June 19, 2022
After a long hiatus from blogging – I have returned! Better late than never, eh?
Although I have a lot of updates for myself to write about, that isn’t what prompted me to finally sit down and type. Instead, my friend from Rochester (well, she is technically from Duluth, and also is technically living out West these days, but I digress….) ran Grandma’s Marathon yesterday and that inspired me to get back to my blog. This is the friend who made my logo for my blog ❤ ! It was her first marathon and BOY I WAS EXCITED! Marathons can be joyous events and I get super hyped anytime someone I care about can join the merry band of marathoners.
OK speaking of marathons, I have a lot of ground to cover in terms of my own marathon updates. Below is summary all the running things I have done since Houston. You can also see the race results summarized on this page if you want.
Chattanooga Marathon (March 6)
After Houston I signed up to pace a full marathon with this group called Beast Pacing. That race was the Chattanooga Marathon in Tennessee. The course was hilly and beautiful, and the weather was a bit too warm for me, but I had a lot of fun pacing and hope to continue doing it! I paced the 3:30 (hh:mm) group, which is 8:00 min miles, which was do-able. My only complaint was carrying the very cumbersome sign, which I decided to break in half around mile 13. I was responsible for returning the neon sign, not the stick, so I figured why not.
Highlights: Pacing a marathon for the first time, traveling to a new city, running across the Walnut Street Bridge twice, and getting ice cream afterwards at Clumpies.





Shamrock Half Marathon (March 20)
Next up was the Shamrock Half, which I did with my friend Emily and Claire. Emily’s dad and step mom (Monica) have a place in Norfolk, VA, so we stayed with them and drove over the morning of the race. They were lovely people and were so kind and supportive.
Highlights: taking a beer-cup at mile 2, finishing on the beach and hanging out there after, and experiencing the super flat, well-spectated course, running along the beach and through Fort Story, and Emily’s MASSIVE PR!



The Boston Marathon (April 19th)
Maybe it’s a miracle that I didn’t get injured with all the prior racing. Maybe it’s my newfound dedication to glute-activation exercises prior to all of my runs and stretching. Either way, I made it to Boston and accomplished my main goal of the year: get to the start line in Hopkinton uninjured and ready to run! Everything after that was really just icing on the cake.
Highlights: accomplishing my main goal, brunch with Tim at Stephanie’s on Newbury, random encounters with running friends on Newbury Street on Saturday, Going to the Harvard Museum of Natural History the day before the race, getting a very nice MinuteRice water bottle at the Expo, running the majority of the race with my friend Laura, the spectators (especially Wellesley College), seeing Tim at mile 20 in Newton, Erin’s HUGE PR (3:07 DAMN!!), celebratory pizza dinner with Tim at Piattini, hanging out in the hotel bar after the race with Erin, Laura, and our men-folk.












I took a week completely off running after Boston, and have since been maintaining fitness and just running as part of my routine. I also started running Wednesday morning workouts with a local group and am curious about where I can get my fitness if I focus on improving it and maybe even set some more specific, race-related goals. The main reason I run is because it’s fun, but maybe it could be fun to run fast?!🤷🏻♀️💫
GO ASHLEY!! Look at your cool Boston jacket! I love reading your blog and your positivity is so encouraging; running as a sport can get so INTENSE and it is wonderful to find joy in it. Thank you for inspiring me to run my first marathon! I’m already excited for our running reunion next year 🙂
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