New phase in life, and now a whole new blog

It’s been nearly a year since I posted here. In July of last year my husband was undergoing treatment for Stage 4 colon cancer. I was applying for full time teaching jobs, making the best of an arguably unpleasant summer, continuing to run and find geocaches and blog a little bit. Toward the end of the month Ray developed an unexpected complication which involved a week long hospital stay, multiple trips to the emergency room, and surgery. Meanwhile I had job interviews and was hired as a first grade teacher in Stafford County. On July 30, 2017, Ray passed away surrounded by his family. It was the worst day of my life but strangely those last moments with him were beautiful.

They loved him at work, so much so that they organized a 5k in his memory to raise money for colon cancer research. Here we are with the event’s promotional photo.

The past year has been difficult to say the least. I have a full time job that has me putting in long hours and working on the weekends. I have a hard time trusting God as you might imagine, but I am convinced He put me in the right place at the right time, because I love where I work and the people I work with. We just finished the school year and I’m looking forward to spending more time with my family and friends, and taking care of myself and things around the house that I’ve neglected for too long.

I’ve decided to start fresh with my blogging and create a brand new page where I share some of my journey through this new reality called Widowhood, and how our family is adjusting to life without our husband, dad, brother, son. I hope you’ll visit my new site, Running Bereaved, and follow me there.

Peace, all.

Running and Geocaching: Friday Five

Last week Meranda from the blog Fairytales and Fitness commented that she’d like to see me write more about geocaching on this blog (see my RunFessions post from last Friday here).  Since I haven’t been geocaching much lately (hardly ever, truthfully) it’s not something I think much about, at least in terms of blogging.  So this week for Friday Five I thought I’d share some ways that running and geocaching go perfectly together.  First, you need to know some of the geocaching lingo:

DNF:  Did Not Find

Muggle:  A person who does not geocache.  Cachers like to be sneaky about their geocaching so muggles won’t wonder what they’re doing.  Any time a muggle notices me and asks, I flat out tell them, and often it leads to a great conversation!

Log:  The place inside the geocache where you sign your geocaching name.  It can be a notebook, or just a small strip of paper depending on the size of the container.   It also refers to the story you post on the online cache page about how you found (or didn’t find) the cache.

BYOP:  Bring Your Own Pen.  You need to sign the log with something.  Some larger caches have pens inside them for this purpose, but smaller ones don’t.

–1–

There is a good chance that geocaches are hidden along some of your favorite running routes, waiting for you to find them.  This makes geocaching super convenient!  First, create an account on Geocaching.com (basic membership is free), enter your location, and you’ll be able to see where the caches are.  Once you’ve decided which caches you’re going to look for on your run, load up your favorite geocaching app (I use c:geo; other people like Cachly or Geocaching’s official app), and your phone can lead you right to them.  Just keep in mind that sometimes geocaches can be tricky to find, and you might find yourself wandering around looking for a cache instead of running.  Sometimes I will give myself a limited amount of time for a given cache–say, five minutes–and if I can’t find it I just take the DNF and move on.  You would also need to BYOP.  I try to keep small pens on hand to carry in my belt or the pocket of my handheld bottle.

(Near a cache I found last summer on a long training run)

–2–

It’s a great way to find new places to explore on the run.  Once you’ve found all the caches where you usually run, that’s a great time to find new routes and trails!

(I ventured into unfamiliar territory on the Quarry Trails in Fredericksburg to find this ammo can.)

–3–

Attending an out-of-town race is a great opportunity to find geocaches in the vicinity.  Like when I found my personal record of six caches in one day when I arrived at the Air Force Half Marathon expo early so I could find the surrounding caches before the area was inundated with muggles. (Die-hard geocachers would find this laughable.  Some of those folks can go out and find a hundred on a single weekend.) Or when I found the oldest cache in Virginia at a race at Burke Lake in Fairfax County.  AND, I’ve personally never done this, but you could even–theoretically–geocache during a race.  Of course you would have to be absolutely certain that you could find the cache quickly without being noticed by muggle runners.  Much harder than it sounds!  But The Geocaching Vlogger did it when he ran a marathon; check it out!

–4–

When you’re on vacation, you can plan your running routes by looking at where geocaches are hidden.  This takes quite a lot of planning, because you want to make sure you’ll be running where it’s safe.  Is it a designated running/walking/cycling trail?  Are there sidewalks?  If not, is there a shoulder wide enough to keep you at a safe distance from traffic?  Will you be running in a safe neighborhood?  This is where Google Street View can be very helpful.  You can also ask around (maybe starting with a hotel desk clerk) to find out where people run, and hopefully there will be caches there too!

