Since China...

Since China….I’ve been running on and off.  In total, I’ve completed 6 half marathons and 2 marathons. And a handful of 5k's and 10k's. 

5k in NYC - May 2008 right after going to China.

Virginia Rock & Roll Marathon in September 2008

The next half I did after the GW was the Virginia Rock & Roll Marathon with my friend Becky.  I was not ready for the humidity that day.  And I didn't do a whole lot of running the month or 2 leading up to it because of work.  But Becky and I still had lots of fun running together.

San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon – May 2009

Jaime wanted to do the RnR San Diego marathon and so I signed up with her.  My longest run before this race was 17 miles.  Jaime's was 12.  We weren't exactly ready for it (you'll see a trend of this) - but we still did it!  I don't think I had ever been in so much pain after this race.  I vowed never to run a marathon again unless I had finished my training (you'll see that vow didn't last very long)...  The race itself was a fun race. Bands everywhere.  And San Diego always has nice weather so that is a bonus.  But I think the more races I run, the more I like the smaller ones.  RnR always have way too many people.

Athens Marathon turned 10k – October 2010

Camille and I signed up to run the original Athens Marathon - from Marathon, Greece to Athens.  We were so excited for it.  And because I wasn't about to have a repeat of San Diego - I was way more committed to training.  I was up to running a 17-mile long run a good 2 months before the marathon so I was definitely on track.  But then I got some really bad tendonitis in my right foot.  It was really painful just to walk.  I and the doctors originally thought it was a stress fracture.

I still went to Athens - but no marathon running for me.  I did force myself to run the 10k after not running for nearly 2 months and my foot was sore just after that so it's probably good I didn't still go for it.  Besides - I ended up hanging out with Clyde Drexler and Sheri after the 10k while we waited for the marathons. Can't complain about that...

Walt Disney World Half Marathon – January 2011

 Camille really wanted to do the "Goofy" challenge at disney.  And Lesley was also planning on running that weekend.  And I pretty much can't say no to anything... So, I signed up for the half not really knowing if my foot would be ready.  I ran a couple of 10k's (longest run this time) before the race.  My foot held up for the most part.  It was a fun weekend....and Camille did awesome running the Goofy (you run the half on Saturday and the full on Sunday).  Maybe some day I'll go back and challenge myself to do that...




 

Montreal Half Marathon – September 2011

Alex, Me and Beth

Last year, I ran the Montreal Half Marathon with a few of my old basketball friends from back in the day!  It was SO much fun to see them an catch up.  I had all these grand plans of running all summer to get ready for this race and a couple more I had coming up in October.  But I went to India that summer instead and had a hard time fitting in runs in the insane heat and busy schedule I had.  As soon as I got home, I started running again trying to ramp up my mileage as much as I could.

The Montreal half was a lot harder than I was expecting.  A combination of humidity and a constant incline just about did me in. In fact, I have never seen so many ambulances and people needing help on a course as I did in this race.  Sadly, someone that was running the half even died that day.  It was just a tough race!

Brenda organized it all..and was injured so couldn't run - but she was an awesome support!

St-George Marathon – October 2011

 So - I convinced Jen to enter the lottery to the St-George Marathon with me.  Actually - this and the Nike Women's Marathon lottery.  We got into both.  She tried to back out of St-George, but I wouldn't have any of that.  :) I've always heard great things about this race and wanted to do it.

What I wasn't planning on when I convinced Jen not to back out was that my longest run would be the Montreal Half Marathon the week before the St-George Marathon.  Oops. Since I hadn't run much and Jen was running another marathon in 2 weeks (I was just running the Nike Women's Half) - we decided to take it easy.  And surprisingly, I actually felt great (relatively) at the end of the run.  Nothing like San Diego.  Great race.  I want to do it again sometime.  Anyone interested in signing up??

San Francisco Nike Women’s Half Marathon – October 2011

Two weeks after St-George, I ran the Nike Women's half with Linda.  And Jen ran the Marathon.  It was a fun race - with lots of hills in true San Francisco fashion..  I felt a little sick that day - but still had fun.  Especially when we got our Tiffany's necklace from some of San Francisco's finest at the finish line!

Austin 3M Half Marathon – January 2012

I feel like I've been trying to get my brother to run a half marathon for quite some time now.  He finally ran one last year with some friends of his and I was worried he would never run another one and so then never run one with me!  But thankfully - he asked me if I wanted to run the 3M half in Austin!  I just ran this last weekend with him and it was a fun race! I loved it.

The race is really well organized.  There is a 7k cap on runners so you don't have too many people on the course.  And the Swag Bag and food at the end of the race are pretty darn good.  Also - the course has a lot of downhill.  I highly recommend it.  I had an awesome time running with my bro! I'm up for it next year if anyone wants to do it!