The Anti-Running Runner

2016  Boston Marathon Baysa taking the lead (left) for the women while Hayle and Desisa hold tight (right) Never Say Never I should clarify. I'm NEVER going to Boston as a marathon participant. For several reasons, but the main one being that I'm way too slow. I know. I should never say never. But I feel really confident in this particular never statement. Cheering On Everyone Else St. Pete Running Company hosts a Boston Marathon party every year. I never to miss it because I LOVE watching the race. It's one of those epic, heart pounding thrills to see these athletes battle it out through a world-famous American course. The 2016 Boston race was especially awesome when Baysa came out of NOWHERE and overtook the second and first-placed females to win by a long shot. At a race where runners have to qualify with a certain time to participate, Boston becomes something of a golden snitch (except is it really that hard to catch the snitch? For now...

I visited my family in Yuma, AZ for a week in August. Mom, Dad, and a sister live out there. I happened to fly in the night before Dad's birthday. He turned 62. So naturally, we got up and ran six miles together on his birthday. Fact: I had to work hard to keep up with Dad. He likes to say he was trying to keep up with me, but he's just being nice. I'm so blessed to have a running family. So many people in my fam run (most a lot faster than me). Dad and I are training for marathons. He's doing the Yuma Marathon in January, and I'm doing the X-Country Marathon in November. He's done...I want to say five marathons now. I'm not positive about that, but he did his first marathon in his fifties. For about a year, he had knee problems and took a break from marathons. Now he's back and feeling great. At Gasparilla one year, he ran a 3:55 (yes, a sub 4-hour marathon).  He was ten minutes off the Boston Qualifier. Now that he's over 60, he has...

No, I'm not referring to the Honey Bucket visits from the last post. Horrible runs meaning extremely difficult jogs. My last few runs (a six and a couple eights with shorter distances thrown in there) have been quite challenging. I blame the heat (seriously, it is KILLER here), but I also blame my lack of talent as a runner. And my inability to get up early. I don't have "it" like some people do. But that's okay. It's not a complaint. I do have perseverance, so that's in my favor. But getting back up to higher mileage is such an ordeal for me. As a 10-12-minute miler, it takes a long time for me to get some of these runs done. I guess this is one of the reasons why I'm the Anti-Running Runner. While in Georgia meeting my new niece (!!!) I got a chance to run in my sister's neighborhood two weekends in a row. I've mentioned before how much I love running there. Here I am doing one loop around her neighborhood (about 4 miles). It was ho...

I left off the last post sharing my first Hood 2 Coast experience. In the dark, I got through my second leg (something like 4 miles), but I was starting to feel sick to my stomach. I was exhausted. I couldn't believe I had to run one last time. Slight tangent: Each Hood 2 Coast team decides whether the runners will do the driving or whether someone who is not running will drive. My sister had raced the year before, and decided to volunteer to drive instead of run this time. She says it's actually more stressful being a driver than being a runner. My parents decided to follow our van (van 1) since both my sister and I were there just to spend time with us and the family. They had borrowed my uncle's mini van. In this post-second leg time frame, I had to visit the Honey Bucket a few times. This in itself is not a pleasant experience. In the dark, after some hundreds of runners have already visited the port-a-potty before me...you can imagine. I rea...

As promised, another tale of my past running adventures. I had to share the story of my first half marathon because it will forever stand out in my mind. Disclaimer: I do not condone "rogue running" or whatever it's called when you race without a number. But these were extreme circumstances. So I do not apologize for what happened in the following story. And neither do my heroes: Alyssa and Jenni. In 2008, I was signed up to run the Disney Half Marathon. I had run a 15K before, so I felt confident that I could make it, especially because my dear cousin, Alyssa, would be running with me. Alone meant possible failure. With her, I could do anything. My dad drove us to the race, and Alyssa's best friend, Jenni, joined us. This is the same Alyssa and Jenni who ran the Miami Marathon, and I ran the half and blogged about that crazy adventure earlier this year. In fact, Alyssa and Jenni just moved into a house together. Hubby and I went to help them with some pr...