Category Archives: Fitness

52 Weeks, 52 Runs. No. 24: Why do I smell wet dog?*

Posted on June 4, 2012 | 19 comments

I believe I entered a new realm of hard-coreness this past weekend. No, I didn’t run any farther than usual, I didn’t PR in spectacular fashion, and I definitely didn’t wear compression socks. But I did run in possibly the worst weather I’ve ever encountered on a race. Just showing up for the P.R.o.N.E. 5K on Boston’s Castle Island was an accomplishment, if I don’t say so myself. Indeed, I can’t believe how many runners came out, given the conditions. But then again, there were a number of small, fluffy enticements …

P.R.O.N.E. 5K

This raincoat-clad pug was the star of the show.

P.R.o.N.E. stands for Pug Rescue of New England, an organization I was beyond thrilled to support. I am the most dog-obsessed person I know who doesn’t actually own a dog. (I’m terribly allergic, which is the tragedy of my life.) Surely, only a pug-fest could draw so many people out of doors in such weather.

P.R.O.N.E. 5K

Awwwwwwwww.

I had been obsessively Googling the forecast all week, but sadly each time I checked, things looked more dire. It was raining only lightly when I left home, though, so I had some hope that things might improve.

They didn’t.

I was especially unprepared for the wind. As I walked with a fellow runner along the water towards the start area, I was shocked at how blowy it was. Then I realized we were traveling along part of the course, and I started to get The Fear. I am terrible at running in the wind. In the annals of things that make me quake in my sneakers, it lies somewhere in between hills and compression socks.

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Posted in 52 Weeks, 52 Runs, Fitness, Humor, Running

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52 Weeks, 52 Runs. No. 23: Runniversary to remember

Posted on May 31, 2012 | 33 comments

It occurred to me halfway through my five-miler at Boston’s Run to Remember on Sunday that it is my one-year runniversary. On May 28, 2011, I ran the Chick fil-A 5K in Newport News, Va., after Hubby signed me up on a whim (there were fuzzy cows involved). Prior to that, I hadn’t run since high school. My sports teacher would likely say I never “ran” at all.

I would like to think that this inaugural 5K sparked in me a deep love and passion for the sport and uncovered an innate athletic talent waiting to be nurtured …

It didn’t do that.

What it did do was plunge me into a brave new world of weekend runcations, early starts, thermal tights, bibs, T-shirts, medals, coconut water, run snobs, compression socks, hills, GPS watches, chia seeds, beer, and weird granola bars. It gave me a physical challenge greater than anything I could have envisioned. It also inspired me to write this blog.

Boston's Run to Remember

Boston’s Run to Remember from above on a glorious Memorial Day weekend. The half-marathoners are coming in on the right.

Running will always be a struggle for me, thanks to my loser asthmatic lungs, but I am getting better. A year ago I could barely run a block. Today I can do 10 kilometers. It’s not pretty, and sometimes (OK all the time) I scowl and swear, and occasionally I want to ditch the whole thing (my 5K to Couch program), but I can do it.

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Posted in 52 Weeks, 52 Runs, Fitness, Humor, Running

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Shirts so good: part two

Posted on May 29, 2012 | 19 comments

I shouldn’t be surprised that my running-shirts collection is getting out of control (a race a week will do that). But every time I open my dresser drawer to add the latest testament to my lack of skills, I am still genuinely amazed at just how many I have accumulated over the past 12 months.

Back in March, I put together this gallery, but I have been lax in updating it, so here are a few more tees. I love how much they vary in size. I tip my hat to the race organizers who have figured out that “unisex” shirts, i.e., men’s, don’t really work for petite women, or any women, really.

I am in the midst of collecting the ones I can’t really use for donation to a local charity. But they will endure here …

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Posted in Fitness, Running, Sports, The shirt collection

52 Weeks, 52 Runs. No. 22: Better off Fred

Posted on May 25, 2012 | 13 comments

Rather than give running some space, I decided to crowd the heck out of it this past weekend by doing a double-header. Bad idea? Maybe. But at least I would know how it really feels about me. (And I’d have a run up my sleeve for the 52 Weeks, 52 Runs challenge.)

Someone who has no issues defining his running relationship is Hubby, who on this all-running weekend decided to do a trifecta: a 5K (the previously mentioned Brian Betts run), a 10K trail run (the James River Scramble at the Dominion River Rock festival in Richmond, Va.), and the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon, in Fredericksburg, Va. (Overachiever.) Luckily for me, the Marine Corps folk also put on a 5K, the Semper Fred, thus saving me from potentially three more hours of torturous bib counting.

Marine Corps Half Marathon

The day before. Hence the lack of Lululemon-clad chicks and compression socks.

This was the fifth year of the Marine Corps Historic Half/Semper Fred, and it is one of those events that was organized so seamlessly and had so much energy, it was a joy to be a part of (despite starting at 7am). These guys also organize the 30,000-strong Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington, Va. (October 28), which this year sold out in two hours, 41 minutes, a record for all marathons. Can you believe that? This is one well-loved race series.

Probably because it has a mascot called Miles …

Marine Corps Half Marathon

Hubby and Miles get friendly at the expo.

And bands that play jaunty tunes as you run …

Marine Corps Half Marathon

Jaunty!

And porta-loos as far as the eye can see …

Marine Corps Half Marathon

Seriously! They just kept going.

You’ve got to love a race that provides that many places to go before you go …

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52 Weeks, 52 Runs. No. 21: What? You mean running a 5K in under 30 minutes is not the most important thing in the world?

Posted on May 24, 2012 | 16 comments

I declared last week that perhaps running and I needed some space. Things were getting a bit rocky – and not the fist-pumping, Eye of the Tiger kind. You would think this realization would be reason enough for me to take a weekend off, use the time to decide what I really want out of the relationship. Running, maybe I’m just not that into you.

Instead, I decided to do two 5Ks.

Of course I did.

Brian K. Betts Foundation

The Washington Monument looks over West Potomac Park in Washington, DC, the setting for the Brian K. Betts Foundation 5K.

The first, the Brian K. Betts 5K, in Washington, DC, was one of those events, though, where the cause really transcended the run. One of the things I love about these smaller 5Ks is that sometimes they shed light on a person or a charity I never would otherwise have heard of. And while I love to make jokes about free beer and T-shirts and all the things that running gives me, I much prefer it when I know my entry fee is going somewhere truly worthwhile.

In this case it was the Brian K. Betts Foundation. Betts was the principal of a troubled Washington school, and by all accounts a “rising star” in the DC system. His mantra for students was “I will not let you be average,” which I love. He was fatally shot in his home in April 2010. The foundation in his name promotes academic excellence and educational enrichment for students and faculty.

Brian K. Betts Foundation

Lovely morning run along the Potomac.

This was clearly so much bigger than me and whether or not I ever manage to run a sub-30-minute 5K …

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Posted in 52 Weeks, 52 Runs, Fitness, Humor, Running

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