Races March – April 2022

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.

Before the race started

Starting the race

A few meters from the finish line

All done!

Post-race ice cream hits different 💫

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!

Emily about to finish

Post race celebration on the beach

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.

Ran into friends on Newbury street: Jessie (middle) and Bree (right)

Tim in Cambridge

Picking up my bib

Me and Erin the day before the race

The official program. This race was historic because it marked 50th anniversary of women officially competing in The Boston Marathon. It’s a little sad that it wasn’t until 1972 that women were allowed to race. Good reflection-fuel: many of the opportunities and experiences I have today for running were hard fought by the athletes who came before me.

Race outfit laid out the night before

Laura trying to get my attention, I think to alert me that Dan was taking this photo

Me and Laura taking on a hill

We are Boston marathoners!!

Laura and I were on the warming bus after the race, and then Jessie walked on! A fun post-race surprise!! I ran Atlanta with Jessie, who lives in Chicago.

The Boston marathon app had this cute feature where you could send messages to an athlete! My mom sent me two💜

Abbie stayed with our friends and their dogs while Tim and I were away. She made herself right at home!

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?!🤷🏻‍♀️💫