here we go again

Here we go again. This time I'm in Michigan for my 31st state and have been searching online for other back to back marathons I could do in states I haven't done and are not signed up for. I want to also visit friends while I'm traveling so hopefully I can do that as well. I don't see a point in doing it all unless I have fun too!


So here's to accountability. I'm going to start to run at least a mile a day 5+ days per week starting on Tuesday after I get back from Michigan. Hopefully it will be more than that, but that's the minimum. I need more steps for my health miles pedometer program anyway, so that will be good for me.

I am hoping to have less than 10 states left by the time I'm 30... Maybe less! We will see. I want to do as many as I can before we have kids and also start doing more quality runs instead of quantity. I will be able to do more local runs and meet more local runners soon which I'm excited about. I like meeting runners from all over too, but I do appreciate a good running buddy near by and someone to drive to races with... And hopefully I can actually race soon!

Praying tomorrow's weather will be dandy for the marathon and for my flight home. Praying for a safe, on-time flight back to see my loving and supportive husband who has been holding down the fort back at home without me!
When looking at marathons for the rest of the year... I think I want to do Kansas, Rhode Island and Connecticut this year and have 13 left and plan out next year's schedule at the end of the year. I have to do at least one of them since the new wellness initiative came out after June 1 at work.

Here's to a good run! Thanks God for giving me mobility and the ability to do this. You have blessed me more than I can say. Love you!

-run for life

day two

Well we made it. My rommates and I all finished. Of course I was rooming with ladies who had finished the 50 states 1x, 2x and were titanium manics long before everyone else started joining. I don't feel like I did two, but more like I did one. I walked again the first 13.1 with some of my roommates and then they told me to run on ahead. I obliged and trotted off up and down the small hills, but today the elevation was getting to me. We had started early. The first male runner passed me at mile 15.2 and looked super strong. He wasn't even breathing heavily, he made it look easy.

I kept on trucking along, finding half marathoners to encourage along and cheered on the marathoners who didn't do an early start. Toward the last 6 or so miles it was hot again, the sun blazing down on my already burnt skin from the day before. I'm toasty and can feel the burn right now. I'm definitely going to peel. :( I don't remember the last time I was sunburnt, but I feel like it was probably also from a marathon where I sweat my sunscreen off...

At the end I took a few more pictures and got some food before walking back down a mile or so to cheer everyone along who was still running. I saw my roomates I had started with early and jog/walked along side them to the finish and cheered them along. I hurried to get back to the hotel to get the car keys so I could pick them up and on my way back they were half way there already so I picked them up and we all took showers... well tried since it was quite disgusting and there was no more warm/hot water half way through my shower so the other two had no hot water. Sad times.

Before we left Garden City we stopped at the last gas station and all got raspberry milkshakes. Wow they were good, but SWEET! I had to eat mine super slow since I don't normally have stuff that sweet. (I like things like ice cream and make it myself... but wow, I don't put that much sugar in... just enough to taste, not to overpower.) I did however suck it up and finish it all. :) Haha. So much for lactose intolerance. It was quite a flatulent night... hehe!

All in all, Subway is by far the best, most consistent on the road, quick food to get (well, healthier option). We stayed at a hotel 5 minutes from the airport... this hotel was cheaper than the other one that was grosser at Bear Lake, fancy that? More food from Denny's and sleep were required before sleep and getting onto the airport shuttle.

Overall lessons learned: I need to run more regularly, or at least do cross training rather than sitting on my butt on planes and being lazy. I should train myself to get up early to run before work again. Staying up late isn't good for me anyway. Well, I've run 2 days this week so that's good. I put it into my calendar to run and get steps so I should be able to do it and check it off each day. We'll see how this works. Like I mentioned before this started... this is my kick in the pants get back in shape weekend. It definitely kicked me in the pants and reminded me I need to get back in shape. Here's to qualifying for Boston before I'm 30, wish me luck! They just changed the time cut offs too, now it's harder. I have to run sub 3:35 (before it was sub 3:40). 20 more states to go. Next weekend I won't be in shape yet when I do Michigan, but perhaps in the fall when I do Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and maybe Conneticut and Rhode Island. I doubt I'll be BQ by then, but hopefully have at least built up a good base to work on speed.

