One of the perks of running long distance races is the medals. I’ve collected some cool ones in the past year and a half, when I started the 50 states challenge. So far, my favorites include the Hottest Half medal (Dallas, Texas) because it doubles as a beer opener, and the Philly Love Run medal (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) because it’s pretty.
Tag: running
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Marine Corps Marathon Training – Week 12 (Survived the 20-miler, thoughts on Peter Chang)
One of our summer interns told me she could never do a marathon because she couldn’t be alone with her thoughts for that long.
I’ll admit, being alone with your thoughts during a long run can be tough. It’s hard not to focus on the pain, the boredom, and the many miles you have left.
It took me a while, but now I actually do enjoy being alone with my thoughts. I enjoy the time to think about whatever I want, to focus on whatever I want, and to zone out if I want (which, during long runs, is ideal).
But it can still be really tough. I completed my first 20-miler of this training season on Saturday. And I’m not going to lie: I hated every single minute of that run.
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Marine Corps Marathon Training – Week 11 (SoulCycle, Labor Day weekend at the beach)
I wish I could say last week’s training rocked, but it didn’t, so I can’t.
It was another busy week—I spent part of it at a conference in Virginia, and had a couple of other things going on. But, I am proud to share that I finally tried SoulCycle (my x-training activity for the week). I’ve never done a spin class, and I hardly ever bike (though I wish I could more often, but that would maybe require getting a bike…), so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
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Marine Corps Marathon Training – Week 10 (Busy work week, No-bake peanut butter balls)
Sometimes you have great weeks, where you’re just a running rock star—you’re hitting your weekly mileage goals and you feel great. And other weeks, training is just a bust. This past week was the latter. I didn’t even come close to hitting my 45-mile target. And that 19-mile long run I was supposed to do on Saturday? Ha.
I was swamped at work last week, had other obligations over the weekend, and running just didn’t happen.
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Marine Corps Marathon – Week 9 (Buredo, pool parties and dumb bells)
It was time. I finally added strength training into my marathon training plan.
I bought a couple of 3-pound dumb bells earlier this month. My sister took one look at them and cracked up.
Her: Three pounds?! What’s that going to do??
Me: They will do a lot when what you’ve been lifting was nothing! … Plus, I can put them together to make six pounds!
Her: *laughs* Ok, sure.
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Marine Corps Marathon Training – Week 8 (celebrating #10, eggs baked in tomatoes)
The week began with cake.
Our office is big on celebrating things — birthdays, baby showers, new interns, the arrival of summer, etc.
Last week, my colleague, Kevin, got me a cake to celebrate completing 10 states. It was awesome of him. He said I’d get another cake after I complete 10 more states. Something to look forward to!
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Marine Corps Marathon Training – Week 7 (tips from run chat)
Ever heard of #RunChat? It’s a Twitter chat that takes place Sunday nights, covering various topics related to running.
I almost missed it last night because I tried to go to bed early. Good thing I couldn’t sleep. There were some great tips on training that I would have missed (note to non-Tweeters: technically, you can always read a Twitter chat later, but what you would miss is the real-time conversation with others).
Following are some of my favorites tips from last night’s chat.
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Marine Corps Marathon Training – Week 6 (65th birthday and peach tart recipe)
Before this running blog, I had a food blog. A few of them, actually.
The latest still exists, but hasn’t been updated in over a year. I keep saying that I’ll return to it, but it just hasn’t happened yet. Maybe one day…
In the meantime, I’m going to start sharing some recipe-related posts here. I don’t cook and bake as often as I used to, so there probably won’t be very many of those posts.
I did bake yesterday though. First time since the holidays! I whipped up a peach tart after my long run, thinking it would be great recovery food. I wish I could say it turned out awesome and hit the spot, but it didn’t.
I’m pretty sure I know why. But first, here’s my weekly training update:
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Marine Corps Marathon Training – Week 5 (Fight like a girl and Trevor Noah)
#MotivationMonday: “A beautiful day begins with a beautiful mindset. When you wake up, take a second to think about what a privilege it is to simply be alive. The moment you start acting like life is a blessing, it will start to feel like one.”
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10/50 – Illinois: Rock n Roll Chicago Half Marathon
I completed state number 10 of the 50 states challenge this past weekend (wooo double digits!). Thank you, Chicago, Illinois.
What did I know about Chicago before I left? Truthfully, not too much. The last time I was in the Windy City was November 2007 to celebrate a friend’s birthday. It was a short weekend trip. I remember a lot of cocktails and snow on the ground. I don’t remember much else, probably due to said cocktails.
I had heard great things about Chicago — one being how nice it is in the summer. Other than that, I was pretty clueless about the city. My colleague, Erin, lived in Chicago and absolutely loves it. After my second visit there, I can see why. It truly is a beautiful city with great architecture and a vibrant food scene. And summers there are indeed lovely.
Running the States 