Sandy Runs

My last two marathons were on tropical islands. Both were hot. Both were scenic. But other than that, they were quite different. I'll state up front that I preferred Cayman Islands Marathon in December to the Marathon Bahamas in January. And I'll provide an apples to apples comparison to show you why. Also, here are links to my individual race reports, which contain more information and photos: Cayman Islands & Bahamas . Enjoying my on-course beer at the "Shoe Tree" during Cayman Islands Marathon Cayman Islands Marathon December 7, 2014 Marathon Bahamas January 18, 2015 My Grade A+ B Overview Even with the heat, which was uncomfortable for much of the race, I really enjoyed this marathon. All the details were well-executed, and the course was scenic. Volunteers were friendly and helpful. Because of the heat, I wouldn’t want to run the marathon again, but I’d go back for the half marathon and a ...

I ran the Marathon Bahamas last weekend, which starts in Nassau and takes place almost exclusively on New Providence Island, with a less than a mile detour to and from Paradise Island. It was my second island nation marathon in two months (see my Cayman Islands Marathon blog post ). More importantly, completing a marathon in the Bahamas qualified me to join the Marathon Globetrotters , as it was my 5 th marathon country. I’m a provisional member, meaning that I don’t have voting privileges, but I’m OK with that. If and when I complete a marathon in my 10 th country, I will become a full voting member. On-course selfie with an ocean view.   I traveled with Abbi and Rachael. Abbi and I were staying together and had a big surprise when we arrived at our pre-paid hotel on Friday night. The hotel was closed for renovations! We were able to speak with a hotel employee, who said all of their third party booking agents were supposed to have rebooked us; of course, this didn’t...

I’m feeling kind of down. I have not fulfilled my plan to jump back into training last week. It’s funny. While so many people started working out or training as part of their New Year’s resolutions, that’s when I stopped. Part of it was physical. I spent two weeks over the holidays being sick, while maintaining my holiday running streak – and that zapped me. And part of it was mental. I just needed a break. While going out for a run always feels good afterward, until I’m actually out there doing it, I find it a burden to fit it into my schedule and actually go out and do it. I suppose it didn’t help that it snowed last Tuesday, the day I was supposed to start back up with a 5 mile run. That meant that the running path would not be clear. And I hate to run that far on the treadmill. Excuses…I know. And I’m still not following my training plan a week later. What this tells me is that my body and brain are not into this right now. I’m putting all my mental energy into work, which has...

I just spent the better part of two weeks being sick. This included Christmas week and New Year’s week. It was the worst cough and cold I’ve had in a long time and the symptoms just took forever to subside. This cough alternated being a dry cough and a “productive” cough, and I found myself having coughing fits that I couldn’t control. I also had trouble sleeping because I would wake myself up coughing. I was not well-rested for most of the time I was sick, and I didn’t do much exercise other than my 1 mile per day streak. Some days I ran the mile, other days I walked it. Then New Year's Day brought the conclusion of the holiday running streak. On January 2 nd I had no scheduled training workouts, so I took a real, planned rest day.  I'll take it By January 3-4, a weekend of planned training, I just didn’t care. I was feeling a lot better, but the cough had beat me down mentally. I did not stick to my training for those two days. In reality, I probably wasn’t rea...

It's 2015 - Happy New Year, friends! It's going to be a new running year with new adventures and achievements. I'll recap 2014 before shifting to my plans for 2015. First, a look at the two maps below shows my progress from end of 2013 to end of 2014 (note that the color legend is not the same for both maps). Above: Only the green states were actually completed at the end of 2013 Above: Both green and yellow states are completed for marathons; yellow states also include at least one half marathon 2014 Running Achievements I resumed posting to this blog and I've kept it fairly up-to-date, posting frequently, sharing race reports from every event, and talking about other topics in my life of running. I ran 18 Marathons in 16 states (13 were new states) and 2 foreign countries (both new for marathons). I ended the year having completed marathons in 48 states and 4 countries, and my first completion of a World Marathon Major race ( Chicago ). I ran 8 Half M...