Mind
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Repeat Races
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…
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Connecting with God Through Running
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Pre-Halloween 2021
I have always been a fan of Halloween for the simple fact I get to dress in costume. Part of it is getting to wear something fancy and or fun but the other part is expressing my creativity. I will use any excuse to make or buy a new costume. Last year derailed me in my pursuit of the perfect Halloween costume. As usually happens when Halloween does not fall on a work day, my enthusiasm waned. The Hallowed Half Marathon was deferred and my costume I spent the last year perfecting would not be needed. A handful of us met to run the race unofficially, I wanted to save…
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My First Triathlon
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…
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Connecting with God Through Running
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Blue & White- My Favorite Colors
How could something so innocent as your favorite color be marred by the trauma in your life? When I was younger I would have told you my favorite color was green. Secretly, I loved blue but that was a boy color and as a girl, I was to like pink. To me pink represented weakness, even at a young age I could see men who were demeaning to women, took advantage of them, or just lorded power over them. I did not want to be one of those women. I have always been a bit of a tomboy, looking back I wonder if it was a way to exhibit strength…
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Progression of the Beach Day
I am fortunate to have always lived near the Atlantic Ocean. My parents’ childhood included regular trips to the beach in the summer and they took me often enough to cement that love in my life. My earliest memory of the beach, I was about 5, we were in Wildwood with some of my older cousins. We spent the entire time in the water jumping waves and hanging out in the swells, it was a glorious day! When I was eleven we moved to the Wildwoods and I gained unlimited beach access! During my teens, it was grabbing a towel and a book and head to the beach with some…
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An Object in Motion- My Early Running Days
I wrote this blog Fall of 2020 I live my life by Isaac Newton’s first law of motion, an object in motion stays in motion. While yes you will find me sitting still playing computer games, checking Facebook, and searching the net or reading I am also usually plotting my next undertaking. During my doctoral program, the perfect storm occurred to rekindle a past love, my love of running. I had gained some weight from eating to stay awake to write and lack of movement, I started to look for something to get me moving. The easiest thing I could do was to start taking walks, about this time my…
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Connecting with God Through Running
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I am a Princess
I have often let myself be treated poorly or let others take advantage of me. Just over twenty years ago I made some drastic changes in my life to start putting myself in a safer space and to improve myself. It has been a slow journey and I feel like a late bloomer to only be figuring all of this out now that I am 50 and I am still a work in progress! References to being a princess have been popping up and I thought I would take some time to think about myself as a princess. One of the daily plans I read in my Bible app is…
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After the Marathon- The Let-Down
It has been a month since I ran my first marathon, and I have realized that I have been out of sorts for about the last two weeks when it comes to my running. This is a pattern I have seen before and not just in terms of running. Have you ever set a goal for yourself and then notice after the celebration is over you feel kind of blah? I have been in this spot before after completing my master and doctoral degrees, after running my first half marathon, and now after my first marathon. The first time I noticed these feelings after completing my masters degree I panicked…
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My First Marathon
I am thrilled to announce I am officially a marathoner! I completed my first marathon on April 25, 2021, in Chesapeake, Virginia. A week out I did not think I was ready, I had overtrained and had issues with the muscle on the side of my knee. I took the week off from running, foam rolled, did my PT exercises, electric stim, and a ton of BioFreeze to try to calm the muscle. My confidence in my ability to complete the 26.2 miles was shaken and as much as I wanted to just not go, I had told too many people about it to back out. I over-packed my bags…
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Connecting with God Through Running
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My Marathon Training Experience
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…
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Connecting with God Through Running