2015 Races

I participated in the Run the Edge’s “Run the Year 2,015 in 2015” challenge with my husband, Ed. Run the Edge programs are virtual challenges that can be done individually or as a team.

Mary’s solo miles for 2015: 807 Team miles for 2015: 1516

Jeff Galloway 13.1 – Atlanta, GA: 12/13/15

This race was a last minute add on (two weeks before). I had the pleasure of doing this one Carey Kauffman, a board member for The PCD Foundation. I got a personal tour of the city during our race. Great weather, great company, great race. No PR, but with all the hills, I’m happy with my time.

Y Turkey Trot 5K – Towson, MD: 11/26/15

Finally my missing PR streak is done! PR’d by 13 seconds. Not bad considering the hills on this one. To my advantage was the downhill for the first half of the first mile. I had under a 15 minute pace. Not to my advantage was the 3/4 of a mile hill after that. Mile 2 was 3.5 minutes longer than mile 1.

Ed finished and then came back to encourage me and walk me in. There are some pretty fast runners here. The woman’s 70 and up age group was won by an 88 year old who finished in 27:05. Ed was asked about his shirt. He also went up to the TV camera and got me on air. A short clip and nothing about Running On Air but showing someone racing with oxygen makes a difference. See the piece here: More than 13K Trot for a cause in Maryland

Across the Bay 10K: 11/8/15

My second race on IV antibiotics. This one was just for fun and I walked it. I got to enjoy it with two friends from college and a friend of theirs. Ed raced this one two. His wave started 2 hours before mine, so we commuted separately. He got to see the sunrise. I got to see the sunset (OK, I wasn’t that slow). We’ve already signed up to do this one again next year.

Army Ten Miler, Washington, DC: 10/11/15

I am now calling this my “nemisis” race. I’ve registered 4 times and have yet to officially complete it. The first 2 times I didn’t even show up because I was sick. This year, despite being really sick for 2 weeks and on IV antibiotics for 11 days, I felt well enough to start this one. I even made it all 10 miles this year (divered last year). I just didn’t finish by 11:30. As the race went on, I got slower. My lung infection definitely slowed me down.

Ed was able to shave 2 minutes off of last year’s time. Since he started in wave 2 this time he didn’t have as many walkers to
dodge.

Celtic Classic 5K – Bethlehem, PA: 9/26/15

This was my 1 year anniversary race. The 2014 Celtic Classic was my first race ever. This is the third race I talked myself out of putting in too much effort because my lungs weren’t feeling great and missed a PR by seconds. Only 10 seconds to be exact. And I still got really sick the next day. At least if I had pushed it (and 11 seconds wouldn’t have been much of a push) I’d have been sick WITH a PR.

Ed on the other hand did great, placing 2nd in his age group.

Navy 5 Miler – Washington, D.C.: 9/20/15

I felt no stress with this race. I had 2.5 hours to finish 5 miles. Ed ran the half marathon. We were going to “race” each other to see who finished first, but he had about a 40 minute head start. The 5 mile course was mostly flat. I hadn’t been feeling my best so with no pressure to finish by a certain time I didn’t push it. The only time I ran was right at the start. I even stopped at the water stations. I justified it because my lungs weren’t feeling great and I should take it easy. So what happened? I missed my PR by only 45 seconds! I could have beat it if I just kept walking through the water stations or just ran a little. Left me wishing I’d pushed it just a little bit.

Disneyland Dumbo Double Dare 10K and half marathon – Anaheim, CA :9/5/15 – 9/6/15

My friend Leslie joined me for the half marathon. The Disney challenges fill up so quickly that even though she was only about 3 minutes behind me in registering, the Dumbo Double Dare was already sold out. We had a lot of fun with a great hotel location less than a mile walk to the start line of the races and right next to a Denny’s, which became our official breakfast/post race restaurant.

The 10K was a PR (I’d never done a 10K race before). Leslie encouraged and pushed me through the half marathon. I wish I’d pushed a little harder as I was only 53 seconds from a new PR.

Woman Rock 5K – St. Paul, MN: 8/29/15

As soon as I decided to go to The PCD Foundations Move 4 A Cure conference in Minnesota, my next step was to find a race that weekend. I found 2, although I only completed the Woman Rock race in the morning. I went to the evening Glo Run race, but by the time I would have started it would be close to 10 and I had 5 am flight the next day. The Women Rock race was fun and I met this lovely lady, Kristi, at the start. A local news station had aired a piece on the conference and had a segment about me running the local races. Kristi said she’d seen the segment that morning. A few other people said “Hi” during the race too.

Belmar 5K – Belmar, NJ: 7/11/15

This was a lovely 5 mile race in Belmar, NJ. It is a cute beach community, with mostly homes/apartments/rentals along the beach. It was all flat, and looped around two lakes. It started by one lake, running parallel to the beach and then turned up and around the second lake. At first I thought maybe it was small white sail boats grouped in one part of the lake, but it was swans. There was also plenty of encouragment from race volunteers and from people in the neighborhoods, including 2 guys on either side of the stree on ladders just after mile 4 with hoses to cool us off.

Potomac River Run Half Marathon – Potomac, MD: 5/3/15

I had the privledge of doing this one with my husband. Due to extenuating circumstances and some issue with his knee, Ed decided to walk the half marathon with me instead of running the full marathon for which he originally signed up. I didn’t improve on my PR from Disney as I had hoped, but crossing the finish line holding my husband’s hand makes this my favorite race.

Disney World Half Marathon – Walt Disney Resort Lake Buena Vista, FL: 1/10/15

I completed my first half Marathon. Disney certainly makes this a lot of fun. Throughout the course there was music and about each mile there was a different set of Disney characters and scenes where you could stop and take your picture. Not to mention all the other runners who were in different costumes and character accessories. Unfortunately my pace was much slower than expected and I couldn’t afford to stop and enjoy the surroundings. I kept powering through. I defintely want to run several Disney half marathons next year and my goal is to have my pace fast enough that I can stop and enjoy AND still finish in time.