Cleveland Marathon 2019

As in sure you have heard me say before, Cleveland marathon weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year. I look forward to this all year! This year did not disappoint, however there were some much sadder moments than anyone had anticipated! 

This year, my son Ryan has shown some interest in coming with me to the VIP dinner. I knew he would love looking around the expo and working in the information booth with me. On Friday I picked him and his brother up from school a little early and we headed up to the expo. He was immediately pretty happy because he was given a bright orange volunteer shirt that he was told he could keep. We answered some questions for people, mainly about parking and had a great time meeting new people. There were many people running Cleveland for the first time or running their first full or half marathon and that is always so exciting! Ryan and I then took our turn exploring the expo together. He really enjoyed seeing all of booths! We picked up some cool things along the way and got ourselves over to the VIP dinner.   

Ryan, working the booth!

I love meeting IG friends in real life (she just ran her first full marathon!)

The VIP dinner is always at the Hyatt arcade and is just beautiful! The event staff just go all out with live music and amazing food and really make us all feel like VIPs! And the highlight is finally seeing all of my ambassador friends! Every year it’s a big deal to take the group picture and this year was no different. Through the past 5 years our group has grown and I am honored to be standing along side such an amazing group of runners and athletes. 

Saturday is the 5k/ 8k and I didn’t participate because the kids had a soccer game and I didn’t want to overdo it going back and forth all weekend. But, my parents had a blast doing the 5k in the very Cleveland weather. After all, my mom ran the half marathon back in 2010 and that’s what got my hooked! They were thrilled with the course and their medals! 

5k success!

On Sunday my alarm went off super early. I was not going to miss being at the staring like early to meet up with the other Ambassadors for the group photo. I had my clothes all ready to go and I got dressed quickly and headed out on time. As I was driving on the turnpike there was suddenly a doe right in front of me in my lane. The speed limit is 70 so I was going at a pretty good clip. That deer looked scared as hell and tried to get out of the way but it hit the front of my car on the right hand side. I was shocked and didn’t really want to pull over on the turnpike in the dark, it was only about 5am. I also didn’t see what happened to her, I didn’t want to swerve and possibly loose control of the car and make it worse. I checked the blinker and could see that it was still illuminating and my headlight appeared to be working so I continued on a little more slowly, scanning the highway for more of her friends. It definitely scared me but I was thankful that it wasn’t worse. I was holding my breath until I hit the parking lot. 

When I finally got the the parking lot in Cleveland I got out and assessed the damange. It wasn’t terrible, but it was visibly damaged and I just said a little prayer for staying safe. 

I made it to the start line right about 6 am and just kind of took it all in. It was nice to get to the bathroom quicky before the crowds gathered too much.  I started to see some of my friends and before I knew it, I was ready for our group ambassador picture at the start line.  I can’t say enough good things about this group, but simply stated they are the best! 

After we had a last potty break we got into our corrals and were all lined up.  My friend Andrew said it best that the start line is a bit of a religious experience. We all are taking preparing for our miles that we are about to run. Knowing all of the work to get us collectively to that point is insane and it’s the best feeling standing as a whole team just waiting to cross that line and begin our journey. 

It was a balmy 68 degrees at 7am when we took off. It was much warmer than I’m used to when I run and I knew off the bat that my goal went from getting a new PR to just finishing the race. 

The first few miles felt good and I really focused on staying slow. I have taken off in quite a few races and then I run out of steam. On a hot day I knew that would be hard to come back from so I took it nice and slow, stopping at all of the water stops.  One of my favorite things about Cleveland is the amazing commodity runners that I have come to know.  There were quite a few people I saw mile after mile and it’s fun to go for a run and bump into friends! That really kept me pumped up! 

I was going quite slow but continued to run. The first major roadblock was the hill at mile 6. I can usually handle jogging up the first half of it and then walking. It every single person around we was walking up that dang thing! It was a beast but we made it. It was surreal to be on a walk with what seemed to be 200 friends! 

I will never be able to thank the volunteers and the friendly residents along that route who passed out water, ice cubes and had thier hoses out and sprayed us. I have never eaten ice out of strangers hands more willingly than during those 2 1/2 hours! They rocked! 

