I ran my second live race of 2021 last weekend, and my first live race with Rip It Events in over a year! 

When COVID hit a year ago, Rip It, like every other race company, was forced to either cancel races outright or make them virtual. Rip It did a fantastic job of adding several themed virtual races to their race calendar for 2020, too, including virtual 5Ks for Cinco de Mayo, Donut Day and Fourth of July. 

They were also able to add two socially distant live races in the later part of 2020, the Bear Trail Half Marathon and 10K last August and the Greenbrier Trail 5 and 10 Miler in October. I’m not a confident trail runner, so I declined to participate in those races. 

However, one trail race I do feel good about is the Little Patuxent River Run, which I have done every year since it began. It’s challenging, but still appropriate for those of us who prefer the roads to the trails. The race was supposed to take place at the end of January, with a half marathon on one day and a 10K the next, and plans called for both races to be spaced out in waves to allow for proper distancing. 

I had initially signed up for both races, but once COVID restrictions forced the races to be postponed until the first weekend of March, I decided to drop down to just the 10K. And I’m glad I did. I didn’t have high hopes as far as my time — I had run 20 miles the day before, and my legs were trashed. Plus, I’m a lot more cautious when trail running. I approached the 10K purely as a training run (I also had to run a full 10 miles that day, so I knew I’d have to get some bonus miles in after the race).

So I was pretty surprised to finish as the second place female. I have always gotten an age group award at this race before (and I’ve run both the half and the 10K), but never an overall award.   

My final time was 53:13 — and for reference, I recently ran a time trial/virtual 10K and finished in 45:09, so yeah, big difference between the roads and the trails for me. Overall, I felt pretty strong, though yeah, I definitely felt those 20 miles I’d run the previous day when climbing the two big inclines in the race. I did feel a little nauseous/dehydrated toward the end, which I’m going to blame on the previous night’s dinner — mushroom ravioli with a cream sauce and two Moscato Mojitos at Maggiano’s. Nothing I would normally consume the night before a race, but like I said, this wasn’t a goal race! Oh yeah, and I ate a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon for breakfast. That probably wasn’t smart, either. Peanut butter and banana on a bagel for life! 

It’s possible I also felt nauseous because I spent a good mile of the race running near a guy who kept spitting on the trail. Like, for real? That’s nasty when we aren’t in a pandemic. Glad I’m fully vaccinated.

All in all, it was a great morning and everyone was so happy to be out racing in person. Thank you, Rip It Events, for putting on such a fun and safe event! 

(As a Rip It Events ambassador, I received a free entry to the Little Patuxent River Run. Contact me for a 15 percent discount off of any 2021 Rip It race!)

Boston Marathon 2021

The 2021 Boston Marathon is scheduled to happen in person on Oct. 11. The Boston Athletic Association has not yet opened up registration, but they have said they will take qualifying times from September 2018 until registration closes. 

This means two things. One, my BQ from October will count for the 2021 window. Two, the pool of qualifiers is going to be much larger than usual if they are going all the way back to September 2018. I beat my qualifying standard by 3 minutes and 26 seconds, but I don’t think there is any way in hell that’ll get me into the race. No, we obviously don’t know the mysterious cutoff yet, but the BAA has ALSO said the field is going to be much smaller this year due to the pandemic. So, I’m not holding out hope that I will run Boston this fall. 

The BAA also announced last week that they’ll offer a virtual Boston Marathon for anyone who wants to run it –no qualifying time required. This virtual race will be open to 70,000 runners. Needless to say, this decision has been controversial, with some runners saying it devalues Boston and other runners saying this is an opportunity to allow more people to participate. Personally? I think it’s stupid and I have my doubts that 70,000 runners will jump at the chance to pay to run a virtual Boston. The whole allure of Boston, in my opinion, is qualifying for it — very tough to do for most people! — and then running IN BOSTON. Yeah, I know they offered a virtual Boston last year, but that was for people who already qualified and were registered to run the real deal. I’m just not a fan of this — and at this point, I remain hopeful that I can run Boston 2022, either with my Chasing the Unicorn time or my finish time at the BQ Marathon Invitational at the end of the month. Fingers crossed for a big PR there! No idea what the qualifying window will actually be for Boston 2022, but I do know that in “normal times,” my October 2020 BQ would have been in the 2022 window. But who knows what they’ll decide to do as far as that race goes. 

Future Marathon Plans

I’m still registered to run the Coastal Delaware marathon this November, but I’m on the fence about it. Really, I’m on the fence about running any marathon this fall. 

Here’s the thing — I’ve basically been training for a marathon for a year. I was training hard for Coastal Delaware 2020 before it got canceled last spring. I backed off my training plan for a few months, then started hitting it hard again in June, with the hopes that I might be able to run some fall marathon somewhere. And I did. But then after Chasing the Unicorn on Halloween, I took a break from training (still running, just not following a structured plan) until mid-December, then I started up again. 

All that happened in a year that was, of course, extremely challenging. I rarely discuss my career on here, but I recently switched jobs. I had been working in marketing/communications for a hospital, focused mainly on social media marketing. Running social media in the healthcare space during a pandemic is not as glamorous as it sounds. LOL. I won’t go into all the details of why I left, but suffice it to say I am happy that I don’t have to spend every day (nights and weekends included!) answering questions on Facebook about the COVID vaccine. I got a new job as a communications specialist in the home services industry, and so far I am really enjoying it. It’s more relaxed, and I get to tap into the journalism skills I honed in my first career as a reporter. I’m glad I took a leap and I truly wish I’d done it sooner.

So yeah, last year was stressful AF, and I fit in marathon training because it was important to me (I obviously do not have kids– otherwise I would never have been able to do that.) And it honestly kept me sane and made me feel like I was accomplishing something, when I felt like I was spinning my wheels most days at work. But I’m thinking I need a break from the intensity of marathon training.

I wouldn’t need to start a structured fall training plan until July, so I guess I have some time to decide. But I’m leaning toward just dropping down to the half marathon. If I am lucky enough to be able to run Boston 2022, I’d have to start that training in December anyway, so this would probably be for the best.  

But like I said, I have time.