10Ks

In my racing era: Boston Marathon 2025 training

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How is the 2025 Boston Marathon only 28 days away? 

I train in 12-week blocks, and it always seems to go really fast. This cycle has proven to be no exception. Though it’s not necessarily been the easiest training cycle. This winter was pretty much the worst winter I’ve trained through since I started running marathons a decade ago. There wasn’t quite as much snow and ice as there was during the winter of 2015, thank goodness, but it’s been really cold. I don’t even mind the cold, and it was still too much for me. Thankfully we are coming out of it now and it’s actually expected to be close to 80 this weekend– so I might start complaining about the heat soon! 

I’ve incorporated a bunch of races into my training this past winter, so here’s a quick recap of what I’ve been up to! 

Road Runners Club of America 10 Mile Challenge

This 10-mile race happens every February in Columbia, and it is known for being very competitive – I think the top 50 runners all finish in under an hour– and challenging. My friend Daniel was running with team Bullseye Running, and they were looking for another female in the 40-49 age group, so he asked me to run. I had a planned weekend long run of 16 miles with 10 at goal marathon pace, so I said sure, why not. It was cold, it was windy, and the course was hilly, but nowhere near as hard as the Lewis 10 Miler that I’d run a few weeks prior. I ran a 1:14:50/7:30 pace, which seems wildly optimistic for Boston Marathon pace, but hey. That time would typically earn me at least an age group award in a local race. Not at this race! I was 20th in my age group! Like I said, it is a very fast crowd! I also ran 4 miles before the race and 2 miles after it to get to 16 for the day. 

Spring Ahead Half Marathon 

Signing up for this half, held a little more than two hours away in the small town of Douglassville, PA, was a last minute decision. But I had 15 miles to run with 12 at marathon pace, and what I won’t do to avoid doing that alone in a training run. When I saw this half marathon wasn’t happening until 10 in the morning, meaning I wouldn’t even have to leave the house all that early, I decided to sign up. I’m glad I did! The trail it was on, mostly the Schuylkill River Greenway, was beautiful, as well as flat and fast. My only complaint was a really annoying headwind on the way back to the finish line and my Garmin didn’t seem to want to function with the trees lining the trail. At one point late in the race, it told me I was running a 9:30 pace and I knew damn well that wasn’t the case, that I was probably running around 7:30 or faster. Trust me, I’ve been running long enough that I know what 7:30 pace feels like vs. 9:30! I finished in 1:37:52/7:29 average pace, again overshooting what my marathon pace is likely going to be. (I’m thinking 7:40-7:45 is more realistic for my current fitness.) I was 6th overall female and first in my age group. My husband and I got brunch at the Fork and Ale a few steps from the trail and it was awesome! All the runners got one free beer, which of course I was happy about! 

Shamrock Shuffle 10 Miler

Aside from Boston, this race in Cape Henlopen State Park in Rehoboth Beach and Lewes, DE was the one on my calendar that I was most excited about this spring. I’d been looking forward to our little St. Patrick’s Day weekend getaway since Christmas. I love the beach any time of year, but I really appreciate it in the off season. My plan was also to race this 10 miler, rather than stick to marathon pace, and I thought I could finish somewhere around 1:10-1:11. I ran the Annapolis 10 Mile Run, which is a much harder course, in 1:11 last August! 

So I was somewhat disappointed to finish in 1:13:23/7:20 average pace. I think there were probably a few reasons why I was slower than expected. This race came at the tail end of a 61-mile peak week of training. I also ran a strong 20 miler Friday morning before we left for the beach, and my legs probably weren’t recovered. I got up Saturday morning and ran a 4-mile shakeout around Rehoboth, and my legs definitely felt tired. That said, I set my 10-mile PR of 1:08:03 the day after running a 16-mile long run, so. Sometimes you get lucky. Despite the Shamrock Shuffle being the day before St. Paddy’s Day, that didn’t happen this time. 

All that said, I won the race! So it’s hard to be too bummed, ha! And I had fun. I might make it an annual St. Patrick’s Day tradition! 

I had a lead bike to chase!

Piece of Cake 10K       

Big fat DNS (Did Not Start) for this race! 

My plan called for me to race a 10K this past weekend, and normally I would have signed up for the 10K at the Annapolis Running Festival, which I have run twice before. But Christ, it’s expensive – $85 when I went to sign up in December, which is awfully steep for a 10K in my opinion, especially one that I have already run. So I found another one in Montgomery County that was only $17, happening the same weekend. It was on a Sunday, so I planned to run my long run of 17 miles on Saturday. 

As mentioned above, I’ve run really strong races the day after knocking out a long run. Well, I knew after I finished my 17 miles that I was not running a fast 10K on Sunday. The cumulative fatigue had really caught up with me. I think a lot of that was due to a particularly hard kickboxing class on Thursday night, which involved a ton of weighted squats. I got through the 17 miles fine, though the last 5 miles were a real slog, but I was soooo sore afterwards. At first I thought, well, I’ll go and just run the 10K at marathon pace. Then as the day wore on, I knew I wasn’t up even to that. So I bagged it and ran an easy 6 miles around my neighborhood. I have no regrets! 

The plan calls for me to race another 10K in two weeks/just before my taper starts, but it looks like my only option is the Sole of the City 10K in Baltimore. Which looks great, but also expensive– currently right around $100! Yikes! So I will probably chuck it in the f*ck it bucket, as my friend Chris likes to say.

I’ve always heard it’s better to get to the start line of a marathon slightly undercooked than overcooked anyway. We’ll see what my 5th Marathon Monday holds!

Incorporating two 10K races as part of Ocean City Marathon training

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It’s hard to believe I am just 4 days out from the Ocean City Running Festival marathon! 

