Baltimore, MD marathon-Baltimore, MD-Saturday October 15, 2016

This was the first state I decided to travel on a plane alone to.  When I saw the finishing medal advertised online on their Facebook site, I had to have it.  So that very day in August I registered for the Baltimore, MD marathon and hoped for the best.  I booked my flight and hotel that day also.

In the Cedar Rapids airport I ran into my good friend Susan Ludwig, she was traveling to a high school reunion on the same flight to Chicago.  The weather was perfect for flying and was even more perfect for running the race the next day.  I got lucky.  My first flight was from Cedar Rapids to Chicago, then Chicago to Baltimore.  On that 2nd flight I met new friends, Emily and Terry Stubbs from just outside Peoria, IL.  Terry was going to run his 44th state and 50th marathon the next day and decided that they would let me tag along and ride with them in their rental car to the expo.  Super nice.  Then after that they took me to my hotel.  Terry didn't start running until he was 48 years young.  That is impressive to me.

It was weird being in a big city all alone, but I felt safe.  The hotel was located in a good spot.
That night I walked down to the city and went to Hard Rock Cafe in Baltimore.  Had a good dinner then went back to my hotel to sleep.
The weather was a bit cold in the morning and I wasn't properly dressed for it.  One of the hotel staff saw me and gave me some old towels to wrap up in.  So nice.
I liked the marathon for the most part, but it seemed really hilly to me.  We ran through the zoo for a mile and I stopped for a selfie which you will see.  It wasn't my worst time, but it wasn't my best.  I kinda took it easy the last 10 miles because I knew I had a half marathon the next day.  Here are pictures:

Susan Ludwig and I waiting for the flight.

The sunrise in Chicago when our plane was landing.

View of Baltimore from plane

Another view of Baltimore

my bib for the race

A nice police woman let me have a selfie with her and her horse.

Beautiful view from my restaurant.

This race does a thing called the Baltimoron race.  You run a 5K and the half marathon and you get 3 medals.

Thought this lady was cool.

The start line

At the zoo around mile 5.

Just outside the zoo.

Another state to color in.  State # 16

Just got back to the hotel, before the shower.  Showing off the awesome medal.

Waiting for my Uber to pick me up to take me to the hotel.  All showered and pretty again.

Inside of medal.

Outside of medal.

Leading Ladies Marathon - Spearfish, South Dakota- August 21, 2016

Another state to check off for my 50 state marathon journey.  South Dakota.  This race was recommended by many for fast times because the race is mostly downhill.  The race started at 7 a.m. you had to be at the bus at 5:15 a.m. to catch the bus to the start. You miss the bus, you are out of luck.  Then you are dropped off in the freezing cold to wait an hour.  I personally think we could have met the bus a half hour later, but oh well.  The race started at the top of Spearfish Canyon in South Dakota. I didn't dress warmly enough, in fact I totally forgot to bring a throw-away jacket.  I was so cold at the start of the race.  At about 1/2 mile into the race I saw a girl throwing away her jacket.  I asked her if I could have it.  She didn't care.  I ended up wearing it for about 12 miles, then I finally warmed up. The race website is here.  My results are here.

I was running the full marathon and Amy was running the half.  We met my friend Sharon from Arizona to room with her.

When the marathon started out you had to actually run uphill for almost a mile, then most of the rest of the race was downhill or flat.  I was doing fine until about mile 4 when I started getting nauseous.  I walked more than I ever have in a marathon in the first 10 miles, but that was to help with the nausea.  After that the elevation must have been at a place where my body could handle it better.  I felt like a new woman by mile 12.  I took a few pictures along the way. I didn't like that the Full marathon finishing medal was exactly like the half marathon finishing medal.  That they should change for you are running twice as far, but everything else was nice.  Shirt was great, food after was nice.  Bus was on time to take you to the start, mini expo had some nice things to buy.  Packet pickup was organized.

Entering South Dakota

On the way down the mountain.  A gorgeous log cabin home.  I loved it.  There were many like it.

This picture doesn't do the scene justice.  It was so beautiful.  You can tell it was completely downhill.

Bridal Falls.  Totally awesome.

Finished.  

After the race.

Bib and medal.

Sharon from Arizona, me and Amy.

My official time

On the way home we stopped at the National Music Museum.  Totally awesome museum that I highly recommend visiting.

A gorgeous August day.

The Beach Boys' guitar signed by them.

Run4troops Marathon - Dubuque, IA- Saturday, June 25, 2016

This race starts in Dyersville and you run on the flat, crushed limestone trail all the way to Dubuque.  It was the hottest day of the entire summer and James Anderson and I still chose to run this marathon. You never know what you're going to get weather wise when you sign up.  So you just do your best with the conditions you are given.

