
Racing Stripes
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Hello! I'm Elizabeth and I'm a 40-something runner, author, marketer, pianist, and lover of zebras. This blog is primarily dedicated to my journey as a runner. It began as a MySpace blog in 2006, which covered anything and everything, but when that platform became obsolete for blogging in 2008, I moved my running posts to this site.
Racing Stripes
1M ago
I ran the Frosty 5K shortly before Christmas and the New Year's Day 10K on January 1. I am late in blogging about both of them. Neither of them were stellar performances, goal races, or particularly interesting, so the urge to blog wasn't as strong as it typically is. But there is always something to reflect on post-race, so I will start with Frosty.
This race takes place on a course that our local running store, =PR=, uses multiple times throughout the year. I had run the course about five times previously, but never the Frosty version of it. (For reference, the other races are Run You ..read more
Racing Stripes
2M ago
Yesterday I ran my 35th marathon in Chesapeake, VA at the Tidewater Striders marathon. I'd love to say that I'm so experienced I would never make a rookie mistake. But alas- it seems like it's time for me to go back to basics.
We drove down to Chesapeake on Friday and it took us about 3.5 hours. When we got to the hotel I laid out all my race gear to ensure I wouldn't forget anything on race morning. Because this was a small race, there was no packet pickup the day before. Everyone would be getting their bibs on race morning. I brought two options for my top (short sleeves or tank) and two op ..read more
Racing Stripes
2M ago
I am running out of creative titles for Turkey Trot race recaps. (I am waiting for a warm year so I can use "Too Hot To Trot" - which would be a decent consolation prize for unfavorable weather.) Onto the race report.
This was my 15th Virginia Run Turkey Trot! I started running this course back in 2006, and have run it every year since except for 2019-2022 when they stopped holding the race due to lack of volunteers. My backup race, Ashburn Farm, is actually a faster course and holds my 5K PR of 19:41. But I'm more interested in tradition than PRs (shocking, I know) so I still opt for Virgini ..read more
Racing Stripes
2M ago
On Saturday, December 7, I will run my 35th marathon: the Tidewater Striders Marathon in Chesapeake, VA.
Why I chose this race
I came down with Covid at the end of July and I took the entire month of August off, except for three very short/easy runs in which I thought I was recovered. Those three very short and easy runs likely caused me to sink further into post viral fatigue, so I wasn't able to resume running again until the middle of September. At that point, I came back with run-walks to be 100% certain that I was well enough to run again. In total, I took seven weeks off of running. Thi ..read more
Racing Stripes
3M ago
We're moving. And perhaps the biggest change with moving won't be the house itself, the mortgage payment or the commute. But the running options.
When searching for our new home, we found plenty of houses that we loved but that were, as I called them, "land locked." My definition of "land locked" means the only way out of your neighborhood is a narrow two-lane road that is not safe to run on. These houses were automatic deal breakers. Our new home will be run-able, but as I stated above, the running options will be entirely new and different.
But in this post I don't want to talk about ..read more
Racing Stripes
3M ago
In my last post I talked about how I took 7 weeks off from running: 2 weeks with Covid, followed by 5 weeks of post-viral fatigue.
Getting Back Into Running
Once I was confident that I was out of the woods, I was able to ramp up my training fairly quickly. I spent the week of September 16 testing the waters with frequent walk breaks during my runs. By the end of the week I was up to 5 minutes running, 1 minute walking with no problems whatsoever.
The following week (September 23) I removed my walk breaks and ran a total 36 miles. I felt energized and strong. On top of that mileage, I in ..read more
Racing Stripes
5M ago
It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post, July 4th to be precise, and this may be my longest break from blogging since I started in 2006.
Budapest, Hungary
Greg and I traveled to Europe during the last two weeks of July. We visited Prague for a few days, and then took a river cruise from Passau, Germany to Budapest, Hungary. We stopped in Vienna, Austria and Bratislava, Slovakia along the way. The trip was incredible, and we managed to run most days. I brought 7 pairs of shorts and 7 sports bras and all of them got used!
My favorite place to run was Budapest because they ha ..read more
Racing Stripes
7M ago
This morning I ran my 11th Firecracker 5K. I started running this race in 2010 when it first launched, and have run it most years since, with a few exceptions for injury and illness. I even ran the virtual race in 2020! The first time I ran this race back in 2010 my time was 23:21. Since then, I have gotten significantly faster.
If I'm in good shape, my goal is usually to set a course PR. My distance PR is 19:41, and it's not realistic to beat that in the summer heat. Turkey Trots are for distance PRs. Firecrackers are for course PRs.
This year, the time to beat was 20:57 from 2022. Bef ..read more
Racing Stripes
9M ago
I raced my second-ever road mile over the weekend at the Loudon Street Mile in Winchester, Virginia. My first attempt was four years ago at this same race. My time was 5:57.6.
Why Race A Mile?
Why race a mile? Why drive over an hour to run for six minutes? Why pay money to run a mile? What's so hard about a mile?
These are all questions I have been asked regarding this race. I decided to race this mile because I love a running challenge and I wanted to try and beat my time from 2020. Plus, I often get asked how fast I can run a mile, so I figured I should have an up to date ..read more
Racing Stripes
9M ago
I ran the Lawyer's Have Heart 5K over the weekend in Washington DC. Even though I have run Lawyer's Have heart many times in the past, this experience was entirely different.
Historically, this race had been a 10K, occurred in the middle of June, and was located in Georgetown. This race was my first 10K back in 2005 and my first large road race ever! I proceeded to run it every year from 2005 to 2012, and then stopped in 2013 because I was on vacation. Around that time, I decided to stop running summertime 10Ks because I would suffer from heat exhaustion and kill my immune system. 5K became m ..read more