Saturday morning, it was pouring rain when I woke up, but I got dressed anyway to meet the running group at 6 a.m. However, when I got there, no one else had showed up. I briefly thought about just running by myself in the rain, but I decided to be a pansy instead and go back home ha. I did at least make it to the Weekend Warriors workout later that morning.
It rained most of the rest of the day, finally letting up in the afternoon. I still didn’t run though. We just hit a couple places to get stuff for tailgating before the race the next day and then went to dinner in the village.
Sunday was race day! It was nice and sunny here in Carlsbad, but chilly. It was probably going to be even colder in Fontana, so I layered up. I wore under my sweatshirt the same Under Armour top I’d worn in the 50K a few weeks ago when it was 15 degrees haha. I also took a winter coat, a beanie and gloves, and a fleece blanket for the stands, and I used all of it. I have become one of those people.
Last year, our first time going to that race, we’d parked in a lot close to Turns 1 and 2, and it was very easy to get in and out. This year, I chose a lot near Turn 4. Apparently, that was the popular one. It took us a lot longer to get in and out. Still not anywhere close to the worst parking situation I’ve ever seen at a NASCAR track though.
We met three of Clark’s colleagues, all guys in their mid 20s who were going to their first NASCAR race. We had a fun time in the parking lot grilling some burgers and brats, and then we headed in the track.
We got there just in time to see the field go by to take the green flag.
The pole winner, Christopher Bell, coming to the line to start the race.
View from our seats coming out of Turn 4.
It was a good race. Kyle Busch won, his first with Richard Childress Racing, which he joined this year after 15 years at Joe Gibbs Racing, and Kevin Harvick got a top five in his last race here (he is retiring after this season.)
It’s crazy how much snow is on the mountains. Last year, the first year we got to go to this race, there wasn’t any snow at all, and I’m pretty sure I wore flip flops and a short-sleeved shirt. Such a weird winter here.
Clark’s friends were headed to a casino next, but we decided to sit in the parking lot and call my parents while we waited for traffic to thin out. Once we left, it was a quick ride home, and we were back — and in a scalding hot shower — by 7:30.
I’ll miss this race next year but I’ve got my fingers crossed they really reconfigure it like they say they’re going to and reopen it.
Today, we didn’t go to the gym, but I did get in an easy run, 5 miles at a 9:04/mile average.
It’s been a crappy weather week here, and it’s supposed to continue into tomorrow. I am so tired of all the rain we’ve been getting this winter!
Monday, I ran 3.2 miles at an 8:54/mile average, and then I went to a HIIT class at the gym.
Tuesday, I ran before work, 4 miles at a 9:16/mile average. There was no track workout that night, so I went to the gym for a Swole Patrol class.
The wind had started picking up that evening, and by the time I woke up Wednesday morning, it was in full swing, blowing at a sustained 25 mph. It wasn’t raining though. So I thought “I used to run in wind like this all the time in Delaware!” and headed out for my run.
The first mile wasn’t bad, headed toward the beach. The problem was when I got there. The wind was blowing the sand right off the beach, across the highway. It wasn’t so bad going south along the coast for the next mile, but when I turned around to go back, I was running directly into the sand stream.
I even crossed the four-lane, divided road to get as far away from the sand as possible, but I don’t think it helped much.
Headed down into the sandblast area.
Trees in the wind along the median.
It was painful! I was trying to keep it out of my eyes, keeping one completely shut and the other only open far enough to see where I was going. My teeth were getting coated in it though, and — I’d forgotten this part of running into heavy sustained wind — I was drooling uncontrollably out of one corner of my mouth. Glamorous haha.
There was no other way home though because of the lagoon, so I just had to power through that windblown sand. It was miserable. I was so glad to finally make it to the right turn to head back toward home!
That was one of those runs I wasn’t really that glad I’d done it when it was over. I got in four miles at what turned out to be a 9:55/mile slog thanks to that headwind. It took forever to feel like I’d gotten all the sand out of my hair in the shower.
That evening, I went to the gym for Glute Lab, and then I met the running club, minus the running part ha. The wind was still screaming and none of us felt like dealing with it, but we still wanted the post-run beers and food part.
Thursday, I was able to run after Glute Lab, unlike last week, so I did a not-quite-a-tempo run. I (mostly) sped up over the first 3.8 miles — 8:56, 8:30, 8:12 and then 8:22 pace — and then I took the last mile easy at 9:31 to finish 4.8 miles at an overall 8:43/mile pace.
