runners

Processing the Cleveland Marathon

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 7 Comments

I have had a hard time processing all the events from last week’s Cleveland Marathon. More than a week has gone by, and I’m still trying to put to words how I’m feeling.

The highs – the Ambassador race VIP dinner, working the Expo with fellow Ambassadors, and of course finishing the races under less-than-ideal conditions.

But the low – the passing of Taylor Ceepo – has been running through my mind all week.

I’ll start by saying I did not know Taylor. I had never met her. I do not know her family and cannot fathom what they are feeling. Unfortunately the only connection I have to her is running the same race – the Cleveland half marathon – and running by her after she collapsed.

So why do I feel so connected to her? Why on after the race did I have a hard time going to sleep, reliving the moment that I ran by her on the ground, her mom and boyfriend standing over her, each time I closed my eyes? Why did I find myself choked up on my first #RunForTaylor on Wednesday? Why did I find myself hugging my own daughter a little tighter as I thought about what Taylor’s mother must be feeling?

I can’t help but feeling like I don’t have a right to feel this way. I don’t have a right to write a post like this. Who am I to be talking about this at all? But after reading some thoughts from other local runners, I realize I am not alone. We are all grieving for this woman. Because we are all part of a community. One of my running friends and a fellow ambassador Andrew explained it this way:

We [runners] all have different routines, different speeds, and different backgrounds. But we all have two things in common; a goal to finish and a love for running. This is what brings us together.

We lost one of our own this day. And our hearts are broken. Our hearts are broken for the spectators who witnessed [it], the race staff, the runners who shared the course, the first-responders who were unable to revive her. Most importantly, our hearts are broken for the family and friends of this young woman.

So thank you, Taylor, for reminding us of the community that we are part of. For reminding us of how lucky we all are. I will keep on running for you and your family in the weeks ahead. #runfortaylor

Happy [Almost] National Running Day! 10 Running Confessions

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 5 Comments

Tomorrow is National Running Day. So in honor of the [almost] holiday, here are 10 running confessions. After writing these, I now realize how slightly crazy I am.

[make your own National Running Day badge here]

Runners are indeed crazy. How many of these confessions can you relate to?

1. Stay away from me on days I don’t run. Day when I don’t run are really really really difficult. After getting injured, I know it’s important to take days off – but in my world, days off are on the elliptical or a long walk. You do not (I repeat- do not) want to be around me on days when I have no activity at all.

2. I’ve gotten used to porta potties, thanks to races. I realized this a few weeks ago when I was hiking with my family and the only bathrooms in the camping area were outhouse-like and I thought to myself, wow this is better than a porta potty.

3. I will wake up at an ungodly hour to run or get in some sort of workout. Especially if I’m traveling. When we went to Asia we had to be at the airport by 6 a.m. Meaning I woke up at 3:55 just to get in a quick workout before our super long plane ride.

4. [Warning, slightly gross] It has taken me years but I can finally run and spit – yes, I’m successfully not spitting on myself! But sadly, I have not yet mastered the running/snot rocket thing yet.

5. Whenever I see someone running and I’m not (I’m at work, in a car, etc.), I immediately feel jealous and guilty like I should be running even if I already worked out that day.

6. All NIKE, Gatorade, UnderArmour, [insert other brand here] running commercials give me chills. And then I must immediately go find them on YouTube and rewatch them over and over again.

 

7. Since getting injured training for my first marathon, I have no desire to do that again. I may be scared – or just stubborn – but I may never do a full.

 

8. I wish I had more running friends because I just want to travel to all the races and spend weekends seeing new cities and doing new half marathons. Who’s in?

9. I wish running were totally normal to do all the time. Like, as I’m walking places I often think that it would be so cool if we all just ran everywhere and nobody looked at us funny. How more efficient would it be if I could just run to all my meetings or run to dinner with friends? Or what about running meetings – instead of sitting all day, I’d love to have a running meeting or two.

