Richmond Marathon race recap – Part 1

Richmond Marathon race recap – Part 1

Check me out — Mom of four, the Internet’s last remaining Mommy Blogger, and now you can add *marathon finisher* to my resume. Those smiles are giant fakes. In fact, this bent-over, wilted photo is much more accurate: In short, the Richmond Marathon wasn’t at all what I expected. And, at the risk of sounding

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Marathon training update

Marathon training update

It took me 16 weeks to come realize this, but marathon training is going well. For 16 full weeks, whenever anyone asked me about the marathon, I’d exhale deeply, dramatically say, “I don’t know!” and then mumble something about being tired. It’s hard to say that something is going well when you’re tired all the

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The anti-coach

The anti-coach

NOTE:  I wrote this a few days ago — a glib post about running during the quarantine. I wrote it before running was added to the list of things that are dangerous to do while black. I’ve been running since I was 14 years old. That’s 23 years of running on country roads, in the city, suburbs,

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Six Kriegers, running

Six Kriegers, running

Last Saturday our family laced up our racing shoes and participated in Thomas’s preschool 5k. We’ve participated in this race every year since David started preschool. Annual events always cause me to reflect on how my family has changed through the years. We’ve done this race with different combinations of toddlers, babies, and big kids.

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Postpartum fitness-ish

Postpartum fitness-ish

Since Anna was born my exercise routine has been simple: round-the-clock breastfeeding, and hauling Thomas off high structures. Four pregnancies in six years has changed my schedule, my priorities, and my body. Right now I don’t have room in my life for much more than taking care of my kids and keeping track of who’s

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Half marathon, full pregnant

Half marathon, full pregnant

At my 39-week check up I happened to casually mention that my husband was running the half marathon over the weekend. Immediately my doctor got very serious about developing a plan for what I would do if my labor started while the race was happening and there I was, on the sidelines of a race

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Five Kriegers, running

Five Kriegers, running

The past two weeks have been busy, busy, busy over here. I guess that sort of goes without saying because we’re always at least a little bit busy — even if we’re ONLY talking about laundry. But in the last two weeks two kids got sick (including a 105.7 fever that stuck around a little too

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A fine day for a race

A fine day for a race

Tom and I have always predicted that our kids will either love running or hate it. That’s what happens when you spectate your first marathon as a three-month old. When it comes to your parents’ passions, there is no half way. We expect they’ll have similar opinions about Virginia Tech football, Java Chip Frappuccinos and Microsoft

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Runner’s high

After the half marathon, Tom draped our medals around David’s neck. He ran around the living room wearing them, twisting to make them clang and whip around his body. Then he stopped and looked down at them, looked back at us, back at the medals, and then looked at us and said the exact same

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Baby’s first half-marathon

Baby’s first half-marathon

That title is actually a misnomer. Mary Virginia isn’t participating in the race this weekend. (Though people do ask if I’m pushing the stroller in the race. Um, no thank you. Strollers aren’t allowed in the race, but even if they were, no thank you.) Even if she was, it wouldn’t be her first half.

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Carb-loading: Spaghetti Pomodoro

Carb-loading: Spaghetti Pomodoro

Tomorrow is the first day of the pre-race taper for the half marathon. For weeks now Tom and I have been running 10+ miles every Saturday. Long runs on Saturday means carb-loading on Fridays. I discovered long ago that the best pre-run meal for me is one that’s quick and easy (being on your feet cooking

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Running…an update

It’s been seven weeks since I last posted about running. It’s too bad, because I’ve come a long way since then…literally and figuratively. My first run after having Mary Virginia seems so long ago because running feels totally different now. It has been a slow process, but my daily run no longer seems insurmountable. And

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Drawing battle lines

Drawing battle lines

There’s a pile of maternity clothes folded on the floor of my bedroom. Even though I’m still shaped like Humpty Dumpty, my maternity clothes don’t fit anymore, so they’re waiting to be sent back to the attic. They’re sitting in my closet, under my regular clothes that don’t really fit either. Ah, postpartum is such

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Boston

I walked in the Monument Ave. 10k last weekend, and during the race I thought, “Why am I doing this?” It’s a thought that crosses my mind in nearly every race. The question isn’t, “Why am I running?” The question is, “Why did I pay an entry fee, wake up early, and fight traffic to

