Running Stories
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Surprising Things We Learned about Berlin
With the Berlin marathon fast approaching, I thought it might be fun to do a little post mortem on the surprising things we learned about Berlin. What we already knew Now I had NEVER been to Germany and Stephen hadn’t been since he was stationed there back in the early 90’s. So we knew SOME things like: But there were a LOT of things about Berlin that surprised us. Like… 1. It’s prettier and greener than we expected Maybe it was because of all the Jason Bourne-esque / spy thrillers that show Berlin as this industrial, post-cold war, gray, concrete city, but I was a really surprised at how beautiful…
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The London Marathon – The Last of the World Majors
It’s been over nine weeks since I completed the London Marathon, becoming the first kidney donor to earn the coveted Six Star Finisher medal for completing all of the Abbott World Marathon Majors. We finally had a little down time for me to get around to writing a recap of the historic race. Before we get into all that, I’ll provide a little background info on what happened leading up to the race. So grab a cold one, kick back, and relax. Here is the recap of the London Marathon – the last of the World Majors! The Pre-Race Injury As many of you already know I injured my back four…
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How to Celebrate Surviving a Marathon while Concussed
Our journey through Japan is coming to a close and in case you missed it, last week we shared about the “Great Cookie Toss at the Tokyo Marathon”. This unfortunate incident was caused by a significantly small room and one wrong move. But this week we want to share with you how to celebrate surviving a marathon while concussed. Hopefully you’ll never need to apply this to your life, but just in case, be sure to book mark this page. The Victor Returns Cold, concussed and triumphant, Stephen made it back to the crevice after completing the Tokyo Marathon in 3 hours and 20 minutes. After he unpacked the story…
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The Road to the Tokyo Marathon
After our 14+ hour flight via Delta One, we arrived in Japan. One of us was well rested. The other was just too excited to sleep. After all, we had weeks of temples, shrines, pagodas, pandas and snow monkeys ahead of us. After our driver took a wrong turn, taking us a half hour out of our way and getting a ticket. We finally unpacked our bags to begin our adventure on the road to the Tokyo Marathon. Day 1 – The EARLY Morning We arrived at the Sotetsu Fresa Inn around 10pm local time and were glad to drop our bags in our little room. At first, it felt…
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Beachy Vibes and Fast Race Times in Jacksonville
Stephen says, 2023 is the “Year of the Marathon”. His crazy race calendar kicked off with the Dopey Challenge in Orlando and it’s looking like it might end with Honolulu in December. Last week, he shared the race report for the DONNA half. This week, I’d love to share with you the rest of the beachy vibes and fast race time in Jacksonville Beach. The Arrival Unlike our typical trip, our flight didn’t leave until 8pm. This led to a rather leisurely trip to the airport and a little extra time in the Delta Lounge. I took advantage of the unstructured time to have a glass of house Rose’ while…
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The DONNA Race Recap
What a great weekend in Jacksonville Beach with Destination Marathons (DM) for the DONNA Half Marathon. I think Jill is going to write about the trip as a whole next week so today you are stuck with my race recap. Pre-Race Dinner and Auction After our pre-race pasta dinner on Saturday evening at the Four Points Sheraton with DM, filled with laughter and great conversation, Jill and I snuck out with a perfectly executed Irish Exit. With our hotel, The Element by Marriott, being only a one minute drive away, I was able to achieve my first race goal of being in bed by 8 pm and asleep by 9…
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Diplomatic Immunity
I’m so excited to be traveling down to Jacksonville Beach this weekend to take part in the DONNA Race Weekend as an Ambassador for Destination Marathons. Although diplomatic immunity isn’t one of the perks, it’s exciting to be a part of something that combines two of my favorite things to do, travel and run. The Mission Destination Marathons provides a VIP experience for runners and spectators. They manage all the logistics so guests can focus on the race, build friendships, and create memories. And I will get to witness this in action for the first time! As one who generally does all the planning that goes into a “racecation”, it’s…
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The Dopey Challenge
Since 2023 is slated to be my last big year of marathon running, I wanted to challenge myself as much as possible. In late November I was able to snag a charity bib for the Dopey Challenge down at Disney in Orlando. This challenge consists of four races over four days: I figured this “Dopey Challenge” was a great way to kick off this crazy year of running and racing. Having never done this race before, I was fortunate to have many experienced, crazy friends who could show me the ropes. Before We Were Dopey Race week kicked off on Wednesday with a quick trip to “ESPN Wide World of…
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The Great Arizona Escape
Ahhh November…the forecast dipping into near freezing temperatures and snow on the horizon. I decided it was time to look for an opportunity to escape from it all. A few of my friends were doing the Ironman Arizona the coming weekend. I thought it would be fun to show up and support them while they accomplished amazing by things. After some further social media scanning I discovered that I had a completely different group of friends headed do Scottsdale for a Women’s only half marathon. The decision was made, flights were booked and before I knew it I was on my way to sunny and warm Arizona for four days.…
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Checking out the Wizarding and Surreal Worlds
Having accomplished eating ALL the food at Thanksgiving dinner and running the Space Coast Half Marathon, we were ready for a change of pace. We didn’t have much set in stone for our second week in Florida. Stephen would be running a trail Ragnar with some friends. I planned to work all week but schedule was relatively open on Friday. Seizing the opportunity, I took Momma for another adventure. We landed on checking out the Wizarding and Surreal Worlds in Florida! (The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the Surreal World of Salvador Dali, that is.) Inauspicious Beginnings Monday through Wednesday were sort of “business as usual” for our crew.…
