Cleveland Marathon 2024: Challenge Series Recap

Do you ever feel a little bummed after a race? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m GLAD training is over because I can take some time to run whatever I want … but after so many weeks of prep and training, all of a sudden, it’s all done! 

It feels like a blur. Just a few days ago I was in Orlando for a work trip, and now I’ve had a whirlwind of a weekend with Marathon events (plus life! Which also meant we had a piano recital, baseball scrimmage, ballet recital and more).  

Since this is a weekly recap, here’s a quick look at my week before the race weekend happened – it included some short runs but I tried to keep it simple the week before the race. I had a lot of time on my feet between my work trip and some walks, and had a few runs, including:

Sunday: 5.07 miles before my flight out

Monday: 3.6 miles hotel gym

Tuesday: 3.75 miles hotel gym

Wednesday: off

Thursday: 1.7 mi walk and 2.12 mi run

Friday: Off

And then race weekend began! This year, it included:

FRIDAY AFTERNOON — THE RACE EXPO

For the past few years, I have volunteered at the Cleveland Marathon Race Expo with other Cleveland Marathon Ambassadors. I LOVE IT! It is my favorite way to kick off the weekend and get excited for the race weekend to begin. At the expo, I enjoy working at the packet pickup, helping people pick up their packets and get their bib number assigned. I also get to reunite with my fellow race ambassadors! It’s so fun to talk with people, get them checked in, answer their questions about the race, and feel the excitement with all the runners in one place.

FRIDAY NIGHT — VIP RACE BANQUET

Friday night, I was invited once again to attend the VIP banquet with the Cleveland Marathon ambassadors. I feel so fortunate to be invited to this event and to be with those that plan and produce this great event. And, of course I love catching up with my other ambassadors. It is so fun to see my running friends all dressed up! We usually see one another in running clothes, sweaty, etc. But Friday night is our chance to dress up!

SATURDAY MORNING — 5K

Saturday morning: I kicked off the day with the Cleveland Marathon 5K. I met the other ambassadors at the starting line to take a photo and wish everyone a good race.  Despite what my official time was on the race app, my Garmin had me clocking in at 8:15 miles, which is SPEEDY for me! I definitely wanted to take it east because of my Sunday race, but I got too into the race excitement and went out faster than normal.

SUNDAY — HALF MARATHON

Sunday morning: Half marathon time! Again, my goals this year were to just have fun. I started the racing training season with a hip injury, so didn’t start right when I usually start. My feet were sore all day Friday from wearing heels during my work trip and being on my feet. I was still tired after a few days of long work hours and staying out late with coworkers. But after Saturday’s speedy (for me) 5K, I wondered if I could run a little faster? 

I kicked off the race with a pre-start photo with my other ambassadors. It’s so great to see them before the race – it really gives me energy to see them all before we go our different ways.

But then, I had a LONG wait in line for the porta potties, and didn’t start the race 7:05, after my corral had already gone through and started the race, so when I crossed the starting line I was already dodging walkers and when I got to the first mile marker, my watch read 1.3 miles … so I knew my 13.1 would likely be longer.

I had debated wearing a tank top or short sleeved shirt – it was 62 at start, and my “tank top weather” is 67 or higher. But B convinced me to run in the tank top and I’m so glad! It was HUMID and I was hot by mile 2. Luckily, there were plenty of water stations along the course, and I made it a point to stop at each one to drink 1-2 water cups, plus some nuun. I stopped gave tons of kids high fives, grabbed an orange from someone handing out oranges in front of their house, and even ran through a hose and a water gun at different points along the course!

Even with all my stops, I managed to finish FASTER than last year – at 2:02! And my Garmin read 1:59 at 13.1 (I finished at 13:45 mi), so I’m counting it as an almost sub-2 race 🙂

Overall, I’m SO SO happy with how the race went. I had SO MUCH fun running the race again! I loved seeing my husband, his sister, her kids and my kids along the course. The crowd support felt so great and I loved every single person who stood out and gave out high fives, bananas, oranges, and more.

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THANK YOU Cleveland Marathon for THE BEST weekend. For letting me be an ambassador AGAIN. I wasn’t sure if I should take on the challenge this year, but I’m SO GLAD I did. I’m so grateful for getting to run around my city once again and represent this wonderful race. I’m so grateful to be part of this great team!