This being my 10th half marathon I have had major stopping points in a race just knowing that I had to stop and walk but shockingly, I felt good most of the race! It was a very happy thing to discover that the training really seemed to be helping. 

By mile 12 I was feeling ready to be done.  I was excited to get to that finish line and find my mom and son Jack.  Throughout the race I had been aware of the ambulances and first responders on the course.  On a few occasions an ambulance passed us on the course and it was a sombering moment. 

By the time I hit the last bridge I was so excited to get across that line. I was not moving fast but I was still thrilled to be done.  I found my mom and jacks smiling faces right as I crossed the line and we met up for some hugs and pictures.  

After the run we went to the beer tents and I ran into some of my friends. My friend Melissa was telling me about a girl that she saw when she was finishing her race and that it looked like things weren’t going well. I didn’t know at the time but that girl that Melissa saw was the young woman Taylor that collapsed right before the finish line and ultimately didn’t make it. 

We said our goodbyes and finally made it back to our car. Later in the day I heard about the girl not making it and it was heartbreaking. As I heard more information about the girl I felt worse and worse. She was so young and so in shape and she had trained so much for this race, how in the world is this even possible?

Immediately the feeling of excitement I usually feel felt almost superficial knowing that someone else that was standing among us didn’t get to go back to her car and hug her mom after her race. She didn’t get to go have a celebratory drink and post a picture on Instagram showing off her achievement. It all felt so wrong. I didn’t know her or her family but it left me very shaken knowing that it could have been any one of us. It’s a terrible reminder that life is so fragile. Hug the ones you love and make choices that make you smile daily.  I know I’ll never forget that hot day in Cleveland. 

2019 kick off

Well, here we go again! It’s hard to believe that the year is 2019! This marks the 5^th year that I am excited and honored to say that I am an ambassador for the Cleveland Marathon. The past 5 years have been so much fun to be part of this race for me! I love this race, I love this city and I love the people that I have met thru this race! 

The past year I was nowhere close to the peak of my running prime. My grand total for the year was 500 miles. It’s not terrible and I had some months that I focused way more on strength instead of running too. But this leaves a great opportunity for growth and January is the perfect time to grow! This year I plan on doubling my miles to finally hit that 1000 miles in 2019 and then next year in 2020, when I turn 40 I have been dreaming of running a big out of town race. My dream is the New York City marathon! But I really want to put in the miles this year to get my training up for another marathon! This year, I'm working on consistency. I'm going to stay more consistent with my training and stick to the training plan more than I have in the past.

I'm also way more focused on moving throughout the day. I have a desk job that keeps me focused and mainly in one spot for most of the day so I don’t always get the daily movement that I should be getting. Santa gifted me a sweet new watch this year that has a pedometer feature that can count my daily steps as well as give me an hourly reminder to move. I have been using that opportunity to just get up and move and take a walk to the printer, or bathroom or just a quick minute lap around the office to keep moving throughout the day and I really think that has been helping!

My week

Mon: Rest day/ family day/ New Years eve!

Tues: 4 miles outside in my neighborhood to ring in the new year

Wed: 3 miles lunch break treadmill                      

Thu: 2.5 miles lunch break treadmill

Fri: Rest day

Sat: 5 miles split into 2 different runs, one on the way to visit my sis in law and one on the way home

Sun: 3 miles with my running bestie and another 2.5 around my neighborhood because its sunny out!

Total: 20.2 miles

The plan

I'm going to hit 1000 miles this year! I'm on track so far! I bought a new notebook to track all of my miles in too and so far I love it!

What you need to know this week

There are 2 kick off runs coming up for the race training- The 12^th on the east side and the 19^th on the west side. They are both free, but please register so we can plan on how many people will be attending. These are really fun and motivating to go to! I'm planning to be at the one on the 19^th!

Sign up for them here!

The registration prices are increasing on the 10th!   So just commit now and sign up already! Use my code to save an extra 10% off!

MQ2019

For more fun life updates and training tips follow me in Instagram and Facebook!
Follow all of the other amazing ambassadors here!

