When I crossed the finish line of the Zooma Annapolis 10K, the time clock screamed 1:14. I didn't know what my chip time was yet but I was hopeful that I squeaked out a PR by mere seconds. I completed my first 10K in 1:13. You can imagine my glee when I checked Facebook and saw that my time was 1:11. I had shaved two whole minutes off my time for a PR! I was floating on the humid air. Then, a few days later, I got The Email. We, the runners, were misdirected along the course, which resulted in the course being a quarter mile short of a 10K. Bye-bye PR. I was disappointed -- who wouldn't be? -- but I wasn't upset. It actually made sense. It was a hot day. I stopped several times to take photos and at least once to walk the hilly bridge that was the turn around point. I wondered why I didn't see mile marker three and why there were only two water stops along the course on such a hot and humid day. No PR just made more sense. I still ran a great race and look … [Read more...]
Marketing Your Book With A House Party Tour
It’s National Running Day but this post isn’t about running. Not exactly, anyways. Its about two runners who wrote a book, went on tour, decided a traditional book tour wasn’t for them, wrote a second book and decided to do something different. I’m talking about Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell, authors of Run Like a Mother: How to Get Moving--and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity and Train Like a Mother: How to Get Across Any Finish Line - and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity. Last week, I had the great honor to attend a house party to promote their new book, Train Like A Mother, and meet Sarah and Dimity in person (that’s us in the photo above). In one word, this event was A-MAZING. And the house party idea – F’ing Brilliant! (excuse my f-bomb). Instead of giving readings at (potentially empty) bookstores across the nation, Sarah and Dimity decided to host house parties and invite their fans to an intimate meet-and-greet. The invite-only event was … [Read more...]
Vote Cupcake 2012
At yesterday's primary election, I voted for the cupcake. Ok, not really. But I am endorsing Candidate Cupcake. He’s the mascot for the 3rd Annual Cakes for Cause Cupcake 5K. Cakes for Cause provides job training at Moxie Bakery & Café for teens in the welfare system to help them transition to adulthood. The first Cupcake 5K in 2010 was my very first 5K. I walked a lot of it but managed to run across the finish line in under 45 minutes. I was proud of that time. The upcoming race will be my second this year (I ran the Heartly House Break Away 5K, a race to end domestic violence, in March and earned a new PR, 36:26). I’m looking forward to it because so many of my friends are participating – we have a team of about 20 runners. And, did I mention, there’s a cupcake at the end? I’ll always run for a good cause…or a cupcake. Why do you run? … [Read more...]
Running for a Cause
I set a new PR (personal record) earlier this month. I broke the 40 minute barrier! I ran the Wiggin’ Winter Dash in 39.30. My brother-in-law asked me to join him in this race for juvenile diabetes research; he was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. We did not run together. He’s faster than me for one and I’m still trying to build my endurance back up after my pregnancy-induced running hiatus. I did a combination of running and walking and I fully expected to cross the finish line in my usual 45 minutes. But when I rounded the street corner to the final stretch, I could see that the time clock was still in the 30s. I couldn’t believe it! I sprinted for the finish line. It was exhilarating! Not just because of the new PR but because I felt like I did something good for myself (exercise) and for the kids we were racing for (raising money for research). This is one of the reasons I like running – I could care less about the medals. The three races I participated in this fall … [Read more...]
Why Writing is Like Running
I haven’t posted in a while because my site was down and I wasn’t sure how to fix it (thank you DreamHost for coming to my rescue). I have been writing in my head, though, so look out for a slew of posts to come, hopefully, more regularly. Yesterday, as I was driving, I had an epiphany as to why I haven’t written a novel yet. Writing a novel is like running a marathon – it takes a good chunk of time to get from the start to the finish. I doubt I’m the first person to come up with this analogy but it was an a-ha moment for me. I have no desire to run a marathon but, if I did, I would train. Training builds strength and endurance and requires discipline. So maybe I should apply that same concept to writing. What if I adapted a marathon training schedule to writing? I could replace miles with minutes. Over the course of several weeks, I’d dedicate a few days to writing, gradually increasing the amount of time spent until I produce a novel. Here’s the Novel Writing Training Schedule I … [Read more...]
