Tiny Thunder Running

Today I thought I would try something new. In an effort to get into more regular blogging I am linking up with  Running with spoons  for some random "thinking out loud." Sine I do this all the time anyway this should be easy. So today my random thoughts tend to be about the following: 1. I am hungry. Last night speed work was uncomplicated but sure made me hungry. ALL DAY TODAY. I sat at my desk eating my lunch and as soon as I was done.. felt just as hungry as before I ate. So I went and got a snack of cheese, pepperoni, protein balls, and clementines. Oh yea and a second dang cup of coffee. I rarely have a second cup but today I am dying. DYING. 2. Hoping it doesn't rain before 7pm. I was lucky enough to have someone offer me their treadmill because they are 1-moving and 2- don't really use it. They know I am a ridiculously addicted runner and although I rarely use the treadmill, that sometimes it is necessary. I do have a VERY basic one I bought on fac...

This past weekend was going to be my only non-racing weekend in a 4 week period. That changed quickly back on February 17th when a friend messaged me asking if I was interested in taking her bib for the  Marine Corps 17.75k . The race is not an easy on to get into and often sells out within 10 minutes of opening. My friend, even though she had another race (her first 50k!!!!) that same day, thought she'd try just for the heck of it. As luck would have it she secured an entry. So why was this race important? Completely the race gives the racer guaranteed entry into the  Marine Corps Marathon  (MCM). More importantly, this will be her fifth year running it and get her into the lifetime club. So of course I said yes. This is a race I had never done and it would give me a chance to do something different and for a good reason. When I told people I was running this race, they got excited that I'd be doing Marine Corps Marathon again, so I had to explain the back story...

Last year was the   Inaugural Lucky Charm 5k/10k  and it was so much fun I am glad they decided to do it again!! Not even a week before the race, we hit a major snag!! 18 inches of snow slammed our area on Tuesday the week before the race. Everyone became very worried about the race because some of the paths used for the race would not be cleared by the city. Typically, once they are covered they remain that way until it melts. Unfortunately, that was not going to work for a race. Enter amazing running community to the rescue!! Fred from our local  Fleet Feet Mechanicsburg  and the race director, sent out a call for help to clear the paths and was answered by quite a crew. Unfortunately, by the time my dad and I got there all that needed done was the salting, but they forced us to get into the picture anyway! Thanks to this crew and the others that helped during the day, the race was happening!! And I am so glad it did. Even in it's second year, this race...

Back around the holidays, I decided that I would sign up for  Chambersburg Half  as my goal race for the spring. I was really hoping to finally run sub-2 hour, or PR at the very least. It was semi local and I had heard great things about the race from friends. As the race approached, I got nervous. The weather was looking pretty crazy temperature and wind wise. I was not sure if I was going to be able to do it. I knew the race was hilly and was fine with that. I tend to get bored and uninterested during overly flat courses so this seemed perfect. Adding in the extreme weather conditions on top of the challenge of hills was a bit nerve wracking. I knew I could handle one of the other, but was very unsure about both at once. Once again, we had an awesome crew come out for the race. I think we may have weirded out a few people as we tried to get this picture of our crew. We were very lucky that this race starts at their local middle school where you can hunker down and...

Although it has been almost  a month since this race, this is a post I have been really looking forward to writing. This is the third year I have run this trail race and is by far my favorite year yet. You see, last year  was a pretty slow disaster. And the year before that, a snowy icy mess . What did this year bring? MUD!!! ALL OF THE MUD. Before I talk about the race, I wanted to share this picture of just some of the runners where were there from our River Runners group. Isn't it awesome? We were probably missing at least 5 more runners. We were all such troopers with the cold and wind for this race. So we got started and I was running with a few people from this group. By mile 2, I have no idea where any of them went. I just took off at my own pace and enjoyed the journey.  The mud started pretty early and I really had fun running right through it. It was pretty entertaining to watch all the different reactions to the monster mud pits. Some peopl...

I have a few race recaps (and more races to come), but I really wanted to take a few moments to document my thoughts and feelings after celebrating my 32nd birthday Wednesday. I posted this image yesterday on my personal facebook page as well as instagram. As the day went on Wednesday and messages rolled in from friends and family, I teared up a little. A few weeks back, someone posted something pretty hateful about me and a friend. Although no names were mentioned, it was obvious it was referring to us due to the situation described. I am not going to lie, it upset and angered me. There were a lot of half truths in there and I began to fear the worst. What if people read it and thought less of me? What if people actually believed that I was this person they were trying to make me out to be? After talking it through with my husband and a close friend, I felt a lot better but it still bothered me.  Until yesterday. It is one thing to be firm in knowing who you...