Category: All
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The Lilac Bloomsday Run: An Epic Journey of Ordinary Heroes
On Sunday, May 1st I raced in the Lilac Bloomsday Run, a 12K that’s been held annually in Spokane, Washington since 1977. The race was created by Don Kardong, who while on a training run with a buddy likened running a race to an odyssey, an epic journey. He charted a course that would be […]
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Fields, Flowers, and Alpacas: A Corvallis Half Recap
This past weekend I raced in the Corvallis Half Marathon. I had mentioned to my coach Greg that I was interested in trying some new races this year and this was the first one he suggested. I’m so glad he did! I had never been to Corvallis, which is home to Oregon State University and located […]
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A Song of Wind and Rain
Let’s be real. Who in their right mind races a hilly 9.3 miles at the crack of down in the cold, wind, and rain as a rust buster out of winter training year after year? It’s a Portland thing, apparently. Last weekend I raced the Shamrock 15K Challenge for the fifth time since moving to […]
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Tales of a Slacker
Back in grade school, my classmates and I got to pick an instrument we wanted to learn and play in the school band. I chose the flute because I thought it looked the most delicate and pretty. The sounds it made as I was learning how to play? Not so delicate or pretty. I was […]
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Venturing into the Hills
And just like that, it’s 2016! I resumed running after a long hiatus at the end of December which made for a perfect transition into the new year. It turned out I had actually cracked a rib from excessive coughing (pneumonia, the gift that keeps on giving!). Bad news for my rib as it will […]
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Taking a Hvilepause
Hvilepause: a Danish word meaning “interval for rest”. I’ve been struggling with how to approach this post so I’m just going to say it. I have pneumonia in both lungs and haven’t run in over three weeks. I lost my voice and can’t breathe to full capacity. In the beginning I lost my appetite along […]
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I Left My Shoes in Berlin
This has been a year of many firsts and my recent trip to Berlin, Germany was no different. I ran my first international marathon, and for the first time, got to start a major marathon up front with the elite runners. As I mentioned in my last post, I was feeling a little uncertain about […]
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Reflections of a Citizen Runner
In less than a week, I will toe the line at the 2015 Berlin Marathon. As I reflect on my training and how ready I feel for the race, I’m a little uncertain. I blame that partially on what I call the taper crazies, in which I feel like I’m totally out of shape from not running […]
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Berlin, Here I Come!
I can picture it now… I’m dashing through the streets of Berlin. The Brandenburg Gate is looming in the distance. Sweat is dripping from my brow. My legs are heavy and my lungs are ready to burst. The clock is ticking. The crowds are going wild. Someone hands me a Berliner Pfannkuchen which I promptly […]
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Great Expectations
2014 was a breakthrough year for my running. I spent the first portion of the year regaining my fitness after a setback from injury, then later in the year I knocked four minutes off my half marathon best and fourteen minutes off my marathon best. My train of thought was, if I can run those […]
Mercury on the Run 