marathon training

The 2022 Philadelphia Marathon: A cold, windy 26.2 miles around the City of Brotherly Love

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In the days leading up to the Philadelphia Marathon, I said a few times that I’ve been spoiled by the weather at my last three marathons, so I was due for one with crappy weather. 

Coastal Delaware? Perfect. Boston 2022? Perfect (a true miracle for Boston!) Chicago? Perfect. 

So when I saw the forecast for Philly, complete with starting temperatures in the high 20s (cold even for me) with wind gusts reaching 45 mph, I just had to laugh. Of course it would be terrible! 

But I was OK with it. I said all along that Philly was just going to be for fun. I had an amazing marathon in Chicago and absolutely gave that race everything I had. I had a loose goal of finishing Philly between 3:25 and 3:30, but I knew I wouldn’t be upset if I were slower than that. And being an optimist by nature, I looked on the bright side – at least it wouldn’t be heat and humidity! Or a cold rain! 

I ended up completing Philly in 3:24:43– my second fastest marathon time. More importantly, I had an absolute blast running this race, despite the crazy winds! 

Here is my recap of the 2022 Philadelphia Marathon! 

Before the Race

A week before the race, I ran the Bay Bridge Run, a 10K race that I do every year. Normally, I’d never race the week before a marathon, but Philly was just for fun, right? So I decided to race it as I normally would. 

I ran my 10K PR at the Bay Bridge Run a year ago, and knew that time would be extremely tough to beat, but I gave it my all and finished in a strong 41:04. First in my age group, 2nd Masters female, and I believe 9th or 10th overall female. I admit I was a little disappointed not to be under 41, but that long incline up the bridge took a lot out of me this year and I guess I was in the middle of another marathon taper, so it should be expected. It was also a very windy and cold day, though I heard other people talking about the tailwind and how much they loved that it pushed them along. I didn’t feel it at all!! I didn’t actually mind the temperature when running, but I was so cold afterwards that I didn’t even take advantage of the all-you-can-drink beer bracelet I blew $20 or whatever on. Will remember that for next year!

The Philadelphia Marathon was on Sunday, November 20, so I headed up to Philly the day before. I went back and forth a lot over what to wear during the race. I get pretty hot when running, but with that wind forecast, I worried I’d be underdressed in shorts, a singlet, and arm warmers. At basically the last minute, I decided to run in tights, a long sleeved shirt, gloves with Hot Hands tucked in, and a hat. (It ended up being the right call– I never got that cold during the race and didn’t overheat, either.) I also got a throwaway coat at the local Goodwill to ditch at the start of the race, which was then picked up by the Salvation Army in Philly. I headed straight to the convention center, picked up my bib, and then met up with my friends Staci, Sarah, Melissa, Melissa’s husband Harry, and their daughter Lucy for lunch at Iron Hill Brewery. Then we explored the German Christmas Market and headed back to Melissa and Harry’s house to watch Brittany Runs a Marathon (fitting!) and order takeout from Haveaburger, where I ordered my usual veggie burger and French fries, determined not to make the same mistake I did in Chicago! Melissa and Harry set me up in their basement and I was in bed before 10. I was nice and comfy, but I still didn’t sleep great, typical the night before a marathon! 

Race Day! 

My pre-scheduled Uber arrived early at 5:10 am and I was off! I’d heard horror stories of the lines to get through security being super long at the half marathon the day before, so I didn’t want to take any chances. Got through with no problem and just chilled (well, OK, the opposite of that!) in the warming tent before the race. I remembered having a warming tent before the Philly Half in 2019 and thought that was such a great idea. I saw my friend Amy from Rip It Events and we hung out for a bit. Before I knew it, it was time to get into my start corral. I had wanted to hit the porta potty one last time, but the lines were ridiculous so I told myself if I had to stop on the course, whatever. 

Once I got in the corral, I lined up behind the 3:30 pacer, who was wrapped in a heat blanket from another race and totally shivering. I saw my friend Sami, who was running her first marathon ever (and ended up absolutely killing, running a 3:17!!) and we chatted for a bit and decided to ditch our throwaways at the side of the corral. As soon as we did this, a HUGE gust of wind blew through and several of us huddled against each other. I knew right then we were in for an interesting race! The race started about 10 minutes late, making me wish I’d held onto my coat a little longer, but what can you do? Pretty much as soon as I started running, I had to pee. I knew I’d have to stop eventually, but I decided to see how far I could get before I absolutely needed to hit a porta potty (luckily, they were all over the course.)  

The first few miles felt OK. The wind had died down a little and the sun was out, and I even contemplated taking the Hot Hands out of my gloves. I’m glad I didn’t, because once we got to mile 7 or 8, the wind picked up again and it was fierce. The crowds were amazing, though!! The cold and wind did not diminish their enthusiasm one bit. I knew Sarah was planning to be out on the course around mile 9, even though I’d told her not to feel obligated to come out and spectate in the cold. I really think it was worse to be standing still than running in those conditions! At mile 8, I saw a line of porta potties and quickly ducked into one, after walking in on some dude in another pot. Lock the damn door next time, buddy! I peed quickly and caught up to the 3:30 group within the next mile, and Sarah was right where she said she’d be! I also got to see her just before the halfway point, because she was standing at a spot where we ran by twice. She also said she saw me around mile 25, but I completely missed her then, probably because I was deep in the zone. 

There were some hills between miles 9 and 14 of the course, but nothing too crazy. I knew it wouldn’t be pancake flat like Chicago anyway. I did have to be careful around the water stops, because people were spilling water out of the cups and it was starting to freeze on the ground. I saw a few runners slip and fall! 

At mile 16, I was still with the pace group and feeling strong, so I decided to pull ahead. Soon after began the very toughest part of the race, the long out and back down Kelly Drive along the Schuykill River. I’d heard that it’s windy through that stretch even on the nicest of days. Well, the wind on marathon day whipping off the river was just nuts! It was kind of blowing me sideways at some parts and I did my best to tuck in behind some taller runners to block it. But there wasn’t much I could do. Definitely the craziest wind I’d ever raced in. I still wasn’t too cold, though. I was wearing a neck gaiter that I’d gotten for free at the expo, so I pulled that up over my face a few times, but overall I was OK. 

We entered the neighborhood of Manayunk at mile 20, which is where you turn around before heading back to the finish in front of the art museum. This was by far my FAVORITE part of the race. The crowds were so, so much fun. A lot of people were partying hard (a fraternity at Drexel was handing out beers and I think shots, too) and just loudly cheering for everyone by name – a cool thing about Philly is they print your first name on your bib! I saw someone holding a sign that said “Welcome to the Manayunk 10K” and that made me smile. After I passed the turnaround, I saw I was a few minutes ahead of the 3:30 pacers, but I had no idea how far ahead since I wasn’t really looking at my watch. I just decided to keep on pushing and was hoping that maybe we’d get a tailwind on the way back (we didn’t!) 