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Questions for you:

• What’s your goal half marathon time?
• What’s “too hot” for you to run?

I am linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

The Final Countdown

ONE MORE WEEK UNTIL RACE DAY!

I guess I should be excited, or reflective, or something, but at this point, I’m just ready for the day to be here.

I leave this morning for a work trip, so I’m gone most of the week before flying back and hopping right into race weekend! Not ideal, but it is what it is. The good news is it makes taper easy (this week I won’t have much time for running … but I will be on my feet most of the time), and it keeps my mind off the impending race weekend!

Anyway, here’s how this week went. I got in my first stroller run in a while and a few short/long runs (less than double digits but more than my typical 3-5 mi), but with work being busy before my trip, I didn’t have time for much else.

Two Weeks Until Race Weekend

Where have the past three months gone? Somehow, I’m only two weeks away from Cleveland Marathon Race Weekend! That’s right, I can see the weekend in my 10-day forecast – but refuse to truly look at it because we all know how quickly the weather can change.

In looking back over the past few months of training, I know it wasn’t my best training cycle. I started off with an injury and didn’t start training until later than usual. Because of this, I didn’t do any speed workouts either, as in the beginning I was focused on just getting some slow miles in and testing out my hip … now I have no excuse except for the fact that I just didn’t get any speed in the beginning so I created a modified training plan that didn’t include any speed workouts. I’m about to travel for work, which is less than ideal for a few days before my race, because I’ll be wearing heels for the first time in a year (perhaps since the last work trip), staying up late, on my feet a lot, not drinking nearly enough water, and not getting much sleep.

So my goals in two weeks for race weekend are mainly TO HAVE FUN and FINISH STRONG. I plan on doing the 5K on Saturday and half marathon on Sunday to complete the “Challenge Series.” I will work at the Marathon Expo Friday afternoon and attend the pre-race banquet Friday night. I know it will be a fun weekend, and I just need to remember to enjoy every minute!

And now, here is what this week looked like for training. It was pretty good – a longer run, a few shorter runs, and even some cross training.

No Complaints

For once, I have no complaints about my week! I feel like every single week I have some excuse – something interfering with my training. During this training cycle I’ve had injuries, a week in Germany, sick kids, no water, crazy weather, and more. But this week – somehow, there were no interruptions in my training. Was it perfect? No – I haven’t done any speed work. But I got in a weekend long run, a mid-week longish run, some walks, some core work and some light weights. 

It was a busy week on our end – outside of work, we had a soccer game and family dinner on Sunday, ballet on Monday, soccer practice and book club on Tuesday, piano lessons and ice skating on Wednesday, baseball and soccer and swimming and a school event on Thursday, soccer and a father/daughter dance on Friday, soccer, birthday party and a school retreat on Saturday … let’s just say, we had a lot going on. So I’m glad that despite being tired, I was able to get up early and get it done! It will continue to be crazy through the end of May, so fingers crossed I can keep this up for another few weeks.

It’s Always Something

Welp, there’s always something it seems getting in the way of my half marathon training. This week, after FW was finally feeling better (yay!) we lost hot water!

What does hot water have to do with my running? Okay, not a lot. But not being able to rely on having a shower in my house actually made my workouts change somewhat. The idea of not being able to shower after a run, AND having to be in the office, made me think twice about my workouts. We were without hot water Sunday through Wednesday evening due to a problem with our water heater, but thankfully it got resolved (with a new heater ugh!) so I could shower back to normal Thursday morning.

Back from Spring Break Abroad

Wow, taking a week off from my usual weekly running update was strange! But I’m back now, and ready to share how the week went.

The reason I wasn’t able to share last week was because we were out for spring break! B and I took the whole family – the 5 of us – to Berlin to visit my brother and enjoy the kids’ first plane ride and European vacation.

It was great! If you haven’t read it yet, here’s my blog of a few trip highlights. But because I was out of the country, I didn’t get to write a full recap of workouts. So here’s the cliff’s notes (do young people even know what those are anymore?) and a quick Instagram post to see what we did.

