Category Archives: Travel + Adventure

– Would’ve been a great pic of me holding my 16th marathon medal at Firenze Marathon had I only held the medal facing the front *eye roll* –

Firenze Marathon (or Florence Marathon) is the second largest marathon in Italy, only second to its capital, Rome. I had heard about how beautiful Florence is and, having never visited Italy before, I was simply over the moon about this trip where our itinerary included Cinque Terre (a place in my bucket list! Woohoo!), Venice, and Pisa too. At the same time though, I had never been more anxious for any marathon than this one.

You see, I’m a forward-looking, obsessive, control-freak who always plans ahead for anything, especially my marathons. I always have a program to follow and I stick to it as if my life depended on it. Doing so gives me confidence that not only will I finish the race but I’ll do so without bonking, crawling, or cursing myself the entire time and, most importantly, I’ll cross the finish line with a smile.

For this training period though, I had three bouts with the flu and/or fever, which completely messed up my training schedule. By the time I discovered that all my illnesses were actually due to allergic rhinitis, it was too late. I had missed my 32k run. My longest run was a back-to-back 24k on Sunday and 13k on Monday just 2 weeks before race day. Lord, heeeeelp me. (more…)

Marathons are such a big part of me that I can’t imagine going through life without running one or two in a new city every year.  It’s what keeps me motivated to train even through the hot or tough days; it’s what gets me excited for the months ahead; and, last but not the least, it’s what makes me absolutely happy… next to my kids, of course.

For this year, I’ve finally set my race calendar.  Just thinking about it (especially Florence…aaah!) makes me giddy like a school girl.  Here’s my race calendar for 2017 (excluding local races I’ll run for training):

May 1: Vancouver Marathon (Photo courtesy of www.runvan.org)

June 12: VIP Swim Challenge 2.5k (Photo courtesy of Betsy Medalla, Swim Junkie)

November 27: Florence Marathon

How about you? Where will you be running this year?

There was no doubt about it. As I stood in the coral of Buffalo Marathon last May 24, 2015, I was certain that I chose the best race I could after a string of World Marathon Majors the past years. While finishing the six World Marathon Majors was a dream come true and exposed me to the world’s biggest and best races, I still believe that small, intimate marathons have their own beauty. I was ecstatic to be standing among the almost 8,000 runners in this race. (more…)

I was at the starting line of Boston Marathon, the most prestigious marathon in the world! And, here I was looking like trash… literally. I was garbed in a cheap plastic poncho with a silver mylar blanket wrapped around my waist as a skirt. I was freezing to death. My entire body was shivering uncontrollably. I held the hood of my poncho down to my forehead to keep the rain from hitting my face. By this time, the rain, as predicted, had begun to pour. Despite the terrible weather conditions, I was still on top of the world trying to soak in (no pun intended) every single minute of this magical experience. (more…)

Selfie before leaving my hotel room for Boston Marathon. Check out that nervous fake smile LOL

The night before the race I sat upright in bed staring at the news on TV in disbelief.  The weather for Boston Marathon day was expected to be rainy and windy with temperatures in the 5 to 8 degree range. A reporter declared it was to be a challenging race for Boston runners due to weather conditions, but, at least, most of them had trained in cooler temperatures during winter.  In my mind I screamed “But what about those who trained through extreme summer heat?!”  Despite this, I kept an optimistic attitude as I prepared for the worst. This was Boston Marathon!  Come hell or high water (no pun intended), I was going to have a grand time! (more…)