There was a guy handing out small plastic cups of beer at mile 21, and I NEVER take beer during marathons or any other races, but since my goal was to have fun and I felt good – way better than I felt at mile 21 in Chicago, in fact – I took one and chugged it and went on my way. I definitely was reaping the benefits of starting out at an “easy” pace and was clicking off miles in the 7:20-7:30 range. 

I never felt like I hit a wall. I did feel a blister pop on my left foot at mile 25.5, and that sure sucked, but it hurt for a minute and then went away– and I was so close to the end by that point anyway. The crowds were deafening during that last stretch. But it felt like the finish line was SO far away and I remember thinking the same thing when I ran the half in 2019. You go around the art museum and you know you’re near the end but can’t really see the finish. It’s weird. 

I crossed the finish line, stopped my watch, and was absolutely stoked to see 3:24. Sub-3:25 in a marathon I was running “just for fun” a year after I finally broke 3:30 for the first time. I ran a smart, controlled race in shitty conditions and I’m as proud of it as I am of my 3:18 in Chicago the month before. And most importantly– I had so much fun!  

The volunteer who gave me my medal noticed my Boston shirt and said “It looks like you’re going back to Boston!” I smiled and said yes I am! Yes, I already had my 2024 BQ from Chicago, but any BQ is special!  

Sarah came to meet me at the finish area after I picked up my checked bag full of my sweats and puffy coat. She was holding onto my Uggs for me and it felt so good to take off the Alpha Flys and put those on. Then we met up with Melissa, Harry and Lucy and had lunch at Schlessinger’s Delicatessen. 

The Philly Marathon was an awesome experience. It’s a well-organized race, the spectators kick ass, and the route around the city was fun and scenic. I highly recommend it! This was my 13th marathon and I would say Philly is now high on my list of favorite marathons. If you’re looking for a great big city marathon in the later part of fall, check this one out.  

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!

The 2022 Boston Marathon is almost here, and I PR’d the 10 miler — twice!

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And suddenly, the 2022 Boston Marathon is a little more than a week away and I’m in taper mode. How did that happen? 

I think my training has gone pretty close to perfectly and the weeks have flown by. I really like the 12-week plan from Advanced Marathoning that I followed last fall and then again this winter. First, I think 12 weeks is my sweet spot for marathon training – it’s long enough to get me in shape, yet short enough that I don’t get bored with it. Second, the plan is easily the most effective one I’ve ever followed. I’m running times I never thought would be possible for me, and I think I have that plan to thank for it. 

I ran three races in March – two 10 milers and a 5K. All of them went really well! Here’s a recap of each of them. 

The Tim Kennard River Run 10 Miler

My training plan advised that I race either an 8K or a 15K the weekend of March 20-21, so I was excited to see the Tim Kennard River Run 10 Miler was happening in Salisbury on March 20. (15K = 9.3 miles, so that’s close enough.) The race is named after Tim Kennard, a local runner who passed away in 2004 of renal cancer, and the proceeds fund organizations that help children and animals. I love 10 milers – I think that’s my favorite distance. I had also read good things about it from Vanessa with She Runs By the Seashore. Salisbury is about two hours from where I live in Anne Arundel County, so my husband and I decided to make a weekend out of it and stay in an Airbnb on the Eastern Shore, in a small town called Snow Hill about 20 minutes away from the race’s start/finish line. The race was on a Sunday, so I did my 17-mile long run on Saturday and then we hit the road. I wasn’t too worried about running a long run and then racing 10 miles the next day – I did that when I ran Cherry Blossom last fall and had a great race. We stopped in Berlin, which has tons of antique shops and bills itself as America’s coolest small town. We ate dinner at an excellent restaurant called Blacksmith and then relaxed in the adorable Airbnb, which was a two-story apartment that was part of an old house. It was so charming that I wish we could have stayed for longer – I’d love to go back sometime. 

Easy logistics are the best thing about a small town race! The race began and ended at a local church in Salisbury, and packet pickup and a full on breakfast spread was set up inside. There was plenty of parking and we had time to hang out inside the church hall while we waited for the start of the race. Thank you to all the church members who came out to help! Everyone was so nice. 

I really didn’t know what to expect as far as my time here. I ran a 1:11 last fall in the rescheduled Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run, which was a two-minute PR, and I thought that was pretty solid. But I also knew I was in good shape, maybe better shape, and the weather was good and the course was flat. So I thought maybe 1:10ish was possible. I also thought I could possibly win the Masters female race and come home with an extra $50 in my pocket. 

I ended up finishing in 1:09:12 (6:55 average pace) and was third overall female (which came with a $100 check!) I was pretty shocked – and thrilled – that I broke 1:10 by that much. I saw that I was averaging a sub-7 pace in the first three miles, and thought I was maybe going too fast, but I felt good so I just went with it. I really liked running around Salisbury, a town I had never been to before. We ran through some very pretty neighborhoods along the river! My only real complaint, which obviously no one can control, was the aggressive wind. OMG. During the part of the race where we ran through downtown Salisbury, the headwind was insane. (Why is it never a tailwind?) There weren’t a ton of people out on the course spectating, but the ones that were there were enthusiastic and encouraging. Around mile 7, I caught up to the woman who ended up finishing second, Maria. Pretty much everyone we passed yelled out “Go Maria!” I told her she obviously has lots of fans in the area and she said she lives in Salisbury and runs a lot of local races. She and I were neck and neck with each other until about mile 9, when she passed me for good and I was never able to catch her (though I was close behind.) As we were nearing the finish, I saw the vehicle that was leading the front runners was right in front of us and so I knew we were among the top female finishers. But I had no idea what place I was in – and when I crossed the finish line, stopped my Garmin, and saw my time, I didn’t really care! 1:09:12! It wasn’t that long ago when I had a hard time running a sub-7 minute place in a 5K, so that was extremely exciting.

I initially was told that I finished in fourth place, and was first Masters female, but then learned that the woman who they thought was second place accidentally took a wrong turn and was disqualified. That really sucks! So Maria came in second and I came in third. Again, that was great, and so was the $100 in prize money, but I was happiest about my finish time.  

Overall, I loved this flat, fast race and would like to do it again some day – and the Eastern Shore is such a pretty part of my wonderful state. Very glad I did it. 

Cruising to the finish!

Barlowe Bolt 5K

I love to hate 5Ks! 