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31 weeks and running

31 weeks and running

Wow, take a look at the belly. (That Richmond Marathon shirt is Tom’s. My running shirts don’t quite cover the belly anymore, so I’m taking credit for races I didn’t run.) You can barely see my feet. Oh, there they are. Tomorrow I’ll be 31 weeks pregnant. Wow, right? Don’t worry, these next 9+ weeks won’t seem

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2012 Running Year in Review

2012 Running Year in Review

I’m writing this on Christmas Eve, sitting on the couch at Tom’s parent’s house re-watching Season 1 of Downton Abbey. I’ve had bacon for breakfast for five days straight, and I just ate a huge meal with ham, potatoes and broccoli casserole, finished off with a big piece of ice cream cake. As a complete

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My PR race: What I did differently

My PR race: What I did differently

The half-marathon already seems so long ago. It’s been about three weeks and I’ve already fallen back into a routine of maintenance running and eating bacon every morning. I’m a middle of the pack runner, but this was sort of a banner race for me — I got a PR by three minutes and, even better, I

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First Annual Krieger Klassic 5k

First Annual Krieger Klassic 5k

Last year our families ran the Drumstick Dash 5k in Roanoke. It was a fun race, but this year we decided to skip the crowds and traffic and spend Thanksgiving morning like most Americans; sitting on the couch saving all our energy for the exhaustion of digesting turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. We spent

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Richmond Half Marathon: race report

Richmond Half Marathon: race report

Amanda, Sharon, Steve, Helene and Julie It’s over. After months of long runs, strength training, eating spaghetti every Friday night, and worrying, I’m finally on the other side of the finish line. Last Saturday, I ran the American Family Fitness Half Marathon and, you know what? It was awesome. I hit every single one of my

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Taper week: the best part of any training plan

Last weekend Sharon and I ran our final long run before the half-marathon. We’ve reached the stage in training where any run that’s not double digits doesn’t seem like a long run at all. It’s kind of crazy to look back at our training and think about our first 8-mile run, which seemed so LONG.

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Maybe the most work I’ve ever done on a Saturday morning

Last Saturday morning I woke up early and ran 12 miles with Sharon. Doesn’t that sound so wonderful! And healthy! And refreshing! An early morning long run sounds wonderful when you’re talking about it, but doing it is entirely something different. Sharon arrived at my house with caffeinated Gu packs for mid-run fueling and a

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Hill work

Tom and I spent all last week with his family at their home on Smith Mountain Lake. As the name suggests, Smith Mountain Lake is in the mountains. Just the name alone speaks of beauty: A lake! Mountains! And it is beautiful, really, really beautiful. It’s rolling hills and sparkling water and sunsets. You should

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Track Club

Track Club

For me, running has always been more about community than winning races or setting PRs. Maybe that’s because I’ve never been super fast, and if that’s the case then my speed limitations are a mercy from God, because running has brought me some great friendships. Even when I was in high school and racing all

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Running: That old familiar pain

I’ve been doing yoga. Runners only do yoga for one reason: they have no choice. Here’s the deal: for almost four years I’ve been dealing with a hamstring injury. I think of it as a running injury, because it hurts when I run, but it’s really not a running injury at all; it happened while I

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Race day = excuse day

Tomorrow is race day, which means today I start coming up with some excuses. Since the day I started racing I started making excuses. Once in high school I told my coach I might have a bad race because I had some pudding for lunch. It wasn’t the pudding I was worried about, it was

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Running: Monument Ave. 10k

As long as you don’t mind five inches of freshly fallen pollen, now is a great time to live in Richmond.  We’re having the kind of weather I’d order off a menu: warm, breezy, and sunny with no bugs and no humidity.  The flowers are blooming, the grass is green and everyone is running. The sidewalks

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Running highs and lows

This winter I’ve found myself falling into some running patterns. Simply, I’ll get on a great running kick…then not run at all. I’m running the Monument Ave. 10k at the end of March, so I started training — running about 4 miles two times a week and 6-7 miles on Sunday, with a few shorter

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