I Run These Towns

I started this blog about a year ago with the story of falling in love with Washington, DC at the age of 16. It's been 17 years since my first visit to our nation's capitol, but if anything I only love it more. I'm sure my husband gets tired of me saying, "Look at this urban design! On street parking! Mixed use development!" and on and on.  Coming up from the Foggy Bottom Metro stop where the love affair began. This weekend we visited the D.C. area to visit some friends and relax. I did something I rarely do on vacation - I didn't run. I took running clothes, and I intended to run. But on Friday night one glass of wine turned into, um, several, and on Saturday afternoon cocktails turned into wine with dinner. I decided to relax, let go, and actually sleep in.  We discovered a few weeks ago that flights between Detroit's Metro airport and Baltimore-Washington International are really reasonable, and we decided on a whim to book a trip. We arrived a...

This year I entered the New York Marathon lottery for the second consecutive year. I'll tell you a little secret - I even splurged on the cute 2012 training shirt. I kind of thought this could be my year, and I was equal parts excited and dreading getting in. I found out today that I didn't get in this year, and I breathed a sigh of relief. For the record I look adorable in this shirt. Last year I blogged about the excited possibility of running New York, and it's still a dream of mine to do the race.  I'm already running the Green Bay Marathon next month, and I find that when I am training for a full I don't get the opportunity to run as many small races as I'd like.  I obviously would have run the New York Marathon if I'd gotten in, but I can't pretend I wouldn't have been a complete stress case over it this year.  My race calendar is really starting to fill up this summer. In addition to the full next month, I've decided to run nine...

On Sunday the City of Lansing hosted the inaugural Lansing Marathon . I'll be honest - I didn't have high hopes based on the organization (or lack thereof) prior to the race. I registered months ago, and I didn't receive an e-mail confirmation. Apparently this was the case for many runners according to the complaints on their Facebook page. The course changed several times, and I was concerned that the race would be a hot mess. At the end of the day, though, the race was very well done and extremely organized. I was thoroughly impressed. 5K runners in front of the Michigan Capitol Buildin g This was my 9th half marathon, and I realized again how nice (and convenient) it is to run a race so close to home. On Saturday my husband and I headed to Cooley Law School Stadium (home of the Lansing Lugnuts minor league baseball team) to pick up the race packet. It was a cool idea to have the expo on the mezzanine of the stadium, but it was a chilly and windy day.  The swag at ...

I like to think I'm kind of a tough guy, but I admit it - I'm afraid of the swim. It's the swimming part that keeps me from doing a triathlon. It's not that I'm a bad swimmer. I practically lived at the pool in the summers as a kid, and I was even a lifeguard as a teenager. But something about an open water swim terrifies me.  Seriously - this looks terrifying I have friends who have done triathlons, and they're hooked. It also seems like a great way to get balanced exercise instead of just running. I keep thinking I'm going to do it, and every time the swim holds me back.  I'm also really particular about how things work, and I have no idea how a triathlon works. What kind of bathing suit do I wear? Do I change after the swim? I should wear goggles maybe? How do I get my bike to that station? Really the entire thing freaks me out. It seems like a natural progression to go from runner to triathlete. It's a new challenge, and it's one that ...

One of my favorite Twitter hash tags is #firstworldproblems. It helps illustrate those silly things that we (we being relatively well-adjusted, happy, healthy people) consider our problems. Recent posts I've seen include things like whether to get Starbucks hot or cold or the pressing problem of going shopping and not finding anything to buy. I've been dwelling a lot lately on what I'll call my first world problems. My marathon training is not exactly going as planned after a few weeks of struggling with Crohns. My planned 20 mile run last weekend turned into my being able to only run 13. I say "only" like 13 miles is nothing to write home about. It is - it's a big deal. And even though I am taking new meds and am coming out of a Crohns flare-up, I was "only" able to run 13 miles. I was seriously depressed after the run. It takes me writing it down to realize how ridiculous that sounds. My husband and I are traveling to DC in a few weeks to visit...

The movie "The Bucket List" with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman undoubtedly has people now saying what's on their bucket list - the things they want to do before they die. For me, this includes cities to visit and races to run. Of course it includes a lot of other things too, but cities and races top the list.  P.S. One of the saddest movies ever. I have a dream of visiting Paris. My husband and I travel frequently to lots of different places, and somehow my dream vacation, Paris, keeps passing us by. In my head Paris is the perfect place with beautiful, walkable streets with cafes, museums and shops. When I list the eight assets that make up a 21st century community (physical design and walkability, green initiatives, cultural economic development, entrepreneurship, multiculturalism, messaging and technology, transit and education), I imagine Paris has them all. Of course this leads to the possibility that I may ultimately disappointed when I visit Paris, but I ...

I love getting my copy of Runner's World every month. It's like Christmas. I initially flip through it once and then read it cover to cover multiple times. I particularly love the ads at the end for races all across the country. That is where I've discovered several races to do including the Knoxville Half Marathon last spring and the Pensacola Double Bridge Run a few months ago. I love this issue with Kara Goucher on the cover. She'd recently had a baby. Seriously. In the May edition, editor David Willey discusses how we are all beginners at some point, and how runners really cheer on beginners so they can become one of us. My paraphrasing  of the editor's letter makes runners sound like a cult. And we're not...exactly. I am flattered to frequently get questions from those who are beginners. It makes me so excited for them that they are starting, and once they get past the initial hatred of running (trust me - we've all been there), there is somet...

I fully admit that I tend to be rather unsympathetic about what I consider minor health complaints of others. I consider things like colds, allergies, and other such ailments to be an inconvenience not a reason to stay home for work or lay on the couch. A few years ago I listened to testimony in a legislative hearing where a Crohn's patient was crying about not being able to leave the house. Come on lady, cry me a river. I've got Crohn's. Crying isn't going to make it better. And not leaving your house is just depressing. There is no nice way to say that Crohn's Disease is a giant pain in the tail. Literally. It's been 14 years since I first became sick, and it has gotten more difficult to pretend like I'm feeling well like I did when I was 19. I think I put on a pretty good face most of the time, and people are generally surprised that I have Crohn's and run as much as I do. That doesn't mean that some days aren't harder than others. I am so...