The Rest of the Alphabet
| October 24, 2012 | Posted by Emily under Uncategorized |
(Note: YES. I know I still have not written my 50 miler race recap. Pinky promise I am working on it, but I actually want to spend more than 30 minutes on it since it was kind of a big/huge deal for me and I haven’t really had a spare 30 minutes in the last couple of weeks. Or at least I haven’t had a spare 30 minutes that didn’t immediately get filled with work, running, or the friends I’ve been neglecting for the last several months. This week. It’s happening.)
Okay, now that that is out of the way, let’s talk about racing. Because there is obviously no such thing as too much race talk.
As endurance athletes, we all love to make it look like someone spilled a hearty portion of alphabet soup on our race schedules. (A slightly off-balance kind of alphabet soup that is light on the “As” and heavy on the “Bs” and “Cs”)
We’ve already covered the very important “A” that’s on my calendar. Carlsbad. January 27th. See you there.
But January 27th is still 14+ weeks away. Obviously I have way more than a few “B”, “C” and “D-ZZZZ” races on my calendar before I head to Cali.
And it feels like the majority of them are in the next 2.5 weeks.
Starting with this weekend:
The Marine Corps Marathon happens to fall on my Golden Birthday (28 years old on the 28th of October woohoo) but MUCH more importantly, my 5 year anniversary of running marathons. Clearly I had to sign up.
I truthfully don’t give a shit about my birthday. If you know me, it’s pretty obvious that I don’t ever really feel the need to justify a good time. If my friends want to gather on a Sunday afternoon to drink some good beer and eat cupcakes to celebrate my birthday, GREAT, but also, I’m pretty happy to do that every single Sunday afternoon every weekend for forever and ever.
But my anniversary of running marathons? That’s kind of a big deal to me. Not once on my walk to work this week have I thought “OMG BIRTHDAY WEEK. SO EXCITING.” But on a near hourly basis I’m all “!!!! MARATHON WEEKEND !!!!”
So #19 this weekend to celebrate 5 amazing years of marathoning. Pumped.
After MCM, I’m headed to the Big Apple to run this guy:
I was signed up for the New York City Marathon last year, but got stuck watching it from the terrible perch of my crutches.
After NYRR changed their standards for guaranteed entry, I knew I had to jump on the chance to run it in 2012 while I actually have a time that qualified me to get in. So I’m in.
Plus, I get to have a weekend-long slumber party with two of my favorite runners.
Screw last chance to run the damn thing, they are the real reason I’m going to NYC next weekend.
And then 3 days after I leave the City that Never Sleeps, I’m flying out to another city known for its sleepless nights.
Although I’m not actually spending any time in Vegas at the slot machines. Instead, I’m being kidnapped from the airport by a bunch of sketch balls in a big white van and running 200 miles through the Nevada desert.
If this is anything like other relays I’ve done, we’ll at least have the sleepless part covered.
I am not even going to try and compete with SarahOUaL on a creative description of how awesome our Ultra Ragnar Vegas team is, so I’m stealing hers.
Behold, the (to-be-named) Ultra Ragnar team:
Yeah. Killer group of women.
A big thanks to both Compex and PRO Compression for sponsoring our weekend of fun and running. Considering that 4 of the 6 of us are running NYCM and 6 of the 6 of us are tackling the ridiculous mileage for an ultra team, it feels good to have two great recovery products supporting us.
And lastly, on December 8th, I’m driving up to Delaware to drink some good beer with some good friends and run the Rehoboth Beach Half Marathon:
I’d give this one a “B+” from my bowl of soup. (Yes, my off-balance alphabet soup also comes with plus and minus signs.) I don’t plan to taper much for it, but I will incorporate it into a cutback week so I can actually race it and use my results to gauge my progress gearing up for Carlsbad.
And that covers four of the weekends between now and Cbad in January. I probably don’t need to tell you that the remaining 10 weekends are not likely to remain raceless.
Anyone else MCM, NYCM, Ragnar Vegas or Rehoboth Beaching it? Let me know! We can exchange sweaty high fives or cheers some finish line beer.
Hey Em! I’m a runner in the DC area (ok, NoVA, but still in the Beltway). I’ll be running NYCM for the first time this year. I did the same thing – had to run it this before the qualification standards change! Hope to see you there!
Ooo I am thinking of running Rehoboth. It’s 3 weeks after JFK (my first 50), but I’m hoping my super recovery skills will allow me to grace the start line. It would be cool to see you there! (plus I hear it’s a very PR friendly course) :)
Well, I was supposed to be running MCM this weekend, but I went and got myself hurt. No bueno.
But Rehoboth Beach is my second home, so I MUST be there, even if its just cheering. Hope to see you there!