Managed to avoid all the rain passing to the north of us (right of the sun in this picture.)
Today is Friday and it’s windy out again, though we’ve not gotten most of the rain that was in the forecast. I still didn’t feel like going out in the wind though, so I took a rest day.
I’m not sure what running I’ll get in this weekend. I’m currently planning on meeting whoever comes out for the run club tomorrow morning, but it’s supposed to be raining again, so we’ll see who shows. Or if I do ha. I’m sure Clark and I will do the Weekend Warriors class at least.
And then Sunday, we’re going to the NASCAR race in Fontana! We’re leaving early to tailgate with a couple of Clark’s coworkers who’ve never been to a race before, so I won’t be getting in a run that day for sure.
They’ve been saying for a few years now they were going to reconfigure the current 2-mile track into a 3/4-mile track. But the latest news I’ve read is that it’s going to be a 1/2-mile track now, and there’s no definite plans for the reconfiguration, just that this track — in any configuration — will not be on the schedule for 2024. If it’s ever on the schedule again will have to be seen. I just read today NASCAR has sold off all but 89 acres of the current 533-acre site. Is that even enough for a half-mile track? I don’t know. So this could very well be the last race ever in Fontana.
If that’s the case, our closest track will either be Phoenix or Vegas, both four to five hours away.
I skipped Friday’s post, so here’s a recap of everything I’ve done over the past week.
Last Monday, I ran 3.2 miles at a 9:25/mile average, and then Clark and I went to a HIIT class at the gym.
Tuesday morning, I ran before work, 3 miles at a 9:07/mile average. There was no track workout in the evening because it was Valentine’s Day, but Clark and I did go to a Swole Patrol class at the gym before we cooked some nice fresh salmon at home.
Wednesday morning, I ran before work again, 3.1 miles at a 9:10/mile average. In the evening, Clark and I went to a Glute Lab class. We’d never done this one before but, as the title implies, it really works your glutes. Lots of squats, lunges and RDLs. Our legs were toast when it was over!
We met the running group anyway, but Clark joined the walkers and Shawn and I just did a very easy 2.3 miles at a 9:58/mile average.
Thursday, I’d planned on a tempo run, but I put it off to Friday because my legs and butt were so sore ha. I ran it Friday instead, when I’d normally take a rest day.
I did a mile to warm up and then ran 2.5 miles at a harder effort: 7:47, 7:51 and 7:57 pace. I eased up again for the last 1.3 miles for a cool down, running a total of 4.8 miles at an 8:31/mile average.
Another beautiful evening!
Saturday morning, I got up early and met the run club again.
Small turnout because it was “so cold” ha.
I ran with Kathy, 6.4 miles at a 9:26/mile average. Later that morning, Clark and I went to the Weekend Warriors workout.
We went to Oceanside that afternoon to get another plant for Clark’s office (that room seems to be cursed for house plants but we keep trying.) We stopped by Stone, where they had their annual Girl Scout cookie/beer pairing available. Always delicious!
Sunday morning, a nice breakfast sounded a lot more appealing than a run when I woke up, so Clark and I went to Shorehouse Kitchen in the village, then drove down to San Diego to get some new bedsheets.
We got home in time to see most of the Daytona 500, and then some of his co-workers who are at a job site in San Diego stopped by for dinner.
And that brings me to today. I’m about to go do a short run and then go to a HIIT class. Clark had to go down to that job site this afternoon but he’ll be back this evening.
After a couple weekends of traveling, it was nice to be back to my regular schedule here at home.
Friday, I had to go into my office again (this was scheduled — not because of any more technical difficulties with my laptop.) I didn’t run in the morning before work because they tell you not to do any strenuous exercise for 24 hours after a blood donation. And then after, I could’ve gotten in a few miles before sunset now that the days are getting noticeably longer, but I had a little bit of a cold working on me and I was so tired, I instead went straight to bed for a couple hours when I got home.
I woke up a little before 7 p.m. and had some dinner. I wasn’t sure I was going to want to get up the next morning to meet the running group, my head was so stuffed up. I took some NyQuil, set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. and decided to just see how I felt when it went off.
Is NyQuil magic? Because I slept like a rock and felt 100% better when the alarm went off. I didn’t think twice about getting up to meet the group at 6 a.m.
