If it’s going to happen, it might as well be now.
“It” is “getting sick,” and the sentence above is meant to convince myself that really, it’s no big deal that my throat stings and I feel like I’ve been hit over the head with a cast-iron skillet. I’ve got 24 days til the Marine Corps [...]
Entries from September 2009
September 30, 2009
Taking care of myself
September 29, 2009
One last push
A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the monster month, the part of marathon training when mileage, intensity and burnout rates all peak.
This morning, when I woke up feeling creaky after my longest run — 20 or 21 miles – on Saturday, a recovery swim Sunday and speed work — 6 X Yasso 800s, plus [...]
September 28, 2009
Perfect playlist: The Marine Corps Marathon
I’d like to start by justifying this playlist. Not everyone’s into music, and those people might have a hard time understanding why
an otherwise sane woman who already spends an inordinate amount of time running might waste hours poring over iTunes to create the perfect long-run mix. It’s simple: If running is how I unplug from [...]
September 26, 2009
The accidental 21-miler, fueled by two Gu’s at the same time
Know what I’d do if I had a million dollars? Two Gu’s at the same time.
This thought, which occurred to me after consuming — wait for it — two Gu’s at the same time sometime after the 10-mile mark of my long-planned 20-miler this morning, carried me through a good two miles of my run. [...]
September 25, 2009
The Long Run
I’ve written about long runs before. But tomorrow, I attempt The Long Run — the only 20-miler I’ll be doing before the Marine Corps Marathon, per my doctor’s instructions, making this kind of a mini climax within my training period.
The first time I ran 20 miles, I remember thinking there was something distinctly different about [...]
September 24, 2009
An unwelcome surprise at the pool
Near the end of our time in Jacksonville, Fla., where we lived for four years before moving to Silver Spring, Steve and I had established an awesome and comforting routine.
We’d always run together a couple days a week. But I’d gotten into open-water swimming while he was on his second deployment, and when he came [...]
September 23, 2009
A letter to swimming
Dear swimming:
Heeeey! How ARE you? It’s been a while! (Laughs nervously).
Yeah, I know. I’ve been so busy! You know, we were gone all of August — have I sent you my Monterey pictures? You’d love it there.
What’s that? No, we’ve been around in September. But, you know, Steve just started classes again, so we don’t [...]
September 21, 2009
The home stretch
A couple years ago, when I was working on a series of stories and multimedia features previewing the Five Points of Life
Marathon in Gainesville as a reporter for The Gainesville Sun, I wrote a story about what Runner’s World calls “the monster month,” when marathon training gets into the longest of the long runs, the [...]
September 18, 2009
And the winner is …
I asked for your best trail-running stories for a chance to win a pair of Saucony ProGrid Xodus Trail-Running shoes. You seriously, seriously delivered, and there were so many well-written, thoughtful stories, I had to resort to a random drawing among an only slightly narrowed-down list to choose a winner.
If these quotes, excerpts of the [...]
September 17, 2009
Another tweak to the training schedule
First, a quick reminder that today is the last day to win a pair of trail-running shoes by sharing your best trail-running story at the bottom of this post. The contest closes at 6 p.m. EST today, and I’ll announce the winner on Friday.
Earlier this week, I applauded myself for being flexible with my training [...]
