One Bad Ass Runner

Late to the party but here is me after the Chicago Marathon. What this picture does not show is that this was my goal race but I had to modify training when my husband found out he had a brain tumor (a gigantic one, bigger than a fist), that he went through surgery and he is A-OK, that he recovered and ran his first Half Marathon post surgery (and almost PRd), and that all of that left my training very crazy. And in addition to that, my asthma doctor told me on Monday, I only had 52% of breathing capacity. I have done 36 marathons, including this one, but I never expected that by Mile 1, I was so slow (for me) that I didn't even want to push. I wanted to quit, I was slow. My husband kept texting me not to quit and I felt guilty for bringing him to Chicago after all of that only to quit another marathon (I've quit before due to the asthma). So, I finished. I was slow (for me), I felt like all this year was a waste in my training. But when I stepped into the hotel room,...

So, our next adventure was the RnR Seattle, my next marathon.  We were ready and all but had been tired for work and other stuff, so not sure if we were looking forward to this trip.  Then, the day we were leaving, we couldn't find our check in information.  My husband, sigh, had booked the wrong date and we were scheduled to fly there the next month (*facepalm*).  So, it was partly a relief that we did not have to travel that particular weekend and we were able to cancel everything and reuse the tickets for our next race. So, on we continued, with me starting to train for the Iceland Marathon.  Then, on July 8th, my husband went to get a CT Scan and found he had a giant brain tumor.  It was a shock to see the picture of his brain with fist + ball inside of it.  It was a tough weekend for us, and we spent it calling doctor friends (being a doctor has its privileges, I guess) and getting consultations with brain surgeons ASAP.  Fortunately, we...

Still running behind in reports, woohoo!  SMH.  Here is the one for the Flying Pig Marathon in May, 2016. Hubby and I added some new states this year that included WA, OH, and even Iceland.  However, for reasons I'll explain in the next report, we never made it to WA or Iceland, but we did make it to Cincinnati for the Flying Pig Marathon and HM.  The city was really fun and we loved it and could see ourselves living there.  It is vibrant, somewhat small (smaller than Miami) and the people are very nice.  Kudos, Cinci! The race was fun, but hilly.  I had already decided I was going to walk all uphills and run the rest (like I do in San Francisco), but there wasn't many flats (hint: none) and more uphills than downhills, so there was some running but not a lot. We arrived in Cinci on Friday night and we went straight to the hotel to rest.  We stayed at one of the flag hotels which was around 1/3 of a mile from the start and that was gr...

Sorry for the delay in writing race reports! As you will see with my last report from the July race, there have been many surprises in the last few weeks to keep us busy here at home! But, back to race reports.  In April, I ran the Star Wars Dark Side Challenge at Disney World.  Initially, I was to run only the Half Marathon with hubby, but after my friend Beth announced she was getting married that Thursday and that we had several wedding parties to attend to, I said why not do the challenge instead since I was going to be at Disney since Wednesday?  So, when Disney opened a few more challenge spots, I was ready! We left Miami on Thursday early afternoon and I had the bachelorette dinner that night, so we barely made it in time for me to change and head there. Beth and I are part of a group of wonderful women (Just us Girls) and a group of us were there to celebrate Beth and Shane's wedding.  But first, the bachelorette dinner: Lots of fun! On Frid...

I have been super swamped at work, so I have had no time to write new race reports or blog posts.  But here it goes. :) We had planned on running Shamrock to get Virginia for my husband in his quest for more states.  I had heard this race is very flat (it is) and that it has great weather (doubtful), so I signed up for the full and planned on at least racing it at a good effort. As the time got near, the weather had turned to rainy and windy.  When we arrived to Virginia Beach on Friday night, the rain had not started but as we woke up on Sunday, the wind and the rain were there to stay.  We were staying in front of the start for the marathon and we could see the finish line for the 8K that morning falling down from the wind.  The wind was brutal, indeed.  I was already worrying about my lungs but thought the rain might calm the wind a bit.  It didn't. We spent the day before the race shopping, eating, and just enjoying the area.  There was...

The year 2015 was a great year for me as a runner, considering I ran the most mileage I have ever done in a year and my paces lowered consistently.  I just did not hit any of my goal races and had some medical issues to take care of during most of it (high blood pressure, asthma, etc.) When 2016 started and with it, my plan to run another slew of marathons to earn new states on my quest, I was hopeful that 2015 and the speed therein would help me at least feel like a better runner in 2016.  And the year started well.  I ran the Dopey Challenge with my BFF Mary, and we had a ton of fun.  My next race was the Miami Half Marathon but when I saw that the temps were PR conducive (40F at the start and mostly in the 40s for the remainder of the day), I switched to the full and thought: this is my chance, I can do this!  Except I was sick and did not know it and spent the next three weeks with either a fever, or a chest congestion/cough from hell.  I was almost...

On Sunday, I ran the Rock n Roll New Orleans Marathon.  After two DNFs due to illness and maybe a mental block, all I wanted was to finish this one.  To say I was nervous is an understatement.  I was.  Once you have to DNF from a race, it either makes it easier to make that decision afterwards, or it plays with your mind for a while.  Not sure which one I had, but I really felt unsure I would be able to complete the distance but needed to because otherwise, my mind would win for the rest of the year. This was to be my 32nd marathon an ultra (say what?) and my 8th state, not counting Puerto Rico, so I was looking forward to adding another state in my 50 in 50 quest. We arrived in New Orleans on Thursday afternoon, since it was our first trip to NOLA and we wanted to experience the city, the atmosphere, the culture.  I was a bit worried about the food, since I am allergic to shellfish, and wondered if I could find something nice to eat and be able ...