See ya, September! Hello, October!

Well, September is pretty much over, and October starts tomorrow.  September has been quite a month for Mr. Marathon and me.  We ran in three races, met some goals, missed some goals, had to go to the doctor and the hospital, got sick, skipped some training days, overdid it on other training days, but ultimately, we are happy with our progress throughout the month.  Here are our final numbers for the month:


Mr. Marathon: 105.6 miles!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has met and surpassed his 100 mile goal for the month of September, despite his many, many setbacks.  WHOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!  And for the record, he is still sick.  But that ain't stoppin' him, no way, no how!
Mrs. Marathon: 57.75 miles!!  I have met and surpassed my goal of 48 miles for the month.  I didn't have quite as difficult of a month as Mr. Marathon luckily, so I am very pleased with my mileage.

Also, I have had a couple of other great successes just this past week.  I managed to run one mile in 8 minutes, 37 seconds, which is AWESOME.  I set a goal over the summer to run a mile in under 9 minutes which I finally achieved.  In that same run, I managed to complete 3 miles in 28 minutes and 59 seconds, which beats my goal that I had set a while back for running 3 miles in under 30 minutes to hopefully get my 5k time under 30 minutes.  It feels great to set and achieve goals, even if it is a bit delayed.

Mr. Marathon had a personal best on Monday when he ran 11 miles, which was the farthest he'd ever run on a training run.  Yes, it sounds silly because he is a marathon runner, but he believes that as long as he is consistent with his mileage, his endurance will keep improving.  Then yesterday, he had a new personal best when he tackled a 16 mile training run.  He is well on his way to rocking that ultra marathon that is in less than two weeks!

As for October, we have set new goals:  Mr. Marathon would like to run 150 miles, and I would like to run 60 miles.  Hopefully we can continue improving in our training!  Wish us luck!

(For your viewing pleasure, we have included the triumphant photo of me and Mr. Marathon from my first 10K.  We thought it encompassed all the feelings of victory that we have felt this month.  And yes, we are aware of how silly we look.  And don't worry, you will get used to it.)

Race The Bar 10K

Yesterday Mr. Marathon and I ran the Race the Bar 10K in Greensboro, NC. It was ridiculously and unexpectedly HOT HOT HOT! It has been low 70's for the past few weeks, so it was beautiful running weather.  However, yesterday, it was like 85 degrees! It didn't help that the race started at 3 pm either, so it was right around the heat of the day. Regardless, we did it! Mr. Marathon placed first in the 20-24 year old age group with a time of 46:26, despite him being sick for the past week. I am just glad that I finished the race. My time of 1:14:33 has given me a wakeup call that I need to do some serious speed training and hill training, although I HATE hills. Like, with a passion (see the post from the Patrick County 5K). However, according to the official results, I came in fourth out of six people in my age group!  YAY!  I am (almost) a threat to 20-24-year-old female runners everywhere!  WATCH OUT Y'ALL.

As for my mileage, I am doing exceptionally well at 38.05 miles for the month with only 9.95 to go (but I think I'll just round that to 10 miles even).   Mr. Marathon has completed 55.25 miles so he still has 44.75 miles left, but he can do that no problem.  He just has to run a little over 6 miles every day until the end of the month.  He is feeling better... no chest pain, and his cold is clearing up.  He's had it so rough for the past month, but he is sticking with it.  I am so proud that he has not just given up, and he has run all the races he has signed up to do, despite all the setbacks.  (Mr. Marathon apologizes for his "wimpy-ness" so far... he says he is not usually like this and he will impress you all soon!  or he hopes).  So, he should be able to smash his 100 mile goal to the ground!  We are trying to stay motivated for our upcoming races: I have three 5K races in October that I would like to run, and Mr. Marathon has his Ultra Marathon coming up in less than a month!  Stay tuned! :)