Cleveland Marathon Race recap

Just shy of one week ago I was headed to bed to get a good nights sleep before my 9th half marathon the following morning and what a race it was! It was my 7th time participating in the Cleveland marathon and my 4th year as an ambassador to the race. Its been such an honor these past 4 years to represent the Cleveland marathon, a race that I truly love so much!

Official Ambassador 2018

Race weekend is always my favorite, its where we get to celebrate and have a blast together at the VIP dinner and where all of the hard work that has gone into training is finally put to the test.

This year my mom joined me again as my date for the VIP dinner on Friday. We met after I finished work and rode up to Cleveland together. We took a slight detour to the expo where we picked up our racing bibs and got to check out all the new fun goodies that were for sale. I always love hanging out at the expo and could spend all day looking at all the cool new products and could really spend a lot of money there too! I was pretty excited about the cool American Greetings cards they had made especially for the race. I took a few and I'm looking forward to framing them with all of my racing stuff! After we walked around a little bit we headed over a few blocks to the Hyatt Arcade where the VIP reception was already underway.

Awesome running cards

The VIP reception is one of the coolest events I have been invited too. The Arcade is always so pretty and the race goes all out with special drinks, beautiful decoration, a live band and really amazing food. But the absolute best part is spending time with my friends that I have had the pleasure of meeting thru the race. It always goes too fast and before we know it we are back on the steps taking the annual photo. Its always fun and the one time a year that I feel like I have the paparazzi following me! This year was especially fun to meet some of the new ambassadors that I hadn't gotten a chance to meet earlier in the year. Everyone is so nice and its really interesting to hear eveyone's story. Before we knew it, mom and I were headed home and talking non-stop about how fun it was to get to see everyone again and how we couldn't believe that race weekend was finally here!

 

Me and Mary, our social media queen!

Me and Stephani, 26.2 rocksar!

Melissa times 2!

Our annual Ambassador selfie

2018 Ambassadors

Me and my mom

This year I was really wanting to run the challenge series again but my son had soccer on Saturday and living a little over an hour away from Cleveland made it pretty impossible to make it to both, so soccer (and the Royal wedding) won over me participating in the 8K on Saturday. And, in case you are wondering, the wedding was amazing, the kids were less than interested and soccer was great! It was honestly nice to have a low(ish) key Saturday instead of driving back and forth all 3 days. As low key as you can get with a house full of boys :)

My Saturday morning

Basically, the world cup

Before I knew it, it was Sunday morning at 4 am and I was up and getting dressed! My mom wanted to go watch me cross the finish line and Ryan said he would go with us too. Mom stopped by the house at 5am and we were off. I was shocked how bright eyed Ryan was at 4:45 when I woke him up!  I think he was pretty excited to see the race again. The drive up was pretty uneventful but the weather was a little less than desired. It was about 55 but I knew closer to the lake it would be cooler, which isn't the worst thing, but it was also drizzling and that didn't look awesome to me. It continued to drizzle as we made it into the downtown area and we found a parking area that I always park in. I left mom and Ryan in the car and told them to hang out there for awhile since the drizzle had turned into something stronger. I jogged over to the start line and was supposed to meet up for an ambassador picture but I needed to stop at the porta potties and that line took FOREVERRRRRRRRRR. It wasn't something that I could skip, so I waiting in line, knowing I was missing seeing all of my friends and giving out some good luck high fives and hugs! 

Lining up!