Karen is a blur because she was leaning forward to give Shawn bunny ears haha.
Karen and I had agreed the day before on 10 miles. Maybe that sounds like too much a week after a 50K, but I want to keep up a base, including a long run of 10-12 miles every weekend, and I didn’t want to let myself weasel my way out of that right off the bat ha.
Kathy wanted to do eight miles, so she joined us for the first four until she turned around. Karen and I ran another mile out and then turned around too. We sped up on the way back and finished all 10 at a 9:35/mile average. And I didn’t feel too sore either.
I’d intended on going to the Weekend Warriors workout that morning, but I’d canceled my spot the day before when we settled on the distance, since I wasn’t positive we’d be done in time for me to get there. It turned out we were done in time, and I’m sure the coach wouldn’t have minded if I’d dropped in, but 10 miles felt like enough activity for the day. So I went home, made a cup of coffee and went back to bed.
The rest of the day was pretty lazy. I had only made it as far as our couch when our friend RJ invited me to meet him and his wife Gina at Carlsbad Brewing Co., which I took them up on. Other than that, I just vegged out at home the rest of Saturday.
Sunday morning, I got up and ran a very easy 3.2 miles at a 9:27/mile average.
Then I went to the gym for a special Super Bowl workout. I haven’t been in the gym — or done anything other than running — since New Year’s Eve, and I knew I was going to feel all the squats and push-ups the next day! We also got in about another half-mile of running.
The turnout for the Super Bowl Super Swole workout.
From there, I went straight to the airport and picked up Clark, who is finally home after about a week and a half in Maryland for a sales meeting. I also picked up one of his colleagues who’d been in Maryland for the same reason. He lives in Encinitas, and after we dropped him off, Clark and I went to La Papagayo in Leucadia for brunch.
Finally we came home. We’d been invited to a Super Bowl party, but Clark was wiped, so we wound up just staying home for it. It was a good game though.
Today, I’m planning on going for a short run before Clark and I go to the gym. We are part of another challenge that started last Monday, though we both almost completely whiffed on the first week — Clark because he was out of town and me because of a combination of work, the blood donation and getting a cold. This one is a “buddy challenge,” in which we’re only competing in teams of two, so Clark and I at least only screwed ourselves right out of the gate out of possibly winning anything haha.
I almost lost my fingers just taking this picture before sunrise the morning of this year’s Algonquin 50K. My phone doesn’t respond to my gloves, so I had to take them off for 10 seconds. My fingers were already burning from the cold when I jammed them back in. The breeze — which had thankfully died off from the gusty winds we’d had the day before — was cutting through every stitch of clothing I had on, even the heavy winter coat I was still wearing over my running clothes.
“I can’t do this, I can’t do this, I can’t do this!” was all I could think.
Well guess what, I was wrong! I did, in fact, suck it up and run the race. Once I got going, the winter running gear I’d dug up from totes in our garage worked as well as it always did, the course was dry in a lot of places and frozen in the places it wasn’t, and Susan and I kept each other moving until we’d finished 32.1 miles in 6:22:09. Not my fastest time, but not anywhere close to my slowest either, despite only hitting a max training run of 15 miles (do not recommend, by the way.)
Going back to Friday. I took a minute out of working from my aunt’s house to run to Walmart for a crucial bit of equipment for the race — Hot Hands. I’m not sure they even sell them here ha. But they had the whole product line in Maryland. I considered just making a suit out of them for the race.
Ultimately I decided the toe warmers would be awkward to run on and, with my luck, cause blisters, and the body warmer would be too warm once we were running. So I just got the regular hand warmers.
Once Clark was done at his office, we packed up and went to Salisbury. First stop was packet pickup at Hopper’s Taphouse. I got my bib and this year’s T-shirt, as well as a roll-up fleece blanket (we could pick between that or a fanny pack), and I bought a beanie, because I only have two others they’ve given away before, so obviously I needed another.
We also got another Dewey Beer/ALQ can koozie, a magnet and a little sample-sized tin of Squirrel’s Nut Butter.
We ran into Mike and Melissa, who were running the mile 24-ish aid station again this year. Mike tried to convince Clark to come party at the aid station in the cold the next morning. I knew that wasn’t happening haha. I don’t care how much beer was promised!
