Kiawah Island Marathon (SC), December 13th, 2014

Traveling to Kiawah for a third year in a row it is fun to reflect on how the trip has grown.  In 2012, I traveled to the race on my own.  In 2013, I was lucky to be joined by 5 friends, and in 2014 we had a group of 14 (9 runners and 5 spectators).

Even though it included a marathon PR by 6 minutes (Boston qualifying is getting so close!), this weekend was about more than running my sixth marathon.  I had the chance to…

~Be there for 2 friends’ first halves and another one’s full.  Okay, I was actually still running when they finished, but I celebrated with them afterwards!

~Ask someone if she had seen a banana walk by.  This was postrace and I’m pretty sure she thought I was in that postrace-crazy state.  Then one of my friends walked up in a banana costume (with a carrot not too far behind).  Thanks to friends who came along to cheer and those who chose to do it in costume!

~Share the world’s largest bathroom with only one other person.  We managed to find a house that easily slept 14 of us with 5 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms, several of which were the size of my bedroom.

~Go for a postrun walk on the beach (which might have involved a stroll past Tom Hanks’ house)

~Win a hand of Cards Against Humanity with “Gogurt.”

~Enjoy brunch at High Cotton in Charleston.

~Share a bottle of Kiawah wine with travelmates on our one-year Kiawah reunion (said bottle of wine was obtained our first year as an apology for our wireless not working).

We’re already planning and looking forward to next year!

Savannah Rock'n Roll Half Marathon (GA), November 8th, 2014

For a friend’s 40^th we headed to south to Savannah.  As has happened with a number of my races, this one became as much about the trip and people I traveled with as the race itself.  In honor of my his 40^th, here’s a brief overview (identifying the 40 most important words):

Tugboat-Yes, we took a tugboat to the race start.

Cobblestones-They’re great on the ankles and motivation to watch your every step.

Savannah Pedals-The night after the race we enjoyed the “pub with pedals” as a fun way to see the city.  What better way to recover from a half than pedaling around town for 2 hours.

Town Squares-Savannah is filled with town squares and monuments.  I quickly became accustomed to orienting myself based on proximity to a given square.  Or statue.  My favorite was John Wesley, a shout out to my Methodist heritage.

Open Containers=Legal-Within the historic district.  Which made the town squares, pedaling trip, and down time generally more entertaining.

Funky Brunch-A great little brunch spot that includes an electric griddle in the middle of tables allowing you to make your own pancakes.  Yum.

Phillip Phillips-He was the headliner for the postrace concert.  I discovered that I know more of his music than I thought.

Longest wait for food in a restaurant ever-We finally gave up, left, and were very thankful for Subway

Forrest Gump-A running movie, right?  After spending some time searching for it, we found the original Forrest Gump park bench has been moved from Chippewa Square to the Savannah History Museum.

University of Okoboji Half Marathon (IA), July 19th, 2014

Thought of the race as I was looking into the cornfields lining either side of the course: “Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much corn.”  I turned and started to comment on my amazement at the cornfields to the runner next to me.  Then I remembered I was in Iowa.  A place where cornfields are not uncommon.  I realized that the runner next to me was probably not as fascinated by a cornfield as I was.

On the way to an annual family vacation to northern Minnesota, I convinced my parents we could swing south to Lake Okoboji, Iowa, so that I could cross off another state.   

The town of Lake Okoboji is what reminds me of an east coast beach town, complete with an amusement park and putt-putt course, on a lakeshore in the middle of cornfields.  The University of Okoboji Half Marathon was part of an event that included a triathlon, marathon, and 10k (although it was the homecoming for a university that does not actually exist).  The races started at various points around the lakes and began at staggered starting times, with the marathon beginning 2 hours before the half, which was one hour before the 10k.  As the race progressed, it was fun to pass and pick up runners completing different distances.


I enjoyed the race, but was ready to hop in the car and head north for a week of relaxation.  And kayaking, swimming, biking, and a little running.

Jamestown Half Marathon (RI), July 12th, 2014

I decided to make the most of my marathon training and booked 2 halves in July.  By “making the most of my marathon training,” I meant run as little as possible after the full and still be able to survive the two halves.  I survived both, barely.