As part of my training this fall, I signed up for two 10Ks. One was a total dumpster fire. The other went fantastic! 

Let’s get into it!

PRO-Vision 10K: 44:03

I’ll start with the good part.  

This is a great little local race put on by a wonderful Severna Park family. PRO-Vision is an organization named in honor of Paul Robert Overton, a Severna Park native and athlete who died several years ago of injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. The organization raises money for local charities – this year’s race benefited our local Boys & Girls Club and the Orphan Grain Train. Before the race started, Paul’s brother got up and spoke a bit about him and it was very moving. I wasn’t planning on crying before the race, but I did. They just seemed like awesome people, and I will hopefully be returning to run this 10K (there is also a 5K option) in the future. 

Both the 5K and the 10K start at the Elks Lodge in Severna Park and then go onto the B&A Trail, where I spend many weekends running. I got to see some of my Anne Arundel County She Runs This Town Friends right around the half mile mark, and that was basically the highlight of the race for me because it all went to hell shortly thereafter! 

Thank you MJ for the photo!!

We’ve had a really warm fall, though mornings have mostly been cool and lovely. However, that last week of September was an exception. It was so uncomfortably muggy, the worst that it had been since probably July. I think when I looked at my weather app, it said the humidity was 90%. Just nasty! 

So it felt like running through hot soup. It has been a LONG time since I have run a race and seen each split get progressively slower. My first mile was 6:35; my last mile was 7:35. Basically a textbook case of how not to pace a race. I crossed the finish line in just over 44 minutes feeling half dead, but ended up as the second overall female. The first overall female was more than 5 minutes ahead of me, so it wasn’t even close. She also beat all of the men, too! Impressive! 

The after party was fun. There was a ton of food, including an Always Ice Cream Truck, drinks, a band playing some yacht rock and other tunes, and a raffle with some really nice baskets donated by local businesses. The Overton family also had set up several photo collages showcasing Paul with his siblings and friends over the years. Like I said, awesome family. Overall, I enjoyed the experience and it was decent speed work for me even if I had a crappy race! 

Baltimore Running Festival 10K: 40:38 

The Baltimore Running Festival is one of my very favorite Maryland running events, and I missed it last year because I went to Cape May for the weekend! So I was super happy to be back. I was initially signed up for the half marathon (my favorite of all the distances offered at the festival), but the Pfitzinger plan I’ve been following directed me to race a 10K on the weekend two weeks before the marathon and then run a 16 mile long run the next day. So I dropped down to the 10K. 

I had run the 10K in 2021, the first year the running festival included that distance, and came in 2nd female with a 43:36. The race has gotten a LOT more competitive since then! My time of 40:38 this year got me 3rd place in my age group, and I think I was the 11th or 12th female. There were some really fast people out there! 

Before the race, I told my husband I hoped to break 42 minutes, something I hadn’t done in about two years in the 10K. The weather was really good and even though the 10K course is hilly, I think it’s actually pretty fast because almost all of the uphill is in the first half of the race. There is a lot of downhill in the back half, making it easy to run negative splits. I was more nervous about going fast and tripping and falling in a pothole in the city, but thankfully that did not happen! 

I ran the first few miles around 6:45-6:50 pace, and it felt hard, but doable. I spent most of those miles running alongside two younger women who were just chatting like the pace was nothing! (They dropped me about halfway through the race.) And once I hit mile 3, the downhills came and I felt like I was flying. I split the 4th mile in 6:16! There was a clock at mile 5, and it read 33 minutes when I passed it so I knew I was easily running sub-42 that morning. 

I was elated to turn the last corner onto Pratt Street and see that the finish line clock read 40 something. Way under my goal! But…. then I stopped my Garmin after I crossed the finish line and saw that my watch read 6.08 miles– just shy of a 10K. 

Now, it’s possible that the buildings in Baltimore messed up my watch. I don’t remember the course being short three years ago, and it definitely didn’t change from then. I know the marathon and the half marathon are USTAF certified, but perhaps the 10K isn’t. 

Honestly, it doesn’t really matter – assuming the course was short, I was still on pace to finish well under 42 minutes. Which is what I had hoped for! So it’s all good. 

Afterwards, I hit up the after party, saw friends who were going to be running the half (which doesn’t start until 9:45 in the morning) and also watched the marathon. It was a super fun morning and I can’t wait to do the Baltimore Running Festival again next year!

Running late: My recap of the 10K at the 2024 Annapolis Running Festival

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The night before I ran the 10K at the Annapolis Running Festival, I dreamt that my friend Shannon, who was also running the race and was planning to drive us there, came to my house to pick me up 10 minutes after the race started. 

I guess it was something of a premonition, as we sat in traffic for nearly an hour trying to get into the parking lot of the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium, pulling in about 5 minutes before the start of the race. And we both had to use the bathroom. And there was a line for the porta-a-potties. 

I was completely ready to write off the race, even saying to her “I’m just going to take this as a fun run. I don’t want to race it.” Last year, I had come in 3rd female in the 10K and hoped to place again, but I knew overall awards are typically given out by gun/clock start time, not bib chip time. So part of me was like, screw it. Might as well just run my party pace! 

But – I couldn’t do it. The second I crossed the start line, probably 8 minutes after the race officially started, my race brain took over and I started pushing hard. I did intend to run the race as my speed workout of the week, after all. 

I don’t have much to say about the race itself. After I crossed the start, everything was pretty much a blur. We ran around the stadium (mile 1), down Rowe Boulevard (mile 2) into downtown, down Main Street, and past the Naval Academy (mile 3), over Weems Creek (mile 4), right on 450, halfway up the Naval Academy Bridge and back down again (mile 5), and then back to the stadium (the end). The miles clicked by quickly, but then I was running a fast-for-me pace. The race is somewhat hilly and my fastest mile was a 6:28 and slowest was 7:02. The weather wasn’t great – cold and drizzly – but I’ll take it over the cold wind we had last year. 

