Halloween is my favorite holiday. It’s in October, clearly the best month of the year. It involves candy and mischief. It involves none of the passive aggression present during other holidays regarding what one is expected to do to celebrate — on Halloween, if you do not provide candy, someone will plaster your house with [...]
Entries from October 2009
October 29, 2009
A positive spin
All week, I’ve been riding on a post-marathon high, viewing my miserable Marine Corps Marathon experience through the lens of inspiration rather than disappointment. That is, until my second post-marathon workout, a 45-minute spin on the stationary bike yesterday, when I accidentally selected my marathon playlist on my iPod. The one I’d spent hours fine-tuning, [...]
October 27, 2009
What comes next
I used to be terrified of sharing my goals before races, fearing I’d put unnecessary pressure on myself to perform at some arbitrary level. After detailing my training for the National Half Marathon last March, though, I learned how gratifying it can be to celebrate a goal achieved with the people who have watched you [...]
October 25, 2009
Race report: Marine Corps Marathon (what motivated me to finish)
I won’t bury the lede: I finished the Marine Corps Marathon in 4:39. This was 40 minutes behind the goal time I knew I could accomplish on a good day. It was also four minutes slower than my first marathon in 2007. Though my first marathon was tough in all the obvious ways, was also [...]
October 24, 2009
Running from deployment: one runner’s Marine Corps Marathon motivation
Something funny happened at the Marine Corps Marathon expo yesterday. When I went to pick up my bib, I took out not my driver’s license, but my military ID, which I usually bury in the back of my wallet until I need it to get on base for the gym or commissary. I don’t hide [...]
October 23, 2009
Marine Corps Marathon: mantras, motivations and more
Back in July, I was trying to figure out how to keep my head in a good place as I resumed running after struggling with a flareup of an old hip injury. I was also working on two stories that required me to talk to sports psychologists about motivation, one for Women’s Running and another [...]
October 22, 2009
Marine Corps Marathon: race-day logistics replace taper madness
Whew! That’s better! I had a rough time there Tuesday, dealing with some pre-race taper tantrums. True to their toddler-esque name, taper tantrums led me to not only get cranky, but to act out in rebellion, staying up past midnight to watch the Yankees game and devouring two unbelievably delicious salty-oat cookies from Teaism (“Two” [...]
October 21, 2009
Taper tantrums hit
So I’ve been raving about how much I looove my taper, and how my body needs the rest, and how I was silly to get all taper-crazy in the past. I even wrote a post yesterday called How to avoid Marine Corps Marathon taper tantrums. I kind of jinxed myself, and yesterday, I found myself [...]
October 20, 2009
How to avoid Marine Corps Marathon taper tantrums
I usually hate to taper. This week, though, I’m having a blast. Yesterday’s cross-training workout consisted of 30 easy minutes on the stationary bike. That’s all! I usually save the day’s newspaper for my stationary bike dates, and bring a book and magazine with me, too, just to be safe. Yesterday, I barely had time [...]
October 19, 2009
Motivation Monday: Marine Corps Marathon edition
There’s a little tag on my keychain that looks from afar like any grocery-store or bookstore discount card. I first clipped it on in July, to remind myself there was a reason I was suffering through hour-long core- and hip-strengthening workouts a few times a week, and kept it on when I started my training [...]