As a teacher, summer provides me lots of time to take road trips and see new places without worrying about having to get back to work.  I found the Jamestown race and decided to tack it onto a trip to visit my parents in Delaware.  Somehow I convinced my mom to join me for the trip further north (she has been my most consistent travel partner over the course of my races).

Jamestown Island is a small residential island in Narragansett Bay.  The race started earlier than most, which I soon realized was not so that we could clear the roads early, but that it gets warm quickly that far north.  It was a quiet, pretty race through the wooded streets of the small island.

Thankfully the warm finish of the race was followed by a quick dip in the ice-cold ocean, lunch at a typical New England diner and a scenic road trip back to Delaware.

Grandma's Marathon (MN), June 21st, 2014

With most of my extended family residing in or near Minnesota and having spent 2-4 weeks there every year since I have been alive, I have logged quite a few miles in the state (in everything from 80 degree “heat waves” to upper teens and 2 foot snow drifts, in shorts).  After having spent so much time there, I decided to officially check it off my list.  Grandma’s fit perfectly into my schedule, just after school got out and what I hoped would be a cool weather run after the spring heat in North Carolina.

I’ve run a number of small races, where locals don’t even know it’s happening, and for some reason I thought Grandma’s might fit into that category.  Mid March I figured out I was wrong when I started looking for a hotel, which were all sold out, as was almost every other lodging option within 40 miles.  Thankfully for me and hundreds of other runners, Duluth is a college town.  Along with the rest of the city, who completely embraced race weekend, the College of St. Scholastica and the University of Minnesota-Duluth opened up their dorms to rent to runners.  I prepared myself to travel back in time, looking forward to reliving “dorm life.”

After visiting family in Minneapolis, I headed north the day before the race.  I had strict instructions to venture up the North Shore, along old highway 61, the same route the race would travel.  Old highway 61 winds along the shore of Lake Superior with state parks and overlooks to stop and check out the views.  After a lunch at Grandma’s Saloon and Grill (the namesake of the race), I started up the coast.

Lake Superior

I was excited to check out the course and get a glimpse of what I would run the next day.  Unfortunately, that’s not exactly what happened.   You see, something strange (although I would later learn from locals, quite normal) happened as I arrived in Duluth.  I left Minneapolis with clear skies in the mid to upper 70s, maintaining this through most of the drive.  Arriving in Duluth was like dropping into a 60-degree cloud.  I could see my hand in front of my face, but not far beyond that.  Being a cold weather runner, I decided the temperature would be perfect for running, pulled on my fleece picked up my packet, and assumed the fog would burn off (that’s what happens to fog, right).  The fog did not burn off and while I did enjoy the drive up the highway with several stops for short hikes and foggy overlooks, it was not the scenic drive I had hoped for.

After a good night’s sleep in my dorm room (complete with “extra long” twin beds and hall bathrooms, something I didn’t get to experience in my college days), I hopped on a bus to the start.  I definitely plan my race schedule to train in warm weather and race in cooler temperatures but was not expecting what I got in Duluth.  As I was registering for Grandma’s, a friend pointed out that they use the American College of Sports Medicine color-coded flag system to convey weather threats (black=extremely high heat risk, red=high heat risk, yellow=moderate heat risk, green=low heat risk, white=risk of hypothermia).  The humor in this was not that they use the system, but that they included the white flag definition in pre-race materials.  I assumed they included it for informational purposes only; perhaps they just wanted to raise awareness of all warnings in the system.  Then I arrived at the start (happy to have tossed my fleece pants in my suitcase at the last minute) to find temperatures in the low 40s and white flag warnings.  Not to mention a misty fog (again, I am sure the lake is beautiful, but am going on what I saw in postcards and pictures, as I don’t know that I ever saw it).  And did I mention, hypothermia warnings?

Needless to say, I was thrilled to start running/moving/raising my body temperature when the gun went off.  It was a great course, mostly flat with some small rolling hills.  The only thing that could have made it better was seeing Lake Superior, which they tell me was on my left for most of the race.  Another runner described it well; the whole race was like running in a dream with an eerie crowd of people disappearing into the fog in front of and behind you.  26.2 miles later, I crossed the finish line knocking 6 minutes off my PR, something I attribute 5% of to training and 95% to temperature.

