A year ago I was training for the Marine Corps Marathon. Along the training I experienced some pain/tightness on my right leg and it hurt to run. I went to the doctor who referred me to physical therapy. It turned out I had tight hamstrings, weak hips, glutes, etc. What?!? I was in therapy for about 6 weeks and could barely run. I decided to reorganize my priorities and made the decision not to run the marathon. Luckily, I was able to transfer/sell my bib (for a fee) to another runner. Now, why can’t all races be like that? The seller gets money, the buyer gets to run, and everyone is happy right?
I then thought “why not run a race in each state”? I had already ran in 5 states so what is 45 more? Throughout my therapy I was determined to get stronger to run the Lady Speed Stick Women’s Half Marathon in MN on August 26. And I did! The race kicked my you know what and I met another fellow runner, JB, who has a similar goal like mine. Her goal is to run a half marathon in each state. She is so passionate about running and has suggested races that we can run together. She is ahead of me in her goal but so far we’ve ran four races together and am planning one more this year along with the Dopey/Goofy Challenge next year.
Since making the decision to run a race in each state, I’ve ran 23 races (not all of them have been out of state).
- Half marathon-17
- Nautical miles-1
- 10K-1
- 4 miles-1
- 5K-2
- 3.14 Pie-1
To date I’ve done 101 races and have ran in 21 states. I made a small change to my goal and so now it is to run a half marathon in each state. I’ve ran a full marathon in CT and LA and am planning to run a half in October and in February. That sort of messes up my numbers since CT and LA were #4 and 5 but that is OK and won’t worry about it too much.
Each race has been different for me. I’ve been happy, sad, or mad at each race. Why? Because I push myself too much and end up not happy with my finish time. My best time was at the Republic Bank Big Hit Half Marathon (2:20:00) in KY and my worst time at the Lady Speed Stick Women’s Half Marathon (2:49:25) in MN. My goal this year is to finish a sub 2 half marathon. I’ve been told numerous times not to worry too much about the finish time and instead to just enjoy each race. That is so true especially since I’ve been running so many races and I can’t expect each one to be spectacular right? Another problem I have is that I ALWAYS compare myself to others. I know, I know. I need to stop doing that because it does not make the situation any better. Finally, my attitude is not the greatest. I had a HORRIBLE time at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville Half Marathon because it rained the whole time. I was miserable and could not wait to finish. However, my friend, Laura, had a different experience. She enjoyed the rain and made the best out of it. And she ran the full marathon!!! Yeah, I need to learn from that girl.
Today I ran the Fort2Base race (10 nautical miles). I’ve never ran a race of this distance but I have ran 11.5 miles. I plan to have a recap this week.
Overall, it has been a good year for running and I am proud of myself. Also, I am looking forward to the rest of my races this year.
Just Keep Running!
wow! 101 races, 100 more than me! awesome job! keep it up. and stay healthy!
I think that if you ran a full marathon in a state, then it counts towards your half-marathon goal. =)What a bummer that your injury kept you from running Marine Corps last year! But I am glad you took the smart route with your decision, which is definitely a win-win for all. I agree – why can't all races offer the option to transfer/sell bibs to others? It would make life so much easier.101 races and 21 states, WOW!!! SO AWESOME!!! I can't wait to hear your recap from Fort2Base, too!
Aww thanks for the nice shout out 🙂 Luckily, attitude is one of the EASIEST things to change – if you're in a bad mood, I find that you can consciously change your attitude if you put your mind to it. I either pretend I'm in a great mood and cheer on other runners (which then puts me in a great mood), or sometimes I'll think about how much worse it could be and how lucky I am for whatever circumstances there are. Like in Nashville, I was thinking about how it could have been rainy AND cold, or how we could have not gotten trash bags, or a million other things.Looking forward to seeing you in Connecticut!