10. It’s taken me about seven years (yes seven) to consider myself a runner. Have I run a full marathon? No. Am I fast? No. But I’m still a runner 🙂 (see 1-9 above)

[felt like i had to insert an awkward race photo here]

[felt like i had to insert an awkward half marathon race photo here]

Some questions for you:

  • Runners – how are you celebrating National Running Day tomorrow?
  • Can you relate to any of these confessions? What running confession would you add?
  • May be gross – but can you spit while running? Snot rocket? (I can’t believe I now have a blog post with the term snot rocket in here twice … now three times)

Looking Back at 2013: A Year in Running

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 2 Comments

How was your year in running? A few blogs I read have started posting their 2013 running recaps to look back at how their year went, with regard to running. In fact, Miss Zippy is doing a Year In Running Linkup, and after reading her post, as well as a few others, I decided to participate as well.

My Year In Running

2013 was certainly an interesting year for running for me. 2012 was the year I trained for a marathon, and two days before had to drop out of the race from injuries. I’m still not really over that pain yet and am not ready to spend all that time training again, only to be let down again. But in 2013 I regained my sense of running, got my running groove back (somewhat), and found that I really kind of like running half marathons.

Anyway, here are a few other highlights from 2013:

Best race experience? As far as overall race experiences, I really enjoyed the Rock and Roll Cleveland Half Marathon. I loved the bands on the course, the excitement of all the spectators throughout the city, the people I ran with (B and his sister), AND my parents were even there to cheer me on! Really I loved the run in general – everything but the hills!

Best run? Definitely the Women Who Run race. I somehow ran the 4 mi race much faster than I typically run AND since I came in 3rd in my age group for this women-only race, I got a picture with firefighters at the end of the run (see the bottom right photo in the collage above). Can you beat that?

Best new piece of gear? My best gear for 2013 hasn’t been super high tech. I’d say it’s either my running headband (I love the headbands from owl be sweating!) my hot pink PROCompression socks,  or my armband. Not high tech, I know, but having an armband for my phone so I can listen to music or record my runs on Nike+ while I run has been incredible!

Best piece of running advice you received? “Push yourself.” Simple advice? Yes. But it works. B is always telling me that I need to push myself when I run – he somehow thinks that I am actually faster than I think I am – and sometimes it helps to hear him saying this as I’m doing speedwork or doing a race.

If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be? Learning that running for me is whatever I want it to be. If it’s about number of miles, so be it. If it’s for speed, that’s fine. If it’s just for fun and stress relief – that’s fine too. It really is whatever I want it to be!

Here are some of this year’s races (and posts about them):

  1. Turkey Trot 5k in West Virginia (November)
  2. St. Luke Pilgrim Run 5k (November) – came in first overall female somehow … I swear it was a small race
  3. St Martin Cristo Rey 5k (November) – came in first in my age group – another small race 🙂
  4. MidTown Cleveland HealthLine Classic 10K (October) – ran my first official 10K!
  5. Rock N Roll Cleveland Half Marathon (October) – didn’t make our goal of a sub-2 hour half … oh well, there’s always next year 🙂
  6. Women Who Run (June) – came in 3rd in my age group and had my fastest split times (for me)
  7. Notre Dame Holy Half (March)
  8. Inaugural Bockfest 5K (March)

AND my goal for the year, you may recall, was to run 1,000 miles. I passed that in August but kept going. A few weeks ago (nothing like a last minute goal, right?) I decided I’d try to get to 1,500. I’m hoping that if all goes well and I can fit in a few runs over the holiday break (hard without my gym!), I can meet that goal.
2013 year in running

A few questions for you:

  • How was your year in running? (You can read all my running-related posts here) Set any goals?
  • What was your favorite piece of running gear?
  • Any advice that you’ve learned this year?
  • How do you stay running during the holidays with travel, friends, families, etc.?