The start line

When I finally made it out of my pit stop it was already time to line up. I smushed my way into my corral, took a few selfies and then we were off!  It took a good 5 minuted to cross the start line and I was back further than normal and didn't even hear them play Cleveland Rocks but it was ok, I felt ready, more ready than I ever have been. I just took a deep breath, started my watch and crossed the start line. I was keeping track really good in the first mile to not take off too quickly. That has happened alot in the past and I just take off like a rocket and burn off too quickly and then feel like crap in the back half. I was careful to stay really close to my target of 10 minute miles. The first mile ticked by right at 10, then mile 2 at 9:53, and mile 3 at 9:39!  I was feeling so good!  Mile 4, 5, and 6 were all close to 10 too!  I was having a great time out there, only stopping for water to walk and kept plugging away. The awesome part of the first half is the people I saw randomly on the course! Right off that bat I saw a girl I have only really met in real life maybe two time, my insta-friend Stephanie!  But it totally made me smile and kept me moving. Its notable that it was still spitting rain, so between that and the sweat from running, i was not very dry! The other reason I had to stop was to re-tie my shoes. Specifically my right shoe kept coming loose and my laces were pretty soaked. As I stopped for the second time to re-tie another friend Stephani and her friend Marta ran by! I laced up quickly and eventually caught up to them for a little chat and some selfies. There is nothing like seeing your friends out there on the course to keep you moving! 

Me, Marta and Stephani right before the mile 7 killer hill

I was moving fast and was feeling so good, even high-fiving myself for all of the training I had done. It was feeling like it was really paying off! Then, the mile 7 hill arrived into my life. WOW!  That hill felt like a mountain!  The other hills I was able to jog up but this one really made me take a deep breath and I needed to take a walk break. I started back up after that but at mile 7, I started clocking some 11 minute miles. Those were mainly because of the walk breaks I was taking pretty much each mile after 7. I didn't walk too long, but it was enough to make the dream of my PR waver a little bit. I kept thinking of that quote "everything hurts and i'm dying". I felt like everything was hurting out there and my shoes were pretty much soaked. My soaked shoes gave me the impression that the bottoms of my feet were totally covered in blisters. The other thing I noticed towards the end of the race was that my watch was off somehow. I thought it was probably because I was starting and stopping so much in the back half that I had confused my watch. Oh well, I just kept going and when I saw the crowds I knew I was close. I was in pain, I was trying to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and I was really ready to be done. My mom called me as I was about 1/2 mile away and she told me to look for her and Ryan on the right and that they had a pink sign. When I finally reached them and saw them I lost it! It was a struggle but seeing them waiting for me made it all worth the while.

Seeing mom and Ryan waiting for me

mile by mile says my Garmin

I crossed the finish line officially at 2:24:53. I knew I had missed my PR, my time to beat was 2:21:23. So, missed by 3 and a half minutes!  dang it! I got my medal and snacks, posed for a picture, declined the aluminum foil wrap (regretted that decision quickly afterwards) and made my way over to the Utterly Smooth cow and met up with Ryan and my mom. My counsin and her girls were amazing and came to the end of the race to cheer me on too! I was super happy for the extra love and support, especially since her girls are so little and its not always easy to take them at that age to any event! We had a nice little visit and then made the way back to our car. It never felt so good to sit down and change into some flip flops I had packed to drive home in.

Me and my girl Rachel

Cleveland rocks!

We made the hour plus drive back home and I took what felt to me like the best shower of my life and really took it easy the rest of the day. Ryan took a nap and I was able to close my eyes a little bit too.

Overall, I walked away from this race a little disappointed because I was so gung-ho on beating my PR and missing it by such a small margin was not what I had planned. Were there times out there where I could have pushed harder? Yes. And time that maybe I didn't need such a walk break? Maybe. But, did I really give it my best this year training wise? Yes! My plan with running is never to be the fastest or to even BQ, My goal is to keep improving over the last year, to stick with it and to keep liking it. And I do still like running, I actually love it! And I'm already planning on coming back next year and making that mile 7 hill my bitch!

Until next year Cleveland!

I would like to thank Jack, Ralph, Joan, Kayla, and Teddy for allowing me to be an ambassador for this year! Its been such an honor to represent and be a part of the race that I love so much!

April running brings May PR's

Amiright???

Once I turned the calendar to April it got really real!  Next month is half marathon month and I have some serious running to do.

I have 2 April Goals
1. I will run 100 miles
2. I will do 30 push-ups a day (10 am/ 10 at lunch/ 10 pm)

This may seem like nothing to some of you guys, but its been a serious struggle for me to stay focused and consistent so I'm starting small and I know it will make a big difference and help me gain some confidence.

