Sunday, July 26th, 2020
Some pictures from the Kensington Marathon. Marathon #159 for me!
Another REAL/Official race!!!! My first official marathon since February!! Wow! Marathon #159 complete, 26.2 miles!! 😁😁 The Kensington Marathon is always such a great race! 🙂🙂
(Marathon #159 due to my crazy mileage challenge in July. See below. 😜😜)
Exactly 5 years ago on July 26th, 2015, I ran my FIRST HALF marathon at Kensington, after an 8 year hiatus of running and racing!!! I was so excited to run that half marathon in 2015, and I was hooked after it. Now, 5 years later, I have completed 159 marathons and ultra marathons. Yikes. (Yes, some are unofficial, but I count the total for me just because I like to keep track.) So today, I wore the same outfit I wore 5 years ago! HA HA! 😂 Note: I do look the same in 2015.. Well, my hair has changed.
The Kensington Marathon is such a great race too. The park is beautiful, and the course is great with rolling hills. Love this place!! However, it was very hot and humid, and there's very little shade. 90% humidity at the start. By 10am, the heat index was 100°F and remained that throughout the day!! Wow!!! HOT!!! 🥵🥵 The temperature got up to 92°F, and the dew point was 72°F, so very hot and humid. Regardless of the temperature, it was an enjoyable day. Lots of birds to see! Only bad thing, a goose followed me at mile 12!! Yikes!!! Geese are strange birds. 😮😮
I did run very slowly for this marathon because it was very hot, but I don't care. It is ok!! Forward is forward. When it is very hot, I tend to fall apart, so I took it very easy and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery and got followed by a goose in the process. Ha ha! Nothing wrong with running slowly, especially when there's a heat index of 100°F!! Actually there's nothing wrong with running slowly in general. Forward is forward. You are fantastic!
Shout out to the race director, Rick!!! He did a fantastic job with safely putting on a great road race during a pandemic!!! The start line was spaced out, and you were assigned a number to stand on at the start. We started in zones, just like how you are called to board an airplane at an airport! You wore a mask at the start line and at the aid stations too. I am extremely thankful that this race happened, and I am very glad I ran it. Thank you to my runner friend Scott Struck for the last minute the race entry too.. Much appreciated! 🙂🙂🙂
July Mileage Challenge! ⬇️⬇️
Back story... So, I started a July challenge. 30+ miles a day... Well, today was just a marathon but still...
I have been doing this by running, walking, hiking, and biking.. I split the mileage up into 3-5 segments/times a day. (early morning, morning, afternoon, night, late night) So, it takes me 8-11 hours total of running and walking to get the 30+ miles. (3 hours or less if biking.)
Yes, I am going very slowly with running, no shame. Yes, I sleep, more than you think. Yes, I know it's a crazy idea. Save the comments. Ha! 😜😜
So... This is the reason why there's been 19 ultras completed in July... Only counting unofficial ultra marathons that I run/walk, not bike.
19 days in July- ➡️ 30+ miles of running, walking, and hiking (19 ultra marathons #141 thru #159 completed, 18 unofficial, 1 official.)
11 days in July- ➡️ 30+ miles on my exercise/stationary bike
And YES. I am well-aware that these ultra marathons are unofficial. I count the total for ME, NOT Marathon Maniacs, ME. My total. I covered the distance, therefore I include them in my total. I like numbers and keeping track of things too, therefore I keep track of my total, unofficial and official. It is ok.. Do what works for you, no one else.
Kensington Marathon Back Story/History: ⬇️⬇️
The Kensington Marathon will always have a special place in my heart. 5 years ago on July 26th, 2015, was where it all began... I had just started running again after an 8 year hiatus. Running was my life when I was younger, and I was glad to be back.. I signed up for my first half marathon a few months before I did it. I was scared. It was my first race in almost a decade too, but I went out there and ran my first HALF MARATHON. 13.1 miles, only. HA HA!! I loved it, but I wanted more. I wanted a full marathon. Fast forward to October 2015, I ran my first marathon at the Detroit Free Press Marathon. I was hooked. Ha. By 1 year later at Kensington in 2016, I was already on marathon #10.. And then I went overboard. HA. I am a bit of an overachiever, or I like to run A LOT. 😉
As a kid, I ran fun races, and I ran cross country and track. Loved it! I was a fast run back then. Ha! I always had dreams of becoming a marathon runner or an ultra runner because I read about in a Runners World Magazine when I was a teenager. I always wondered what it would be like to run 100 miles. I figured that out many times though. Ha! I jokingly said I would run a 100 miler and run the Boston Marathon when I was like 14 years old. Little did I know that I would run a 100 miler, 18 of them actually!!! (Some unofficial 100 milers, but again I count the total for me.) I still have not qualified for the Boston Marathon, maybe one day when I am like 80. HA HA. 😂
Well, someone once told me that I couldn't run marathons because of my funky feet and many other reasons. (I walk like a duck because my feet stick out. They are crooked. I can't help it, I was born this way.) To run a marathon was my dream as a kid, but it was crushed. I believed this person for so long. I didn't believe in myself. Truthfully, I have been bullied a few times. We all have at some point. Then a series of very traumatic events happened and kept happening, including my dad's suicide in September 2006, and I stopped running for 8 years. My dad's suicide hit me hard.. I fell apart. Miss you, dad. Truthfully, his suicide still hurts. 💔 My spark was gone. Running was my passion too. I went thru many trials, tribulations, obstacles, and hardships along the way. Some bad situations, bad jobs/bad work environments, some scary stuff, bullying, and just bad luck in general. I survived. I am a survivor of many, many things. I have left some toxic situations too, and I am proud of that strength to leave.. Whoa.. I am proud.. I am seriously going to write a book.. You would be amazed at what you can survive. Seriously, you can survive a lot. We have all been through some crazy things in the past. It helps shape us.. You deserve the best too. One thing I learned is "keep moving forward." Fall 10 times, stand up 11 times. Seriously, keep going, keep trying, keep moving forward. There's nothing you can't handle. No storm is too big. You'll eventually get where you need to be, just keep moving forward.
