Boston Bound .  I learned a lot from those two books alone (all the books were great, but these two touched me the most) and I'm putting some of the recommendations into practice already.  Only time will tell... I started marathon training last week and ran 40 miles last week, something I had not done since April or thereabouts.  It was an awesome feeling going back to that mileage, but at the same time, it wa

It's been a while since I felt like sharing any of my marathon adventures.  That's because my adventures have been failures this year.  I had four marathons in the first half of the year and I completed none of them.  That sounds so unlike me, right? First, came Houston, in the middle of the government shutdown, working through the shutdown without pay, sick, barely able to run, but I didn't think anything else of it but a virus. I heard someone from the Clerk's office got really ill as a result of the shutdown and got a stroke from all the stress, so I felt lucky to only have gotten a virus.  Then, came the Myrtle Beach Marathon which I decided to DNS to concentrate on my two marathons in April/June because that's what you do after you're sick: you reconvene, replan, get better, right? But when Glass City Marathon came up rolling and my foot went numb during the race, I was like, I'm running the HM and quitting, Wisconsin is next week!  And the

It's been a while since I have posted something in this blog.  Since the Chicago Marathon in October, WTF!  I was super busy at the end of the year, between training for Houston, work, the shutdown (I was excepted and had to work through the longest shutdown in US history), a virus that stayed with me for the first five weeks of 2019 and caused my running to come to a halt, and life.  Of course, I DNFd the Houston Marathon for the third time in a row, sigh.  I was so sick I couldn't even run for 1/4 mile without stopping to breathe or just to, you know, live.  January, 2019 really sucked.  Maybe Dallas might be a better choice next time? At least 2018 ended on a great note with almost 2500 miles run for the year.  Then January came and knocked me off my ass, ha.  Oh, and my TM broke in December and I was without one for five weeks as well (we had to buy a new one even and it took three weeks to get to us).  It's a miracle I was able to run as much (or as little, depend