Week 1 in April was kind of the well, FREAKING BEST! I had some really strong workouts and I'm so proud of where I am. I know I have a long way to go to where I was but isn't the comeback the best part?

Monday: 5k at lunch at a strong pace 31:41

Tuesday: 2 miles of sprints with strength in between

Wednesday: 4 miles at lunch at my best pace ever!

Thursday: 4.5 miles after work with Lynanne. It felt so good to be outside

Friday: rest day

Saturday: 7 miles at a 10:09 pace!
After a pretty regular Saturday with errands, haircuts, a vet appt and making lunch for the troops I took the opportunity to disappear from the craziness of the house for a long run. I got dressed and escaped the house full of crazy boys playing cops and robbers and just started off. After almost a mile I realized my pace was really strong. Even uphill it was just at 10 min miles. I felt good and not at all out of breath. My next mile was at 9 and change and THAT was a SUPER confidence boost! I took about a 30 second walk break when I felt it was needed or I needed to blow my nose. Its still SNOWING in Ohio, so its not quite Spring yet. I weaved around some neighborhoods that I had planned on running and it just all clicked!  When I hit 7 I really could have kept going but I didnt have the time to stay out too much longer. What a rush!  I am feeling so good about running and REALLY REALLY looking forward to next weekends 10 mile drop race!

Sunday: an additional unplanned rest day!

Overall a really strong week to kick off April and it mentally is helping me tell myself that I am going to be able to run this again and be able to run it strong!

I also did keep up with the 30 pushups a day!

Are you signed up for Cleveland yet? You can sign up here! 

You can use the offer code MBCLE10 for an extra 10% off! There are so many distance options to choose from! the whole 26.2, 13.1, 10K, 8k, 5k and kids fun run!  Hope to see you there!

If you like what you see here, you can follow along with my adventures on Instagram too! Make it a great week guys!

March Madness

I'm not sure how we are already at the end of week 1 in April but I would really like to take a moment to recap March because it was pretty big! It also FLEW by!

The biggest and most fun personally to me was that I got married!  It was so beautiful!  It was small and at our house and the kids were involved and it was exactly what we wanted! We spent the day doing to usual Saturday things and then all got ready for our little ceremony and a nice family dinner. I really thought that all the of the people that said they married their best friend were full of it until I met Chad and he truly is my best friend and such an amazing partner! I really know how lucky I am.

Jack turned 5! My baby is now 5 and ready for kindergarten! How in the word did that happen?  Its like in the blink of an eye he is fully grown! Hes 5 and quite full of personality! He is so smart, really fun and fun to be around! He loves playing jokes and hiding around corners to scare you. Its wonderful to see him and the boys grow but on the other hand, it breaks my heart that they are growing up so quickly!

Ryan had his first speaking part in a school play. His class had a little Spring singing show and some of the kids had lines to speak. We practiced and practiced and he did so well! All of the kids did such an awesome job and all of the parents and family's were just a pile of mush!  It was one of my favorite days watching him be so confident!

Training was pretty decent as a whole in March, I ran a total of 71 miles and even got in another 10 miler at a faster pace then I did in February! The weather in Ohio was pretty much crap for most of March so there was a lot of treadmill and track running throughout. I started adding hills and speed work to my runs here and there and I can tell that it is making me stronger. One of my favorite workouts from the month was adding cross training to my some speed at the gym. I did 5 minute intervals of running starting at a 10 minute mile and upping the speed every minute until I was sprinting. In between the running I would hop off the treadmill and do pushups, crunches, planks squats and burpees. Then I'd repeat, run for 5 minutes and then hop off and do more strength!  It was really a great workout and made me super sweaty!  It also made me feel stronger and proud of doing what I really never thought that I could do.

In full disclosure, I have been really disappointed with myself in my lack of blogging about my training and my lack of excitement with running but after finally taking some time to process my thoughts, I know I need to be kinder to myself. It's life and I now have a husband that I really like to hang out with and I have 2 sweet step sons that I enjoy playing x-box with, on top of my awesome boys that I don't like to take time away from and a house that I like spending time to make look nice. So, in April, I will continue to train and re-focus on running but I will also give myself a break and not beat myself up. Life is just been super busy and I'm sure that you can all relate!

