Summer of Running

I know I haven't posted in a while but I am ready to get back at it and keep chronicling my running life and adventures!  Here are a couple things from the summer!

The Flying Pig was May 1st and that was marathon #6 for me and a great one for me!  I decided it was time for a new challenge in my running life.  Last summer I had talked about doing a 50k but never got around to it so I decided this was the perfect challenge for me.  5 short weeks after the Pig there was a race in Englewood, OH- "Another Dam 50k".  I decided on this one and did a couple more long runs on the trails and before I had time to think about it the race was here!  Thankfully I have an awesome husband, sister and parents that support me on my crazy adventures!  My sister and I headed to the race that morning with lots of supplies.  She was going to be at the middle point of the figure 8 loop so I would get to see her quite a few times and she could hand me new water and fuel.  This was great!  I really didn't know what I was in for except that 31 miles was a long way to run and further than I had ever run before.  Everyone was very encouraging and friendly and before I knew it we were off!  The day quickly heated up so I was thankful to have my sister out there to help with the re-fueling.  The loop was 7.8 miles and we ran it 4 times.  It was such a great feeling to finish the 50k and I had a blast!

 Before the race!

Out on the course

Finished and feeling good!

3 weeks later Matt and I were headed to Philly for a work conference for him so I started searching for races to keep me busy.  I found a random marathon called the 1/2 Sauer 1/2 Kraut in Pennypack Park just outside of downtown Philly.  I thought about and decided to go for it.  The half was on the same course so I could always do the half but I figured it would give me something to do while Matt was learning all day.  It was a small race on a path through a park but it was fun.  There were people dressed up in traditional German clothing- thankfully my running in costumes was over but I would have fit in pretty well!  We headed out on a bike path through the park, did a loop in the woods on a trail then headed back.  For the full you turned around and did it again.  I decided to go for it!  I ended up finishing in 3:54.  The post race party was complete with beer, food and of course an accordion player! I ended up 2nd in my age group and got this crazy award that is a German Weather House from the Black Forest of Germany.  Overall it was a fun race and made marathon #7 for me.

German Weather Station and my medal

Celebrating with Rocky!

A week later I decided to do the Americana 5k since we were in Dayton for the 4th of July weekend.  I hadn't done a 5k in a while so it was a nice change of distance.  It turned out to be a great day and I got a PR of 21:20!  I definitely didn't expect that but was very happy!!!  After this race I decided I would take a racing break for a while!

Finished with the race! 

Hanging out with my sis post race.