Then, shortly after my son turned 2 years old, I expressed interest in taking up my old hobby again. (Harry's birth alone was traumatic. Ha! 6 days of labor and an emergency c-section later. Thankful we were both ok. No wonder I waited until he was 2 years old to try running again. Ha ha.) Scott that I wanted to run a marathon. His response, "Just go for it." Ok! 🤷♀️🤔 It all started with trying to get our dog to lose weight. I didn't even have running shoes anymore but didn't care. I wore all the "wrong" clothes but didn't care. I hadn't ran in years (besides a mile here and there or going for walks), but I went out and ran 9 miles on zero training that day in February 2015. That hurt the next day.. For real. Ha ha! Then, it became a regular thing, and I bought running shoes again. I took my dog for runs, and the spark I had came back. I worked hard and realized I CAN make my dream come true. I started running marathons in October 2015, and well you know the rest... Believing in yourself is key.. ❤❤
NEVER believe someone who tells you that you can't. YOU CAN!!! Believe in yourself and you are half way there. I once thought I couldn't run a marathon, but here I am. 159 marathons and ultras later.. I love marathons and ultras so much, I do them on my own now without races. I just love it... YOU CAN DO IT. Anything is possible. Your dreams are possible. The sky is the limit! YOU CAN DO ANYTHING. Also, never believe the doubters and the haters. Never believe the people who start rumors. Get rid of the negativity and hatred. You got this. You can do anything!! Trust me, you can do anything.
Running does so much for me, and so many adventures have happened in our lives because of it. I'm thankful for the relief I get from my anxieties when I run too.. Running is my sport, but it is also my therapy. Thankful. It's amazing.
As you've probably guessed too, I think "outside the box" when it comes to just about anything. I am super creative with everything too, and I love projects. I've always been a bit quirky, weird, and creative. It is fun!! So, this brings me to the pandemic. All of my races were cancelled from March thru June. Some in July, August, and September were cancelled too! Wow! To stay trained and motivated, I decided to use my creativity to create my own races at home with the help of my son. It turned into math lessons, running, and more! This was awesome. Running + creativity + your own unique races = total awesomeness!
This brings me to the Stay at Home Order of the pandemic. I created crazy running challenges and adventures too. I did this for 12 weeks. It helped with my anxiety over the situation, gave my family and I more adventures, and it brought me joy. I shared my story all over the world. I am featured in the the local Fox17 news twice, Aravaipa Strong Virtual Race YouTube show, Running 4 Soles Podcast, Canadian Running Magazine, Insider news, and Run Society Magazine in Asia!!!! I am forever grateful for that opportunity. I love being known worldwide. I love sharing my story. I truly believe that you CAN do anything, and I hoped to show people this. You are possible. Your goals are possible. You are good enough. ❤❤
Stay at Home Order Running Challenges:
March 15th to June 7th. 1,631 miles
Week #1: 5 marathons
Week #2: 7 marathons in 7 days
Week #3: 100 mile run in my backyard/house
Week #4: 100 mile run in my backyard/house
Week #5: Staircase Mt. Everest climb and 50 miles
Week #6: Aravaipa 100 mile run inside my house
Week #7: Covid-19 mile run inside my house
Week #8: Mother's Day Backyard Ultra, 50 miles
Week #9: Roll the Dice, 131.53 mile run
Week #10: Head Goat 50k (31 miles)
Week #11: Double Mt. Everest climb and 120 miles
Week #12: Sasquatch 100 mile run
Believe in yourself!!! You ARE possible!! Be yourself too!! ❤❤❤
