Run 20 miles? Check.
I finally got the long run in a few weeks ago at the C&O Canal towpath. Not going to lie… it was tough. The first 14 miles went ok, but the last six miles were an absolute struggle. Six miles had never been so painful or felt so long.
But it got done.
LESS THAN 2 WEEKS UNTIL HATFIELD-MCCOY!
Am I ready?
Ehhh… not totally.
But it’s all good. Come race day, I think I’ll be fine and ready to go. Hopefully.
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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I spent part of this week recovering and catching up after a long weekend in Phoenix last week. Last Saturday, I ran the Pride Run (half marathon) and crossed state number 13 off my list (Wooo Arizona! — Hope to have a race recap up shortly.). And then afterward, I attended an old high school friend’s wedding (I love celebrating love). It was a good day — it was a good several days, actually. The weather in Phoenix was gorgeous, the race went well, the wedding was perfect, and I gained 5 pounds (i.e., I ate too much, drank too much, and was way merry).
I’m back home now — back to focusing on training for the Hatfield-McCoy Double Half Marathon (and trying to lose those 5 lbs. I gained).
Highlight of the week: crossing the Rock ‘n’ Roll DC 5k finish line with my dad and sister.
It was my dad’s first race, and it was just so awesome doing it with him and crossing the finish line together. He’s not a hard-core runner, but does workout regularly, so I was pretty confident he would be fine for a 5k — and he was. I asked if he wanted to do another race with me — maybe a 10k next time. He laughed and said that was a little too much, but he’d think about it.
I think he’ll do it. 🙂
Some days, your training just rocks — you’re hitting your mileage goals, your nutrition is on point, you even get in a little cross-training. 🙂 You feel great!
And then some days, you just suck.
Week 2 of training was the former. Week 3 of training was the latter.
Oh well. What can you do…
You win some, you lose some.
I’m heading for the hills of Kentucky and West Virginia this June for the Hatfield-McCoy Double Half Marathon. The races take runners through the historic sites following the Hatfield-McCoy feud in Goody, Kentucky and Matewan, West Virginia.
Because the halves are back-to-back, I’ve decided to do a full marathon training program. It’s an 18-week program, which means week 1 started last week. It totally snuck up on me. Wintry weather here in the DC area + car issues made it difficult to get most of my runs in this week.
So yeah. Basically, I am off to a great start so far…
An old high school friend called me the other day to invite me to her wedding. The festivities will be in Phoenix, where she and her fiancé live.
I’m excited! It’s been years since we’ve seen each other, and I’m looking forward to catching up with her and a few other old high school friends that don’t live in the DC area anymore. It’ll also be my first time in Phoenix!
And since I haven’t done a race in Arizona yet, I figured maybe I’ll run if there are any races taking place in the area that weekend. Well, turns out there is one — the Phoenix Pride Run Half Marathon. It’s at 6:30 a.m. on the day of the wedding (April 2).
At the end of Decemeber, Jen’s pal, Emily, sent us an email asking if we wanted to participate in “Run the Year 2016,” where you run 2,016 miles in the year. Sounded like a cool concept, and great motivation to get out for a run when you’re not training for a race.
But then I was thinking… 2,016 miles? That’s a lot. That means I would have to average almost 40 miles a week. For the entire year.
Um. No thanks.
I was a little confused though. Emily wanted to know if we wanted to be a team of three, and therefore we’d complete the 2,016 miles together (i.e., our combined mileage would be 2,016).
Ah, that sounds much more manageable! I’m in!
It is day 2 of this epic blizzard of 2016 (aka Storm Jonas). The snow started coming down in the DC-area yesterday around 1 p.m. It’s been about 24 hours now, and it’s still going strong. I think we may have another 12 hours or so to go.
I went out for a walk this morning, when it was easing up a bit. The sidewalks and trail I normally run on were difficult to get through, but the streets were looking pretty good. Big thanks to all those working hard through this storm, salting and continuously plowing the roads.
Here it is. My 2016 race schedule. Well, tentative race schedule.
I think if you’re trying to run in all 50 states, or is someone that just enjoys participating in races, you’re constantly thinking about which race/where to go/what to run next. I’ve been thinking about my 2016 race schedule since January 2015 (and I already have 2017 and 2018 in the works). I’m a planner. I also love to travel, and in order to make that work with my limited vacation time, I have to plan in advance.
My parents are going to Cambodia in November, and I’m hoping to join them for a week. Afterward, I’ll probably split and head solo to Thailand for a bit. This trip will eat up at least a couple of weeks, and so I won’t have as much free time for domestic travel this year, which means I won’t be able to cross off as many states as I did in 2015. No worries though, I’ll just make it up in 2017. 😉
Running the States 