Michelle Runs With It

If you ever lose faith in humanity, go experience the 26.TRUE Marathon in Boston. It’s diverse, it’s supportive, it’s accepting, it’s JOY … it’s what this world needs and everything we want to raise our daughter to embrace, to spread and to be. The vibes Pioneers Run Crew brought on Saturday were fire!! Running is an intimidating sport. It can make you think you have to be a certain body type, have the right gear, be a certain speed, and live somewhere safe or have $ for a treadmill or gym membership. Running is supposed to be inclusive and bring joy, make you feel worthy just the way and where you are.  After hearing about this event from Alison M. Desir's book "Running While Black," I began following the Pioneers Run Crew on Instagram . Alison talks a lot about the exclusivity of the sport. Races that require qualifying times, ridiculous registration fees, routes that intentionally avoid certain neighborhoods, and not seeing yourself reflected in photos, social media a...

Official Time: 12:31:31 ( a 50-miler PR) I did it. I’m not sure how, but I crossed the finish line yesterday of the Bull Run Run 50-miler. It had been an intimidating race from the moment I shared with others who had run it in the past. I heard all sorts of stories - the infamous Do Loop, the rolling hills, the unpredictable weather, the tough cutoff, the rocky sections that might trip you up later on. I also heard about how it was one of the most beautiful races with the BEST volunteers. I chose to keep the latter in my mind!  Although the “BRR” makes me think of cold weather, and years past it has snowed and stormed and apparently gone through all 4 seasons in a day one year, yesterday’s weather was not what anybody was prepared for. It was hot and humid with cloud coverage most of the day … until the sun came out at 3:30pm and scorched your left side as you ran along the waterline of Occoquan River.  It being early April, I was not acclimated to 90% humidity. For a few mile...

  Everything was going fantastic … until it wasn’t. Last minute, I decided to attempt a 50k PR of under 6 hours (I know that’s not fast for most but for me it is). I knew the course was long, more like 32 miles. The first 20 miles, I kept at a great pace and super speedy for me. I enjoyed the solitude, scenery and runnable course. There were only 4 aid stations so I had to simultaneously eat a lot, but keep it moving. At about mile 22, my right shin flared up a bit. I’ve never had shin pain before until the last week. Fortunately, the soft muddy ground kept it tolerable. The sun came out and I warmed up quickly. I ate all of my salt chews, Gu, and drank water regularly. I ran mostly solo as I tried to run my own race and not get in anyone else’s groove but my own. This was not easy for me, I love to chat and make new runner friends! Two runners got in my head about the distance of the 50k being closer to 33.5-34 miles and the last miles around Clopper Lake being the most challengin...

  Superb Owl LIX Sunday!! “Kicked” it off with  Baltimore Road Runners Club  Super Bowl Trail 7-miler through the gorgeous, hilly trails of Cromwell Valley Park!! I’ve raced these trails 4 other times - 3x in the dark. This was the first on icy mud/leaves/rocks but was surprisingly my fastest! BBQ pulled pork sandwiches at the end were delicious! Grateful for friends who love starting the day in the woods!!

I heard about this race a couple years ago on a trail FB group. It honors an incredible 44-year old woman who ran over 300 marathons and ultras who was taken too soon after battling breast cancer. These were some of the nicest runners!! This “fat ass” (or self-supported) race had 3 distances - 50k was free, and 24-hours and 100-mile races were very affordable. Runners traveled from all over the country to run the only 100-miler in Delaware, including a Jester from California :) We ran with some wonderful folks, including Mike who will be at my big race in June, a couple we met at Fire On the Mountain, a gentleman from Missouri with a lovely Irish accent, and the RD Jon who was so friendly. He continuously encouraged us to run more loops to get to 50 miles. After slipping and sliding for 32 miles, we were good! So grateful for Lori’s company, who always makes the miles fly by, doesn’t mind walking, taking photos, enjoys forest bathing, and so eloquently describes what we both needed tod...