(A cache on Maui, along a beautiful running route.  In fact, it’s along the course of the Maui Oceanfront Marathon.  Someday…)

–5–

If you hide geocaches near places where you run, it is easier to maintain them than when you hide them in more out-of-the-way areas.  Geocaches develop wear and tear over time:  containers fall apart (hopefully your container will be durable enough to stay intact for a long time, but some can be flimsy), water gets inside, log sheets fill up, caches go missing.  Hiding a cache means you’re willing to take the time and effort to keep it in good shape and fun for everyone.  This is much easier if they’re convenient for you. Of course the tradeoff is that they are also convenient for other people to find, so you’ll probably have to do maintenance on them more often.

(The view from one of my geocaches.  I run by it all the time.)

–6 (BONUS) —

When you log your geocache online, you can mention how running led you to this particular find.  Were you in town for a race?  Was the geocache near the start/finish line, or at the packet pickup location?  Were you out on a training run in your hometown?  Exploring a new trail?  For me, logging geocaches is almost as much fun as finding them.  Cache owners love to read stories about how people found the cache, and the more details you include the better.  And I love it when I see other people’s logs about how they found a cache while out for a run.  Found one today at least. Nice spot. Nice view. Will be running past here in about a month during the historic half.  That’s a recent log for the cache that goes with the photo in #5.  I know there are more of us out there!

How about you?  Are you a geocacher as well as a runner?  Do you have a hobby that you can pursue while you’re running?

I’m linking up with Running On Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for the Friday Five 2.0.  In a future post, perhaps I’ll give you some reasons why you should start geocaching, or why the $30 annual fee for premium membership on Geocaching.com is totally worth it.  And for my story of how I got started with geocaching and running, click here.  Have a great weekend!

 

Run (Cache) Fessions: Spring 2017

First, an update.  It’s been nearly three months since my last blog post.  Hubby is just about at the halfway point in his cancer treatments.  We’ve had ups and downs, good days and bad days.  I’m learning to trust God like I’ve never had to trust Him before.  The way I see it I don’t have any other choice but to trust Him, and I’ve told Him so to His face.  He knows what I want, but I can’t control what happens.  Hubs and I are both learning how important it is to hang on to each other, our boys, and the things that make us happy; and for me one of those things is running.

So let’s get to some RunFessions, shall we?

–1–

I runfess… race reports are fun to read, and a good way to get an idea of what a race is like before signing up.  I enjoy writing them too.  It’s a good way for me to relive the day, and to take stock of what went right and what could have gone better.  Needless to say I haven’t written one for the last three races I’ve done.  I can sum them up in about four sentences:  The 2017 Dalhgren Trail Half, J. Brian’s 15K, and Historic Half were all super awesome.  I ran them all slower than I expected.  I wasn’t trying to PR in any of them.  I ran them for the fun of it, and had a great time at all of them.

 

–2–

I’ve always imagined that running a race that involved repeating several loops on a course would be BO-RING.  Who wants to look at the same things over and over again?  Well, as some of you know we’re huge Indy Car Racing fans.  As I’ve been watching races on TV these last few months, I’ve realized that race car drivers do exactly that:  drive around and around the same course a bajillion times for two plus hours.  I runfess… Maybe running multiple loops wouldn’t be so bad.  Perhaps it’s time to put those races back on the table?

(At the 2013 Indianapolis 500.  When we watched 30+ cars drive super fast around a 2.5-mile track 200 times for like 3 hours.)

–3–

I cache-fess… What caches?  Heck, if I find eighteen geocaches to reach my 600-find milestone by the end of the summer, I’ll be happy.  And if I don’t so be it.  My vow to find 100 caches in 2017 is pretty much out the window.  And forget about trying to hide any.  It’s all I can do to maintain the ones I’ve already got.

(At the tail end of May I found my first geocache since, like, February, GC47Z58.  In fact when I signed the log I forgot what year it was. Since then I’ve found maybe four or five others.)

–4–

I runfess… running solo is great, but running with friends is awesome.

Oh, BY THE WAY… Have you ever gone to meet your friends for a group run only to discover you’ve gone to the wrong place??  Yup.

–5–

I runfess… If you’ve been following this blog, you know that I’ve dabbled in a little trail running.  I think I said once that when I’m on the trail I forget how tired I am.  I take that back.  Trail running can be FREAKING HARD.  But… it’s awesome and I want to do more of it and maybe run a 50K.  There, I said it.

I hope it isn’t another three months before I post here again.  My Instagram page is a blog of sorts; I post there almost daily (except when I don’t) and sometimes I have enough to say for practically an entire blog post.  Follow me there for a more comprehensive look at what’s going on in my running and family life.  Have a safe and festive Independence Day weekend, y’all!