My goals in April are pretty simple
1. I will run 100 miles
2. I will do 30 pushups a day- 10 in the am/ 10 on my lunch break/ and 10 in the evening

What are your April goals?

Are you signed up for Cleveland yet? You can sign up here! 

You can use the offer code MBCLE10 for an extra 10% off! There are so many distance options to choose from! the whole 26.2, 13.1, 10K, 8k, 5k and kids fun run!  Hope to see you there!

If you like what you see here, you can follow along with my adventures on Instagram too! Make it a great week guys!

IT"S GIVEAWAY WEEK!

this

This just happened today. Maybe you are saying, "hey lady that's a lie because haven't you been running for years? and didn't you do a marathon?"  Yes, yes I did. But starting again on Jan 1st was just as hard for me as it is anyone. I didn't run much the last half of 2017 and definitely nothing consistent. So, this is a new training season and like I have mentioned I have a new commitment to myself to get in some miles everyday and I have only missed one day so far! Today I met up with my running buddy and we did 4 miles at the indoor track and it FELT GOOD! I didn't feel like I was going to die and that is a difference from just 3 weeks ago when I started. 

The past two weeks have been great training wise! I have been averaging about 18 miles a week, which is pretty big for me. I'm really lucky to have an amazing gym facility right across the street at my work. I credit this to one of my key factors to be able to run as much as I do. I am able to take my lunch break on the track or the treadmill and stick to my plan of daily miles. If work is too busy, we have an indoor path from building to building that I have also been able to use to get some movement and just walk, but it all counts!

Just yesterday was the official kickoff run for the marathon and it was so fun!  It's such great motivation to see all the people who are excited for the race and are starting to train. I also love seeing the race crew and some of my fellow ambassadors who are much more like family to me these days. We also had some great weather to run outside in, it was about 42 degrees and it was so nice to hit the road with some sunshine, a big difference to the last few weeks of Northeast Ohio weather!

The kickoff run with some of my favorite people!

This week is super exciting for a few reasons!

It's GIVEAWAY WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I get to give one lucky person a race entry to the Cleveland Marathon event of their choice! There are so many events to choose from: the full 26.2, the half 13.1, 10k, 8k, 5k and even 1 mile. There is a race distance for everybody!  We even have an awesome kids run! Both of my boys participated in it last year. You have two chances a day to enter all week on Instagram and Facebook for a total of 10 entries!
Follow me on Instagram here
Follow me on Facebook here

The other super fun thing that is new and exciting is that I have an official running coach this year! My good friend and fellow Cleveland Marathon Ambassador Rachel! You can find her here! Shes a badass runner and so motivating, Im excited to see how having a coach this year changes things up for my training!  Shes also taking new clients! Check her out if you are interested in one of her coaching plans!

Here is what my training looked like the past two weeks

Monday: 1.5 walking miles at work

Tuesday: quick 5K on the treadmill on my lunchbreak

Wednesday: 2 miles, 5 min at a time, in between burpees, pushups and planks. This HIIT kicked my butt!

Thursday: 5 miles on the treadmill with some Netflix to keep me company. Anyone else obsessed with the Crown? Its so great!

Friday: This was my big fat 0 miles day!  We had a crazy snow storm and I left work early to get the boys. Even the indoor track closed early that day. So no dice on miles.

Saturday: 3.5 miles on the indoor track with pushups, planks and burpees to round out the day

Sunday: 5k on the track with Lynanne

Monday: 5k on the treadmill on my lunchbreak

Tuesday: 2  miles, 5 min at a time. More HIIT intervals with burpees, pushups and planks.

Wednesday: 1 mile inside at work

Thursday: 5k on the treadmill

Friday: 1.5 miles, 5 min at a time with lots of squats and some leg work

Saturday: 4 miles for the official kickoff run for the marathon

Sunday: 4 miles today on the track with Lynanne!

Going forward, I'll be posting about my training at least once a week. And stay tuned to hear more about how its going having an official running coach.

