It’s race week! Sort of. I’m running a virtual half. Womp womp.
Virtual races allow participants to run a particular distance from anywhere in the world and usually during a more flexible time frame. I really don’t see the point of them. What I love about races is that festive community atmosphere, the crowds, the high fives, the funny signs, crossing a finish lines, the race pictures, the friends, the post race beers with said friends, the shared experience basically. But with all the races being canceled or in the best case scenario postponed to fall (whether they happen or not then is still very much up in the air) virtual races are as good as it get! Some friends and I had planned to travel to Kennebunk, Maine to race the Shipyard Maine Coast Marathon and Half Marathon this weekend. Both were canceled. I was supposed to run the half and since they mailed out my race sweater, bib and medal I figured I should actually earn them and so this week was kind of a race week. Here’s how it went:
MONDAY
It was May the 4th. I marked #StarWarsDay by running four miles in a Star Wars t-shirt.

In the evening, I zoom-ed (that’s a verb now right?) with my friends from Pacers 14th Street. We normally have run club that night and while we can’t have run club right now, we still get together for virtual drinks afterwards.
TUESDAY
I was tempted to do a Cinco de Miler but instead ran to my friend Colleen’s. She has a big back yard so we could chat for a few minutes while being far apart enough from each other. She just got a new job and like everyone has been going through a really tough time so it was nice to see her, even at a safe distance. Altogether that was a 6.83 miles / 11km run.
WEDNESDAY
It was kinda gross in Washington, D.C. so Caitlin and I took a Runner’s World instagram live class together. Caitlin and I don’t live in the same city, so we don’t normally get to take workout classes together. Having additional shared experiences like this has been one of the highlights of this whole stay-at-home ordeal.
I also realized that I had ran every day in May so far. I know we were only 5 days in but still, I figured I might as well try and get a streak going so I ran a mile.
THURSDAY
5 miles run back home from Crystal City. I love running the Mount Vernon Trail on Thursday mornings, it’s so peaceful with hardly any other runners or cyclists.

FRIDAY
I should have been eating at Eventide Oyster Company in Portland Maine and attending the expo for the race. Instead, I ran/walked a slow 2.23 miles in honor of Ahmaud Arbery, a young African American man who was murdered while out of a run two months ago. The two white men who stole his life for no apparent reason but the color of his skin had still not been arrested as of Friday (they did Friday though, in no small parts thanks to everyone’s outrage at the situation.)

In evening, my Girls Night In Together Apart Movie Night crew watched Becoming on Netflix.
SATURDAY
Race day (ish)!!! I had mapped a 13.1 miles route starting at my place and ending at Corey’s. That took me 2 hours and 22 minutes, so far from a PR and that’s ok. I’ll push myself a lot more when I can go back to real races! Also, it was super windy that day, but nice and cool which was great for running.

At 5PM, a bunch of us got on zoom to chat and share a virtual post-race beer. Well, the beer was real at least 😉

SUNDAY
I ran 2km during an afternoon hike in Manassas Battlefield National Park to keep the running streak going. It was a beautiful day and it was great to get outside though there were definitely a lot more people out than I was comfortable with and I wish we had gone earlier in the day to avoid some of the crowds. After the hike, we swung by the Winery at Bull Run and curbside picked up a bottle of Viognier. Almost like hanging out at a winery post hike…. almost 😉

Altogether, I ran 54 km/33.5 miles, which is right where I want to be every week so I’m pretty happy.
What I’m reading/watching/listening to: I do have a couple of interesting things to report here.
First, I loved Mindy Kaling’s new Netflix series Never Have I Ever. It was SO cute and just what I needed right now!
My girlfriends and I also watched the new Netflix documentary on Michelle Obama’s book tour, Becoming, and it was a very pleasant watch too (though it made us all really miss the Obamas and wonder how different things would be right now if Barrack, not Donald was in the White House.)

On the book front, I read The Dutch House and The Girl with the Louding Voice. Both great reads!! I don’t love listening to fiction on audiobook but The Dutch House was narrated by Tom Hanks so that was neat! And I read this “Oral History of Center Stage.” Essential, obviously 😉
What I’m eating/drinking: I made the most amazing bourbon spiked banana bread with chocolate chips:

On Friday, I picked up bibimbap from Mandu (I’ve been doing pick-up from local restaurants once a week to support them) and had a little Korean feast at home all by myself.

What I’m looking forward to next week: I’m signed up for another virtual race. Well, two technically. I am signed up for the Marine Corps Historic Half Weekend virtual Devil Dog Double, which consists of the Semper 5ive 5 miler and the historic half marathon. I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to do them back to back, which is what would happen on race day, on the same day but with a break or over two separate days… I guess I still have a few days to decide. I’m also participating in my friend Tammy’s QuaRUNtime challenge, a 4-week challenge to see how far we can run or run/walk in 30 minutes (and how much progress we can make over that timeline) and the November Project DC‘s #NPDCQuaranTeamChallenge (I’m team Dazzo) where we compete to do the most squats, burpees, pushups and sit-ups as we can. Hopefully that will keep me accountable and motivated over the next week or so. How are you staying motivated right now? Any fun challenge out there?? Open to all suggestions 😉
I’m excited to be back to the weekly recap blog post format! And as usual, I’m linking with Kim of Running On The Fly and Deborah of Confessions of a Mother Runner for their weekly wrap-up. Check out everyone’s posts and join the community if you’re blogging about your fitness journey too!!