Hello, friends. Happy New Year!
And happy first full week after the holidays!
What a year 2018 was. Apologies for being MIA the second half of it. It’s been a little crazy around here, but in a good way.
There was a lot of travel in 2018 — for races, for weddings, for family visits, and for just fun.
2017
In terms of quantity, it wasn’t my best year — I completed 3 half marathons out of the 6-8 I had planned at the beginning of the year.
But if we’re talking quality, I would consider this my best year yet. I had two PRs, both of which came at a complete surprise, and my average running pace increased by about a minute.
In November, I impulsively decided to enter the 2018 Chicago Marathon lottery.
It’s been a couple of years since I ran my last (full) marathon (Marine Corps Marathon 2015), so I figured, why not?
Also, I’ve recently decided I would try and run all six of the World Marathon Majors — Chicago, New York, Boston, Berlin, London, and Tokyo. I figured this would be a goal I’d work on while continuing to complete my 50 states challenge.
Happy Friday Eve!
Did you participate in Global Running Day yesterday? It coincided with my birthday this year, so I celebrated both with a 4-mile run after work.
Seemed like almost everyone I was following on Twitter and Instagram was out for a run at some point during the day. Saw the #GlobalRunningDay hashtag all over the place! It was awesome.
Guys! I’m back from Iceland and Ohio! Both trips were amazing (each in their own way, of course). Will write more about Iceland in another post. For now, I’m going to tell you all about Ohio.
Personally, I think it’s an underrated state. We had a great time there. We visited Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, and Sandusky — all in three days. Pretty crazy. I’m still amazed we were able to pull it off.
There were many highlights of the trip, but the most noteworthy for this blog is… setting a new PR in the Flying Pig (half) and finishing strong!
It was completely unexpected. Unexpected for a couple of reasons: (1) the course is described as hilly and challenging (and it was!), and (2) I got only three hours of sleep the night before!
But somehow, things seemed to have worked out in my favor that day. No complaints here!
It was a great race — definitely in my top 10 favorites!
Happy 2017, friends! Hope you guys had a great holiday and wonderful time ringing in the new year.
I’ve spent the last week trying to get back into routine — work, gym, chores, etc. I’m still playing catch-up. This is probably my least favorite time of the year (post-holiday blues, cold east coast weather), so while everyone’s out there making big resolutions to be amazing, I’m just taking it day by day. It’s what works for me. I do set goals for myself, but the main thing I strive for every year is to live a full life and do the best that I can in whatever situation I’m in.
Right now, I’m in a “blah, it’s January” situation, so you know, I’m working my way through it. 🙂
I finally got around to narrowing down the races for my 2017 line-up. I’ve got six on tap — my colleague, Kevin, (aka Coach Kevin) is pushing for me to do eight, so I’ll end the year with 25 states under my belt. Not sure if I can do it, but we’ll see.
This year, I’d like to keep each race destination under $500. I know $500 sounds like a lot, and it seems like it should be doable, right? But when you factor in airfare and hotel (and food and beers and food and more beers), it’s so easy to rack up the bill — personally, I think $500 for states in the midwest and west coast (when you live on the east coast) is a good deal! What do you think? Your thoughts and discount travel tips are welcome. 🙂 SEND MY WAY!
If you had to choose just one road race to run in California, which one would you choose?
Tough, right?
California is a big, beautiful state. Aside from the fact that there are hundreds of races taking place throughout the year, there’s also the decision of which part of the state to run in — Northern California? Southern? Or how about Central?
Here were my top choices (for a half marathon):
Big Sur Half Marathon in Monterey Bay (not the same as the popular Big Sur International Marathon)
Napa to Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon
San Diego Rock ’n’ Roll Half Marathon
Solid choices, right?? I think so.  🙂
I ended up choosing the San Francisco (half) Marathon. When I told people, they were all like, “but the hills!! Have you seen them?!” Yes, I’ve seen them. I was worried about those hills. But I figured, go big, or go home.
I was pretty nervous about the race, especially after the challenges I faced during Hatfield-McCoy in June. But surprisingly, the hills were not that bad, and the race was amazing — in fact, it’s one of my favorite races yet. I would do it again.
Have you ever been so miserable during a race that you wanted to stop and just quit right there?
There were two occasions where I was miserable, but not quite close to quitting or wanting to quit: The Hottest Half in Dallas, Texas in August 2014 and the Savin Rock Half Marathon in West Haven, Connecticut in March 2015. The former was just as advertised — it was hot as hell during that race, but at least the course was super flat and the heat was dry. I pushed through and thankfully, survived without any injuries, albeit some minor sunburn. The latter was the complete opposite of the former — it was freezing — in fact, it was snowing. Big fluffy flakes fell steadily from the sky throughout the entire race. And the snow was falling on top of existing snow that had accumulated from the previous day. At one point, I was even running along side a snow plow. Fortunately, the course was flat for this race as well, and I managed to make it to the finish line. (I remained cold for a good hour after that race though.)
I didn’t think it could get any more challenging than those two races…
But then, I did the Hatfield-McCoy Double Half Marathon last June.
I experienced a whole new level of challenge with that race. It was hot. It was humid. It was hilly. And it was high elevation.
I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it. At every single water stop during the second half, I debated whether or not to quit and catch a ride back into town.
But surprisingly, I did make it — six (!!!) hours after the start time, I completed a half marathon in the hills of West Virginia and another half marathon in the hills of Kentucky, crossing states numbers 14 and 15 off the list.
Wow, and just like that we’re more than halfway through June! The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind — went to Mexico, celebrated my birthday, went to Kentucky/West Virginia for the Hatfield-McCoy race, and in between all of that, there have been many dinners, after-work events, social gatherings with family and friends, and the birth of my cousin’s new baby! I finally have some downtime this weekend and hope to catch up on my race updates and clean up this website a bit.
First, I have to say: The Hatfield-McCoy double half marathon has definitely been the most challenging race I’ve done yet. The heat and elevation kicked my butt (hard) in both states, and there was a point during the second half where I seriously didn’t think I was going to make it. But I did — and thankfully, without any major sickness or injuries. So states numbers 14 (Kentucky) and 15 (West Virginia) are done! Yay!
I can’t believe it’s MAY already. This year is flying by so fast.
The Hatfield-McCoy Double Half Marathon is less than 50 days away (!!) (Check out the awesome-looking medals above!), and I honestly don’t feel as prepared as I should (but then again, when have I ever really felt prepared to run 26 miles?).
I’m slacking on my runs — the weekday runs and weekend long runs are not long enough. And I haven’t done the super long run yet – the dreaded 20-miler. I’m hoping to squeeze that in this weekend or next. Mentally, I am all over the place, and just not as focused on this training as I should be.
I still have another month to pull myself together though. Let’s see if I can do it.
Upside: I managed to score running buddies for both the Hatfield-McCoy and the San Francisco (Half) Marathon in July. Yay for running/travel buddies!
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Running the States 