Hey there! Where was I? Oh yes, that’s right! I was at mile 13 of the Richmond Marathon, thinking about how there are much, much easier ways to find out that 78 degrees is actually a lot hotter than it sounds. (You can find part one here.) At the halfway point of the race it
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
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
I’m writing this very important, breaking-news blog post from my couch where I have my feet propped up, and I’m from a mixing bowl full of salty carbohydrates. I’m on week 10 of training for a marathon, so this is sort of my m. o. these days. That’s right, Mom’s training for a marathon. Before
I’ve run (or walked) the Monument Avenue 10k almost every year since I moved to Richmond in 2006. The nice thing about running a race for more than a decade is that it becomes a bit of a marker for your stage of life. There was the first year, when after racing the 5k in
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,
For the past few months I’ve had a standing social engagement on the calendar. As far as I can remember, it’s one of the only times I’ve done something like this in years. I don’t take the kids, and I don’t arrange for childcare. I just walk out of the house like an actual grownup
When I got home from the 8k, Tom was outside with all the kids. They rushed the car and smothered me with hugs as if I was returning from war. Thomas rifled through my bag and found my post-race food. I had two small bags of pretzels and one bag of trail mix. He held
I used to run the Monument Avenue 10k every year, but I haven’t run it since two years ago when I was pregnant with Anna. Coincidentally, I also haven’t run six miles since two years ago when I ran the 10k, pregnant with Anna. I hadn’t trained and I had no one to run with,
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.
Learn more about Nokia’s family of products here. At the beginning of the month I talked about taking baby steps toward fitness and exercise. Around the same time I started paying more attention to my diet. Nothing drastic, partially because I’m nursing and mama’s gotta eat, partially because I’m not one for elimination of food
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
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
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
Remember when this used to be sort of a running blog? If you answered “no,” then you’re in good company because NEITHER DO I! Several years ago, I wrote a lot about postpartum running because running was a huge part of my life before pregnancy, and having a baby packs a wallop. Postpartum running was hard,
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
I’ve always thought the one thing that could make the Monument Ave. 10k better is if it had finisher’s medals. This year, in particular, I deserved one. If you read this post, you know I’m not in the best running shape of my life. Specifically, I’ve got some sort of postpartum hip injury. (That I
I’m running the Monument Ave. 10k in a few short weeks. Gulp. I don’t think I’ve ever been so unprepared for a race. My last race was the Richmond Half Marathon. Back then I was just five months postpartum, had a bad cold, and was totally and completely sleep deprived. I felt — and looked
The Richmond running community — and community at large — is mourning the loss of Meg Cross Menzies, who was struck and killed by a drunk driver while running. To honor Meg, over 61,000 runners (and counting!) around the world are running Saturday, January 18 to honor Meg’s life and to raise awareness of drunken driving, texting
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
I did it. 2:04.04 It was rainy and cold, I was sick, and I got blisters on both of my feet. But I did it. And from now on I’m going to switch pronouns, because though running is an individual sport, I could not have gotten to the finish line (or the starting line, really)
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.
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
Race day is three weeks away. That means I have two more weeks of training, a taper week, and then the race. It helps me to spell it out like that because I sort of don’t believe it. Training for this race has been so much different from any other race I’ve ever trained for.
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
Last Monday I went for a run. It’s been 14 weeks since I last went for a run. Three and a half months. That’s the longest break I’ve taken from running since I went out for the track team 16 years ago. When I finished, achy and sweaty, it occurred to me that it’s good
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
Last Saturday I was one of 38,600 runners and walkers in Richmond’s Monument Ave. 10k. I considered not doing a race recap since I only walked it. But the more I thought about it I realized that walking this race was just as much a part of my journey as a runner as any of
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
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
When I was 30-something weeks pregnant with David, I’d wake up every morning around 5am and not be able to fall back asleep. Around the same time my running group moved our afternoon runs to something unreasonable like 6am because, even though it was 80 degrees and humid, that was better than running at our
My friend Sarah gets the award for the Most Astute Blog Reader. She posted this on my Facebook wall right after we announced our baby on the way. That’s right. I already wrote a post about what I did differently for this race, but I failed to mention one enormous detail: I was 10 weeks pregnant on
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
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
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
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
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.
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
We’re in the thick of half-marathon training over here on Grace, and my Saturday long runs are finally in the double digits. I started my training with trepidation, and am so thankful that things have gone so well. My friend Sharon and I are doing a lot of our training together. We run together probably
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
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
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
I haven’t blogged about running since April. That’s unreal because when I first started this blog, I sort of thought it would be part baby blog, part running blog. But, like every other part of my life, David has sort of taken over. Running since the 10k has been great, but a little directionless. Since
If you happen to check my 10k time, know that it would be more accurate with at asterisk that says: 57:41 *and also she biked 3 miles to the start (so her quads were a liiiittle tired before she even started). Just kidding. That would be an excuse. The real story is: the race was
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
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
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
I’ve been writing about running for two reasons: 1) I love to run. Running is a big part of my life, so it wouldn’t make sense to leave it out. 2) I wanted to get back to running soon after David was born and I was shocked at how little information there was about postpartum
I haven’t written much about running lately, but it’s not because I haven’t been running. Instead, running has become less of an Event and more commonplace. I’m getting back to my old self. Not totally, but I’m getting there. The other day I went for a run wearing my running tights. I wore them earlier this
Last Saturday David and I bundled up and laced up our running shoes (respectively) and headed to the Jingle Bell 5k. The race was at 8am, which meant I had to set an alarm just in case David didn’t wake me up early enough. My new mom heart broke as I set the alarm, and