Here we go! -run for life

day one

I survived day one. I ended up walking the first 13.1 with one of my roommates since her knee hurt and hit the half way point at 3:31 minutes. It was beautiful! I loved Bear Lake always peeking through the trees. I took a ton of pictures and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I did pick it up the second half, but I didn’t want to push it too hard since I am running tomorrow too. I was able to talk to everyone I was passing and hang out for a bit with almost everyone. It was quite lovely!

I met some great people, and some race walkers also. One of them walked back a bit with me and cheered people on as they were still coming in. We got on the bus and headed back to the hotel… the sad excuse for a hotel. (Bear Lake Motor Lodge… has got to be the worst hotel in Garden City, Utah with the worst management. I would post the pictures I took of the room’s cracking paint, disgusting tub and go into more detail, but that would take away from the running experience which is what I’m here to write about. Let’s just say it was definitely NOT worth the $100/night we paid, no wonder they make you pay up front and sign papers.)

I took a shower first so the water wasn’t too bad, but for some of the other ladies the water ran cold. We had dinner (I ate veggie pizza, my usual post run tradition) and hung out for a bit before picking up our packets and heading to bed.

what did I sign up for?

I just spoke with some of the ladies I will be hanging out with, rooming with and running with this weekend... and thought to myself... "what did I sign up for?" I am almost desperately attempting to get my bottom in shape here by running back-to-back marathons... but then I thought... what the heck? Who runs marathons without training... much less runs TWO in a row? Yeah, I must be crazy.

These will be staets 29 and 30 so I will be closer to my goal and this summer's goal is to get back in shape and run a BQ time. I'm sure there are thousands of people who used to run in high school or college or both and have gotten out of shape over time... perhaps I can help inspire them to get back to training or if not necessarily training, but remain healthy - for life. I hope so! This weekend is dedicated to all of those who used to run or race "back in the day" when we were younger and everything was much easier and we had time in our busy schedules to practice after school or between classes in college, etc. I'm running these for you. If I can do this... you can too. I don't expect to ever run as fast as I did in high school or college, but simply qualifying to run in the Boston Marathon to have that as my Massachusetts marathon is part of my 50 states goal. They changed the time cut off this past year so it's a little harder, but even if I run half as fast as I did in school or what I did on long leisure runs... I'd qualify. Now it's just getting that motivation and drive to get up and run early before it gets humid and sticky out here in the south! We can do it!

run for life... one step at a time.

getting out of Fargo

What a huge chore. Those storms in the mid-west are killer for travel. After my flight was cancelled Sunday night from Fargo to Chicago (ORD) my next flight was booked to leave at 2:04PM Monday... it was delayed also. Then once I finally got to Chicago the flight to Charlotte was delayed over an hour.. I believe 1 hour and 12 minutes but my connection was only 1 hour and 15 minutes till take off so I stood in line in hopes of finding someone who could help me get back to Knoxville.

The man at the counter was very nice and informed me that all the Knoxville direct flights from Chicago were booked through Wednesday. Charlotte was my best option/greatest hope. So I prayed that I would make my connection and get home, no matter what time it was.

I finally got on the plane to Charlotte and arrived there when my flight to Knoxville originally was scheduled to leave. It was delayed but I ran across the airport anyway and asked at the counter for another woman going to Columbia, SC if they could wait... their response "when the door closes it's closed" with attitude. :( I felt really bad for her because it was the last flight out... I tried, sigh.

I went back to the gate where the Knoxville flight was delayed until 11:30PM... hung out with the people who were sitting by me. Turns out they were doing some Dream Imagination (DI) thing in Knoxville and that was probably why all the Knoxville flights were booked from Chicago. It sounded really neat! I think I would love to get involved in something like that... perhaps I'll look into it for next year.

We didn't take off until about 12:50AM... so much for leaving a little after 11... or 12... there were maintenance issues and all kinds of delays for me this weekend. Wow. What a long night. I landed in Knoxville around 1:35AM or so and got home after 2AM and that's with Nathan waiting for me in the front of the airport so we could leave as soon as possible.

I got home safely and got another state done. Thanks Jesus! You are good.

-run for life