Don't forget to check out what all of the other ambassadors are up to and follow along this week to enter my giveaway! Cant wait to pick a winner next Saturday morning! 

Here we go again!

Yay for a New Year! Everything is so fresh and new. Its a great time to feel extra motivated. I know that there are a lot of resolutions this time of year floating around but this is usually my training go time for the Cleveland Marathon.

I have been participating in the Cleveland Marathon on and off again since 2010. Its my favorite race and I am super excited to be chosen again for the 4th year to be an Ambassador for this race that I love! Its an honor and a privilege to me because of the people that I have gotten to know thru the years. This race family has really become such a wonderful source of support and motivation for me. Many of the ambassadors are returning again this year and there are some new faces that I'm really looking forward to getting to know this year too! You can get to know them all here too!

My plan for this year is the kick the crap out of my half marathon PR, which is currently 2:21:23. This was from the Cleveland Marathon two years ago when it was the snowpocalypse. My parents are both signed up for the 5k and the kids will be participating in the kids run on Saturday and i'll be there to cheer them on! Then on Sunday, i'll do my thing. I'm super excited and I think that focusing on my speed this year will be really good!

Now lets talk motivation.

You either ran today or you didn't

My running bestie hooked me up with this awesome running calendar and I LOVE IT!  I know that I wont be running every day of my life, but if I cant get in a few miles, I feel good about walking a mile or two to keep track of my miles. In the past I'm usually good for the first half of the year and then after Cleveland It just all goes away. I know that this calendar isn't going to go out and run the miles for me, but it will certainly give me a good motivation to keep at it day after day. Its the 7th and I'm 7 for 7 so far!

This week felt pretty solid

Monday: It's pretty damn cold in Ohio this week, but Jan 1st my indoor track was closed, so I bundled up and braved the cold for 2.5 miles. It felt surprisingly awesome!

Tuesday: I took the kids to the indoor track and they hung out while I ran, slowly but i managed to get in 2.

Wednesday: Back to work and back to a lunchtime 5k on the treadmill!  It felt good!

Thursday: I wanted to get some arms and some other cross training in, but still wanted check off that calendar so at lunch I did a combo of pushups, squats, lunges, crunches, planks, jumping jacks and then 5-7 minutes of running. This was really awesome because I was still able to get some running in (2 miles) and at a faster speed than normal and some other strength training in. So yay, ill definately be doing that again.

Friday: I walked a mile at work on my lunch break, work was busy and couldn't leave for a whole hour break. But, I did get the bonus of rollerskating for about 90 minutes that night too. I haven't roller skated in about 20 years but it was really fun and i highly recommend it.

Saturday: 2.5 miles on the indoor track

Sunday: 4.5 miles on the indoor track

Week 1 total: 18.6 miles
I'm pretty happy about this mileage for the week, it goes to show that the daily miles really add up.

Are you signed up for Cleveland yet? You can sign up here! There are so many distance options to choose from! the whole 26.2, 13.1, 10K, 8k, 5k and kids fun run!  Hope to see you there!

If you like what you see here, you can follow along with my adventures on Instagram too! Make it a great week guys!

What do you do to stay motivated?
Do you have a running group or friend that helps you stay accountable?

Race Recap: Cleveland Marathon Challenge Series 2017- Part 3

Sunday!!!!!! It was finally here, the day that I have been working towards for so long. Wake up call was at 4 and I hit the road by 4:30. I was riding solo in the morning, so it was quick to toss my running gear on and get out the door. I did check the weather before I left and was a little scared of what I saw but Ohio is so fickle. I said a little prayer for no lightening and was on my way. The ride up went pretty quick and I had a game plan of where I wanted to park so I drove right there and was walking to the start a little before 6.

I was a little concerned

Ready to roll

The official start line

Crowd support

Hello Cleveland!

The first person I ran into was Dan and I did a little happy dance because I knew what was coming later after the race. (more on that later) I used the facilities and headed over to the start line where I ran into some of my ambassador friends Stephanie and Pam. Soon after we found Jess, Sarah, Stephani and Jamie! We hung out for a bit, talked about the plan for the race, the weather and eased each others nerves a bit.