Seriously, when you really push yourself, there is nothing more painful than a 5K! I signed up to run the Barlowe Bolt with my 5 Peaks kickboxing friends the week after the Tim Kennard 10 Miler. I’ve run this race three times before, in 2018, 2019, and 2020. I won the race in 2020 and set my 5K PR of 20:29 then. I did not run in 2021 because the race happened the same day as the Tidewater Striders BQ Marathon. This year, I thought maybe I could win again and even beat my PR. Maybe I could even break 20 minutes? It didn’t seem out of the question with my recent 10 mile time!

Well, I did win the race – first female and first finisher, period! – but I did not break 20 minutes or even PR. My time was 20:39, so 10 seconds off my 20:29 PR. I wasn’t disappointed by it – as I said, 5Ks are not my thing.

The whole thing was kind of a blur, as 5Ks are. It was about 48 degrees on race morning and I was wearing a singlet, shorts, and arm warmers, which everyone thought was hilarious. “Where are your clothes?” multiple people asked me. I get really warm when I run and what I was wearing ended up being ideal! I lined up at the front and took off with two men, a younger kid and an older man who ended up coming in first place male. They were a few feet ahead of me for the first mile, and when I saw my friend Cindy on one of the turnarounds, she yelled out to me, “They’re the only two in front of you! You can catch them!” I ended up passing the younger guy about halfway through the race and the other guy some time in mile two. It hurt. I think that’s my problem with 5Ks– I have a hard time really making myself HURT for 3.1 miles. I prefer the slow burn of a longer distance race. The Barlowe Bolt is also pretty hilly. I don’t know if I’ll ever break 20 minutes, or even if I really care that much about it, but I probably need a flatter course to do so. 

All in all, it was a fun morning with friends. And I won $40 in gift cards to Giant! Groceries are awfully expensive these days, so I was pretty happy with that. 

Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run

Once again, my plan recommended a race this weekend – either a 10K or a 15K, and the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run was once again being held in the spring with things inching back to normal as COVID starts to fade into the background a little bit. I am honestly surprised at how well this race went. I thought I’d set a really strong PR at Tim Kennard and wasn’t expecting to beat that so soon. I figured I’d finish in the 1:10-1:12 range and be totally happy with that. Just like last fall, I also had a 16-mile run to do that weekend, so I did that the day before the race.  

I ended up PRing again, this time running a 1:08:03, a 6:49/mile pace – WOW! (My Garmin actually clocked just over 10 miles, 10.07 miles to be exact, which was a 6:46 pace. It doesn’t really matter either way.) Given how competitive this race is – a lot of pros and elite athletes come out for it – I did not get any kind of award, but I didn’t expect to. I came in 13th in my age group. Interestingly, last fall my 1:11 also got me 13th, but I know that the rescheduled race was much less popular with runners (I mean, the whole point is the cherry blossoms, which are not there in the fall!) 

I admit that I cursed myself a little bit for signing up for this on race morning. As logistically easy as Tim Kennard was, Cherry Blossom – and really, any race or event in DC – was pretty much the opposite. Back in the fall, the Metro opened early and I was able to take the orange line right to the start at the National Mall. But this time, the Metro didn’t open early enough. So I had to drive. With no traffic early in the morning, it only took me about a half hour, and I had booked a parking spot ahead of time through a parking app. But of course Google Maps got confused, because DC is confusing, and took me to the wrong garage. Luckily, I figured it out. The garage was about a mile from the start, so I was glad I allowed myself plenty of time to get there. Then I decided to check a bag with a jacket to wear after the race. I never do this and I may not make a habit of it. UPS was handling the baggage check and the trucks were late – they didn’t start accepting the bags until around 7, and I still had to pee and make it to my corral in time for the 7:30 start! It was so stressful, because I hate rushing around, but I did make it with time to spare. I decided to line up with the 7 minute/mile group and see how I felt. 

I ended up staying with the pacer for the first two miles, then pulled ahead. As in Tim Kennard, I was feeling good and just decided to see how long I could roll with the pace. And it paid off. This race is also fast and flat, and I do think 10 milers are where I shine. It’s kind of funny to think I can run a 10 miler at a 6:49/pace, yet my current 5K pace isn’t much faster than that. When my Garmin beeped at every mile marker, I would look down and see a pace in the high 6:30s or 6:40s and think, “Really? OK!” I felt like I was working hard, but that the pace was sustainable. The weather was absolutely perfect – high 40s, no wind, not too sunny, no precip – and there were tons of spectators cheering us on. And yes, it sure was nice to see cherry blossoms this time! 

 I didn’t start to really feel the pain until probably mile 8. At that point, I heard some other runners talking about Boston and I told them I was running, too. The one guy said how nice it would be to see the marathon happening in April again. Due to COVID, the Boston Marathon hasn’t happened on Patriots Day for three years, since the last and only other time I ran the race! We hit mile 9 and he said, “OK, one mile to go until the taper!” I told him I was ready! 

I actually had no idea I was PRing until I stopped my Garmin after crossing the finish, as I didn’t have it set to elapsed time. When I saw 1:08, I was pretty shocked. More than a minute faster than Tim Kennard! 

Photo credit: Charlie Ban of RunWashington

I even ordered one of the official race photos, which I never do because they are always so expensive, with my time overlaid on it. I can’t wait to get it! 

Is This My Peak? 

I’m really excited about my recent string of PRs, both last fall and this spring, and it definitely has me wondering how much longer I’ll be able to run like this. I turn 42 in July, and it’s inevitable that I’ll slow down eventually. I also know that running “success” ebbs and flows. I was on fire in the fall of 2017, PRing in several distances and running my first BQ. In 2018, I was running slower than I had in years – probably due to a combination of training mistakes and life stressors. Then over the next few years, I started to get faster again, and then in the fall of 2021 I had some major breakthroughs. I don’t know what’s around the corner for me, running-wise, but I’m determined to keep having fun with it. Bring on Boston 2022! 

Also – this is my 100th blog post!

I’m running Boston 2022!

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Long time, no blog! 

It’s hard to believe Coastal Delaware was more than two months ago, and I’m about to embark upon another marathon training cycle – this time, for Boston 2022! I’ve still been running, of course, just haven’t been following a specific plan and have been running at whatever pace and distance I feel like. That’s about to change tomorrow, when I start my 12-week plan from Advanced Marathoning, the one that got me a huge PR and 2023 BQ at Coastal Delaware. 

I’m not trying for a PR in Boston – my 3:26 is really solid and Boston is pretty darn far from a PR course. I do have a lofty goal of running a BQ time there, even though I already have one for 2023, just because I think that would be really cool! And it doesn’t seem completely out of the question. But I mainly just want to beat my 3:47 from Boston 2019 and above all else, HAVE FUN and soak in the whole experience! 

