Sandy Runs

With this post I'm caught up on all previous October races. On 10/15/16 I ran two races as part of the Baltimore Running Festival . And man, did I come home with the bling! It was a fine race day in Baltimore and I finished up with 4 medals and a fleece blanket I ran the Baltimore 5K at 7:30 AM, and then the Baltimore Half Marathon at 9:45 AM. There was plenty of time in between races to take a breather, and I got in a 16 mile training run when all was said and done. Running both of these races on the same day was called the BaltiMORON challenge and earned me a bonus medal in addition to the individual 5K and Half Marathon medals. And because I had also run the Frederick Running Festival Half Marathon ( my blog here ) in May, I earned the Maryland Double medal (for doing Frederick and Baltimore half or full). AND -- because I also ran the Baltimore 10 Miler ( blog here ) in June, I earned my King Crab Challenge fleece blanket (for doing Frederick Half, Baltimore 10 and Balti...

I finally got to run the Ohio State 4 Miler . I'm in Columbus a few times a year to visit friends and family, but had never made it there the weekend of this newer race. This year Nikki said she'd run it with me, so I added it to my calendar. As a second-generation Ohio State Buckeye, I had to do it. Awesome medal (the football is a small foam one that I had at home and used just for the photo) Nikki and I met for brunch on Saturday and then went to the race expo. It wasn't really an expo since there were no vendors. It was just a packet pick-up. I liked the short-sleeved race shirt but was disappointed that the date was not on it. And in previous years, they had long-sleeve shirts, but no biggie. On Sunday morning we met early to drive together to the parking lots at St. John Arena. My mom came too, to spectate. The starting area was outside Ohio Stadium and all the parking lots on the west side of the stadium were the staging area. The crowd was huge. This was...

I ran a weekday half marathon last week. No, it wan't a holiday, so why was there a weekday race? The event was part of the Mainly Marathons race series. Mainly Marathons puts on 5-7 day race events in neighboring states, allowing runners to earn several new state finishes in a one-week event. This was the Appalachian Series , which offered races of varying distances (50K, marathon, half marathon, 10K, 5K) in the following states: VA, WV, TN, NC, SC, GA and AL. Scot and I drove down for the Thursday race in Seneca, SC near Clemson University. Medal and bibs for the race; all is explained below There was a very special reason for running this race. Our friend and marathon buddy Scott would be doing the half marathon in honor of his daughter Christine, who was killed in June. I will link here to Scott's story. When Scot and Scott first met, they were embarking upon their individual quests to run marathons in all 50 states. From the beginning, Scott was running in hono...

I was very slow when I first started running in 2004, jumping into marathon training with no mileage base. I got injured during training and had a slow first marathon. But then I stated running shorter distance races and improved my pace. After a number of years with few races, I came back with a gusto at the end of 2011. In 2012 I started running multiple marathons and half marathons, and I earned new personal records (PRs) in both of those distances. But my times suffered in other distances. Marathon PR earned at 2012 Grandma's Marathon Half Marathon PR earned at 2012 Rock 'n' Roll Providence Half Marathon As of now, all of my PRs are too old. I want to get back to a better pace and beat some of those old stats. Once I get through my fall race season (or maybe even during it), I'm going to work on earning some new PRs. I won't share my PR times in the blog, because it's not the actual times that matter; it's the relative times. It's abou...

I ran the Army Ten Miler this year, 10 years after the previous time I ran this race. The race has changed in some ways, but not in others. I had a great day this year running the entire course with Karen. My bib, finisher coin, and a photo of a fallen soldier that a Team RWB member asked me to carry. Kind thoughts for the family of SGT Lance Oliver Eakes On Friday I went to the expo at the DC Armory, thinking it would be less crowded than on Saturday. There were all kinds of exhibits and demonstrations going on both inside and outside the building. The DC Armory Outside the armory I didn't sleep soundly the night before the race. We had some spitting rain and strong winds from Hurricane Matthew, and the sounds woke me up periodically. It was still raining and windy as I got dressed and ready. Because of Metro not opening early, many people were going to drive to Pentagon City or Crystal City to park. I worried about parking selling out at the closer garages, s...