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And now, onto this week’s workouts. They weren’t great. FW was pretty sick a few days this week with a high fever and cough, which impeded not just my sleep but also my workouts in the mornings a few days. But I was able to get in my long run early in the week, so at least that was done! Here’s the full week:

Highlights from our Berlin Family Vacation

Before kids, B and I made travel a priority in our lives. We both were brought up traveling abroad at a youngish age, and have a love for visiting foreign countries, exploring new places, and going on new adventures. After we got married, we did plenty of traveling together, going to Costa Rica, the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Ireland, England, Canada, Mexico City, and more places. Our passports were stamped regularly, and never expired. I swore that once we have kids, our lives wouldn’t change — what parent doesn’t think that? But after kids, our lives did change. The thought of traveling abroad with kids wasn’t something that excited me. We took them to Canada, but never anywhere else. There were so many reasons (in my mind) not to — the cost! everything we would need to pack! the time difference/jet lag! the inconvenience! the anxiety about something happening and not being near their doctor, etc.! communicating in a different language about our kids’ needs! finding food they would eat!

But I missed travel. Sure, we’d go on vacations but they were all driving distance away and not the same. As much as I love Philly, Pittsburgh, Toronto, and New York, I really wanted to fly somewhere abroad. I looked longingly at my friends’ travel photos, especially those who traveled overseas. So over the summer last year, I told B, I want to go to Berlin to see my brother (where he lives). He immediately told me to go. But I felt bad leaving him and the kids behind – and knew it may be hard to find someone to watch the kids for the length of time that would make a transatlantic visit worth it if B came too. And when I suggested we bring the kids, he was not only game, but eagerly on board, planning the whole trip, finding us flights, a hotel, and more. And so, our trip came to fruition and I can safely say that my travel bug is back!  I can’t wait for us to go on our next adventure.

But first, here are some highlights from our week in Berlin, Germany. 

Visiting my brother and seeing his neighborhood. While we stayed in Mitte, which is in central Berlin, my brother lives only a few miles away or a 20 minute train ride on the outskirts. He lives in a beautiful neighborhood with tree-lined streets, gardens, and even a city farm nearby! We were able to see where he lives, join him for breakfast and also take a walk and see the animals (pigs, chickens, sheep, goats and more) not so far from his place. Later in the week, he and I also got in some 1:1 time, as he took me on a nighttime tour of a few of his favorite neighborhoods in Berlin. In Germany you can just buy a beer and drink it outside while walking, so instead of going to bars, we just grabbed a drink, and walked for a few hours.

Seeing the Brandenburg Gate and Siegessäule. I wanted to see an iconic German site and these were some of them! We saw some others but these were my favorite. We got to see them a few times, including the day that the Berlin Half Marathon was running, which was an amazing experience to spectate. I also was lucky enough to go for 3 runs, 2 of which I ran through the Tiergarten to the Siegessäule.

We watched the finish of the Berlin half marathon, which was right near the Berlin Gate. Of course I had to represent Cleveland while I was there!

Visiting the Reichstag. B arranged for a tour of the Reichstag – the German legislative government building – for us before our trip and I’m glad we did it. I admit that it wasn’t a kid-focused tour – we learned about how laws are made in Berlin, plus saw some historic parts of their building, including underground tunnels and where the wall used to be – but we also got to go to the top of the building into their gorgeous dome and get a 360 degrees view of the city. The kids loved the audio tour of the dome and were thankfully really well-behaved during the tour.

Making silly faces with the Reichstag building in the background – see the dome on top?

We’re nearing the top of the dome in this photo

Eating local foods (and then some). Bratwurst? Check. Currywurst? Check. Spaetzel? Check. Giant soft pretzels with spicy mustard? Check. Schweinshaxe? Check. Doner? Check. Schnitzel? Check. We tried so many traditional German foods, but also enjoyed Chinese food, Italian food, and more. I love that the kids were open to trying most foods, but I’d be lying to say they didn’t have “buttered noodles” (or buttered spaetzel) or “chicken tenders” quite often.

Enjoying a biergarten. We lucked out with 70 degree weather 2 days, and on one of those days we were able to enjoy a visit to eh biergarten in the Tiergarten. It was so crowded but we enjoyed a table, some beers and lots of fun.

Visiting the Zoo. This was the main kid-focused item we did, and it didn’t disappoint. We packed in tons of amazing animals, including rhinos, monkeys, orangutans, reindeer, mountain goats, golden eagles, penguins, sea lions, and probably the highlight for the kids – the hippos and panda.

