Running shoe issue

So, my beloved Clifton Hoka One Ones, which I bought in June, seem to have gone from beautiful, fluffy-cloud-foot-landing to a kind of ow-ow-ow-rock-hard-freaking-ow landing. That's not good, that's less than 3 months of sub-20 mile weeks. And no, I don't wear them other than for running. So I talked to REI, and then exchanged them at…

Change in half/full marathon training schedules

New day, new idea about running schedules. I'm in week 3 of a 17 week half-marathon training plan. It'll finish up October 4. I had originally planned on taking several weeks "off" (just maintenance runs, basically) before starting on a marathon training plan, but, the Dallas Marathon is about 10 weeks after this cycle ends! The Dallas Marathon…

Reaching Goals

Sunday was the end of a training cycle - I'd selected an, I think, 16 week training thing from the RunKeeper fitness app - and I ran my one-woman 5k race. This, despite flooding and thunderstorms. I sort of made my goal, and I sort of didn't. The thinking went like this: I want to…

The Big Bend 50 race report

We're driving back from the southwestern tip of Texas, and don't have big reliable internet. So, I'll add pictures and formatting later. -JM It's later, and we're home! Picture time... -JM Here's the story. If you want the SHORT version, you have to skip all the way down to the bottom. But, why bother with…

I thought about the ultra marathon, and smiled some more

Yesterday on Twitter, a friend asked me if I was excited yet about the race. I said, "Are you kidding? I packed my drop bag, pack, & waist pack yesterday. I've been smiling since Friday. I'm flying through taper runs." I've got stuff packed. Food gathered. Car cleaned. I'm hydrating (and therefore peeing) like mad. I have…

I’m running the Big Bend 50 ultra marathon next week

This will be my first ultra marathon. Last year I ran my first 10k, first half marathon, and first marathon. And oddly, I haven't blogged a whole lot about this whole "going to run an ultra" thing. Too much to do, too much to think about. It makes it hard to sit down and write. But my 50 mile ultra…

Health not through determination, but irritation

I'm getting really tired of bad news at the dentist every single time I go in (always "one more little cavity", "two more"). And this is even after upping my game: brushing, daily flossing, giving up sodas (for other reasons). Well, dammit. So now it's time to learn to like coffee without sugar or honey.…

Running in wavy lines

I'm looking for a marathon, and at some point, an ultra. So I went looking around online today, and found an endurance running event in Grapevine Texas with 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hour challenges.  The website isn't terribly clear, but it looks like you pick your event, and then do 2 mile loops for…

Almost everything you know about running is wrong, for me

TL;DR – My running philosophy doesn’t seem to line up with marathoners'. It’s either hubris and inexperience, or I’m paying close attention to my body’s needs. Talking about running I have a friend who runs. He has a blog, and Twitter and Facebook, but he never talks about it publicly at all. He says, “It’s…

Running 13.1 at 90F

Since I last wrote, we stayed in France (and lived in the house and ate wonderful food and saw Paris and Reims and Troyes and a champagnery and and and...), and came back (the long flight home was a dream, with individual in-seat entertainment screens), and got back to work (including actual work plus cleaning…