Maybe see you in the see of people this weekend at MCM.
and Happy early b-day
I’ll be at NYC!!! Would live to do Rehobeth…. If only could get my husband on board!
Your race schedule over the next few weeks makes me exhausted just thinking about it! I’m sure you;ll have a blast though, looking forward to reading the recaps!
MCM for me! i am obsessively checking the race weather though – it looks like a hurricane up the coast.
My in-laws just bought a beach house in Rehoboth, so Rehoboth here I come!! Hope to see you there!
I’m not running the NYCM, but I’m volunteering as an Italian interpreter at the expo and finish line. I’m getting excited!
So much for being burnt out on racing! Sounds like you’ve got some kickass stuff coming up.
Ohhhh! Pick me! I’m running the Rehoboth Half, too – it will be my second half marathon ever!
I spectated it last year because a friend was running it and because my uncle has a condo down there (so I made a whole weekend out of it and plan to do the same again this year)…and uh, because the finish line is MERE STEPS from Dogfish Head!
PS. Rehoboth in December = AWESOME. There are so many fun, “fabulous” places to go out at night and all the locals are usually out during race weekend!
Ahh so cool you are doing MCM…I hope to see you on the course! And good luck sounds like you have a lot more fun coming up!!
As always you’re nuts but in an awesome awesome way!
Wow, talk about a jam-packed race schedule! I live in NYC and will be watching the marathon, so I’ll keep an eye out for you, Emily!
I swear NYC changed qualifying standards. It was like 3:23 for women, then it was 2:59 so I just shrugged and said, “Not for me”. Then lo and behold, it’s 3:10 now. I know I’m not crazy because a friend saw that 2:59, too. I guess they thought better of such stringent requirements.
You are going to be a busy lady! Happy early birthday and Happy marathon anniversary weekend! That is very exciting!
My boss is actually running the Marine Corps Marathon and told me how awesome it is!
I’ll be at the Rehoboth Half too! I am sure I’ll see you fly by during the race and maybe at the finish line beer tents :) Enjoy your birthday weekend!
I’m running MCM this weekend! We are flying in overnight on Friday to make it there Saturday morning! Happy Early Marathon Birthday!
Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday Em!
p/s: why do ya hafta make me jealous of all your races?!?!?!
I was going to do the Rehoboth full, but got a stress fracture. I may still do the half, or cheer people on. There’s a very good chance you could be the female winner. It’s fast and flat (assuming there aren’t 30 mph wind gusts), a little boring, but a good place to PR. You can even walk up 5 minutes before the race and still get to the front, lol.
I should be at MCM cheering.
I’m running 50% of those races (at 150% or so of your speed, unfortunately).
Freaking out big time about MCM. Packet pickup today will either calm my panicky self down or amp me up til I explode.
Rehoboth, site of my marathon PR last year, will be the site of the best slumber party with my 3 most awesome girlfriends. Locked in those hotel race deals this week!
Cannot. Wait.
Rehoboth was mis-marked last year, and ran short. I guarantee that won’t happen again. A lot of people ran PR’s and it’s my understanding that they had to report it to th BAA. It’s still fast, though. I pretty much spend the entire summer running in Rehoboth and surrounding areas since my family has a house there. There are no hills in southern Delaware (well, maybe two). Like I said, if anything will come slow you down it will be the wind in Dec. (very unpredictable).
And to hear a commenter say that Rehoboth in Dec. is awesome warms my cold, black heart. It’s really only the past 5-10 years that the beaches have pushed great winter activities.
Happy marathon-anniversary-golden-birthday!
I’m doing NYCM…though the way I managed to get my plodding legs in was because I’m coming from the UK!
Hm perhaps I’ll do the Rehoboth Half with you. I ran the full last year as a redemption race from the Richmond Marathon (where I was sick leading up to it) and qualified for Boston! (even after the course times were re-adjusted) It’s a flat/fast race. Here’s my recap: http://www.neonblonderunner.com/2011/12/rehoboth-beach-marathon-race-recapaka.html
Little late on the comment but excited to see you are running rehoboth!! I will see ya there! I am hoping my parents beach house is still there after Hurricane Sandy!! Can’t wait to meet you and have a beer after the run!
I saw you at the marathon yesterday! I was around a curve just before mile 11. You were looking strong and smiling!
Extremely jealous of your ultra relay team! I’m hopefully going to be running a relay with Lauren in the summer! I hope you have an amazing time this weekend and next weekend.
Hi Emily!
Enjoy your blog and your awesome-ness at running. Anyways, if you are looking at races coming up, you should consider this one–it will help you with your hills for sure!
http://blueridgemarathon.com/
I’ve seen that before…would LOVE to do it! Definitely on the marathon bucket list!