I didn’t think I’d be as excited to run Boston a second time, but I totally am. Qualifying for Boston is hard – we all know that. But my 2022 BQ was particularly hard to achieve. Why? One word: 2020! I don’t have to tell anyone reading this what kind of year that was! And I don’t think I even had it anywhere near as bad as a lot of people – I worked remotely and my husband’s job in the maritime industry was essential, so we didn’t have any financial issues. And we have no children for whom we had to manage virtual schooling and that whole mess. But still, 2020 was shitty for everyone. At the time, I was working in the PR department of a local hospital, managing social media, and once COVID hit, had to start monitoring our accounts around the clock for messages, comments, questions, etc. It was a lot, and I quickly learned that I really don’t care too much for crisis communications (which surprised me– when I was a reporter, I thrived on breaking news!) I left that job a year ago for a new communications job in an entirely different industry, and as the pandemic continues on, I am thankful every day I’m no longer doing healthcare comms. Shout out to those who continue to plug along every day in these challenging times. 

That being said, running was my sanity in 2020 and the fact that I was actually able to BQ at the Chasing the Unicorn Marathon on Halloween 2020 was really special. Especially after it was canceled and rescheduled at the last minute. The race itself had plenty of “only in 2020” vibes (the cold standing water flowing up over the race course! The fallen tree!), and I missed my 3:30 goal by six minutes, but I got that BQ. 

Boston qualifier at the Chasing the Unicorn Marathon
I qualified for the Boston Marathon at the Chasing the Unicorn Marathon in Washington Crossing, PA

Then, there was the whole confusion over which Boston the BQ was even for – the cancellation of Boston 2020 and the postponement of Boston 2021 from April to October obviously screwed everything up. Turns out the BQ was good for both, but I got squeaked out of the 2021 race because the Boston Athletic Association decided to take qualifying times from all the way back through September 2018. For those unfamiliar with the process, in the last decade or so, Boston hasn’t had enough room to accept all qualifiers, and will instead take only qualifiers who run a certain time under their qualifying standard, otherwise known as the cutoff time. Except you never know what the cutoff time will be until you register for the race and get your acceptance or non-acceptance email. It’s all very stressful!

But I was allowed to resubmit my time for 2022, and this time, EVERYONE who qualified and applied for the race was accepted! No cut off time! I first saw the news on Instagram, and shed happy tears. This is the first time in years there has been no cut off. I suspect that’s largely in part to the COVID vaccine mandate that the BAA put in place. Plenty of people were angry about that, but the BAA can do whatever it wants and I think we’ll see more and more of these rules moving forward.

Less than 90 days to go until the race! Check out my Boston 2019 race report for a detailed recap of my experience that year. 

Knocking Out a Few 5Ks

I’ve said it a million times on this blog – 5Ks are not my thing! They just hurt so bad! Yes, I know marathons are painful, too, but it’s a different kind of pain – I think I just prefer the slow burn of a longer race rather than the all out push of a shorter race. I still run them fairly frequently, but yeah, not my favorite distance! 

I’ve run two since my marathon, both on holidays. The first one was the Greensburg Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. I’ve run this annual 5K in my hometown every year since 2012, with the exception of 2020, when the pandemic canceled it. From 2016 through 2019, I was able to win second in my age group. (I never placed in prior years, most likely because I was out at the bar on Thanksgiving Eve and hungover for the Turkey Trot. Haha.) Finally, in 2021, I won my age group! (I’ve also aged up into a new age group since the last time I ran this race.) I ran a 20:54, which is a pretty big course PR. My previous fastest time was a 22:10. I’m always psyched to break 21 minutes in the 5K, and this course is tough – it is hilly western PA, after all!

Then on New Year’s Day, I won a 5K in Harrisburg, PA. My husband and I decided to go to Hershey for New Year’s, and of course I looked to see if there were any local races happening. I saw a 5K and a 10K happening on New Year’s Day at City Island, where I ran a St. Patrick’s Day 5K with Staci last year. I also set a PR at a half marathon there last May. I opted for the 5K over the 10K because I just PR’d the 10K in October and wanted to see what I could do in the 5K. I really had no expectations for the race, though. We were out late on New Year’s Eve, but didn’t drink too much and the race wasn’t happening until 11:20 in the morning, so I got plenty of sleep. But the weather was pretty yucky – very foggy with a cold drizzle – and I was a little afraid of slipping and falling.

I stuck with my usual 5K strategy – go out like a bat out of hell and see if I can hold on. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. That day, it worked. The course was similar to the one I’d run last March with Staci – you run over a bridge over the Susquehanna River and on a path beside the river. Before the race, one of the organizers told us to be careful of goose poop, and I remembered there being goose poop EVERYWHERE when I ran the half last May. But I very quickly entered the pain cave, and didn’t even think about goose poop. (Fortunately, none got on my beloved Alpha Flys!) My splits were positive, but not overly so – 6:30 for mile 1, 6:40 for mile 2, 6:50 for mile 3, and I’m not sure what I ran the last 0.1 in. My time was 20:33  – just seconds off my PR of 20:29! I was really happy about that. I was first female finisher, 11th overall. I am waiting for my award to arrive in the mail! 

But wait! When I checked my results, I saw that my gun time was 20:33, but my chip time was 20:30. So, literally ONE second off my PR. If only I had run two or three seconds faster! Per U.S. Track and Field rules, if you place among the top three overall spots in a race, your gun time is recorded as your official time instead of your chip time. Guess I should have lined up at the very front of the race with those speedy teenagers who clocked 17:xx finish times. LOL. 

Overall, it was a fun day and a great start to 2022. I have a few more 5Ks in mind over the next few months, despite my love-hate relationship with them! But training for Boston will still be my main focus. 

Marathon magic: I set a huge PR at the Coastal Delaware Running Festival

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Last month, I ran the perfect marathon. 

I finished the Coastal Delaware Running Festival marathon in 3:26:00. That broke a four-year-old PR by exactly nine minutes, and is a qualifier for the 2023 Boston Marathon with a cushion of 14 minutes. But that wasn’t what made it so awesome. 

I have NEVER run a marathon where I felt so strong and so GOOD the entire time. Remember that I finished the Tidewater Striders BQ Invitational Marathon in March swearing and dry-heaving and insisting there was no way in hell I was running a fall 2021 marathon. 

But I was already signed up for Coastal Delaware, a deferral after the original April 2020 race got canceled. The race management team refused to let me downgrade to the half, so I decided to suck it up and train for the marathon. And not just train – train my ass off. I followed a 12-week plan out of the book Advanced Marathoning and was running more than ever from August-October. Along the way, I set new PRs in the 5-miler, the 10K, and the 10-miler. Could I PR my marathon, too? 