Mike sporting the cutoff warning sign that would be placed a mile before his aid station.
Next stop was Kelly’s house in Delmar, where we had pizza for dinner with her, Corey and Reese, and Gretchen and Susan. Susan and I were the only ones running the next day and we kept hearing how glad everyone else was they didn’t have to be outside for hours. I’d been hearing all week from my mom and brother about how cold it was supposed to be Saturday morning, and when I talked to my Aunt Helen earlier that day and she asked about the weather forecast, she said “And they’ll still have the race when it’s that cold?” and then “Why’d they pick February? Don’t they know how cold it can get?” It’s hard to explain the potentially terrible winter weather is kind of this race’s “thing” haha.
Finally, Clark dropped me off at my friend Melissa’s house in Salisbury, where I’ve always stayed the night before this race. She wasn’t running this year, but was finishing up her prep work to volunteer at the mile 19 aid station. I helped her fill up two 6-gallon jugs with water, and then we set our alarms and went to bed.
First thing I did when the alarm went off Saturday morning was check the weather app on my phone. It was as bad as they’d said it was going to be — 15 degrees, feels like 5 with the breeze.
Melissa and I left her house around 6 a.m. and arrived at the race start at the Milburn Landing Area in Pocomoke River State Park about 45 minutes later. She had to get to her aid station to help set up, so she dropped me off there.
Wow, it was COLD. That’s when I wandered down to the river and took the picture at the top of this post. I then ran straight to the pavilion to stand next to the fire while I waited for Susan to get there. Another guy near the fire was talking about the overnight 50K all the Delmarva Ultra Challenge (DUC) runners did before ALQ. Yes, that’s a total of 100K in two separate races over a less than 24-hour period, and the overnight one is in a secret location — different every year — the runners themselves don’t hear about until two hours before the start. Crazy!
Susan arrived and I tried to find her car so I could drop all my post-race stuff in it, in case Melissa wasn’t back from the aid station yet when I finished. I gave up and went to the bath house to hit the bathroom one more time — that’s where I found her. So we trekked back to her car together, which she’d been directed to park about as far away as it could get, in a parking lot I didn’t even know was there. We had about five minutes to get to the start line for the start at 7:30 a.m. sharp and wound up having to run.
We got to the back of the crowd just as the race dictator was sending us off, so we just kept running over the timing mats. The 2023 ALQ 50K was under way!
The first few tenths of a mile are across a wide lawn and then a paved road leading to the trail head. It’s always a conga line on the first section of trail, so I didn’t want to get stuck too far back like we have before. We passed quite a few runners before we got there, but we were still a little farther back in the pack. Nothing to do about that now, so we just got in line and followed everyone in front of us.
I couldn’t find a picture from this spot with Susan and me in it but this is a good visual of how bumper-to-bumper the first part is. Michaela Young photo.
We ran the first few miles in the 11- and 12-minute range, a little slower than I wanted. But then we popped out of the woods at the first aid station, and past that, we got on a wide dirt road. Things spread out a lot more there and we sped up to the 10- and even 9-minute range.
Then we got on a wide grassy trail that usually has the first unavoidable wet spots of the race. Sometimes that first trail section has been wet, but if it’s not, it always gets muddy here.
Not sure where we are, but this is the only picture where you can see our bib numbers made a palindrome. Joe Andrews photo.
Well not this year! Thanks to the cold, almost everything that might have been wet was frozen. It was so nice to not have to deal with feet soaked with icy cold water the whole way this year. We were still trotting along at a good clip.
I believe this was somewhere around the 15K (mile 9.3) mark. A frozen mud bog. Craig Young photo.
Then we arrived at the mile 10 aid station. They had SMITH ISLAND CAKE!
Banana and red velvet!
I had a big chunk of banana Smith Island cake and it tasted like heaven! Susan grabbed a couple PB&J squares here too, with a Bloody Mary shot, and we were on our way. That mile slowed again to 12:42 thanks to that spread.
The only thing they didn’t have at that station, unfortunately, was a port-o-potty, which we’d both really been looking forward to using. So we went on our way and scoped out somewhere to go in the woods back on the trail.
The next section is the infamous Algonquin Beach, a mile of pure sand, slightly uphill. I used to think it felt straight uphill ha. It’s just scruffy pine trees along the trail there, so we held it a little longer.
