Knock knock, it's me!!

Hello out there!!!!

It's me, your horribly truant blogger!!

I feel terrible for not updating since, uh Boston 2014 pretty much. I think of you guys all the time and tried to will myself to post but in the end I succumbed to: slacker-itis. Also, I became a Master! So maybe I'm just forgetful now? haha

But fear no more. I am going to keep you up to date on my current training, successes and fails. Even if it's short. Because it's good stuff lately!

I know pictures rock so I'll try to go through 4 months in photos.

Start of summer 2014 in North Carolina

YES, it's hot in the Carolina's. I refuse to acclimate. 

I try to beat the heat and get up by 4:30am 7 days a week.

I run hills in the dark at times. THAT sucks!

So I nailed down a little fitness with the help of my new coach. He deserves his own blog post. I hate to throw him in the middle of my sweaty photos so hold tight on that!

I decided after years of not racing anything under a half to throw myself to the dogs. I did 5k's, 10k's, 15k's…track races…I wanted to flush out the fear of the shorter stuff. So I went on a racing binge for 5 weeks. IT. WAS. FUN! 

18:44 July 2014

Hey, it's been YEARS. I didn't get the memo about no iPod in a 5k. lol

My Mum

4th of July. 10k turned 12k. 

Summer running

Then I got on board for probably the BEST race EVA! Boilermaker 2014 in Utica NY. It's the largest 15k road race I believe in the country, if not the world. I think it was close to 14,000 runners. I placed 4th Master, 4th American, 20th female, 200th runner overall. This was the course:

9.3 miles in 58:52. 6:19 pace on a hot and humid day.

Here are some Boilermaker pictures:

Top 4 Masters. Olympian Jen Rines, far left

Fernando Cabada!

No caption needed. The Godfather of Masters Running Kevin Castille.

The start of Boilermaker. I. have. balls.

58 minutes later, the finish is right there! July 2014

So until now, the summer was rocking! But I had to throw in one more race. So I did the USATF Masters Championships 5000 on the track. My first track race ever. It was fun. I did it for the experience more so than the time. I was 6 days off Boilermaker and kinda fried. I ran the same time as my 3 other 5k's in the previous weeks. 18:44. 

I'm in the yellow top with my very own chase pack while in 2nd place before getting my ass handed to me.

And today. After a few months in the heat and humidity I've clearly lost my fashion sense! Oopsie!

So that's my running in a nutshell.  I am training for a fall marathon. I can't wait to get past these wrenched temps and high humidity. I've never trained for or ran a fall marathon and now I understand why! It's hard work and takes absolute dedication. Extreme focus as well. I love it more than I hate it though!

I hope you guys are doing well. I still stalk your blogs and social media to check up on you. 

Peace out yo and happy running!!

Laura