In the end, I ran exactly the time I wanted to, finishing in 42:02, 6:46 average pace. I actually am listed as the 3rd overall female finisher in the race results, but didn’t get an award at the awards ceremony since again they were likely given out by gun time. Age group awards are usually given out by chip time, so I think I will be getting a prize in the mail for winning my age group. 

Initially, I was really bummed about that. But really – what does it matter? I said before the race that my goal was 41-42 minutes, and I accomplished that. I ran a strong 10K five weeks out from Boston. The pace was definitely not easy, but I felt relatively good running it. 

And I had fun! That’s the whole point, right? I got to see and chat with lots of running friends from my local She Runs This Town chapter, which had a tent right there at the start/finish! I enjoyed two canned margaritas that I got as part of my race entry – nothing like getting a buzz on at 9 in the morning. And I got to meet a blog reader, Danielle, and her husband Don! We met while trying to get warm by the fire pit set up for sock burning (it’s a Maryland thing.) She said she’d been reading my blog for a while and I was so excited and flattered to hear that! 

So overall, I’d say the day was a success, despite the fact that it started out as a total disaster. It’s kind of hard to believe this was my first race since Christmas! I’ve been training hard for Boston 2024 and piling on the miles and workouts, but hadn’t done an actual race yet this year. This was definitely a good rust buster.

Next up – the Rock ‘N Roll D.C. Half Marathon this Saturday. Will this be my day to break 90? I’m sure going to try!

My running goals for 2024!

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Here we are already in the 2nd week of February, and this is my first blog post of the year! 

I guess I haven’t had that much to say. I haven’t had any races recently and I don’t have any planned for February. My first race of the year will be the 10K at the Annapolis Running Festival in March. I came in 3rd place female last year and would love to place again, but as always, you never know how you’ll actually perform or who else will show up who’s a lot faster!

I did want to take a quick moment to jot down my running goals for 2024! Here we go! 

Boston Marathon in 3:15 or faster! 

I think I have it in me to run a 3:15 marathon, possibly faster than that if I have a great day in Boston. My recent 1:31 half indicates a marathon finish time of 3:12-3:15. Is Boston a hard course? Yes, it certainly can be if you go out way too fast and get crushed on the Newton Hills. It can also be a relatively fast course if you play your cards right, i.e., start conservatively and then crush the later miles. I blew up in the final 10K in 2019, my first year running the race. But then in both 2022 and 2023, I came within about a minute of my then-PR both times. I don’t think PRing in Boston is impossible by any means. I’m going to go for it! I am currently following a modified version of Pfitzinger’s 12/70 plan, turning it into 12/65. Peaking at 70 miles per week is just a little too much for me. I’ve only done it once, when prepping for the 2022 Chicago Marathon. It did get me a 3:18 PR, but then for Boston last year, I peaked at 62 miles per week and ran a 3:19. So, mileage-wise I want to shoot for something in between that. Plus, running 15 miles on a random Wednesday before work is overkill to me and takes away from my enjoyment of marathon training. 12 miles is kind of my limit for a weekday run.  

Run the Ohiopyle Marathon for fun

Or maybe for a PR if Boston is a Dumpster fire. 😉 

If you’re a regular reader, you might remember that I asked my husband to sign me up for a bonus marathon this spring as part of my Christmas present. He picked a tiny marathon in western PA, about an hour from where I grew up, called the Great Allegheny Ohiopyle Marathon Race Festival. I was sure he would pick either Buffalo or Gettysburg, so I was very surprised and excited! Ohiopyle is really a pretty area – I have been there, but it’s probably been 25 years or so. My plan is to race Boston and run Ohiopyle for fun, kind of like I did when I ran Chicago and Philly in 2022. But again, if my race in Boston goes to hell, I’ll have this one to fall back on! 

Sub-90 Half! 

Still chasing that dream! I actually had no plans to run another half any time soon, but then I decided to sign up for the Rock ‘N Roll D.C. Half Marathon on March 16, mainly as a way to test my fitness a month before Boston. But let’s be real, I’ve been open about my goal to break 90 minutes in the half and I absolutely am going to try to do that again at this race. I ran this half marathon once before, in 2015, finishing in 1:46 – a PR at the time! I’ve obviously gotten a lot faster since then, so I know I can at least count on a nice course PR unless things go horribly off the rails. I also ran the marathon in 2016! 

So, that’s this spring. I haven’t thought much beyond that. I am most likely going to try to run the New York City Marathon in the fall. I did meet their qualifying standards, but that’s no guarantee I’ll get into the race – the race accepts qualifiers from New York Road Runners races first, and I have never run any of those races. If I can’t do NYC, I might sign up for Richmond. We’ll see! 

What are your goals for 2024?

Running lately: 2 10Ks and a 10 mile race

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All of a sudden, it’s September and I am signed up for a race every single weekend.

I started training for the Ocean City Half Marathon the second week of August, with a goal of breaking 90 minutes. (Current PR from Rehoboth last year is 1:33.) One thing about me is that doing speedwork – which is absolutely necessary for me if I want to run a sub-90 half – is not my favorite. So, I signed up for a bunch of races because I’d so much rather run fast in a race than on my own around my neighborhood or the track! 

Here’s what I have been up to, and what is coming up next! 

