Category Archives: Humor

52 Weeks, 52 Runs. No. 34: Blistering! (And I don’t mean my pace)

Posted on August 9, 2012 | 11 comments

I think I’m still traumatized after this past weekend’s double shot of runs, the Shark Weekend 5K in Nahant, MA, and the YuKanRun 5K in Cape Ann, MA. Maybe I am suffering from residual heatstroke that manifests itself in the blocking out of salient yet humiliating details, but both runs have managed to blur into one.

If I hadn’t set myself this insane 52-week challenge, there’s no way I would have been outside exerting myself in such conditions two days in a row, especially when I could have broken a sweat just by standing still. It was my most grueling race weekend ever.

Good thing I am about to run a half-marathon on Saturday. What with the lingering trauma and all …

Shark Weekend 5K

This way for sharks!

These runs weren’t just hot. They were also hilly. Swear-inducingly hilly. I’m normally not allowed to complain about hills, but this is an exception. It was comedy. A hill lurked around every corner, meaning maximum grouchiness and slowpokery on my part, especially during the YuKanRun 5K. About a mile into that one, I expressed myself in a manner not fit for a family blog.

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52 Weeks, 52 Runs. No. 31: Short and sweet

Posted on July 27, 2012 | 7 comments

We live just south of Boston, but you wouldn’t know it from all the time we spend gallivanting around other states. So it’s nice to occasionally do a run that doesn’t involve a 4am start, a tank of gas, and a stay at the Hampton Inn (I swear we are becoming known).

It doesn’t get more Boston than the Jim Kane Sugar Bowl, which celebrated its 25th year last week. I love an evening run. This one was still really hot though (we may as well be living in Phoenix right about now), but at least it was a tired, on-its-way-out kind of hot.

Jim Kane Sugar Bowl

Nice night for it.

I never in my life thought I would say this, but I was so happy the event was only a 5K. After the toe-pummeling half-marathon walk and eight-miler of the past two weeks, I was ready for something easier. (Not that a 5K will ever really be easy for me.)

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52 Weeks, 52 Runs. No. 30: Stowe-ly but surely

Posted on July 23, 2012 | 20 comments

We registered ages ago for last weekend’s Stowe 8 Miler in Vermont – pre-freaky heatwave and pre-Mad Half Marathon walk, in which I may or may not have done major damage to my big toenail by wearing shoes that were too snug for extreme downhill race-walking. Had I known that the heat and the toe disaster were going to happen, I may have decided that running eight miles, a distance I had never attempted, was not such a wise move.

But I couldn’t not do it. My reputation (as someone who pays the entry fee and shows up on time) was at stake. This event certainly gave me The Fear though. Mostly because eight miles is really freaking far. Also, because Vermont has never met a hill it didn’t like.

Stowe 8 Miler

LARGE road race!

I was supposed to be much further ahead in my half-marathon training schedule by this point, but as most of you know, that ship has sailed. I was buoyed by my not-totally-crap showing at the Mad Half the week before, but seeing as that was a walk and this was not, The Fear remained.

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52 Weeks, 52 Runs. No. 29: It’s a mad, mad, Mad Half-Marathon world

Posted on July 17, 2012 | 26 comments

I’m scheduled to run a half-marathon in Vancouver on August 11. That’s 25 days from now. Yep, 25 days …

My preparations for this run have been what some might call “erratic” and others might term “crap.” I had good intentions, but an unscheduled trip home to Australia knocked me off course and I haven’t quite managed to get back on. So I decided to just “train” at my own speed rather than sweat the fact I’m not doing pickups every Monday and hill repeats every Thursday. I won’t be fast when I finally run my half, but I’ll finish it eventually. Maybe. Probably.

When the Mad Marathon and Mad Half in the Mad River Valley, Vt., announced a walkers division (genius!), we thought it would be a good experiment. If I can walk a  half-marathon, then my running time should be faster. Right? (This statement may fall under the category of “famous last words.”)

Mad Marathon & Mad Half

At the back from the start. The pack has already pulled way ahead.

No running allowed

I was looking forward to not having the pressure of running hanging over my head at the Mad event. On this day, I was among a select group of people who had chosen dignity over beet-face. We weren’t allowed to so much as think about running or we’d be unceremoniously deposited among the speedy folk and left to fend for ourselves. I was going to be at the back of the pack, but it was by design, so I was down with it.

Mad Marathon & Mad Half

Hilly!

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52 Weeks, 52 Runs. No. 28: Ready, set, glow

Posted on July 15, 2012 | 7 comments

We signed up for the Firefly 5K in Waterville Valley, NH, months ago – long before the heatwave struck the US east coast and turned every run into a torture-fest, making me feel with each step like I was a chicken slowly being roasted (although hopefully slightly less crispy).

This 5K had an 8pm start and there were glow sticks involved (which, between you and me, may have been the real reason I wanted to do it). I had envisioned an idyllic, colorful romp through the mountains (Waterville Valley is a resort community in the White Mountain National Forest). I would be gently swatting away fireflies and generally reveling in the cool mountain air.

You know, I should really stop envisioning idyllic romps. Has anyone ever had a run that matched that description?

Firefly 5K

Runners gather at the start. Purty.

The temperature had dropped a little bit by the time we lined up at the start, but my definition of “cool” is, you know, not hot. And it was still pretty hot. Also, it wasn’t dark enough yet for the glow sticks to really do their thing. Sad.

But still, I was looking forward to this one, and I figured it would cool down eventually. I hadn’t had a good run in a while (in fact, I hadn’t run a full 5K in a while), so I thought this might be a chance to remind Mother Nature that, no, I don’t suck completely. My failings are all your fault.

Firefly 5K

The sun sets on my running career?

For safety reasons, we were told not to run with headphones, so I put mine away. I also had surrendered my GPS watch to Hubby because his was in the shop. I wasn’t too concerned about the watch, but I had never run without music. It felt so weird not having the buds in my ears. I may as well have been naked.

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