Finally, in the 12th mile, we were back in the woods. The trail took a sharp turn in one direction, so we ran off in the other to find somewhere to take care of business. We both felt a ton better after that stop, but it slowed the 12th mile to 13:23. Worth it!
The next few miles, to the mile 15 aid station, (and on the way back past mile 19) are where we usually hit the worst mud. Well they were mostly frozen too, at least along the edges. There was one piece of thin ice I stepped on and went through, soaking one foot, but it dried off and warmed up again surprisingly quickly. That was the only time the whole race either of my feet were wet or cold.
At the mile 15 aid station, I just grabbed a white potato wedge and got my bottle topped off.
The next four miles are an out and back. It feels like it gets longer every year! But we were still moving steadily and clicking off miles in the 10-minute range.
They got a new official 25K sign this year. It’d been stolen last year and a handwritten replacement was here.
We saw Melissa at mile 19!
Melissa was the first women’s champ of this race, in 2017, and the one who talked me into running it the first time!
The next stretch is always the low spot of the race for me. It’s 5-ish miles to the next aid station and I’m getting tired — especially this year, since I’d topped out at 15 miles in training — but there’s still too far to go.
So Susan and I broke out the alphabet game. We’d come up with a subject, like dog breeds, and take turns thinking of one for each letter of the alphabet. It helped keep my mind off how bad everything was starting to hurt, but we still slowed a bit here, to the 11- and 12-minute range.
Not long before the next aid station, Susan was trying to think of a dog breed for ‘K,’ and blurted out “King Charles cavalier spaniel!” just as she blew past the caution tape and flags she hadn’t noticed, marking a turn on the course, because she was so excited to come up with an answer. We laughed about that one for a long time!
I made her pose on the other side of the caution tape haha.
Not long past this, we made it to the party aid station at mile 24. Clark wasn’t there of course haha. But they did have Pepsi (with ice crystals!), white potatoes covered in salt and pickle juice, with or without an extra kick of vodka. I had one of each.
Only eight miles to go. We laughed about when we ran this race with Kelly three years ago and as we left that aid station, she tried to convince us to go on without her and she’d “catch up” with us later. We knew she was just going to turn around and go back to the aid station and drop, so we didn’t fall for it ha.
The next few miles, we were still keeping each other moving, though neither of us objected if the other wanted to take a walk break. It was getting tough!
My least favorite sign. You finished a marathon, keep going!
The first aid station was also the last, at mile 28 now. I tried to eat a gummy bear but it was frozen. We ran on to tackle the last chunk of the course.
It always feels rooty-er on the way back than it did on the way out, and I always slow down even more here. This year was no exception, as we slowed into the 13-minute mile range. I was still faster than last year though, when it was muddy and my feet were covered in blisters because I was running my fourth ALQ in a row in the same pair of shoes (I got new ones after that and didn’t get any blisters this time.)
Leading a line of runners near the end of the trail. Michaela Young photo.
Finally, we emerged from the woods for the last time, ran up the road again and across the lawn to the finish arch at the pavilion by the river, where it’d all started.
Smiling again because it’s fun when it’s almost over! Craig Young photo.
Officially, I finished in 6:22:09 — 21st woman of 86, and 66th overall of 195 total finishers. Our race dictator, Trent, handed us our mugs — Susan’s second and my seventh. This year’s has a course map on it.
It felt so good to sit down! But it quickly felt cold again too once we stopped running.
My finisher’s mug, chocolate peanut butter Smith Island cake and Maryland crab soup.
Susan and I made the long hobble back to her car so I could change into dry clothes, because I was going to hang around. She wanted to get home and take a hot shower though. Definitely couldn’t blame her for that one.
She dropped me off back by the pavilion. Melissa was already there, and Clark got there not long after. We had a couple of the free beers provided by Dewey Beer Co. and stayed until everything was shutting down.
Clark and I headed to Berlin from there. We stayed at his parents’ place that night. I got to meet their new dog, Cookie! They just adopted her. They were told she was 2 years old, but she definitely seems closer to puppy age. She is so sweet (hence the name.)
Cookie!
She’s already running the place haha.
I was pretty sore Sunday. I felt like the guy on this can of Dogfish Head Walking Run.
Minus the extreme speed flames.
We left Berlin and stopped in Salisbury at Evo Public House to get brunch, and then we went to see my parents. My mom, Clark and I then went to see Dave, Kasey and Kaylee, and their new puppy, Banks, which they had just brought home the day before.