After a couple quick snacks I was happy to find the changing tent and my warm, dry clothes.  Had I not thought to toss my warm-ups in at the last minute, I would surely have been the proud owner of a fancy new University of Minnesota sweat suit.  While it may sound like this is the North Carolina coming out in me, complaining about the cold, I encourage you to check out race pictures from 2014, and to notice the spectators in winter coats.  And hats.  And gloves.  I will be sure to pack mine next time.

Tobacco Road Marathon (NC), March 16th, 2014

When I dropped to the half in Kiawah, I knew I needed to get another full on the calendar to bounce back to.  Tobacco Road was perfect, I’d run it before and knew the course.  There was also a discount good until December 31^st so I jumped on it and signed up!

Early January I was finally able to get back into running, almost pain free.  I found running on the treadmill on a slight incline to be my new favorite (ie painless) workout.  Austin came and went and I was suddenly a month away from Tobacco Road.  As the race grew closer I realized I might have bitten off more than I could chew, not having known how long it would take to get my mileage back and not entirely comfortable with the long runs I got in.

Race morning I was not expecting anything big.  After traveling to many races, it was nice to sleep in my own bed and be familiar with the race start in the morning.  This was comforting knowing I wasn’t as comfortable in knowing what to expect from my legs in terms of the race.  After a prerace nap in the car I lined up at the start as relaxed as I have ever been before 26.2.  I decided to start out easy with my goal being to finish.  If I hit a wall and needed to walk, I would.  Twelve miles in I felt great, I was running a little faster than I expected, but I didn’t think it would last for long.  I continued waiting to hit a wall for the next 10 miles before I realized in might not happen.  Before I knew it I was turning off the trail to run the last few miles back to the finish, without hitting the long awaited wall or slowing down significantly.

Somehow I finished within a minute of my marathon PR.  As many of my races have been, this one was a lesson.  I learned the importance of being relaxed on race morning and how well things can turn out when I just sit back and listen to what my body tells me.

Austin Half Marathon (TX), February 16th, 2014

What better way to get away from one of North Carolina’s coldest winters than a quick trip to Texas for a race?  Over the past few years I’ve been lucky to make some great friends, several of whom are on board with traveling to a race (and some who are on board with traveling to and running the race).  I couldn’t have picked a better group to travel with to Austin.  When I look back on the trip I remember the race, but the highlights of the trip go beyond the 13.1 miles. 

As this is a running based blog, I will start with the race itself.  First and foremost, if you are like me, you think of flat farmland and ranches when you think of Texas, right?  It’s full of wide-open space with no hills and a sky that goes on forever.  Apparently Austin is not in that part of Texas and I soon learned Texas has a “hill country.”  Needless to say, my training on flat ground was not entirely appropriate for the hills we faced on the course, but you live and you learn.  Despite the hills, the race organizers did a great job designing a course that wound through and gave a tour of the city.  We started at the Capitol building, which is huge and a prime example of how everything is bigger in Texas (I run the 0.4 miles around the NC Capitol regularly, it’s nothing compared to the mile around the Texas one).  The course headed south and across the river.  We wound (up and down and up and down) through a variety of neighborhoods (commercial, residential, and everything in between) before crossing back over the river, skirting the University of Texas campus and finishing back at the Capitol.  Like many of the races I’ve run, I enjoyed getting a tour of the town and seeing sights I might not otherwise see.  All in all, despite the hills and heat, I would do it again.

Along with running, we did get to do a few other things in Austin. Here are my top 7:
1) Run the trails along the Colorado River (and if your legs feel like mine the day after the race, stop to soak your feet in the cold water for a bit).
2) Give yourself a tour of the UT campus, I enjoyed the turtle pond.
3) Rainey St-It’s a residential area being converted into more of a business district, great bars/restaurants (including The Blackheart, a quiet whiskey bar with a great spot to people watch)
4) Hopdoddy’s-Delicious burgers (this coming from the almost vegetarian…my black bean burger was awesome)
5) Bike Share-They have the “B-Cycle” bike share system. We used it for a day and were able to get everywhere we needed without going over the 30 minute (I think) limit.
6) Wright Bros. Brew and Brew-Great coffee/beer spot in East Austin.
7) Handlebar-A fun (mustache themed) bar complete with a grown up sized seesaw, bouncy animals (those giant ones on springs), and giant Jenga.

I’m happy to say that the trip was enjoyed by runners and non-runners as well and that I’m looking forward to the next one.