Race Recap: Mobile Half Marathon

Last fall, my WW cohost Holly and I talked about a winter half marathon. I preferred not to repeat another swampy half marathon like last February's Mercedes. Holly threw out a couple of suggestions for January. When she mentioned Mobile to me, I was interested. First of all, the course is flat. There was also the lure of southern charm, antebellum homes, and the gulf coast. Teresa and Karen had expressed interest about a winter half, so we made Mobile a girls' weekend.

When a black Friday discount became available, we sealed the deal. I booked my flight and was Mobile bound!

Book Review: Late Air by Jaclyn Gilbert

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

 "Maybe people became the best and worst versions of what you projected onto them, she thought--they became the stories you told yourself, so they filled the holes of your own story, the ones you didn't want to look."~Jaclyn Gilbert, Late Air 

It's pretty rare to find fictional books about running, much less good fiction about running. Most of the running fiction books I've read have been about as exciting as the treadmill. I was excited to see Late Air by Jaclyn Gilbert as a new release and I wanted to read it, but I checked out the reviews before I committed to it.  Combined with positive feedback and a Kindle deal (which is still a bargain at 5.99), I downloaded the book and immediately dug in.

I couldn't put it down. In fact, I moved it to the top of my list of books to review for 2019. It was that good.

Proceeding with Caution

After a rough start to 2019, this week things settled down nicely. I was ready for a do-over! After my back injury, I was a little nervous about my plans to travel south to Mobile to run a half marathon with Holly, Teresa, and Karen. I'm preparing this post in advance, so I'm optimistically telling you to check my Instagram to see how things turned out for us. For the most part, I behaved myself all week, so there's no reason to believe anything would go wrong....

I'll recap the weekend and the race on next week's wrap up. For today, I'm sharing some highlights from my very low-key week. 

How to Be A Runner

In the very back of the last couple of issues of Runner's World, there has been a recurring feature called How to Be a Runner. "Regular runners", people like you and me, select their preferences of all things running from a list. I kind of love stuff like this. I'm heading out of town to run a race as we speak and I thought this would be the perfect lazy blogger post for a Friday.

Feel free to copy and paste your own answers!

Pop! Goes the Ego

Starting the new year with an injury was not part of the plan. But you know what they say about plans...and the universe is laughing at me once again. Instead of finishing up some miles in preparation for my half marathon next weekend, I'm spent most of the week sitting on the couch with a heating pad on my back. Nursing a dislocated sacroiliac joint and a bruised ego.

There's nowhere to go but up from here.

Coffee Talk

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. 

Happy New Year! I can't believe that the holidays are over and we're already into the first weekend of 2019. That also means it's time for our monthly catch up over coffee! What will you be having? I've got some Starbucks Holiday blend in my cup, with a spoonful of GLG Collagen Hydrolysate (in fact, I just restocked) and some half and half.

Tell me what's new in your world?

2018: It Was a Very Good Year

As a runner, it's always fun at the end of the year to reflect back on the year of running. At last year's end, I wrote that for 2018, I was going to "dial back the intensity a bit" and "be a little kinder to myself". I didn't set any goals for 2018, instead deciding to let the year unfold as it would. Still adjusting to living with RA, I didn't want to set myself up to fail and I sure didn't want any DNS. I also wanted to continue to practice yoga and work on strength via CrossFit.

Regular readers of the blog know that 2018 was a very good year for me. I've shared my triumphs, which were many, as well as my trials, which were few. For the most part, RA was pretty quiet. I had a few flares which always freak me out but were well-controlled with a burst of steroids. I did have my knees injected during the summer. My most recent bloodwork shows low RA activity. I still agonize over my loss of speed and endurance, but I've come to the conclusion that instead of blaming RA, menopause and aging are the more likely culprits. I can blame them for my thickening midsection too!

It's been a fun year, with less of a focus on the destination and more on the journey. I've had a lot of company--on my runs, at my races, and off the road too. I'm so grateful that I have been able to continue running! Here's my year in review. I'm not going to share specifics about races--you can find links to this years' races under the tab above.