I could and I did!

Here is how it happened. 

Before the Race

So I always hear other marathon runners talk about the taper crazies, but I had run nine marathons before Coastal Delaware and never felt like I had taper madness until this particular training cycle. Good Lord, I was a hot mess during the two-week taper. Anything I could worry about, I did. Catching COVID? Never mind that I’m vaccinated and boosted– I was super stressed about getting a breakthrough case. Breaking a leg or getting injured otherwise? Check. Getting into a car accident? Yup. The race getting canceled at the last minute? Oh yes. Obviously, none of those things happened, so I probably gave myself some needless stress-induced wrinkles. Oy vey. 

My sister Catherine drove down from Pittsburgh to travel with Micah and me to Rehoboth for the weekend, and we arrived Friday night for the Sunday race. Most of my marathons are on Saturdays, and I have to admit it was kind of nice to feel like I had a day to relax before the big race. We went to our favorite Nicola Pizza on Friday night and then Catherine and I went out to our very favorite bar, the Purple Parrot, afterwards. I was the most sober I’ve ever been in there– two-day hangovers are real when you’re in your 40s, yo, and I wasn’t trying to ruin my race before it happened. Some people kept trying to get us to take shots and I kept saying, “No, no, I’m trying to run a 3:28 marathon on Sunday!” 

Yes, my goal had always been 3:30. But then after I started having all of these great races in October, I thought maybe I was selling myself short. I told myself sub-3:30 was totally in the cards if I had a good day and paced myself appropriately. (Always a difficult thing to do!) 

On Saturday, I did a little 3-mile shakeout run on the boardwalk, and then carb-loaded at some favorites – Sammy’s Kitchen for breakfast, Nalu for lunch (awesome poke bowl), and Dogfish Head Pub for dinner (my usual– veggie burger, fries and beer).And of course, we did some shopping, too. Rehoboth is one of my favorite places in the world, and I hadn’t been there since summer of 2019, thanks to COVID canceling our annual family vacation in 2020 and then concerns over the health of my parents’ elderly cat in 2021. I know Catherine was really excited to be back, too.   

Picking up my bib

Race Day!

I slept pretty well the night before the race (unlike before Tidewater Striders, where I tossed and turned for most of the night) and woke up just before 5. Ate a bagel with almond butter and had a small cup of coffee and a small glass of water. I had focused on drinking lots of water in the days leading up to the marathon, but I didn’t want to take in too much liquid that morning because I’d had problems on long runs with having to stop to pee a few times (probably TMI, but I definitely peed behind a few trees along the B&A Trail during this training block.) I knew there would be Gatorade on the course and like I said, I had hydrated well in the preceding days. 

The weather was pretty damn near perfect, in my opinion – high 30s to start with temperatures in the 40s during the race. I wore shorts, a singlet, arm warmers, compression socks and gloves and that was great. Obviously, I wore my “magic shoes,” the Nike Alpha Flys. Damn, I love those shoes. Best money I ever spent. 

Right before we started the race on the Rehoboth Boardwalk, a local pastor gave a beautiful non-denominational blessing. “May you find the strength to run even faster than the goals you set for yourself,” she said. I smiled to myself and thought, “This is going to be my day.”  

We began right at 7 and I made a point to start off very conservatively. As I mentioned, it was pretty cold at the start and at first I worried that I was a little underdressed, especially with the wind coming off of the ocean. But as always, I warmed up fairly quickly, within the first two miles.The first couple miles followed a very similar path to the Rehoboth Seashore Marathon (my first BQ and previous PR!) My first few miles were pretty much right on target – 8:15, 7:56 (a little faster than I thought I should be going that early, so oops), 8:09, 8:01. 

Around that point is when I realized I needed to pee. Damn it. I thought I had gotten it all out before the race. Again, I’m not above doing my business behind a tree (see my Balboa Park 8 Miler recap), but the pre-race guide specifically told runners that there would be porta-potties on the course and we were not to defile the beautiful beach areas by going elsewhere. Fair enough. I didn’t want to risk getting caught and kicked out of the race, so I kept my eyes peeled for a porta-potty. Unfortunately, every time I passed one, someone was in it and there was no way I was wasting precious minutes waiting for one to become available!

My mile splits through Cape Henlopen State Park were: 

Mile 5- 8:08

Mile 6-8:13

Mile 7-8:06

Mile 8-8:03

Mile 9-8:03

Mile 10-8:04

So I was running a really consistent pace. I knew Micah and Catherine would be waiting for me at the halfway point, right by the Cape May-Lewes Ferry terminal, and I just kept hoping I’d find a porta-potty. 

Mile 11-7:48

Mile 12-8:09

FINALLY, just before I hit the half marathon point, as we were running through Lewes, I found a porta-potty! It wasn’t one put there by the race – rather, it was on the construction site of someone’s new home. Look, when you gotta go, you gotta go. I peed in record time and felt SO MUCH BETTER. Mile 13 was my slowest of the race at 8:25, but that stop needed to happen. 

My cheering squad was right where they said they would be, and I was so happy to see them. Except I got a little *too* excited and distracted and rather than continuing to run straight ahead like I was supposed to, I made a sharp turn left and almost collided with another runner. “WRONG WAY!” Catherine and Micah yelled, through hysterical laughter. Thank goodness they corrected me. And so sorry to the runner I almost knocked out on the course! 

Micah got this action shot of me

This is when I started to kick it into high gear and run consistent sub-8s. I still worried that I might be going too fast, but I was feeling so good, especially after that bathroom stop, that I just went for it. I also saw Micah and Catherine again at miles 16, 17 AND 18 (at which point Catherine yelled out, “You’re almost there!” and I called back “You’re a liar!”)

Mile 14-7:52

Mile 15-7:55

Mile 16-7:42

Mile 17-7:37

Mile 18-7:34

At mile 19, we started to head out of Lewes and toward the Junction and Breakwater Trail, which is also part of the Rehoboth Marathon (though you enter it from the opposite end in that race.) I ran for about a mile with some women who said they were shooting for a 3:30. I clocked a 7:34 for mile 19 and an 8:01 for mile 20. 

Every marathoner knows that mile 20 is when you are likely to hit “the wall.” Sometimes it happens earlier – I think I hit it around mile 17 at Tidewater Striders! Sometimes it happens later – when I ran Rehoboth in 2017, I didn’t really feel it until mile 23 or 24. And sometimes, on really magical days, it never happens. Well, it never happened that day. 

