When I wrote my 2012 year in review I had all sorts of momentum and really enjoyed reminiscing on 2012 and thinking about what this year would bring. At the time, all I really knew is that I’d love to log 1,000 miles this year. But, within the first few weeks of the new year I found myself floundering with running. I had no goal, no training plan, no next race within reach. In addition, the year started out fast and furious with work and I struggled to keep a balanced running plan. And so finally, I put my mind to it and decided on a plan.

In February

I will be training for a March half marathon and look to do local 5ks to get the competitive juices flowing. My goal though is to make sure I have a very steady base pace and train for endurance rather than speed.

In March

I will do a half marathon. Quite possibly one in Florida with a girlfriend who will be running her first half. More likely it will be local and highly likely it will be the B&A Marathon which is essentially in my backyard. I would also by this time like to have a chariot of sorts connected to my bike so that I can start to ride outside again towing my son.

In April

I will do the Cooper River Bridge Run–best 10k ever–in Charleston, SC. Lots of biking and maybe start getting to the local indoor pool again.

In May

May is still a little foggy. I really, really would like to do the Broad Street 10-miler but knowing how fast registration fills up it may or may not become a reality. A colleague invited me to do the New England Ragner Relay which is very, very tempting but it happens to be on the same weekend as the Broad Street run. If neither of those work out, there is a half marathon in St. Michael’s, MD that is a relatively new race and rather appealing. There is also a great 10-miler in Chestertown over Memorial Day weekend.

In June

I hope to be biking and swimming a lot by this point and sticking with mid-mileage runs. There is a Father’s Day 10k I’ve always wanted to do in Annapolis so I think I’ll target that.

In July

This month will be dedicated to cross-training, strength and stretching.

In August

The Annapolis 10-miler of course!!

And that’s as far as I’ve made it. It feels good to have goals.

The Rehoboth Beach Marathon was my fifth marathon, done a little over 8 months after becoming a new mom. I hadn’t actually considered doing a marathon this year. I thought a half would be an ‘appropriate’ running gift to myself after Connor was born. But then my marathoning friend, Joe, mentioned Rehoboth and all of a sudden, I had to do it. 11 weeks out I started training as best I could, juggling new mom duties and a heavy workload. My original goal was just to finish. But of course, my competitive, stubborn side set in and despite ‘training to finish,’ a week or so before race day I got my heart set on sticking with Joe’s pace group to finish under four hours. Continue reading →

[Author’s preface: This blog post was started days after the race. However, due to being a working mom, it has taken 6-ish plus weeks to write so some details are fuzzy and others are just left out entirely for the sake of finally posting this entry!]

I remember being on a training run two years ago in my neighborhood during the morning of the Baltimore Marathon; a neighbor commented as I passed by that I should be in the race. I smiled, thought to myself that I agreed with him and promised myself I’d do the race one day. A year later I was pregnant and training for the Marine Corps Marathon and decided that the 2012 Baltimore Half Marathon would be my first post-baby big race. I stalked the website until registration opened and signed up. Nine plus months later, 10 weeks of base training and 12 weeks of 13.1 training I was at the start line. Continue reading →

When I found out I was pregnant last fall one of the first things I did was sign up for a race that seemed far enough out from giving birth that I could recover from delivery and also have enough time to rebuild a base and execute on a training plan. I knew a marathon would be wishful thinking but a half marathon would be the perfect ‘comeback’ race. I’ve always wanted to do the Baltimore Half Marathon (and the full 26.2 some day) and with its October 13 date it was the perfect goal race. As I made my way back into running I studied various 13.1 training plans and debated the best one to fit my new world of being a working mom. Continue reading →

One of the ways I occupied my mind during the 2009 Richmond Marathon was thinking of all the reasons I love runners. I thought it would be fun to share some of the things I came up with and I encourage you to post in the comments why you love runners. The more reasons, the better! Continue reading →