Sandy Runs

I said I would run fewer races this year, and I meant it. I wanted to work on quality over quantity. While I didn't really make any inroads with speed training, I did enjoy not feeling obligated to run so many marathons. And taking more breaks in between races felt great. January: My first marathon of the year and also my Marathon Globetrotters qualifying race: Marathon Bahamas Here's how my year of running looked in 2015: I qualified for the Marathon Globetrotters at the Marathon Bahamas in January. I ran marathons in my 49th and 50th US states, finishing my 50 states goal in May at the Newport Marathon in Oregon. I ran marathons in three new countries: Bahamas , Germany and Jersey . I completed my second World Marathon Major ( Berlin Marathon ). I was a pacer for the first time (at Georgia Half Marathon ). I ran a total of 7 marathons. I ran a total of 7 half marathons. I ran a total of 7 shorter races ranging from 5K to 17.75K. I ran one marathon rela...

This was my second year doing the Ugly Sweater Run Washington DC, which is actually located in Maryland at the National Harbor. This is a race series that holds events in various US cities. Scot and I ran it in 2013. Then, like now, it was a little too warm for sweaters, but we had fun. This year I ran the race with Rachael. Or, I should say that we walked it with a few spurts of running. It got a little hot to run in the sunshine wearing wool blend sweaters. It was also an untimed race, so who cared? And as we found out from our Garmin stats, the course was decidedly short of the advertised 5K. Still, we got our money's worth with the fun ugly sweater themed hat, and the beer ticket good for one Samuel Adams or Angry Orchard cider. And no, we didn't stop at just one drink; many runners gave away their drink tickets, so we were all set for a fun morning. The Ugly Sweater run registration fee is about $40, but there's really no need to pay that much. If you watch Groupon ...