I think it’s worth noting that I fueled differently in this marathon. I’ve always taken sweet Gus during marathons, but I found that they really upset my stomach during Tidewater Striders. It was so warm that day and I couldn’t even get my last Gu down. I see so many runners on Instagram and Facebook talking about Maurten gels, so I decided to give those a try. I liked the Jello-like consistency and the fact that they aren’t flavored– I guess they kind of taste like sugar water. Either way, my stomach likes them a lot. I took a Maurten gel at miles 4, 8, 13, 17 and 21 and that worked out really well. 

Once I got on the trail, I just started flying and passing other runners. In fact, I don’t actually think anyone passed me in those last miles. Not only were my last six miles my fastest of the race, each mile got progressively faster and I was feeling so energized. 

Mile 21-7:27

Mile 22-7:23

Mile 23-7:22

Mile 24-7:16

Looking back at my splits, I almost wonder if I short-changed myself by going out at too conservative of a pace, since I clearly had so much left in the tank in the last few miles. But overall, I don’t regret my pacing – I’ve blown up enough times in marathons by starting out too fast, and I’m just glad that didn’t happen here.  

The last two miles of the race took us back into Rehoboth, as the race finished where we started on the boardwalk. I knew I was running a huge negative split and had a PR in the bag, and I was so happy. I felt like I had redeemed myself after that shit show of a marathon in March. Finally, everything was coming together! That final turn back onto the boardwalk was epic. It wasn’t the right turn onto Hereford and the left onto Boylston, but it was still pretty special to me. 😉  

Mile 25-7:13

Mile 26-7:05

Last little bit (My watch got 0.37, so I guess I didn’t do a great job of running the tangents– 2:27)

Just before I crossed the finish line, I heard Micah and Catherine calling for me, and I later found out my friend Nikki was there too and was cheering for me. I wish I’d seen her! My watch read 3:26:00 when I hit stop, and I wondered what my official time was (3:25:58? 3:26:02?) Turns out it actually was 3:26 on the nose. Ninth overall female, third place Master, a BQ with a huge cushion for 2023, and apparently also a qualifier for the New York City Marathon. Not actually planning to run NYC in 2022, since I’m already running Boston AND Chicago next year and I’m not made of money – but it’s cool to know that I qualified. 

More than anything, I was thrilled with my PR and the fact that all that hard training paid off. I really loved ringing that PR bell! 

Now I’m going to chill out a bit and run lower mileage through December before it’s time to start training for Boston 2022! A few days after Coastal Delaware, I found out that my BQ from Chasing the Unicorn on Halloween 2020 got me into this spring’s Boston, so there’s lots more to come on that!

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.    

Checking two races off my running bucket list: The St. Michael’s Half Marathon and the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run

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In the past month, I’ve checked two races I’ve always wanted to do off my running bucket list — the St. Michael’s Half Marathon in St. Michael’s, Maryland and the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run in Washington, D.C. Both are traditionally spring races, were canceled in 2020, and rescheduled for late summer 2021. And I was able to run both of them! 

St. Michael’s was fun — absolutely nowhere close to a PR, but I was not expecting to PR on a hot, humid August day when I hadn’t done any speedwork or structured training all summer. Cherry Blossom was fun AND I had a pretty significant PR, smashing my old PR from 2017 by more than two minutes! I’m so happy about that! 

Here are my recaps of the two races. 

St. Michael’s Half

The St. Michael’s Half Marathon is part of the St. Michael’s Running Festival, which also includes a 5K and a 10K. It is always held in May, and I was supposed to run it in May 2020. But of course, like all spring 2020 races, it was canceled due to COVID. I ended up donating my race entry and registering for the 2021 race, scheduled for Aug. 21. I knew the weather would likely be miserable. But I didn’t really care, especially once I found out that my favorite August race, the Annapolis Ten Mile Run, was canceled for the second year in a row. My sister Catherine and her husband Justin, who live in Pittsburgh, signed up for the 5K and came down to visit. Neither had ever been to St. Michael’s before and I was excited to have a fun day with them. 

We woke up STUPID early on race day to make sure we were there in time for the 7 am start. I had tried to find an Airbnb in St. Michael’s, but there was nothing, so we stayed at my house in Anne Arundel County about an hour away and woke up at 3:45 am. UGH. But the thought of being late stresses me out, so there was no way I wanted to be rushing around. We got there by 6 or a little thereafter, with plenty of time to use the bathroom and line up for the race. My plan was to start with the 1:40 pace group, and hopefully finish sub-1:40, but again, it was hot and humid and I had no real expectations for the race. 

Which was good, because…. The 1:40 pacer went out of the gate like a bat out of hell. 

I really don’t want to come off like I’m throwing shade at the pacer, because he was lots of fun and very entertaining when I was able to keep up with him! But I knew within the first half mile that we were going way too fast, particularly considering the weather. We ran the first mile in 7:19. 7:19!!! A 1:40 half marathon is roughly a 7:39 per minute pace, so 20 seconds faster than we needed to be going, in the first mile of a half. Yikes. Once we hit the first mile marker, he said “Is anyone tired yet?” Well, I wasn’t tired yet, exactly, but I definitely felt like I was working harder than I should be at that point in a half. 

The St. Michael’s Half bills itself as the flattest and fastest half in the mid-Atlantic, and the course is definitely flat as a pancake. But there’s also not much shade, so the sun was beating down on us pretty heavily. I was able to hang on with the pacer, who was hitting some of the mile markers probably at least 20 seconds before he needed to be (we ran mile 3 in 7:15), until around mile 7. Then I knew it was a lost cause. And apparently I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. My husband told me later that the pacer came through the finish line all by himself — I bet just about everyone fell back! Maybe there were a few that finished ahead of him? I don’t know. 

Anyway, after I knew I wasn’t going to be under 1:40, I just focused on enjoying myself and taking in the scenery. I was pushing as hard as I could, but my splits were definitely a hot mess. Mile 8 was 7:52, 9 was 8:08, 10 was 7:51, 11 was 8:05, 12 was 8:13, 13 was 8:15. Ah well. They can’t all be perfectly executed races. I was for sure ready to be done by mile 12 and was excited to see my husband, sister, and brother-in-law waiting at the final corner before I made the left turn toward the finish.

About to finish!

At the finish line, volunteers were handing towels drenched in cold water and it felt so good around my neck! My final time was 1:42:36, which got me second in my age group! 

My favorite running store, Charm City Run, sponsored the race and put on such a fun after party with great beer and music! I missed race after parties so much. We walked around St. Michael’s afterwards, had brunch, and then headed back to my house. We were quite exhausted after our early morning (middle of the night?!) wake up call and we all took long naps once we got back. 

I’d love to do this race again on its traditional spring date! 

Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run 

I wasn’t even planning to run this race. 

