Key West Virtual Half {"race" recap}

To kick off 2018's running calendar I decided to sign up for the Key West virtual Half Marathon...

Normally I wouldn't register for a race before the Miami Half Marathon race weekend (which is usually the weekend that starts my running calendar); but once I saw the medal I really had no choice but to register...

(The. Lighthouse. Lights. Up!)

I'm a real sucker for cool race medals. I won't even pretend to deny it. The first thing I think about when I'm considering registering for a race is "what does the medal look like?" Well actually, the first thing is probably do I get a medal? and then I determine if it's pretty enough to justify the race entry fee :)

Anyway, since my heart felt obligated to run for the lighthouse, I signed up for the virtual option and ran it this morning...

I ran with Jani for the first 6+ miles and then Mimi and I ran the last 7+ miles. During the first 6 Jani and I encountered a guy who was wearing less than ideal clothing for the 50 degree weather we were having and utilizing the sidewalk as his personal urinal. Not cool. We ran on the road to avoid having to run by him on the sidewalk (especially since he also appeared drunk/high on something). We also dealt with a pretty strong headwind for the first 3 miles, but other than that the first half of my virtual half was great.

When Jani and I got back to our cars, Mimi and I headed out for the second half of my half. We decided to add a change to our normal running route and included a highway overpass as part of an out and back section. Garmin claims that I started at high elevation for this run but I can guarantee you the route was pretty flat apart from those last two "hills" when we ran over the overpass and back...

Fortunately Mimi and I didn't encounter any unsavory characters on our route and we finished faster than I anticipated with a negative split (i.e. second half of the race was faster than the first half)...

Now I just have to patiently wait for my lighthouse medal to come in the mail! And start getting ready for the Tropical 5K and Miami Half Marathon coming up in two weeks!!!

Do you run virtual races?

What was your favorite virtual race (and why?)

What's your biggest motivator for registering for a race?

Off To A Great Start...

2018 is off to a great start so far (training-wise). Which is good since I spent most of the Christmas/New Years holiday period not training. Instead I focused on spending time with family and friends and trying not to stress about the amount of calories I was consuming. 

But when 2018 rolled around (and I woke up from my nap after ringing in the new year,) Sanya (my twin sister) and I headed out for a walk. Not just a simple walk though, a 1 mile uphill I-can-barely-breathe-while-doing-this walk...

(One day I'm going to try and run that entire mile uphill)

I came home later that day and didn't do anything related to training until the 5th, which essentially was my first run of 2018. Fortunately it didn't suck as much as I thought it would considering I hadn't run since December 21st! What made it even greater was the fact that we had more people doing the group run...

And then this morning I kicked off Pittsburgh Marathon training with a 10 mile group run!

Today marked the official start of the Pittsburgh Marathon training cycle and while runners headed out on a "kick off" run in Pittsburgh, I ran "virtually" with my running group...

I'm trying to get more people to run Pittsburgh with me! And as an official blogger for the race I have a discount code so you can get $10 off the race registration (for any distance: full, half or relay). The discount code is: YOUNGDSGPM18 and this is the link to register. It's the 10th year anniversary of the marathon so you know it's going to be an incredible event!

While most of the group braved the South Florida cold weather close to home, we cheered on our missing running teammate Mimi who completed an absolutely incredible Disney Marathon today to close out an even more amazing 2018 Dopey Challenge! 

(so proud of you Mimi!!!)

I'm really excited about this year and all my 2018 goals. I decided several weeks ago to try journaling this year. But instead of writing a mini dissertation about my thoughts and feelings (after all that's what my blog is for right?) I decided to incorporate a daily note of gratitude and a variety of different little things in my Commit30 planner....

I got the planner as a "pixie" Christmas present from my younger sister. My siblings and I do a pixie gift exchange (we started a couple of years ago) and it has become something I look forward to each year. 2017 was even better since we decided to post our "wish list" which made the gift buying process a whole lot easier. A planner or bullet journal was on my list and fortunately my "pixie" listened ;)

I also got a 2018 running log from my parents which is perfect for tracking my training specific activities!

I have a lot of goals for this year. A marathon PR is one of them (an important one), but so is:

1. Improving my running pace;

2. Swimming 1 mile (freestyle only... right now I can do breaststroke without a problem but freestyle kills me); and

3. Running 1000 miles (which I'm visually tracking in my planner as well)...

What are your 2018 goals?

Any major races on the calendar for this year?

Have you ever journaled?