I Run These Towns

We accomplished a LOT this year. A lot of running, a lot of traveling, and all of this with two busy jobs. I ran eight 5ks, four 10ks, one 15k, one 10-miler, two half marathons and 15 miles of a full marathon before it got called for the heat. In addition we traveled to West Virginia (7 times), Pensacola, FL, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Green Bay, Chicago, Traverse City, MI, Boyne Highlands, MI, Maine (via a road trip), State College, PA, Mackinac Island, MI and Norfolk, VA. Later this week I'll head to Tyler, Texas to see my bestie rounding out a year that in retrospect I can't believe we managed to stay sane. After one of my 5ks. I feel as exhausted as I look in this photo. All of this challenge and business has almost succeeded in taking my mind off our nearly 10-month wait to adopt a child. I do know, however, that we need to travel as much as possible now before we have little ones. I don't plan to stop traveling, but I know it'll be a bigger challenge. ...

Santa and I are BFF. And by Santa, I mean my husband. This wonderful man hates buying me running stuff, and yet I always get lots of it for holidays AND he indulges me on all my race trips. My Santa kind of rocks. I have three big races coming up in the spring - the Winter Blast Half Marathon, the Cherry Blossom 10-miler and the Pittsburgh Marathon. My trip stocking runneth over. Now I am wondering what Santa will bring me to wear in those races.  It goes without saying that I will wear West Virginia gear in the Pittsburgh Marathon. I have three pairs of WV shorts and WVU tech pants, so I need a cute top to wear with. I am partial to the Under Armour shirts I'd gotten on some of our trips, but I can't find a WVU one like it. Maybe Santa will have more luck. I have dozens of tech shirts, so I'm always looking for cute bottoms. I've been coveting a colorful Brooks skort for a while. I also love Running Skirts gear. My coveted Brooks skort But in addition to ju...

I wouldn't consider our life isn't exactly "normal". Maybe nobody actually has a normal life, but ours is consistently crazy busy. I sometimes look ahead through my calendar and wonder how we'll do it all. But even with the insanity that is our life, the last six weeks or so have just been insane. Insane, unmanageable, and absolutely exhausting. It was extremely ambitious to go out of town four weekends in a row. It's a lame duck session year for the Michigan legislature, and that meant very long days and nights at work for both of us. We even had to board our dogs at one point because we didn't think we'd be able to get home and let them out. At the end of last week, after two straight weeks of working constantly and feeling tons of stress, the legislature adjourned for the year. That means a month or so of legislature-less bliss. Except we didn't really think about timing when we scheduled our annual Christmas party the same weekend...so after ...

I admit it - I'm in a running rut. I like to pretend like that never happens to me, but it's happening now. It's been crazy at work, and my miles are WAY down. Last week I got up early to run one morning, and it was raining. Usually I just run in the rain anyway, but I though heck with it. I'm not training for anything right now, so I can do some cross training instead. On Saturday I set off to run 6 miles in the snow and ran half that. I wasn't tired, I wasn't injured. I just wasn't motivated. This happens to me sometimes particularly in the winter, but this is the worst rut I've had in a while. I started running in 2006, and after three half marathons in less than a year I took about two years off from running. My IT band problems were significant and not healing, and I wasn't motivated. In the four years since that significant rut I've run another seven half marathons, two marathons, and dozens of 5k and 10k races.  I need to figure out wher...

In college I did two of my foreign language requirements in the form of a study abroad program in Bamberg, Germany. At the age of 19 my German became quite fluent, and I also pushed the boundaries of my European legal drinking status. In the process I fell in love with the history and sense of community of cities in Europe - the small, cobblestone streets; the vibrant downtowns; the walkability; the public transit. I took a public bus for the first time in my entire life in Bamburg (they don't have them in Hundred, WV). There's something about European cities that is so intimate and familiar. I didn't realize at that time I was discovering my love of place and community. When my husband and I visited Stockholm in 2009, more than ten years after my first trip to Europe, I was advocating for communities and knew exactly what I was looking for in a place. Like the cities I'd been to in Germany, Stockholm was also rich in history, walkable cobblestone streets, and green s...

This morning I got up early and ran a hard, fast run. My legs were throbbing, my chest was burning, and it felt amazing. Had I known how stressful this day was going to be, I would've done a few more miles. I don't know how people who don't run or work out deal with stress - it's the best way to get ready for a stressful day. My job can be stressful, and we're in that legislative lame duck session time when days are long, tempers are short and without squeezing in a run I fear I may murder someone. It's the time when I am trying to make heads or tails or 1,000 different legislative issues, and someone (generally me) is taking a shot across the bow. It's a time where everyone is punchy, adversarial, and we're all a little short with one another. It's this time of year that running is even more critical. It gives me time to reflect on the trials I've had in my life, and to think bring it, lame duck. Hit me with your best shot. I deal daily with...