As the name indicates, this race usually takes place in April, when the cherry blossoms in D.C. are in full bloom. The race is extremely popular and you have to enter a lottery to get into it, so when I learned it was rescheduled for Sept. 12, I decided to throw my name in. Except I belatedly realized that the race would conflict with an annual girls trip to Dewey Beach, where I always run the Bottle and Cork 10 Miler. Whatever, I thought. I won’t get in anyway. 

Except — shocker!– the demand to run the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run without cherry blossoms just wasn’t there, so everyone who entered the lottery got into the race. And there were still enough spots left for runners to register after the lottery had closed! 

Thinking I was still going to Dewey that weekend, I tried to pawn off my entry on someone else, but there were no takers. But in early August, my beach plans fell through, leaving me free to run the race! And I am very glad I did. 

This race required another 3:45 am wakeup call. OK, maybe if I were the type of runner who could just roll out of bed and go to a race, it would be different. But I like to wake up, eat breakfast, have my coffee, use the bathroom a bunch of times, and as I said above, not feel rushed …. Plus, I had to take the Metro into D.C., which always really stresses me out. The New Carrollton Metro station is about 25 or so minutes away from my house, so I got there around 5:30 and I think I was at the Washington Monument, where the start line was, by 6ish. This left me with a ton of time to kill before the 7:30 start time, but again, I wasn’t rushed and I was happy about that.    

This race also had pacers, and my plan was to line up with the 7:30 minute/mile pace group (1:15 finish time) and hopefully finish ahead of them. But when I got to the starting corrals, I saw that I was placed in the second corral, while the pace group I wanted to run with was in the first corral. Balls. I knew they were going to go off several minutes ahead of my group, so I figured I would either try to catch up with them or just run my own race. And my experience in St. Michael’s taught me pacers can be hit or miss anyway! 

I was wearing my new race shoes that I had splurged on, the much hyped Nike Alpha Flys. I really went back and forth over whether to spend close to $300 on running shoes. Is that really necessary for a hobby runner like myself? I ran my marathon PR in Brooks Ghosts. Hell, I ran the freaking Boston Marathon in Brooks Ghosts! But I had a gift certificate to Charm City Run from my birthday that covered part of the cost and just decided to go for it. And maybe they helped me in this race. 

I will tell you that I ran faster than I ever thought I could. Like, I’m looking back at my splits and shaking my head in disbelief: 

Mile 1: 6:55

Mile 2: 7:06

Mile 3: 6:52

Mile 4: 6:56

Mile 5: 6:58

Mile 6: 6:58

Mile 7: 7:13

Mile 8: 7:16

Mile 9: 7:09

Mile 10: 7:13

I mean, I definitely slowed at the end, but I was running directly into a headwind during those last few miles. But look at that string of sub-7 miles! I usually struggle to run a 5K at a sub-7 pace, and I ran five miles at sub-7?! Like huh? I had also run a 16-mile long run the day before, which was definitely not a smart race strategy. But I needed to get my long run done and I also wanted to run the race … and it worked out. 

My finish time was 1:11:17, a 7:08/mile pace, which got me 13th in my age group out of 476 women. It was a very competitive race! 

Excited about that PR!

Was it the super shoes? The flat course? The cool morning? (It’s still pretty hot and muggy here most days, but we actually had nice weather for this race.) Was it my marathon training? At the time of the race, I was three weeks into my training plan for Coastal Delaware, so it’s hard for me to imagine that I would have gotten into 10-mile PR shape that fast. But who knows. All I know is that I was SUPER pumped.  

As for the race itself — I really liked the course, which winds through the Tidal Basin in D.C. As I just mentioned, it was very flat, though I could have done without the wind whipping off the Potomac in the later miles. I liked how in the last mile, there were markers indicating that you had 1600 meters, then 1200 meters, then 800 meters, then 400 meters to go. Would it have been a lot prettier with the cherry blossoms in bloom? For sure. So I’d love to come back in the spring. And as long as the standards don’t change, it looks like my time will qualify me for a seeded bib and allow me to bypass the lottery next time, which is pretty darn cool! 

What’s next? I’m about to finish up week four of a 12-week marathon training plan from Pete Pfitzinger’s book Advanced Running. It’s pretty challenging and has me running several double-digit runs during the week in addition to the long run on the weekend. I’ve never done that before. This past week, I ran 5 easy miles Monday, 11 easy miles Tuesday, rested Wednesday, 10 miles with five at half marathon pace Thursday, rested Friday, 17 miles today and 5 easy tomorrow. (I also went to kickboxing class on Tuesday and Thursday, because I am a firm believer in the importance of cross training! On those days, I ran early before work and went to class after work. Keeping hard days hard!) So far, so good! 

My next goal is to PR the 10K at the Baltimore Running Festival on Oct. 9. I technically PR’d the distance in the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run, so I think I could do it at an actual 10K. My current 10K PR is from 2017 and I would love to take that down! 

And then of course I am also hoping to PR the marathon this fall. My marathon PR is ALSO from 2017. See a pattern? 2017 was a really good year for my running … but I think 2021 can be even better!

Am I beating the heat, or is it beating me?

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It’s been forever since I’ve posted an update here! It’s hard to believe the summer is more than half over — and honestly, I can’t WAIT for fall. I was always a summer girl growing up in western PA, because our winters were so terrible. And then I moved to Maryland and learned that hey, summers can be terrible, too! The older I get, the more I despise the heat and the humidity. Particularly when I’m running in it! 

On that note, remember when I insisted I wasn’t going to train for a fall 2021 marathon? That I didn’t have a ton of fun last summer when I was training for Chasing the Unicorn and I just wanted to enjoy a “post-pandemic” (in quotes because COVID cases are on the rise again, thanks to the Delta variant) summer? Yeah, I lied. I’m registered for the Coastal Delaware Marathon on Nov. 14, a deferral from April 2020. I had every intention of dropping down to the half marathon, but the race won’t let me unless I pay for the half marathon in full, rather than transferring into that distance. It’s a little frustrating, since there are spots in the half — but I know that the race organization also lost a lot of money in 2020, as they all did, so I can’t blame them for doing what they can to stay afloat.

I tried to see if anyone wanted my bib, but couldn’t get anyone to commit. So I said the hell with it. I have been running, and complaining miserably about the weather the whole time, but haven’t officially started training yet. I will probably start with the St. Michael’s Half Marathon on Aug. 21 and either follow Hal Higdon’s three-month Boston Bound plan (which I used to train for Boston, but I don’t see why it can’t be used for other marathons) or Pete Pfitzinger’s 12-week plan. I’m a devotee of Hal’s Advanced Marathon plan — it’s gotten me three BQs — but I don’t have it in me, mentally, to follow a four-month marathon training plan right now. I still want that 3:30 and don’t think it’s out of the question if I train smart and can link up with a pacer to keep me from going out too hard (I think Coastal Del has pacers, which was definitely a point in its favor!) 