I’m linking up with Marcia for RunFessions and Miranda, Lacey, and Rachel for Friday Five.

That darn cancer is back, and I just don’t feel like it

 

We thought we were done.  We thought surgery took care of it.  We didn’t know there was more, lurking somewhere, ready to pounce.  And boy did it ever pounce.  Now there’s more in what’s left of his colon, his liver, his spleen, and his lungs.  For the last month we’ve been visiting doctors for more tests, multiple consultations, getting as much information as we can about possible treatments and weighing all the pros and cons.  We’ve shed some tears, but not too many.  We’re in fight mode.  Grief can wait.

At first I was a little annoyed at God, to put it mildly.  Why would He allow us to think we had dodged that cancer bullet only to have it come back and slap us in the face?  I mean, really?  The oncologist here in town told us that the average survival rate for a person with colon cancer that has spread like this is about two years.  TWO YEARS?!?  I’m sorry, that is completely unacceptable.  And then the Lord gave us a gift, at least I think He did.  The doctor pointed us in the direction of another doctor at Georgetown University (supposedly one of the top experts on colon cancer in the country) who gave us hope, proposed an aggressive chemotherapy regimen, and reassured us that we were not alone in this fight.  He took the time to do some digging for us and found a brand-new clinical trial at the National Institutes of Health that was worth looking into, and off to Bethesda we went.  Long story short:  My fabulous husband is the first colon cancer patient ever (EVER!) to receive a combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy.  It’s been done with other types of cancer, but not this kind.  I realized that maybe there is a higher purpose for all we’re going through.  Someday someone is going to find a cure for cancer, and now we’re part of that story.  If this can help him live a long and healthy life (I want us to be married ANOTHER 22 years, at the VERY LEAST) and help other cancer patients do the same?  Pretty cool.

Maybe it won’t work.  It’s certainly worth a shot.  Nowadays that’s what’s taking up most of my time and energy.  (I’m feeling guilty just taking the time to write this, because there are so many other things I feel like I should be doing.)  We’ll be driving to Bethesda four days in a row every two weeks, which depending on traffic on I-95 and the beltway, can take anywhere from 90 minutes to three hours one way.  Immunotherapy the first day, chemo the next, a pump to take home only to bring it back the next day to be replenished with more chemo, and another trip the fourth day to unhook it.  Between that and working I haven’t had as much time for running, much less training for anything.  I still plan to run the Historic Half here in Fredericksburg on May 21, but I’ve ditched the Devil Dog Double.  I did not enter the Marine Corps Marathon lottery (and a friend who ran the 1775K this year gave me her “access granted” code because she wasn’t going to use it, and I was REALLY tempted to sign up).  Frankly training for a marathon isn’t something I’m really interested in right now.  I’ve also taken an unplanned hiatus from geocaching, and who knows when I’ll be able to get into that again.  I told Ray I didn’t really feel much like running, and do you know what he said?  That I NEED to keep running.  And I will.  Two days a week minimum, preferably three.  At least a couple of 10- to 12-mile runs between now and the Historic Half, plus some short runs during the week to keep me sane and in relatively decent shape.  I’m still trying to go to my power lifting class every week.  And I take walks at NIH; up and down the hallways and stairwells, and soon I’ll likely venture outside to explore the rest of the campus.  (Not to geocache.  It’s United States government property, where geocaching is not allowed.  Plus security is tight and you need a badge to get in, so it wouldn’t be a very good place for caching anyway.)  OH, and I ran the J. Brian’s 15K last weekend, and got a new pair of running shoes, so running is still a priority.  But no longer an obsession.

(My less-than-glamorous finish line photo.  Every time I’ve run this race I’ve PR’ed.  Not this year.)

(My New Saucony Zealots.)

(At the National Institutes of Health, in the little courtyard.  I’ll coming here to ponder life quite a bit, I imagine.)

Many, many people have been praying for us and offering lots of love and hugs and help.  The people that we work with have been wonderfully supportive and amazing.  This journey has convinced me that God puts us exactly where we need to be at the right time.  Cancer sucks, and we have a long and difficult journey ahead, but we have a lot to be thankful for.

 

Run(cache)fessions, February 2017

–1–

I runfess… I haven’t posted here since last month’s runfessions.  So much for my resolution to blog twice a month.  (Thanks Marcia’s Healthy Slice for hosting the Runfessions  linkup, and to Kelly at This Ain’t the Lyceum for the 7 Quick Takes.  And I think that’s the most links I’ve put in one take.)

