Up until August every race I ran was just one as covid prevented many races from happening last year.  The first race to repeat was the Murph Mile in Cape May.  Last year I took first in my age group running a 9:19.5.  Oh, did I forget to mention I was the only one in my age group?  While it was a bit disappointing to not have any competition, I did meet my goal of running a mile in under 10 minutes.  This year the race returned and I was excited to see how much I have improved over the year.  My youngest challenged me to run an 8 minute…

After waiting for over a year and a half from when I signed up, race weekend was finally here!  Friday night was the athletes’ meeting and packet pickup. I left later than planned and just barely made it in time for the meeting.  After the meeting, I picked up my race packet with my numbers and timing chip.  I was happy the volunteers also added our required markings to our arms as I had no clue what I was doing.   At this point with markered numbers on my arms, it started to feel real, I was really doing this.  I caught up with some of my fellow running club…

26.2 Even before I started running regularly I had it in my mind that it would be awesome to run a marathon.  I like doing things that are challenging and that most people don’t do.  Although if you had been in my head during miles 10-13 when I ran my first half marathon you would seriously be questioning me, “I thought you said the marathon was off the bucket list”, “you told me the half was a one and done!”  Now my brain is saying “obviously you were lying to me during that half because I see you are training for a marathon!”  Just before Christmas registration opened for a…

I was on a roll after our ski trip and signed up to try indoor rock climbing, another bucket list item.  I was surprised to find a few places in our state and one that is fairly close.  We chose one near my oldest and made the journey to meet up with her.  All of us being newbies, I signed us up for a group class.  They showed us how to put on our harnesses and how to find the right size shoes.  Just like bowling you can rent the shoes but unlike bowling you can use your sneakers if you choose.  We went for the full experience and rented…