I am flying!! Just went through the aid station not even a kilometre ago and realized I’d managed to complete the front half of this race in about 2 hours, 15 minutes. I’m in last place, which I’d expected, but honestly I’d figured I’d be so much slower – I’d guessed I’d come in at … Continue reading
It’s threatening rain. I just checked the weather forecast an hour ago – on two different apps – and both said NO RAIN. So I am not wearing my hat, nor am I mentally prepared for rain. A few raindrops hit the car windshield. But I’m holding out hope. After all, as hubby points out, … Continue reading
It’s nearly 5pm. Having started this run consisting of 5 laps (of approximately 20 miles each in McDowell Mountain Regional Park near Phoenix, Arizona) almost 11 hours ago, I’ve spent much of it under the hot, hot, hot, OH SO VERY HOT desert sun. And it’s really zapped all my energy – I’m in my … Continue reading
“I know you won’t believe me… But I’m never doing another 100-miler again!!!” I make this declaration at exactly 1:00am on Sunday, November 5th as I sit in our car, which is parked only a few spots down from the Rattlesnake Aid Station’s main tent, trying desperately to both get warm and not fall asleep. … Continue reading
We pull up to the campground that is Baker Lake 50K start line with a good half hour to spare before the race is to begin… And so far all has gone to plan. Perhaps most importantly we’ve not gotten lost or taken any wrong turns en-route to the start line, so that itself feels … Continue reading
“You know what’d be a really good idea for me to do?” I ask this of hubby as I’m madly going through information I’ve pulled up on the web. It’s a rhetorical question of course so I don’t wait for him to answer. Instead I almost shout out the answer. “Run Finlayson Arm 100K race as … Continue reading
I pop out of the bushes and onto a bit of a gravel road – I can hear people cheering. Is this the Quest University aid station already? Indeed, as I turn a corner I can see that it is. People are clapping as I run up and turn to my left where there are … Continue reading
Last year I ran the Jack & Jill Marathon (in North Bend, Washington) and despite having skipped out on speedwork came away with a near personal best of 3:32. This immediately got me thinking – if I ran such a great time not properly trained, what wonders might I be capable of running fully trained? … Continue reading
About 6 months ago I began toying with the idea of running longer than a marathon. Why 100 miles immediately became my obsession I don’t know. Last year I was obsessed with running 100 miles in one week… And it was so exhilarating to accomplish this goal. I suppose 100 miles in one go was only … Continue reading
When you’re doing something for the first time, there’s going to be a certain amount of unknowns, no matter how much research you do. I was as prepared for this ‘race’ as I possibly could be – but there were many lessons I would soon take away. Because when you run for 24 hours in a … Continue reading
Upon popping out of the trails onto the Sea to Sky highway I saw two volunteers standing there, waiting to help runners cross the busy road. As they helped get us safely across, they told us that aid station #5 was just ahead. But I couldn’t see it. I thought THEY might have been the aid station but they … Continue reading
As you may have noticed from hints in my previous post, I’ve taken a little deviation from my training for a faster marathon and decided to dedicate this summer to running farther. Naturally that means ultra marathons… And as an individual who pretty much is an ‘all or nothing’ type of gal, once I looked … Continue reading
It’s been 5 months since I last popped on here to blog about my running. Frankly it’s because I’ve felt there isn’t much to talk about. Basically, I stopped getting faster and started posting times in races that looked more like PW’s (personal worsts) than PB’s (personal bests). And why in the world would anyone … Continue reading
First, let’s start with the good news: my Fall Classic half marathon this past Sunday went down pretty much exactly as expected. I sandwiched it in between a 5½ km warm-up and a 5½ km cool-down for a total of nearly 32km. Overall, a great training day. I didn’t have a chance to grab an espresso before … Continue reading
My gosh, what an amazing time I had today at the Great Climate 10k Race! It was an awesome race for so many reasons, not least because I totally smashed my A, B, C and D goals (which I’ll get to in just a minute!!). But mostly it was such a great race because it showed me I’m all … Continue reading
I don’t really know where to start with this one, so I’ll just dive right in. This past Sunday I ran the Long Beach Marathon. I went into it with high hopes of a personal best of sub 3:30 and come out with an official result of DNF. DNF. Did Not Finish. In reality I actually did … Continue reading
So here I am, enroute to run THE race (and totally road tripping it to get there!!). My upcoming Long Beach Marathon, 2 days away now, is the race that has deemed all other races I’ve run over the past few months ‘training runs’. THIS is the one that actually counts. As if to say the others … Continue reading
It’s Sunday, September 13th and I am awakened by the cute tune I set my alarm to play. It’s one of the little music jingles on my iPhone that hilariously enough makes me want to do a little dance at any normal hour of the day. But at 4:30am I just want to smack it … Continue reading
It’s been two and a half weeks since I ran my BMO Vancouver Marathon. I set out originally hoping to break 3:21 (apparently a bit of a long-standing goal now). This goal was adjusted based on training to a sub 3:30, which I honestly felt was doable. But I crossed the finish line in 3:35:07, … Continue reading
With a terrifyingly loud BEEP BEEP BEEP, I am rudely yanked out of the doze I’d just fallen into. It’s 3:00am but I’ve been awake since midnight. At the stroke of 12, my eyes had just popped wide open and sleep eluded me for the next 3 hours – other than that blessed doze I’d … Continue reading
The hour arrived (6am, Sunday morning, on July 27th, 2014), it flew by (42.2km / 26.2mi), and then it was over. Okay, so it didn’t really ‘fly by’. But for so many weeks upon weeks of focusing and prepping for this one single event – The Eugene Marathon – it did kinda feel like it was … Continue reading
There are some races that are just so much fun, you almost want to turn around and do it all over again. The Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon was one of those races for me. In fact, experiencing a Rock ‘n’ Roll race made me super excited I’ve signed up for Vancouver’s inaugural RnR … Continue reading
A LOT has gone down since I last swung in here to say hi. So much in fact I hardly know where to start. So here’s the short ‘n’ sweet synopsis. I really didn’t hit any of my mileage targets and I didn’t really do any of my planned workouts… But I did run a bunch of half … Continue reading
Back when my dermatologist suggested I come in for surgery on Tuesday, April 22nd – I quickly checked my calendar, saw it was the week leading up to the Sun Run… And agreed. When I look back now, I wonder if I wasn’t giving myself an excuse. I’m scared I’ll never PB in the 10k … Continue reading
RunFasterSarah (my running adventures) 