–2–

I runfess… I ran my third overall slowest half marathon last weekend, the Dahlgren Trail Half.  When I ran this race last year I felt strong and I think I did pretty well considering it was my first race strictly on unpaved trails.  This year, not so much.  My legs felt heavy and tired and the fact that I was fighting a cold didn’t help.  My other excuse is that I’d been pushing myself quite a bit the week before, so of course I’m going to be sluggish.  It’s a great race though, and I can’t wait to go back next year.

(With my MRTT friend Madeline, before the race.  She finished way before I did.)

–3–

I runfess… I’m not one of those bloggers who gets a race report up within a couple of days.  I’m doing well if I publish something a month after the fact.  So I hope you’ll bear with me, and I’ll try my best to post a recap of the Dahlgren Trail Half in the next couple of weeks.  Unless I give up social media for Lent, including blogging, which I’m seriously thinking about doing.  Then it will take even longer.  We’ll see…

–4–

I cache-fess… There are fourteen geocaches along the Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail where I ran the half last weekend.  Guess how many of them I’ve found?  One.  It’s the cache right at the trailhead, underneath the old railroad car that’s displayed there.  The rest are along the trail.  Last year when I came to run the race I couldn’t find it, and I made big plans to come back in the near future to avenge that DNF and look for some of the other caches as well.  Did I?  Of course not!  I did manage to find the trailhead cache this time around though.  Hopefully I’ll have some time to find more of them before next year’s race.  Otherwise I might have to bring a pen and get one or two of them during the race, like The Geocaching Vlogger did in 2015 when he ran his marathon in Minnesota.

–5–

I runfess… I count walks and hikes when I’m adding up my weekly mileage.  Some people might consider this cheating but I don’t care.  I’m moving my body through space from Point A to Point B, getting my heart rate up, and even working up a sweat. On Presidents Day I walked five miles with some friends from Life Runners, and the previous weekend our family hiked four miles on the Chancellorsville battlefield.  Nine miles.  Totally counts.

–6–

I runfess… I’ve been faithfully taking my weight-training classes twice a week, that is until this past Wednesday when I missed it because my middle son and I spent the afternoon and evening buying him a car.  I can’t think of too many things that are more unpleasant than to spend two hours haggling with a used car salesman. (OK, I can think of at least one thing.  Your husband having cancer.  That really sucks.)

–7–

I runfess… I’m starting to think about maybe signing up for Premium on Spotify.  A couple of weeks ago I accidentally hit the “try premium” button when I had it pulled up on my phone, and for a week of runs, I was able to stream my music with no commercials and I could skip as much as I wanted.  Now that I’m back to the old free version I kinda miss that.  I’d love it if someone tells me that it’s totally a ripoff and I’d be wasting my money and I shouldn’t bother.  (And if I give up listening to music on runs for Lent, like I did last year, it won’t matter.  Until after Easter, of course…)

This is where I usually post my stats for the month.  I’ll try and do that next week when February is over and I’ve run a few more miles (probably won’t find any more geocaches, though, but who knows?)  Have a great weekend and be sure to visit Marcia’s Healthy Slice for more Runfessions, and This Ain’t the Lyceum for more Quick Takes!

(OH!  I realized I should probably give you an update on my smashed foot.  It’s totally fine.  Thank goodness.  See you soon, I hope!)

Run(cache)fessions, January 2017

It’s time for RunFessions!  Thanks to Marcia’s Healthy Slice for hosting, and to Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum for hosting the Quick Takes.

–1–

I runfess… I’m not all that upset about the fact that I smashed my foot on Thursday morning when a cast iron pot fell on it.  It’s a long story that involves me cursing and yelling at my son for being careless about the way he puts leftover food away but that’s beside the point.  I’ll be taking it easy for the next week or so at least, and stick to walking and strength training.  Maybe I’ll have some time for geocaching now.  (If it turns out to be worse than I thought and I can’t run for a month or something, well…I might be just a teensy bit annoyed.)  A cancer diagnosis in your immediate family will do that, I think.  A smashed foot?  Meh.  No big deal.

–2–

I runfess…I finally had to give up on my Saucony Ride 9’s, which were giving me plantar fasciitis over the summer.  I thought maybe I could run in them sometimes, to extend the life of my Triumphs, but after an otherwise great 13-mile training run last weekend I finally had to retire them.  My feet hurt for the next two days.  On the bright side, the fact that they’re a size too big makes them great for wearing when your foot is smashed and bruised.

–3–

I runfess…running in snow is awesome.