Kaylee has been wanting a dog for ages, and they thought they’d finally found one that Kasey — who’s allergic — would be able to live with. Banks is a Bernadoodle and was supposed to be hypoallergenic.
Unfortunately, he’s not. Things seemed like they were working out at the time, but Dave called me Tuesday and said Kasey’s allergies flared to the point she was having trouble breathing. It wasn’t going to work. Kaylee was beside herself, and couldn’t see why allergies were such a big deal — until she had a big reaction herself. Turns out she’s allergic to dogs too, including Banks. She’d just never been around one long enough to react. What a crappy way to find that out!
So he went back to the breeder and has already been rehomed with a new family. I’m glad I got to meet him once but I’m sad I’ll never see him again. He was also a very sweet dog, who just wanted to be held. And I feel so bad for my brother and his family.
Played so hard he couldn’t get on the bed before he fell asleep!
Clark and I went back to my parents’ house and tried to watch the Busch Clash there, but it was taking so long because of all the cautions, we wound up going back to Aunt Helen’s house before it ended.
I went straight to bed, but I couldn’t get to sleep. I guess I’d eaten something that had not sat right, because I was up all night going to the bathroom from both ends. It was miserable.
Monday morning, I couldn’t tell if I was so sore from the race still or the long night of dry heaving. I haven’t been sick like that in a very long time. Fortunately it seemed to have passed, whatever it was.
But it still made for a lousy trip home. My flight didn’t leave Baltimore until 3:30 p.m., but I had a three-hour trip to Minneapolis, a brief layover, and then a nearly four-hour trip to San Diego. It was 8:30 p.m. Pacific time — eight hours later — when I finally landed.
Tuesday, I went to the office. In the evening, I met the running club at the track in Vista for intervals. I didn’t run the workout hard though. We just did eight 400s, and my paces ranged from 8:16 on the first one to 6:51 on the last. I got in 2.8 miles.
Wednesday, I ran before work, 3.1 miles at a 9:22/pace, and then I met the running club that evening for another short easy run, 3.1 miles at a 10:10/mile pace.
And finally, today, I didn’t run, but I donated blood, wrote this blog and got all seven ALQ 50K finisher mugs together for a family photo.
I’m in Maryland, where it is freezing cold and very windy! Good news — the wind is supposed to die before the 50K tomorrow morning. Bad news — it’s supposed to be about another 20 degrees colder. But like I keep telling myself, at least it won’t be raining, so it can’t be nearly as bad as two years ago!
I had a light week of running, since I have 32 miles to run tomorrow.
Tuesday, I got up before work and ran 4.8 miles at an 8:41/mile average. That evening, I met a few others from the running group at the high school for a track workout. We had the stadium all to ourselves other than one random student out there running laps. I can’t remember the last time that happened.
We did one 1200, two 800s and three 400s. I wasn’t feeling especially peppy. My splits were 5:32 for the 1200 (7:20/mile pace), 3:34 and 3:40 for the 800s (7:06 and 7:16 pace) and 1:43, 1:44 and 1:39 (6:52, 6:43 and 6:26) for the 400s. With a warmup and cool down, I got in another 3.3 miles.
That ended January. I don’t have my little day planner with me with all the individual weeks totaled, but I do know I finished the whole month with 130.3 miles, which is the most I’ve run in a month since January last year.
Wednesday was the first day of February. Before work, I ran 3.1 miles at a 9:07/mile average.
Very calm ocean that morning.
In the evening, Clark and I met the running group in Vista, and he and I ran a hilly 3 miles together at a 9:53/mile average.
Thursday was a rest day. We flew to Maryland and drove to my aunt’s house in Preston. She’s back in Kentucky so she’s letting us stay here again.
And today is also a rest day. I brought my computer so I could work today. Later, I’m meeting Melissa to go to packet pick-up for the race, and then we’re going to Kelly’s house for dinner, along with Susan. I’m staying at Melissa’s tonight as usual.
I’m mostly excited for tomorrow! I wish it was going to be a LITTLE warmer, but I brought my fleece-lined tights and a buff, so I think I’ll be fine once we get moving. Susan and I are going to run it together, and Kelly and Melissa are both volunteering at aid stations this year, so we’ll get to see them along the way.
A Simple Running Log 