A Summer of Virtual Challenges...

I might have gone a teeny tiny bit overboard with my virtual challenges. I'm currently participating in three of them; but thankfully I only had to pay for one, and most of the activities and requirements overlap.

This past week was the first week of the Amerithon Challenge (which started on July 4th)...

This is a 3,521 mile virtual journey from the West coast to the East coast and I want to finish it by the end of the year (which is a very lofty goal since I am doing it by myself instead of with a group). The race organizers allow you to count any "movement miles" so I'm counting running, walking, swimming and the indoor cardio stuff I do, like the stair climber, upright and recumbent bikes, elliptical etc. I'm counting walking (including my daily steps) because I'm intentional about completing at least 10,000 steps a day. And since I also participate in a step challenge (aka virtual challenge #2) I have extra motivation to get up and move so I can reach the 10K step goal. 

At the end of the Amertithon Week 1 I got my first virtual badge...

..and I'm about 93 miles away from reaching my next landmark.

Heroes, Hydration & Challenges...

As much as I agree that you have to find your own motivation to train, there are certain mornings when I'm only able to get through my long run because of my running buddies (aka my "running heroes"). Recently I've been doing my long runs on Saturdays with Dafney (who has been helping me with my pacing and endurance), but this morning I ran with other running heroes (Andy, Tabitha and Suzanne) for my Sunday long run.

The group was scheduled to do 11 miles but I ended up doing 9 miles with them and then ran on by myself for another 3 miles...

We Are Ragnarians!!! {Ragnar Relay Race Recap; Part 2}

Before you start reading this, if you haven't read Part 1 please check out: "A Real Race Recap of the Ragnar Relay" and start the journey from the beginning. If you've already read Part 1, let's pick back up where we left off... 

I needed a shower

So there we were at Exchange 18. This was Van 2’s opportunity to rest and recuperate before our second leg, courtesy of a high school somewhere in Wisconsin. I was exhausted. Not only was I exhausted, I was also covered with sweat salt crystals (gross, I know). If you know me personally you know that there are several states of being that I don’t do well, including: sleepy, hungry (thankfully I had eaten at Exchange 12), and hot shower deprived. I typically don’t get too grumpy in these states of being. Ok, that might be a lie. I can get very grumpy. But I didn’t want to scare off my Ragnar crew so I just stayed quiet and followed my teammates, and the signs, to the designated “Women’s Showers”.

So here’s the thing about Ragnar Rookies. We don’t know EVERYTHING that we need to bring for a race. There are a bunch of lists and “race bibles” out there (I know because I've read several of them), but I either didn’t see (or it didn’t register) that I would need a towel. I’m not sure how I could have missed that since I packed two washcloths; but alas, there I was, heading to take a shower with only a washcloth and a change of clothes on hand...

A Real Race Recap of the Ragnar Relay {#RagnarChi Part I}

If you throw an average runner into an anything but average running situation (like a Ragnar Relay) it can go one of two ways: horribly wrong or amazingly right. It’s never usually both right? Well, let’s find out...

There is no way for me to do this Ragnar Race Recap without giving you a little bit of the back story on how I joined my Ragnar team. I’ll keep it brief:
I heard about Ragnar in my many searches for running events. 
        Saw there was one in Florida. 
              Tried to form a team. 
                    The race got cancelled. 
                           I looked for another event. 
                               Found Ragnar Chicago. 
                                    Chicago is my happy place. 
                                         So obviously I went looking for a team. 
                                              Saw a message on Facebook about a team looking for runners. 
                                                   Reached out to Nicole (team captain). 
                                                        She was super nice. 
                                                             She had spots. 
                                                                  I paid my registration fee. 
                                                                       Team membership confirmed.

Out to Ragnar

I'm off to Ragnar Chicago as of tomorrow (Thursday) and, in an effort to conserve space in the van...and because I won't have wifi during the run, I'm leaving my laptop behind. I will be doing a lot ALOT of updates via my Instagram account: @Thisismyfaster, so please follow my journey to find my #innerWILD during my first ever Ragnar Relay Run! 

I'll be back next week with a full race recap; an update on how NY Marathon training has been going;  and where I've reached in my training for the August Swim Miami Beach open water swimming event (*spoiler alert* not very far). 

Until then, see you on Instagram (or Facebook or Twitter, all @Thisismyfaster)

Have a great week and weekend :)