–4–

I cache-fess…last week my training plan called for a 12-mile long run with a 10 minute strong finish.  After running about eight miles with a couple of friends from Moms Run This Town and then doing maintenance on one of my geocaches that I’d hidden along our route, I decided to run an extra mile so I could look for a geocache by the river near the Gari Melchers’ Belmont House.  And then I forgot to make that extra effort to finish strong.  But I did run an extra mile, so….

(Pretty stream that runs into the Rappahannock near the geocache)

–5–

I runfess…I suck at Train Like a Mother.  I’m trying to follow the “Own It” marathon plan to train for the Devil Dog Double in May.  It’s not a marathon but I want to train for it as if it were.  I need to be able to run 5 miles in 45 minutes, 2 miles of which are uphill, and then turn around and run the Historic Half.  Every time I do one of the TLAM interval runs that says to do this many reps for this amount of time with this much recovery, and you’ll cover this many miles, I end up running about half the distance they say I will.  Like, just last Tuesday I was supposed to run seven miles on hills:  10 minute warmup, 2:30 in Zone 4 with recovery as needed, do that six times, and cool down 10 minutes. And that’s going to take me seven miles?  Try three and a half.  So what to do?  Repeat the workout?  I did not. I went for a trail run instead.

And it happened at least once before, last week when I was supposed to run 5-6 miles and barely covered 3.  Again, instead of repeating the intervals I just ran easy to cover the miles.

–6–

I runfess… I couldn’t go to the March for Life this year because our preschool had parent-teacher conferences.  (Probably just as well because I don’t really have any business walking around DC with a hundred thousand of my closest friends the day after I smashed my foot.)  I am so blessed, though, because I can put on my LIFE Runners gear any time I want, and get together with our Fredericksburg chapter on a regular basis.  LIFE Runners rocks, I tell ya.

–7–

And here’s one last look at Christmas, from earlier in the month when it was Epiphany and they hadn’t taken down the decorations at church because Christmas wasn’t over yet.  I runfess…I wish Christmas decorations could stay up until spring.

OH!  And I almost forgot.  This book rocks.  Dean Karnazes is a beast.  I had a fangirl moment when he left a comment on my Instagram asking me to let him know how I liked it.  Well Karno, you amaze me and your book is fascinating, funny, moving, and awe-inspiring.

.

Miles Run:  82.3.  Wanted to run 100, but…smashed foot.

Miles on trails:  11.  More than 10%. Winning.

Geocaches found:  1.  So far.  January isn’t over yet.

Races:  None.  Probably none next month either and I’m totally cool with that.

Books Read:  The Road to Sparta by Dean Karnazes

Have a great weekend, and be sure to check out the fantabulous blogs by Marcia and Kelly!

RunnerCacher Resolutions for 2017

It’s time for my second annual RunnerCaching Resolutions post!  Last year I listed sixteen specific goals.  I nailed and even exceeded some of them, some I worked toward but didn’t quite reach, and some I completely bombed.  This year I’m dividing my resolutions into seven categories, and linking up with Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum for 7 Quick Takes; and a new-to-me linkup, Tuesdays On the Run which has THREE hosts! Thanks Erika, Marcia, and Patty! (And yes, I know today is Friday…don’t judge me…)

One:  Running

-Run at least 100 miles every month, or 1,200 miles total

-Run 10 percent of my total mileage on trails

-Run at least one trail race.  Maybe the Dahlgren Trail Half, maybe something different.

-Volunteer at a race.  At least one.

-Run with a group (or at least one other person) two or more times a month.

-Be more attentive and diligent with leading the local LIFE Runners and Moms Run This Town chapters.

-Learn to keep a 9-minute pace on a mostly-uphill five mile course.  And no more signing up for races after drinking wine.

Two:  Geocaching

-Find at least 100 caches.  This will require some planning.

-Hide three caches, and do a better job of keeping my caches maintained.

-Attend a geocaching event.  I haven’t been to one in over two years.

Three:  Faith

-Read scripture and pray EVERY morning.  Whether it’s a Blessed is She or LIFE Runner Devotion, or  my Walking With Purpose Bible Study–it doesn’t matter.

-Go to confession at least every three months

I have a patron saint for 2017!  Jennifer Fulwiler, a Catholic writer and radio host, created the Saint Name Generator that randomly chooses a saint for you.  My saint is St. Gianna Beretta Molla, patron of mothers, physicians, and unborn children.  My resolution is to get to know her better and live by her example.

-Grow closer to Mary and ask her to bring me closer to Jesus.

Four:  Nutrition

-eat at least 3 servings of vegetables every day

-Plan meals at least a week in advance.  I want to make only one or two trips to the grocery store every week.  And take my reusable bags with me when I go shopping.

-Quit buying wine.  Seriously, if it’s in the house I’ll drink it, and even a half a glass in the evening makes me lazy and messes with my sleep.  Save it for special occasions!

-Visit the farmer’s market every Saturday (with my reusable bags, of course).  This will take planning too, because normally Saturday is when I do my long runs.

Five:  General fitness

-Strength train twice a week.  I have a cardio and core class I go to every Wednesday night; that leaves one more workout I need to do at home.

-Get 10,000 steps EVERY DAY, no exceptions.

-Get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep every night.  Easier said than done.

Six:  Life, and other things

-If I learned anything in 2016, it’s to not take anyone or anything for granted.  It’s more important than ever to be present in every moment, and that no matter what challenges we might be facing, we can trust God to get us through.  I want to be fully present in every moment and be thankful and joyful even when I’m having a crappy day.

-Keep social media to a minimum.  Read a book instead. (And seriously, I don’t have to post EVERY run on Instagram.)

-Blog here twice a month, three if I have time.

-Take more photos with my DLSR camera.  Take it with me everywhere like I used to.

-Be more generous, more compassionate, more understanding.

Seven:  Words to Live By

For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self control. -2 Timothy 1:7

A live worth living is frenetic, disjointed, breakneck, and quite fantastic.  Balance doesn’t lead to happiness–impassioned dedication to one’s life purpose does. -Dean Karnazes

Stay afraid, but do it anyway.  What’s important is the action.  You don’t have to wait to be confident.  Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow. -Carrie Fisher

Do you have resolutions and goals for 2017?  Let me know in the comments, and be sure to check out Marcia’s Healthy Slice, My No-Guilt Life, MCM Mama Runs AND This Ain’t The Lyceum!  Happy New Year!

Run(cache) fessions, December 2016

And now for my December RunnerCache Wrap, AKA Run-cache-fessions!  Thanks to Marcia’s Healthy Slice for hosting this fun linkup.  I’m also linking up with Kelly for 7 Quick Takes.  Enjoy!

–1–

I runfess:  I entered the RunChat Holiday scavenger hunt again, and even though the odds of me winning for the second year in a row are slim, I made darn sure I found all the items on the list.  And I might have submitted more than the maximum twelve photos they require…accidentally…

–2–

I runfess:  I acted like a stalker on some of my runs, taking photos of random houses because I liked their decorations.

–3–

I cache-fess:  I had big plans to go running over the 2 weeks of Christmas break in places where there are an abundance of geocaches. Instead I mostly stayed close to my home on my runs–running past geocaches I’ve long since found–and the only cache I managed to find was one that happened to be near where I was taking a class to renew my CPR and First Aid certification.  I didn’t even do THAT one right because it was supposed to be a “night cache”, and I think I found it at about 12:45 pm.

–4–

In fact one day I got all dressed up in my running clothes, complete with my Santa hat, and drove out to the place where I had planned to run, find a couple of geocaches, and then do a little Christmas shopping.  I left later than I planned (typical) and on the way I decided, “Well, let me just go to this place first, then I’ll run…” and it was all over.  It was too cold, I needed to be home by lunch, etc. etc.  No running and no geocaching that day.  I runfess…I can get really lazy sometimes.

–5–

I think having “Paradise By the Dashboard Light” to my Spotify playlist helped me get that PR at the Blue and Gray Half.  I might or might not have been singing it at the top of my lungs at around Mile 9 of the race.  I runfess… I do that all the time.  In fact me and Gavin DeGraw have a unique and special running relationship.  And Rick Springfield?  He has a way of pulling me through the worst of running funks.

–6–

I runfess/cachefess:  I get all excited anytime I hear about some random person I’ve seen on TV who happens to be into running and/or geocaching.  Y’all know I am totally addicted to the Amazon Prime show, The Man In The High Castle, right?  It takes place in 1962, in an alternate universe where America is ruled by Japan and Nazi Germany because we lost World War II.  (We finished Season 2 the other night. It’s EVEN BETTER than Season 1.)  Luke Kleintank plays a chain-smoking,  drop dead gorgeous handsome young Nazi named Joe who meets a girl named Juliana (played brilliantly by the lovely Alexa Davalos), and he becomes so smitten with her that by the end of Season 1 he’s starting to think being a Nazi isn’t very much fun. So I’m surfing YouTube while back and I find an interview that Luke and Alexa did about a year ago, right before Season 1 came out.  Wouldn’t you know Luke likes to go geocaching?  He’s asked about it around the 3:07 mark.  The look on Alexa’s face when he’s trying to explain it to her, though…!

(OK. Dude.  I know it’s a hypothetical question, but putting cigarettes in a geocache is a big no-no.  The geocaching police would be all over you.  I like Alexa’s idea much better.)

I’ve been stalking following Luke on Instagram for a while, and he’s got at least one post on his feed about trail running.   Excuse me while I fangirl.

–7–

You would think from this post that I had a crappy running and geocaching month!  OK, for geocaching that would be a yes, but not for running!  I got a sweet half marathon PR, got to run with many of my friends from Life Runners and Moms Run This Town, and enjoyed lots of fresh air and beautiful local scenery.  OH, and I read a really great book called Nowhere Near First by Cory Reese.  It’s a very moving and inspiring story about an ordinary guy and his love for running.  (I now have a new epic run to put on my bucket list:  Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim.  Thanks Cory…I think…)

Miles run: 100.2

Miles on Trails: about 6.  Not enough! 

Group Runs: 1

Geocaches Found: 1 (But hey, no DNFs!  Woot!)

To the handful of you that actually read this, thank you!  Stay tuned for my Runnercaching resolutions for 2017.  Meanwhile, be sure to visit Marcia’s Healthy Slice for more Runfessions, and This Ain’t The Lyceum for more Quick Takes!  Happy New Year!

Year of Running (and caching) 2016

It’s time once again to post the highlights of my running and geocaching adventures in 2016!  I’m linking up with Courtney at Eat Pray Run DC.  It’s been an interesting year to say the least!

Best Race Experience:  The Blue Ridge Half Marathon.  Those folks really know how to put on a race.  I’ve come to discover that a race is like a party:  some are big and loud, others are smaller and low-key, but they’re all fun in their own ways.  Blue Ridge was my slowest half marathon, but I enjoyed every second of it and smiled the whole time.  There’s lots of parking, plenty of porta-potties at the start, and the finish party is amazing.

Best Run:  Do I have to pick only one?  Hmmm… maybe my 9-miler along the coast of Maui?  Maybe my last MCM training run which was supposed to be 18 miles but ended up being 21 because I felt so good?  Maybe one of the amazing group runs I participated in this past summer?  My amazing 14-miler I did just the other day?  Running the Dahlgren Trail Half in February, which was one of my strongest races and SO MUCH FUN?  I’m going down a rabbit hole here.  Seriously, I’ve had so many great runs I can’t just pick one!  Sorry, Courtney!

Best New Piece of Running Gear:  My Knuckle Lights.  I don’t hate running in the dark anymore!

Best Running Advice You’ve Received This Year:  Go For It.  Same as last year.

Most Inspirational Runner:  Katie.  She’s been through a lot this year and still finds joy in running and in her family and friends.  She doesn’t give up and inspires and encourages the people around her to be the best they can be.

(Me and Katie, on a chilly springtime run.)

Favorite picture from a run or race this year:  This one that Ray took of me at the Historic Half.  After a miserable race in 2015 I decided that my number one goal for EVERY RACE would be to have fun.  I can try my best and set time goals, but if it’s not fun then it’s pointless.

Race Experience You Would Repeat in a Heartbeat:  The Historic Half.  I’m going to run the Devil Dog Double this year (run the Semper Five Mile in 45 minutes and then immediately run the half marathon), which will be a challenge–OK, it’s going to be FREAKING HARD–but I still want to have just as much fun!

If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be?  I’ll give you one:  THANKFUL.  I’m thankful for the gift of running.  I’m thankful for the friends I’ve made on my running adventures.  I’m thankful for the amazing doctors who have been with Ray through his colon cancer journey.  I’m thankful for his health, and that he won’t need chemo because we caught it before it had a chance to spread.  I’m thankful for my family, my friends, my job, and my health.

Best geocache found:  Pu’u’ula’ula (GC18Z99), the Earthcache at the summit of Haleakala in Hawaii.

Best geocache found while running:  A tossup between A Sanctuary for Humpback Whales (GC64A94) on Maui and Virginia Highland Bibliophiles #1 (GC4K6JP) in Atlanta.

Milestones: 

500th cache (found March 28):  Leave It To Beaver (GC3GYVM).  I’m on number 570.  I’d better get cracking if I’m going to find No. 600 in 2017!

DNFs:  30

Total caches found in 2016 (so far):  83.  Dismal.  Maybe I’ll find a few more next week. I found some good ones, and ran over a thousand miles, though, so….

 

What were your running and/or geocaching highlights in 2016?

Head on over to Eat Pray Run DC to join the linkup!  Thanks Courtney for hosting!

Blue and Gray Half Marathon, Dec. 4, 2016

Welcome to my better-late-than-never recap of my eleventh (and fastest) half marathon!  I hope you’re having a great Advent season.  These last few days since school let out last Friday have been more lazy here than crazy, which is unusual to say the least.  I think my mindset has changed these last couple of years and I tend not to let myself get stressed out about the holidays.  Our cancer journey these last few months have reminded me of what’s really important in life.  (Things will get crazy here next week, though, when the relatives will be converging at our house for New Year’s.  It will be a wonderful celebration indeed.)

Going into the Blue and Gray race, I was already stoked about my 5K PR at the Turkey Trot.  If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know I usually run with the Galloway method in training and in races longer than 3-5 miles.  For half marathons I set my timer to a 1:30/30 run/walk interval (1 minute 30 seconds running, 30 seconds walking), and depending on how I’m feeling I might switch to 2:00/30.  This time I decided to start with the 2/30 interval, and it paid off!

The Blue and Gray Half Marathon starts and finishes in front of the VA Runner store in Central Park.  There is plenty of parking, and since it’s a small race I don’t think the parking lot ever fills up.  I arrived early though, so I could meet up with friends from Moms Run This Town and Life Runners before the race.

I spent so much time socializing that I didn’t have a chance to hit the port-a-potty before the race!  When the gun went off I thought, “well, I likely won’t PR here because I’m probably going to need to stop at some point.”  I started out running with a couple of friends for the first half mile or so before we got separated.

(I spotted this BAMR in the fabulous pajamas as we made our way down Cowan Boulevard during the first mile.  Turns out she’s a member of the Woodbridge chapter of Moms Run This Town.)

The first two miles are mostly downhill as the course heads down Cowan Boulevard and Hospital Drive (aka “Hospital Hill Road.”)  Then it levels off somewhat as it winds it way through the Fredericksburg neighborhoods and around the Canal Path loop.

Mile 1:  10:31

Mile 2:  10:05

Mile 3:  10:19

Mile 4:  10:12

About halfway between the 4 and 5 mile markers, I spotted a lone portapotty.  I don’t know about you, but whenever I pass one during a race, I’ll have this internal debate in my head:  “Do I REALLY need to stop?  Is there a line?  Should I see if there’s another one later on?”  I saw that it was occupied, but no one was waiting, so I decided to stop.  It was agony watching everyone run past me as I waited for the person to come out.  I debated just saying heck with it and keep on running, but dang it I had already lost precious time, so I might as well take advantage and at least run the rest of the race with an empty bladder.  The person FINALLY came out and after doing my business I turned off my timer and for the next mile and a half I ran at a fast-for-me clip without walk breaks.  I told myself I would regret it later, maybe crash and burn, but it was a risk I was willing to take!

Mile 5:  11:49

Mile 6:  9:13

Satisfied that I had made up some of the time I had lost, I resumed my run/walk intervals. Soon I spotted my MRTT friend Katie, who had come out to cheer on the runners.  She snapped a picture of me, gave me a quick hug, and wished me good luck.

Mile 7:  10:24

Mile 8:  10:00

Mile 9:  10:06

Mile 10:  10:24

Mile 11:  10:11

Here’s where the course heads back up the notorious Hospital Hill.  It’s the same one people dread when they run the Marine Corps Historic Half (and the one I’m going to have to contend with BIG TIME when I run that Devil Dog Double come May).

Mile 12:  10:33

Mile 13: 10:16

Mile 0.35: 8:51  (final rally to the finish)

Official Time:  2:16:46

Average pace:  10:26

PR:  1:47

When I crossed the finish line and saw the clock I could hardly believe it.  I did NOT crash and burn, and I ran this half marathon faster than I had ever run one, beating my previous PR of 2:18:33 at the 2015 Hokie Half.  Hospital Hill, potty break, and all!  I think the cold weather that day helped, and truthfully I’ve built up a pretty good base this year training for the Marine Corps Marathon.  Even though I ended up not running it, all that training paid off in the end.

I want to ask you to pray for a friend who I’ve never met in person.  Kim has a wonderful podcast called Our Catholic Way, where she interviews people who have converted to Catholicism.  She reached out to me a few months ago and in September she interviewed me.  I had a great time chatting with her on the phone!  Before she had the chance to air it she found out she had breast cancer, and she had surgery earlier this month.  Please keep her and her family in your prayers as they go through this difficult journey!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!  Hopefully I’ll have a chance to post here at least once before the New Year.  As they say in Hawaii (‘cuz we went there this summer and all)…Mele Kalikimaka!

(If you haven’t seen my posts about our wonderful trip to the islands this past summer, check them out here and here. Merry Christmas!)