They then, it was getting close to take off time, so I hit up the potties one last time and started to line up. My original plan was to run with Rachel and then meet up with my old work buddy Tim and do a few miles. I had found Tim and then found Rachel on our way to the corral. It seemed way more packed then what I remember in the past years, but maybe because we got to the line up much later. Either way, I was super jazzed about getting out there. Rachel was looking for Sarah so I hung back with Tim. Super fun fact about Rachel is that she's a legit running coach too! So, she had written up a plan for me that I fully intended on following. I think I need to work on following plans better, generally speaking in life, Ill have a plan and then not always even follow half of it. Such is life.

Ready to rock!

Me and Tim- most motivational runner I know!

Since today was so special and the 40th anniversary of the race, the announcer proclaimed the day in Cleveland officially "Jack Staph Day". He is such a great man and has been part of this race for as long as it has been a race.  A few minutes later" Cleveland rocks" started to play and it was time to roll!  I freaking LOVE that song when I'm standing in downtown Cleveland waiting for the marathon to start! I don't think too much else in life gets me pumped up more.


Off we went! The first few miles were a lot of dodging and weaving to get a good pace. I was really happy when the first miles popped up on my watch as 10:15.  That was exactly on track for the Rachel plan!  I thought, ok- this could actually really happen. I just had to keep on task for another 12 miles, no big deal. I kept up with Tim until we headed up the first larger hill and then I needed to take a little walk break. He was running about 9:40 and I knew that I hadn't trained that fast for a long run so I peeled back for about 30 seconds. I didn't run into Tim again after that. I felt like I was cruising for awhile and when I looked down the miles seemed to tick by.

Still feeling strong

I had kept my music in for the most part and that was keeping me company but I was surprised how much I missed a running buddy! There was plenty of people around that I could talk to and I did at some points but I was getting tired and my strong feeling seemed to have worn off a little by mile 6ish. I know that it was a crazy busy weekend and I had been downtown the larger part of the day on Saturday. I think I was feeling spent and even a little dehydrated. Every water stop from that point on I walked and took a cup of water and powerade. This helped a little bit and I kept moving.

Almost done!

The miles kept going by and soon I was at mile 11. This is always the tough part of a half for me, similar to mile 20 of a marathon mentally I think. I looked at my watch and knew that the goal of breaking my PR (2:21) was more than likely not happening today. I was a little disappointed with myself knowing that maybe I should have trained harder or stuck to the plan better but why beat myself up? I kept moving and crossed that finish line with a time of 2:26:05. Not my best time but the most memorable race weekend of my life!

Go Bobcats!

Me and Coach Rachel

I got my medal and chocolate milk and pretzels and called my mom and Chad to tell them how it went. Then I went to pick up my challenge series medal which was really awesome!  It was starting to rain and for as hot as I was out on the course, I was wishing I used the gear check for a long sleeve shirt. I called Rachel and she told me to meet her at the breakfast, so I walked over there and had a really amazing breakfast with her and her family. It was fun to sit for a minute and talk about our racing experience that day. It was great to just have time to hang out too. My intent was to go back to the finish line and wait for Stephanie to come in and watch her boyfriend propose and watch my other friend Stephani roll in from her 2nd full marathon but I was so cold and not feeling great at this point that I decided to walk back to my car and head back. By the time I got to my car I was able to see this. There was a video that I watched about 5 times and I was so happy for them!  What an incredible weekend of running and love! 

So happy!!!! Great job Dan!

Best race swag yet!

It was an overall amazing experience being a part of this 40th anniversary race! 
Thank you to Jack, Ralph, Kayla and Joan!  They work so hard all year for this race and they also let me be a part of it and I couldn't be more honored!
Thanks to the many volunteers out there who made this race possible and greeted us all at every water stop with a smile and a cup of water! You guys help so much more than you know!
And thanks to my family- Chad, Mom, Dad and my boys who support me so much with all of the hours training and spending time pounding the pavement. There is no way that I would ever be able to attempt this without you!


Cheers to 40 years of running Cleveland!  You nailed it!