This was my first repeat state for a marathon.  I was helping my friend James complete his first ever marathon.

We started out at a nice 11 minute mile pace and figured that as the morning went on that I could hold that pace.  Wrong.  It was too hot to walk outside let alone run.  We were burning up by mile 13.

The only thing that saved us was our friends on the Cocky Rooster Race team.  They showed up all over the course to give us water, grapes, electrolyte pills, squirt us with water guns and give us bags of ice.  I really don't feel that we could have completed this race without them.  My friend Amy showed up too to cheer me on and offer support.

In the last 4 miles we walked a lot.  Every part of us was burning up.  I was so glad to see the finish line.

Many pictures are below, not necessarily in the right order:

Sunrise

Our friends on our race team.

A picture of us taken just after we started.

Medal,bib and results

After getting cleaned up with my new race shirt on.

The finish line

My race time on my Garmin.

After the race posing with our medals.

Amy and I later that day.

Fargo Marathon - Fargo, North Dakota - Saturday, May 21, 2016

A great marathon in North Dakota that I think everyone should try at least once.  There are so many great things to say about this marathon.

It's a flat course, like flatter than flat, so if you like that kind of course, then you should run this marathon.
It seems like the entire town of Fargo comes out to cheer you on.
There are plenty of volunteers on the course
There are plenty of water stations on the course.
The finishing medal is really nice.
The expo was well planned out and had lots of vendors with freebies.
The race starts and ends indoors so IF it's bad weather you don't have to wait out in it.  However you can't start your Garmin indoors because you can't get the satellite so that bites.

The day ended up being hotter than Fargo usually has at this time of year. All the residents were saying how hot it was. It was a bummer because I don't run well in hot weather.

The results are here !    Lots of pictures are below.

About 30 minutes before the marathon began.

A bag given to us at packet pickup.  The bag is really nice and thick and I'll definitely use it again.

zip up jacket given to us for the marathon.

The marathon was about to begin.  They were announcing that we needed to line up.

Giant flag on the course.  This picture doesn't do it justice.  The flag was as big as a house.

Elvis sang to us.

My Garmin time.

After a shower wearing my new shirt with the finishing medal.

Marathon Bib and medal

Food after the marathon.  Pizza, water, chips, bananas, chocolate milk, cookies, and the best thing ever was cookie dough.

Illinois Marathon - Champaign, Illinois- Saturday April 30, 2016

The night before the race I traveled to Illinois to pick up my packet and stay in a hotel near the race site.   I ended up sharing my hotel with a girl named Jennifer that I met on the Corridor Running Facebook page.  At packet pickup I ran into one of my 50 state friends, George Southgate from Georgia.  He is 69 years old and was about to run his 289th marathon the next day.  He, with his wife took me to dinner at Bob Evans.  That was so nice of him.

After dinner I went back to the hotel and laid out all my stuff for the marathon.  About two hours later I met Jennifer and then shortly went to sleep.

The next morning the weather was as bad as it said it was going to be.  It was one of those weather days that you just don't want to run in. It was raining and raining hard. It was cold and just miserable. I woke up and every joint hurt. It's like my arthritis said, "No running today". I really didn't want to run. It took everything in me to get ready to go run a marathon again. I was not happy.  But since I signed up, I did it.

I arrived at the race site about an hour early and received excellent parking.  I found a bathroom, used it then went back to my car to just sit and wait.  The rain wouldn't stop.  I knew from the forecast that I would be running in rain the entire time and that was not going to be fun.  I just hoped that I layered correctly so I wouldn't be too hot or too cold.  I wore a hat so the raindrops wouldn't consistently be in my eyes.  I had my usual sports bra and sports bra tank on for the first layer, then a long sleeve shirt, then a rain coat.  I wore all of this until mile 20 and then felt like I had finally become too hot and took the rain coat off and wrapped it around me.

I really don't remember much about this race because I was so miserable being so wet.  I remember hearing everyone's wet shoes squeaking a lot, but other than that I just remember running and hoping I would get through it without chafing badly.

At mile 24 I rubbed my eye for some reason and when I did that my contact went up into my eyelid, way up.  So far up it hurt so bad.  I went over to the side of the road and tried to push on my eyelid to make the contact come down over the eyeball where it belonged so I could see correctly.  It wouldn't.  So I made the choice to run in severe pain.  I ran half blind.  It wasn't fun.  I had to finish the race by being able not to see.  Oh well, I finished and that was nice. I barely made it under 5 hours.  Below are pictures to enjoy.  Here are the race results if you really care that much:  Results

George and I in our 50 State Marathon shirts.

Waiting for the marathon to begin.  I was already wet and wanting to just start running.

Me with my medal at the end.  

The Garmin results!

The race bib and medal.

After a shower and stretching with my new race shirt on.