Dreaded Druid Hills 10K: 46:32

Remember when I said in a recent post that the Firecracker 10K was my slowest in a few years? Ha, well, this race now holds that distinction. It definitely lives up to its name! I had run it before, in 2019, and to be honest never really planned to run it again. But then my friend Kree asked me to run it with her and I said OK. Four years ago, I ran the race in 50:06, and this year I was significantly faster – yet it was somehow so much harder than I remembered! Maybe I was pushing harder. The hills in Druid Hill Park in Baltimore are STEEP and there are also a lot of switchbacks. It is easily the hardest 10K I have ever run. I even stopped to walk a few times – no shame. Somehow I managed to win my age group and come in 5th female. I won a $10 gift card to Falls Road Running, and the swag for the race was on point – I got a pint glass and a really nice Nike tank top. So I suppose it was worth the suffering. Kree and I joked afterwards that maybe this is an “every four years” race.

Continue reading →

Summer 2023 running recap!

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When I signed up for the Tracksmith 5000 in DC, scheduled for the evening of my birthday on July 28, I had lofty goals of going sub-20, something I’ve only been able to accomplish once before. The race will be held on a track, and we’ll be lead by pacers and seeded by goal time. Under perfect conditions, I could even be looking at a PR! 

Except it’s July 28 in DC, when the weather is normally gross and swampy. And this year, July 28 is expected to be the hottest day of the year, with the highs reaching into the upper 90s and a real feel of 108 degrees or something ridiculous. 

My heat (literally!) doesn’t go off until 7:58 pm, but it’ll still feel like running in hell. I think I’ll be lucky to break 21 minutes and my main goal is not to die! 

But it’ll be a fun adventure to cap off the last few months of lower mileage as I head into half marathon training this fall. Here’s what I have been up to this summer!

Arbutus Firecracker 10K, Arbutus, MD, 45:25

I’d been hearing about this annual July 4 race in Arbutus, Maryland for years, but had never run it before. I knew it would be hot and humid (duh, July 4 in Maryland) and hilly. So I didn’t have any real expectations of my finish time, but I was a little disappointed when I crossed the finish line (feeling practically dead, I might add!) and saw 45:xx on the clock. That was my slowest 10K in about two years. But as I said, the weather was not ideal and the course was challenging! There was a particularly cruel hill around mile 5.5, though there was a downhill finish. Ha. That said, I had fun. I saw a lot of friends there and the people of Arbutus really came out for this race. So many people had sprinkler systems set up for the runners. One resident even had an inflatable shaped like a rainbow and clouds that had water coming out of it for us to run through!

My time was also good enough for first in my age group and I won $50 cash – can’t be sad about that!

Beebe Health Heroes 5K, Lewes, DE, 20:35

Four days after the Firecracker 10K, I ran this flat and fast 5K in Lewes, Delaware. We were staying in nearby Rehoboth Beach for the week and I saw this was happening so I signed both myself and my husband up. (He hadn’t run since Thanksgiving at the Turkey Trot and was just happy to finish!) It was also very hot and humid, but there is not a hill to be seen in Lewes. I was really happy with how this race went, especially as someone who tends to fly and die in 5Ks. I finished in 20:35 and felt strong – splits were 6:40, 6:30, 6:35. I finished top Master female and third overall female, behind two teenage girls, so I was happy about that! Micah finished in around a half hour, which is great considering he never runs anymore! We also enjoyed all the drinks and food provided by the restaurant Irish Eyes at the after party. The Seashore Striders organized this race, which benefited Beebe Health’s foundation. I’ve done a bunch of their races at the beach before and they are always a good time!

Looking ahead to fall! 

I’ve been running 30-40 miles per week since early June, with speedwork once or twice a week to get ready for these shorter races. I start training for my fall half marathons on Aug. 6 and am following a plan that will peak at 63 miles per week. That’s more or less in line with my peak mileage from marathon training over the last year; the real difference is I’ll be doing more half marathon pace specific work and my longest long runs will be 16 miles. I’m excited to take on a new challenge and work to break 90 minutes this fall, hopefully at the Ocean City Half on Oct. 28! 

What races are you looking forward to this fall? Any big goals?

Shippin’ up to Boston for the 3rd time: Getting ready for the 2023 Boston Marathon

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I’m less than a week out from running my 3rd Boston Marathon! 

How am I feeling? Excited. Like I’m surprised how excited I am. It’s my third time, after all. I figured the novelty would have worn off by now – but it hasn’t. I just feel so lucky that I get to do this! 

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, but I had a busy March in terms of racing. Here’s a brief recap of what I’ve been up to! 

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup “4 Miler” 

3rd overall female, 24:20/6:40 pace

Why the quotes? Because a bunch of us at the front of the pack missed a turnoff after the wind blew over a directional sign and accidentally cut the course. 

This race in PA was more than 2 hours from my house, but it sounded fun – grilled cheese and tomato soup after, hello! – and the race director Pat is great. He’s the one who organized the Chasing the Unicorn marathon in 2020 and did everything in his power to make that a safe and fun event at the height of the pandemic. So I signed up, hoping to be able to run 4 miles in 26 minutes or so to test my speed.

The race was held in a municipal park and it was windy AF, a common theme of pretty much all of my runs this training cycle. In fact, it was windy enough that one of the directional signs after the mile 3 mark blew over, and so a bunch of us missed a turn and accidentally ran 3.65 miles! Pat didn’t DQ us, I guess because so many people effed it up, and I was awarded the 3rd overall female prize – a nice blanket! I had fun and pushed hard.

Annapolis Running Festival 10K

3rd overall female, 42:44/6:53 pace

I said to friends a few times I wasn’t planning on the Annapolis Running Festival – I’ve done so many races on that course over the last decade that I just wasn’t excited about it. But then I saw I had 10Kish worth of speedwork on my plan the week of the race and I’d rather do that in a race than on my own! Plus, my friend Shannon was running it, too. 

The weather pretty much sucked – it was once again super windy and I tried my best to draft off other, taller runners! My shoelace also came untied right before mile 3, costing me precious time. I didn’t really have a time goal, but I thought 41-42 miles was doable. I also had no expectations of placing and it was really hard to gauge where I was in the race since there was also a 5K and a half marathon and we were all mixed together at various parts of the race. So I was pleasantly surprised when I crossed the finish line and the volunteer handed me a card that said I was 3rd female. 

I’m glad I ended up doing it – just wish we’d had better weather! The after party was a lot of fun, and the band playing was awesome, but it was just so cold and windy. That’s March in Maryland for you – you could get 20 degrees or 80 degrees. 

Barlowe Bolt 5K

1st overall female, 21:28/6:42 pace  

Well, this one was a cluster. 

A little background about me and the Bolt – I am not new to this race. In fact, this was the fifth time I’d run it – I ran in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022. I even won it in 2020 and 2022 and was hoping to win it again this year. (It’s a pretty small race.)

But!! Even though I had run it multiple times in the past, I couldn’t remember the course, so I made a wrong turn about three-tenths of a mile into the race. I was running up at the front with two teenage boys, so I led them astray – sorry! When I realized my mistake after we literally ran into a dead end, I was so annoyed with myself. 

We turned around and I hauled ass to get back in first place, which I paid for dearly with a huge positive split in the end. I did manage to still win and in the end I added about a tenth of a mile onto my race, so it could have been worse. I mean, I ….could have cut the course again.

My mileage hasn’t been as high as it was last fall when training for Chicago, but I’ve averaged between 55-60 miles per week, peaking at 62 miles. Basically, I took Pfitzinger’s 12/55 plan from Advanced Marathoning and modified it to add a few more miles each week. Thinking about doing 12/70 this fall again for Richmond, but that is a heavy training load and I don’t think I can mentally (or physically) handle it every marathon training cycle.

The plan included two 20-milers, the second of which I ran during the B&A Marathon last month. I didn’t register for the race, but the trail was open to the public and I knew so many people running either the half or the full that I thought it would be fun to run alongside them. I ended up running mostly with a fast friend of mine and averaged 7:29 pace for 20 miles. That is obviously WAY faster than I would normally ever do a 20 miler, but I also ran the Charm City Run 20 Miler three weeks before Chicago last fall at a 7:25 pace and it didn’t hurt me in the marathon.

When your training run coincides with a race, you show up in the pictures!

Goals/plans for Boston

I don’t know! LOL. Enjoy myself and get another BQ.

My Garmin thinks I’m running a 3:03, but it’s clearly full of crap. That would be a 15-minute PR and I do not think I am in PR shape – that 3:18 I ran last fall is really solid, plus I ran it on a flat course in damn near perfect weather. The Boston Marathon is a tough course and the weather is looking warm and wet. Not the worst, but not the best either. I do think a 3:2x is doable and I should be able to BQ (3:40:00 or faster) unless things really go to hell. 

Other than that, no major goals. Sometimes it’s more fun that way anyway!

8 days until I run the 2022 Chicago Marathon

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Nearly three years after registering with a qualifying time from Boston 2019, I will get to run the Chicago Marathon next weekend! 

I feel ready. My training couldn’t have gone better and my body held up well throughout the high mileage weeks. As long as I stay healthy this next week, I am good to go! I got my new COVID booster and my flu shot at the beginning of September, not wanting to take any chances! I do have a quick business trip to Dallas at the beginning of the week – I fly out Monday and come back late Tuesday night. Then I go to Chicago on Friday. Crazy week and I’m trying not to be too anxious about it! 

OH! And I also got my official Boston Marathon 2023 acceptance this week. This was my 4th time registering for the race and the first time I had a big enough cushion that I knew I was in no matter what. Can’t wait to go back for my 3rd Boston in April! 

I ran a race every weekend in September. Here’s a quick recap of my last few weeks of training and racing! 

Rip It Events’ Police Pace 10K

I wasn’t too happy with my time of 44:28 in this race, and I recognize how silly that is. Until just about a year ago, my 10K PR was 44:50, and that was from 2017. It took me years to beat that! But I had just won the Mike Sterling 10K in Crisfield with a 40:52 the week before, so running more than three minutes slower was tough to swallow. 

That said, it’s not surprising I was so much slower. First of all, the weather was God awful. It was pouring down rain on race morning, to the point where I did not want to get out of my car. (At least it wasn’t 90 degrees and humid?) The course was at Centennial Lake Park in Columbia, which was hilly and also had a lot of windy curves. Those always slow me down. And, because it was so wet outside, I was afraid of tripping and falling, so I’m sure I was running more tentatively than usual. I did like the course, but it was a double loop (the race also included a 5K, which ended after one loop.) That is mentally challenging. I did pass a ton of people, but at least for the first half of the race, it was hard to tell who was doing the 5K and who was doing the 10K, so I wasn’t sure what place I was in. 

After I crossed the finish line (almost mowing down an older lady – sorry!!!), I checked my results and it said I was third place female. Cool! Except the first place female’s time was listed as 31:xx. So, we had an Olympian in our midst? Hmmm. I knew that couldn’t be right and was pretty sure that was someone who had registered for the 10K and then noped out at the 5K. Sure enough, the awards ceremony was canceled because of issues with the timing chips. I actually came in second, behind a 17-year-old who ran 39:xx.

So overall, a good race even though I wasn’t excited about how I did!

As a Rip It Events ambassador, I ran this race for free. Opinions are entirely my own!

Photo by Anthea Diano

Charm City Run 20 Miler

I had been wanting to do this race, meant to be a supported training run for people registered for fall marathons, for years and was originally supposed to run it back in 2018 while training for the Baltimore Marathon. But then I strained my calf doing a stupid 5K fun run two days before the race, so I did the smart thing and bailed on it, hoping that I’d be able to run Baltimore with no issue. (And I did.) 

I just had no idea how the hell to pace this race. Long run pace? That seemed like the logical thing to do, but racing it would be more fun. However, I was concerned about burning myself out before Chicago. I decided to make a game day call and determine how I was going to run it once I started running it. Strategy! The weather was nearly perfect, though it got kind of warm toward the end, and I started out running a 7:50ish pace. Then I picked it up a bit … and picked it up more. This race is a point-to-point (my favorite!) that takes place on the NCR Trail north of Baltimore. The whole thing is just slightly downhill, so it was kind of hard not to go fast. After four or so miles I started clicking off miles in the 7:30s, then a string of sub-7:20s. Well, OK, I thought to myself. Let’s just see how long I can hang on.

Pretty long, in fact, and I felt decent — never hit a wall or anything. I ended up averaging a 7:25 pace for the whole thing, finishing in 2:28:25. Whew! I came in 7th place female and third in my age group. While I was pumped about the time, I immediately started to worry I’d ruined my marathon by going so hard in what was really supposed to be a training run, three weeks out. 

However, the day after the race, I felt just fine – not at all sore. And I continued to train that week normally, including a hard track workout. All good. So, I decided not to worry about it any more. That 20 miler also topped off a 70-mile week, and I obviously was not tapered or anything. I feel like that’s gotta be a good sign for the marathon. Or, at least not a bad sign! 

Kensington 8K

My plan called for me to run a race two weeks before Chicago that was between 8K and 15K, and way back in May, when I was plotting out my fall marathon training, I saw the Kensington 8K happening on September 24. Perfect! Except, as the day drew closer, I also saw a few other races that fell in the 8K-15K range that I would have preferred to run instead. There was a 13.1K (8+ miles) scheduled for September 25 on the Eastern Shore, and then a 10-miler, my favorite distance, the same weekend in Reston, VA. So I started to have some serious FOMO. When I woke up the morning of the race, I didn’t really want to do it! Shorter distances really are not my thing. 

But! I’m so glad I ran it because I had an amazing race! 32:17/6:30 per mile pace, good enough for first place female master – which came with a $50 cash prize – and fourth overall female. There were some really fast people in this race. Like, I was not even a little bit close to the third place female – she was four minutes ahead of me. The top three females all ran at a sub-six minute average pace! Blazing fast. 

Also, I just really liked the race! It was mostly flat except for one last little hill at around mile 4.5. The weather was fantastic – cool enough for arm sleeves. And, most importantly, we could use the nice bathrooms in the Kensington Town Hall at the start, so I didn’t have to pee in a porta potty! Score! It was a great experience and I shouldn’t have been so sour on it. 

It also has me thinking that maybe a sub-20 5K is within my reach after all. So much so that I switched my Baltimore Running Festival registration from the (hilly) 10K to the (flat) 5K. This race is actually six days after Chicago, so it’s probably still a tall order, but YOLO!   

But first – CHICAGO! Going for that 3:20, but I’ll be happy with any PR (sub-3:26:00!)

Chicago Marathon training: 5 weeks to go!

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267 miles! 

That’s how many miles I logged in August! 

I’ve always considered myself to be a lower mileage marathon runner. For years, I’ve followed other runners on Instagram who regularly run 60, 70, 80 mile weeks when marathon training. I, on the other hand, usually peak in the 50s. Hal Higdon’s Advanced 2 marathon training plan had me peaking at 53, and I think there were maybe two or three other weeks where I hit 50 miles on that plan – most of the weeks were in the 45-mile range. And that worked for me– I qualified for Boston three times following it. 

Then last fall, I had a goal to finish a marathon in 3:30 or faster, and I decided to switch up my training. I got Pete Pfitzinger’s book, Advanced Marathoning, and followed his 12/55 plan. While my peak wasn’t much higher than Hal’s plan, I ran more 50+ mile weeks and many, many more mid-week double digit runs. The end result was a 3:26:00 at the Coastal Delaware Marathon. Then I ran a 3:27:52 at Boston the following spring. 

Seeing some success with higher mileage, I decided to bump up my training for the Chicago Marathon and have been following a modified version of Pfitzinger’s 12/70 program, so I am peaking at 70 miles over 12 weeks. I say modified because I was supposed to hit 70 miles per week in my sixth week of training, but I was a little nervous since I’ve never run that kind of mileage before. So far, my weekly mileage has been 55 for week 1, 59 for week 2, 55 for week 3, 64 for week 4, 59 for week 5, and 62 for week 6. I just finished week 7 and ran 66 miles. This week, I’ll enjoy a cutback week with 61 miles, and then I’ll hit 70 the week after that before easing into the taper. There were also some days where I had 13-15 miles on the agenda on a weekday, and I broke those into doubles (usually, 10 in the morning and 3-5 in the evening, depending on the daily mileage. That’s just an awful lot to run all at once on a workday.) So far, I am feeling pretty decent. Just tired and hungry all of the time! 

Since I started training, I’ve run two races, and both have gone great – so I am feeling pretty content with this plan! Here’s a quick recap of the two races I just ran! 

The Annapolis Ten Mile Run

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know this is my favorite race. But I’ve had some great A10s and some really bad ones. The race was canceled the last two years due to COVID, and I really missed it. I was quite excited when I learned it would return in 2022 and signed up for it the day registration opened. The 2022 A10 fell at the end of week 6 of training, and I didn’t quite know what to expect. My legs were obviously going to be tired, and the weather was typical of August in Maryland – hot and humid. The night before the race, I asked my husband Micah if he thought I could run 1:10 and he outright laughed at me! I reminded him I ran the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler in 1:08:03, and he countered that that was on a cool day. (It was also on a flat course – the A10 is hilly.) No matter – I decided to line up just behind the 1:10 pacer and see if I could hold on. 

And it paid off! 

This was my 8th time running this race, so I pretty much know the course like the back of my hand and it always seems to go by so fast, no matter what pace I am running. And I felt like that was the case this time. The first three miles, around the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, down Rowe Boulevard and Main Street, zipped by, in 7:08, 6:55 and 7:05. The 1:10 group was a little bit in front of me, but I was able to keep them in my sight. Then we were going up and down the Naval Academy Bridge (7:07 for mile 4) and into Pendennis Mount. When I crossed the timing mat at mile 5 (another 7:07) a volunteer told me I was the 20th female! Pretty good for a big race like the A10.

Then it was up and down B&A Boulevard for mile 6 (7:09) and 7 (7:06) and back toward the bridge. I picked up a lot of speed in the last three miles, which I was happy about! I ran mile 8 in 6:53 and mile 9 in 6:55 – special thanks to the mid who sprayed me with a hose at the mile 9 water stop! (Did I mention it was hot and humid AF out?!) 

My final mile was 6:57 and just as I was turning the last corner to go up to the finish at the stadium, I heard a “Go Allison!” Micah had pulled up on his motorcycle just in time to see me finish. The announcer called out my time as 1:11, but I later learned that my chip time was actually 1:10:40, so I was quite happy to prove Micah wrong! 

While not a PR, this was a huge course PR. My previous fastest A10 was 1:15, set five years ago. I also won my age group, which was a first. The A10 is pretty competitive, but I am in a new age group (hello Masters runner!) Check out this great mug I won, created by Annapolis Pottery! 

Can’t wait for the 2023 race! 

Mike Sterling 10K

This little race takes place every Labor Day weekend in Crisfield, Maryland, a town on the Chesapeake Bay that sits at the southernmost point in Maryland. I hadn’t initially been planning to race a 10K over Labor Day, but I saw Vanessa of She Runs By the Seashore post about it on Instagram. That week, I was supposed to run a 12 miler with 7 miles at 15K to half marathon pace. Truth be told, I don’t love long solo speed workouts and would much rather just run a race. Hmmm, this 10K sounds fun, I thought. I figured if I could find a cheap enough Airbnb, then I would travel for the race over two hours away from my house (further than I realized at first!) I did find a great Airbnb for less than $100 in town and Micah and I drove down to the Eastern Shore after work on Friday of Labor Day weekend. 

I wasn’t totally sure what to expect from this race, either. My 10K PR is going to be a tough one to beat, ever – 39:33 at the Bay Bridge Run in 2021. But I knew this course was flat and fast, so I thought I could run it in maybe 42 minutes. 

I actually finished in 40:52 and was first overall female! So excited about that – and most thrilled with how I paced it and how I was able to stay consistent when the last two miles got tough. 

The race began at 7:30 right at the Crisfield City Dock, and it was definitely warm and humid, but nowhere near as bad as the A10 was. I lined up at the front and went out the gate at a sub-7 pace. I ran mile 1 6:33 and mile 2 in 6:35. Somewhere in mile 2, I think, the woman who came in second place passed me and I didn’t think I’d be able to catch her, but then I did during mile 3 (6:37). I ran mile 4 in 6:39 and that’s when I started to feel really gassed. But I wasn’t going to give up and instead focused on the man who was running about 50 yards ahead of me. Just follow him, I told myself. And it worked! I ran both miles 5 and 6 in 6:35. It may not have been a PR, but this was easily the best pacing job I have ever done in a 10K. Maybe in any race, ever! 

As top female, I was awarded a handmade anchor crafted by a local artist. Unfortunately, as I was putting stuff in my car after the race, I absentmindedly put the award on top of my car and freaking drove off without it! I was absolutely devastated. But! I emailed the race director and the race crew found it! They are going to mail it to me. I’m so happy! It was such a special prize. 

This was a nice local race and it was worth the drive to do it. My only regret is that I did not get a Smith Island Cake while I was there. (Yes, I know you can get them all over Maryland – but we were so close to Smith Island! I still need to make a trip there some time.)  

Week 8 of training begins tomorrow – I’m so close to taper I can taste it. I can’t wait to run the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 9 and hopefully finish around 3 hours and 20 minutes. And then I’m running the Philly Marathon on Nov. 20. Still haven’t decided exactly how I am going to approach training for that. Chicago is definitely my “A” race, so I’ll probably just work on maintaining my fitness after that’s over. It would be nice to run a BQ time at both and I feel pretty confident I can do that. Really, I just want a PR in Chicago! 

Have you ever run marathons close together like that – and if so, how did you approach them? Let me know!

Marathon training and Nike Alpha Flys: How I’ve been able to run faster than I ever thought I could

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October was a really busy month for me in terms of racing. I ran four races and was able to maintain a sub-7 minute pace in all of them. 

I never thought that would be possible for me, and that’s not me being falsely modest or trying to sandbag. It’s the truth. 

So, where has all this newfound speed come from? I have a few theories. But first, let’s take a quick look at the races I ran. 

Oct. 3: I went home to Pittsburgh to visit my family and run the Mario Lemieux 6.6K Run with my sister and brother-in-law. Why 6.6K? Well, that’s the number of famed Penguins star, and team owner, Mario. It equals out to roughly 4.1 miles. Given that I’d maintained a 7:08 pace in the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler a few weeks before, I thought maybe I could hold onto a sub-7 pace here, but I had no idea. The race was in downtown Pittsburgh, obviously a hilly place, and it was pretty humid that morning. Plus I’d had a few too many delicious stouts the night before. Because of course. I decided that my strategy would be to go out like a bat out of hell and see how long I could hold on. And it worked! I finished in 28:38, a 6:49 average pace (per my watch, which clocked 4.2 miles. The race results had me running a 6:59 pace. Either way, sub-7!) I won my age group and was 6th overall female. My prize was a hockey puck! 

Oct. 9: I was really excited for the Baltimore Running Festival, which is one of my favorite fall running events. It offers something for every runner — a marathon, a half marathon, a 5K, a “moron-a-thon,” which is the 5K and the half marathon together, and now a 10K. I have participated in some way, shape, or form in the BRF since 2016 — I even ran the half marathon virtually in 2020. This year, they added the 10K distance, so I signed up for that because I had done all of the other races before. I was hoping to beat my PR of 44:50, which I set in the 2017 Across the Bay 10K. I felt confident, but the course didn’t make it easy. I think the first 2.5 miles were totally uphill, haha. There were a few times I looked at my watch and saw a pace in the 7:25 range and thought, that’s it, it’s not my day. But then there was some significant downhill on the back half and I was able to fly. 

At one point around mile 4.5, someone told me I was the second female and I thought that couldn’t be right. I was definitely in the pain cave at that point and just kept pushing, telling myself it would be over soon and if I kept going hard, a PR wasn’t out of the question. When I turned onto Pratt Street and saw the finish line clock said 43, I was thrilled. I crossed the timing mat and a volunteer gave me a little card that said 2nd place female. So cool! I ran a 43:36 — my watch said I ran 6.3 miles (probably because I did some weaving around people earlier in the race and didn’t run the tangents) for an average pace of 6:55.

But wait! At the awards ceremony, I was announced as the third place female. I was a little confused, but super pumped about the PR and the big trophy I won. It got a TON of attention as I carried it around afterwards, LOL. Well, as I found out a few days later, I actually did get second place. The woman they thought got second was actually a dude — I’m assuming he probably ran with his wife or girlfriend’s bib or whatever. So he obviously got disqualified. 

I still count that race as a huge success! 

Oct. 16: Ben’s Run 5 Miler in Silver Spring. My marathon training plan called for me to race an 8K this weekend, which is basically five miles. I didn’t think I’d be able to find a five mile race, but I did! Ben’s Run raises money for cancer research at Children’s National Hospital and is named after a little boy who passed away of cancer in 2009. This was the last year for the race and I’m glad I got to run it. I once again decided to go out hard and see how long I could hold on. The neighborhood where the race was had a lot of rolling hills, but luckily, so does my neighborhood, so that wasn’t anything I wasn’t used to. I moved into first place pretty early on and was able to maintain that, finishing in 34:41, a 6:56 average pace. I won a $50 gift card to Dick’s for being the first overall female. I had only run a few five milers before, but my previous fastest time was from 2016 when I ran the Great Chocolate Race 5 Miler in Arlington, Virginia in 36:58. So that was a big PR, too. 

Oct. 31: This is the race I’m still pinching myself over. On Halloween, I ran the Bay Bridge Run (formerly Across the Bay 10K) and I honestly had no idea what to expect for the race. Seeing as I had just run a really strong 10K a few weeks earlier, I didn’t have any expectation of PRing again, even though I knew this was an easier course. (There’s a long uphill in the beginning, but it’s not that steep and you get a sweet downhill stretch afterwards.) 

I literally flew once I got onto the flat and downhill portions of the race. I ran mile 3 in 6:03 and mile 4 in 5:54 — my fastest mile EVER. I looked at my watch and questioned whether that could be accurate. Apparently it was. After runners get off the bridge, you have another mile and a half or so to go and there are two more small inclines, but nothing crazy. The race ends in a business park in Stevensville on the Eastern Shore and when I turned the corner to go toward the finish line, I saw the clock said 39. 39!!! I’d just PR’d again in the 10K by FOUR FREAKING MINUTES. WHAT. Final time was 39:33, which is a 6:22 pace (!!!) and I was fourth overall female out of 6,423 women (!!!!) and first place Masters female out of 4,059 (!!!!!) 

To say I’m ecstatic is putting it mildly. That’s more than five minutes faster than my old 2017 PR on the same course. Truly cannot believe it. 

How did that happen? Again, I have a few thoughts on why. 

I have been running more mileage. Yes, I’m training for a marathon. But I’ve been following a plan that’s new to me, a 12-week plan from the book Advanced Marathoning that maxed out at 55 miles per week. The big difference for me is that this plan has me running multiple double digit runs per week in addition to the weekend long run. So for example, during my peak week last month, I ran two 12-milers (one of which had seven miles at half marathon pace), plus a 20-miler on the weekend. These runs were hard — I was mostly running them after work, and that’s tough to do after a long day! But I think these extra “medium-long” runs made a difference in both my endurance and my speed. 

I have been keeping my easy runs easy. Like a lot of runners, I struggle with this. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of running your easy/recovery runs too fast. When I was training for my last two marathons, I did a lot of “easy” runs at an 8:20-8:30 pace, which didn’t *seem* too hard for me … but probably was. I mean, I ran the Tidewater Striders BQ Marathon at an average 8:17 pace…. So yeah. I’ve been really working hard to keep my easy runs in the high 8s/low 9s, and I’ve been mostly successful at it!   

Nike Alpha Flys! OK, so these are a game changer. I LOVE these shoes and they are currently one of my most treasured possessions. These carbon-plated super shoes are a dream to run in and I’m really glad I invested in them. And at nearly $300 a pair, they were quite an investment. (I had a gift card that covered part of the cost, at least.) But so worth it. You can read more about what makes these shoes so special and fancy here. I cannot wait to wear them in the Coastal Delaware Marathon in a week and a half! 

TEN DAYS TO GO! I am so ready and excited to crush it.