Experiencing the history. We didn’t do as much WWII/history stuff as I would’ve liked, but with a 2, 5 and 7 year old, it’s not easy to do all of that. We did get to see the wall in several spots, and I was able to visit a memorial without the kids.

Spending a day in Potsdam and seeing a palace. Before we went on the trip, we asked each of our kids what they wanted to do in Germany. LM mentioned she would like to see a castle or a palace, which was perfect! We took the train and spent the day in Potsdam and visited the Sanssouci palace. They had an audiotour, which was entertaining for the kids and before the palace we took a tour of the nearby windmill, climbing to the very top for some great views.

Walking around a ton. I’m in heaven if there’s a place where we don’t need to get in a car and can just walk everywhere. It’s why I was so sad when we left downtown Cleveland. Anyway, I digress. I have to say, I am impressed with how our kids handled the days of walking everywhere. ,We took as many walks as we could to truly experience the city. I averaged 20,000 steps a day and even hit 30,000+ steps 2 days during the week. The kids were great troopers, spending a lot of time on their feet with little sleep.

Taking public transit everywhere. Berlin is REALLY easy to get around. Where we stayed, in Mitte near Zoo, there were so many trains and buses, from the S-bahn to the U-bahn and tons of bus lines. It seemed like every single bus or train went to our neighborhood, so we lucked out and took trains and buses everywhere. This was part of the fun for the kids – they loved taking the train  and looked forward to it. I’m also lucky that B is so good with knowing how to get around – his amazing sense of direction made taking the train easy. also took the train and bus everywhere.

We had SUCH A BLAST! I can’t wait to go back to Europe and travel again with the kids. We were so lucky that everything worked out and we had no mishaps, no issues, and no problems. For a few more photos, check out my Instagram reel.

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Questions for you:

• What’s your favorite place you traveled to?
• Any tips for traveling overseas with little ones? GM was the hardest, being 2, but as he gets older I know it will only get easier!

Is It Finally Spring?

Happy Easter to those who celebrate! And Happy Spring break to us!

In addition to my weekly update, this post serves as my (mostly) March in review post. I can’t believe that April 1 is TOMORROW. 

March was an okay month for me.

Total mileage: 112.58 miles – ish  (We’ll see if I get in a run today with everything going on)

The good – Overcoming/healing from my hip issues and getting back into running. I’m still not 100% – I feel sore if I run too many days in a row or too long, but it’s not pain or debilitating like before. And I successfully started cross-training, which includes some minor lifting, core workouts, rowing machine, walking and indoor cycling.

The bad – My running mileage was low (For me), as I’m trying to incorporate more xtraining and less running. Also, I’m still not feeling 100%, which is discouraging less than 2 months from my half marathon.  That said, with March ending, perhaps spring is finally here and I can stop running in snow, etc.? Who am I kidding – I just jinxed it!

March is Definitely a Lion

As happy as I am to back running (yay!) we had more snow (boo!) this week! And we had more snow than no snow this week:

Sunday – snowed.

Monday – snowed.

Tuesday – snowed.

Wednesday – snowed.

Thursday – no snow, but high was in the 20s so it was COLD.

Friday – snow.

Saturday – snow, and this time it stuck to the ground.

Now, I am lucky that it only flurried most of those days so we got minor accumulation, but it still didn’t help my running and made everything just a little more slippery and less manageable. The only day I really woke up to snow accumulation was Saturday. BUT I’m also happy to be back and running PAIN FREE. My leg has been feeling good and I’ve been trying to be good about taking days off from running and focusing on other activities. I was pleased to get in an early morning 9 miler one morning this week for my long run, plus some runs and cross training. Overall, it was a good week of getting back into the swing of things. Next, hopefully I can start up some speed training again.

How I’m Getting Back to Running

It’s week 3ish of my return to running from my hip adductor injury, and I’m pleased to share that I’m feeling pretty good. I still don’t feel 100%, but I’m feeling so grateful to be back at running!

We had some snow this week (ugh!) but on Sunday when it was snowy and a little slippery, I definitely had a change in attitude about running in the weather. I told myself, “I’m so lucky I can run in this!” Instead of “Ugh, I have to run in this” and immediately felt different. A few weeks ago, it would’ve been a different mentality for me.

So here’s how my runs went this week – and also some ways that I’m healing myself. Here’s what I’ve been doing to get back into running (hopefully) injury free: