Hello again, dear readers! In the months since our last checkin, I decided to finally register for my second 50K race. My first was at Pineland, in New Gloucester Maine, in 2023. That didn’t go as well as I had hoped, and I vowed at the time that it would not be my only 50KContinue reading “9/18/25: Racing as Training”
Author Archives: Joe
5/25/25: Vermont City Marathon Relay
For the second year in a row*, I returned to the site of my Very First MarathonTM to participate as a member of a relay team. This time it was a four-person team put together by my baseball teammate Dan Winters, along with two of his co-workers at the Vermont State University. Dan and IContinue reading “5/25/25: Vermont City Marathon Relay”
Why I Decided to Fire My (Virtual) Coach
Last August, I broke my Garmin watch while playing catcher for my “old men” baseball team. In 2019 I bought a Forerunner 35 as my first runner’s watch, one that I selected because it was the simplest model available at the time. I wanted a watch that would record my distance and pace, and captureContinue reading “Why I Decided to Fire My (Virtual) Coach”
September 2024: A Tale of Two Trail Races
I’m going to pinball around 2024 a little bit as I catch up on this blog. I don’t plan to recap everything from 2024, but there are a few races to comment on, including these two very different trail races in September. The summer of 2024 was peppered with races that were not quite whatContinue reading “September 2024: A Tale of Two Trail Races”
10/20/24: Rome Half Marathon
This one was a win for the algorithm. Sometime early in 2024, a race ad came across my Facebook feed, as has happened many times in recent years. “Announcing the Roma Half Marathon.” As readers of this blog are aware, Katie and I love a good destination race. Readers may not know that I loveContinue reading “10/20/24: Rome Half Marathon”
10/28/23: Haunted Island 10K
Our trip to Bermuda in January made Katie and I realize that running is a great excuse to travel. Find a fun race in a fun place and go. Ideally also build in some time for being a tourist. The Haunted Island race idea was slightly inverted. I follow a blog called Uni-Watch, which isContinue reading “10/28/23: Haunted Island 10K”
5/5/24: Maine Coast Marathon
After four months of training, race day finally arrived, with pretty much ideal running conditions. Mostly cloudy skies, temperatures in the low 50s, no rain. This of course was my biggest concern for the whole race. After getting burned by heat and sunshine the past two years, I really wanted comfortable weather for my nextContinue reading “5/5/24: Maine Coast Marathon”
5/2/24: Three Days to Race Day
After four months of training, we are just a few days away from the Maine Coast Marathon. I drive to Maine tomorrow, I’ll run a couple of miles while cheering Katie during her 5k on Saturday, then it’s go time. Overall this has been a pretty smooth training cycle. Unlike the last time, I gotContinue reading “5/2/24: Three Days to Race Day”
4/22/24 Training Update: Taper Time
Two weeks (minus one day) to race day, and the taper is in full effect. After fifteen weeks of building up mileage, with a cutback every three weeks, it’s now time to rest and recover from all that effort, and maintain health and fitness with lower mileage and intensity runs. The taper mirrors the trainingContinue reading “4/22/24 Training Update: Taper Time”
4/14/24 Training Update, and Kaynors Sap Run
I’ve officially completed 15 weeks of the 18-week training plan, and things are going fairly well. Yesterday was the last long run of the cycle. And now we’re on to taper for three weeks before the race on May 5. This is my second marathon. For the first one in 2022 I followed a 12-weekContinue reading “4/14/24 Training Update, and Kaynors Sap Run”
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