In addition to the St. Michael’s half, I’ll be running the Balboa Park 8 Miler in San Diego when I travel there for vacation next week! The hills in Balboa Park will probably make up for the lack of humidity, but I am excited nonetheless. I also ran Good Day For a Run’s Red, White, and Blue Mountain 5K a few weeks ago in northeast PA with Staci. I ran this race with her two years ago and it really sucked. The course, the weather, really, everything but the wine afterwards! In fact, we said we would never do it again. And yet, we did. I did much better this year, though! I was more than a minute faster than I was two years ago, and came in third place.  

Wannabe Triathlete?

Last month, I also did my second triathlon — the Columbia Association Super Sprint Triathlon! I really loved this race when I did it in 2019 and I had another great experience this year, despite my general dislike of the water. The super sprint is basically the shortest triathlon distance you can do — this one was four laps in a pool, a 5-mile bike ride, and a 1.75-mile run. I finished in about 46 minutes, which was around a minute faster than my 2019 time.

Feeling strong!

I was also 5th overall female, but that’s mainly because of my run time! It took me nearly eight minutes to complete the swim. And I had been going to the pool regularly to swim laps, but….. When it comes to swimming, I have one fatal flaw and that is the fact that I reallllllly don’t like to put my face in the water. Like, I really, really, really do not. This is a problem when you’re trying (tri-ing?) to swim, to say the least. Swimming freestyle with your head up out of the water is just about the most inefficient thing possible. So, no wonder it took me almost eight minutes. 

But I am determined to improve. I don’t have any more triathlons on my schedule, but my goal is to do a sprint eventually (and maybe a longer distance– who knows? I once said I’d never run a marathon….) I’ve been going to the pool, though not consistently, and I have even attempted two open water swims. I tagged along with my friends Tammy and Theresa to an open water swimming session in the South River a few weeks ago. I admittedly panicked when I got in the water and ended up just swimming in the shallows, going back and forth between two piers. The instructor suggested I come back on a Sunday morning, when there are more newbie swimmers and I could get a little bit more guidance. So I returned last Sunday morning and was less fearful. 

They had two buoys set up– one 50 meters out into the river and one 300 meters out. I wasn’t quite brave enough to swim out to the 50 meter buoy, and the 300 buoy was definitely a hell no, but! I put my face in the water more! That alone was a victory for me. I really have a hard time with my breathing, and I certainly didn’t retain a damn thing I learned in swim lessons as a young girl, so I’m contemplating signing up for adult swim lessons. Interest in doing a longer tri aside, swimming is an essential life skill and I do think I need to get more comfortable doing it. 

I just turned 41 a few days ago, so I can add that to my list of goals this year! 

Squeaked out: I missed the cutoff for the 2021 Boston Marathon

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On Tuesday, I found out I was one of more than 9,000 qualified runners to be rejected from the 2021 Boston Marathon.

It wasn’t a surprise, with the longer-than-usual qualifying period and the smaller-than-usual field. But it still sucks. 

For those of you who are not in tune with all things Boston, the Boston Marathon is usually held every April. But we are still in a pandemic. So last year’s race was turned into a virtual marathon, and this year’s race was postponed until Oct 11, 2021. For October’s race, the Boston Athletic Association accepted entries from qualified runners who ran BQs from September 2018 through the start of registration on April 20. And they only accepted 14,000 entries. So, in order to actually gain a spot in the marathon, you had to beat your qualifying time by seven minutes and 47 seconds. 

I was three minutes and 26 seconds under my BQ time at the Chasing the Unicorn Marathon last Halloween. So, I guess it’s better to be a few minutes off than a few seconds off?

On a positive note, the B.A.A. announced that for the 2022 Boston Marathon — planned for the usual third Monday in April next year — the qualifying window began on Sept. 1, 2019, and will end sometime later this year (I am guessing after Boston 2021 happens.) In other words, I’ll be able to reapply with my Chasing the Unicorn time from October 2020, which would have been in the usual 2022 qualifying window anyway. I guess my Tidewater Striders BQ will be a “throwaway” BQ, since it’s in the same window and was only two minutes and 38 seconds under my standard. Of course, you can only register with one race result! 

And it could be worse. I feel terrible for everyone who was registered for Boston 2020, which ultimately went virtual, then registered for 2021 and didn’t make the cutoff. Especially those who were first time Boston Marathoners. At least I’ve run the race already. 

So, what’s next? 

After I finished Tidewater Striders in March, I swore I wasn’t running a marathon this fall unless it was Boston. The end of that race was SO painful. And I’ve essentially been training for a BQ marathon since December 2019. First for Coastal Delaware 2020, which got canceled, then Chasing the Unicorn, which was canceled and rescheduled, then the Reston Marathon. When Reston got canceled, I registered for Tidewater Striders. It’s been a lot. But I’m not going to lie, when I found out I got rejected, I definitely thought about finding another marathon early this fall to make sure I have enough of a cushion to get into the 2022 race.

There is also a part of me that is intrigued by the ultramarathon world, too. The iconic JFK 50 Miler happens every November in western Maryland. I thought, that would give me a new challenge! An extremely terrifying challenge, but it’s good to do stuff that scares you, right? 

But honestly — I think I may just focus on crushing a half marathon this fall and hope my Chasing the Unicorn time is good enough for 2022. I’ll be honest — I didn’t have a lot of fun marathon training last summer. Training through a hot and humid Maryland summer sucks! I would pick winter training over summer training any day of the week. And when I was training last summer, work was bananas stressful and I wasn’t even sure I’d actually get to run a marathon in the end anyway. And I almost didn’t! This summer is thankfully going to look different, but I still think I need a break. I want marathon training to continue to be something I WANT to do, not something I feel like I HAVE to do. 

In any event, I am optimistic that I have enough of a cushion for Boston 2022. Yes, the qualifying window is still two years long (in normal times, the window is a year long.) But think of all the marathons that were canceled starting in March 2020. Sure, small marathons began to resume in fall 2020, but I think there have been very few marathons that have had more than a few hundred finishers. So, way fewer opportunities to qualify and way fewer qualified runners. I do think a lot of runners will re-qualify at this fall’s Boston. But I’d also venture to say that plenty of them won’t want to turn around and run another Boston six months later. Boston is expensive!  

Did you get squeaked out of this fall’s Boston Marathon? Are you running another marathon this fall to try to improve your time, or just hoping for the best like I am?