She Runs by the Seashore

It’s been a busy few months, and I’m now ready to wrap up two months of running — September and October!

1. I ran 94 miles in September and 88.34 miles in October. It’s always nice for me to get to 100 miles in a month, but these were good months for me as I trained for the Ocean City Running Festival Half Marathon, with no races longer than that on the schedule for the rest of the year.
2. I ran my fast 1600s in 8:14 (September) and 8:21 (October). Although I have gotten a little slower at these since my sub-8:00 1600-meter run in June, these are still fast times for me.
3. I ran two races in September and one in October. These were the Mike Sterling 10K, at which I ran a time of 1:00:33, my fastest 10K since 2019; the Run, White and Blue 5K, which was super hot; and the Ocean City Running Festival Half Marathon, which was also super hot.
4. I did a step challenge during September. During September, I set a personal goal of 360,000 steps for the month, which was slightly higher than my totals for the previous two months. Members of Delmarva She Runs This Town were encouraged to set a goal of their choosing for that month. I just barely made it to this goal on the last day, adding some steps captured on my phone in from a day I forgot my watch to just get there. The challenge definitely encouraged me to walk extra!
5. I ran in various places. In addition to the places where I ran races and my regular runs in Salisbury, over these two months, I ran in Ocean City, at Tuckahoe State Park, at Oregon Ridge Park, at Pemberton Park, and at the new Pirate’s Wharf Park off Whitehaven Road in Wicomico County. Pirate’s Wharf Park is not complete yet, but when it’s done, there will be a loop trail! There are trails there now, but backtracking is necessary because of the parts of the park that aren’t open yet. I plan to write a full post once the rest of the trail is open.
6. I did a pumpkin run. I started off October with a fun pumpkin-shaped run with Delmarva She Runs This Town.
7. I ran 3.3 miles on my 33rd birthday. To honor my 33rd birthday on Oct. 27, I ran 3.3 miles at the new Pirate’s Wharf Park that I mentioned above.
8. I ran my fastest non-race two-miler in years. Although the two-mile run wasn’t quite as fast as my first two miles of the Firecracker 5K in July, I was happy to run 18:13 for two miles on Oct. 7.
9. I volunteered overnight at the Pemberton 24. I’ve volunteered at numerous races and events over the years, but something new for me this year was volunteering overnight at the Pemberton 24. I arrived around 11:30 p.m. and worked the entire night, starting by cutting up pickles for the aid station and then helping with the timing team for several hours, leaving well after the sun came up. As someone who normally needs a lot of sleep, I was surprised that I didn’t actually get tired (of course, until I got home). The energy was contagious, and it was fun! In October, I volunteered at two events with the Eastern Shore Running Club, at the 5K Hero Run for Wor-Wic and the Good Beer Festival.
10. I kept up my weekly DribbleUp streak. I’ve been doing one DribbleUp class per week, and as of Nov. 13, I’m at a 27-week streak with these weighted ball classes.
11. I did my longest bike ride ever. During a weekend birthday celebration in Rehoboth with my partner, Mike, we did a 20-mile bike ride (with a midway stop) — my longest ever!
12. I got in some yoga classes. I did four yoga classes in September and three in October. I also got in a barre class and did stand-up paddle boarding in September, both with Nicole!