Running

A beautiful day for a Fall race! After I finished and caught my breath, I joined the rest of my run group to cheer on the half marathoners. 

My first attempt actually racing a 5K. It was a little more hilly than I anticipated, but SO much fun. I placed first in my age group and enjoyed celebratory cupcakes at the end. 

My first triathlon! The challenge included a 40 mile gravel bike ride, 12 mile kayak, and a 13.1 mile run back upstream. I still can't believe by body carried me 65.1 miles without stopping. Somehow I managed 2nd in my age group and 11th overall female. The kayak ended up being the hardest leg because the river very low and I found myself just focusing on keeping my boat upright while dodging rocks and falls rather than focusing on just moving forward. The run was for sure my strongest leg and I finished with a big smile on my face.

This was my first trail race and it took place in one of my favorite nature preserves in NC. The race offers all three H's: hot, hard, and hills, but the views of the giant longleaf pines were worth it! 

I finished shoulder to shoulder with another female in my age group. Felt like a racer...but most certainly am not. Proud I set my PR this day with lots of friends running it too!

Its hard to explain the first marathon feels... it's amazing, and tiring, and emotional, and uplifting all at once. Fueled by sweet potatoes, salt tabs, and encouragement from my run family, I finished my first full marathon...something I never thought I would do, but certainly imagine I'll do again.

I don't normally invite my family to my races (usually because they live so far away), but this one was different; my mother in law was visiting and got to experience the race spectator culture for a day. She even recorded my finish which was a sweet surprise and I placed third in my age group.

It was a HUMID 65F morning in December...Raleigh's weather is really is unpredictable. Nevertheless, the race was fun and I managed to be in the top 75 women to finish earning me a finishers mug :)

This was my first half marathon! Never did I ever think I could run more than 5-6 miles until a group of friends I worked with at the time talked me into signing up and boy am I glad they did! We called our trio the IBX Run Club (short for Infinity Biologix - a covid lab that we all worked at) and we had several post work runs leading to a DQ blizzard at the end. I don't even remember following a training plan for this, I just winged it and somehow managed a somewhat reasonable time for my first ever half!