Harvest Moon 10K

This past week was a doozy.  We were both thrown for a loop all last week.  I don't have much of an excuse, considering that nothing out of the ordinary really happened to me.  I was just really stressed and really busy and really worried about my hubbs.  Why was I so worried?  He was having sharp chest pains all day on Tuesday, so we headed to the urgent care center where they did a chest x-ray on him.  In his x-ray, the doctors found some potential concerns, so the doctor sent off the x-ray to a radiologist, who was concerned about a PNEUMOTHORAX (in plain English, a collapsed lung).  So, of course, they called him back in for another x-ray to verify that they saw what they think they saw.  They were still worried after the second x-ray, so on Friday, he had to go to the hospital for a C. T. scan.  After multiple visits to doctors and long hours spent in the waiting, we came to find out that his health is IN PERFECT CONDITION.  Not a thing wrong with him.  Ironic?  Yes. Annoying?  Absolutely.  A huge relief?  You bet.  So that same Friday night, we proceeded to run the 10K that we signed up for earlier that week- the DAY BEFORE all of this happened.

The Harvest Moon 10K was a night run on the Dick and Willie Passage in Martinsville, VA.  We run that trail a lot so we thought it would be a good run for us.  It was a beautiful night for the race, and there was a great turnout.  However, we both encountered some struggles along the way, considering we had not run all week!  Mr. Marathon got a side cramp around mile 1.  Seriously.  But he pushed through and finished strong at a time of 44:58, which put him at second place in his age group!  I did not meet my personal goal for this race, but I feel like I did the best that I could considering that I had not run 6 miles in like two months.  I had intended to take a couple 6 mile runs last week, but due to the unforeseen circumstances in the above paragraph, that obviously did not happen.  So, major changes will be occurring in the near future.  Stay tuned!

Weekly Update!

We did lots of running this past week.  After a few shorter runs, we both decided to run in the Patrick County Partnership for the Arts 5k in Stuart, Virginia.  It was only a 5k, but it was a beast of a course.  Well, not really.  But it was really hard.  The hills were a little intense, even for Mr. Marathon, who runs the marathon on the Blue Ridge Parkway!  Then again, he was sore from a 3.2 mile run yesterday.   His fault!  He finished today's 5k in 20 minutes and some change.  He came in 2nd overall!  That just goes to show how tough the course is, considering his time is usually well under 20 minutes.  I finished in 33 minutes and (about) 30 seconds (the official times have not been posted just yet!).  I was happy with this time, considering that I HATE HILLS.  HATE 'EM.  I would rather run in pouring down rain.  Or a tornado.  Or a heat wave.  But hills?  Ew.  Aside from the hilly course, the race was great.  Beautiful weather, nice course, friendly folks.

Now for the mileage update for this month: Mr. Marathon has completed 27.3 miles so far in the month of September.  Only 72.7 miles to go!  Mrs. Marathon: 12.6.  I have some serious running to do, since I have just now set a goal to run 48 miles this month.

Celebrating Labor Day!

Now we are back on track!  Today is Labor Day and we celebrated by not going to the pool, but going hiking instead.  We went to Hanging Rock State Park in North Carolina, which is only about an hour away.  There were plenty of trails to choose from, so we picked three trails that we wanted to hike: one trail that led to two waterfalls, another that led to a single waterfall, and the main trail that led to Hanging Rock Ridge.  The waterfalls were nice and the trails were very tiring but wonderful and despite the severe fog, we had a blast!  We were pretty worn out after 7 hours of hiking, picnicking, photo shoots, and driving.  Needless to say, we were very glad to get home.  After a brief intermission (aka a nap and grocery shopping), we ran out of sunlight, but Mr. Marathon desperately wanted to run.  Even if it only meant one mile.  And that it was.  It was dark and drizzly (we didn't want to take any chances after yesterday's run!), so we decided to do one mile... together... just in case.  That way, he can stay on track to meet his September mileage goal.  One mile is better than no miles, after all!

And now, after some additional calisthenics when we got back home, we are pooped.  I, Mrs. Marathon, start student-teaching tomorrow so I need my beauty sleep.  After all, I am a Disney Princess!  Or I will be soon, anyway.

Time to turn out the lights on Labor Day Weekend.  Til next time!

Sunday, September 2

So, we really wanted to post yesterday about all of our adventures but by the time we actually got home and dried off, we hit the hay!  Here's what happened:  we enjoyed a nice, leisurely Sunday.  You know, church, lunch, being lazy.  Then we decided to go kayaking at Philpott Lake, which was wonderful, yet tiring.  While kayaking, we also got to see a black bear swimming laps.  Just kidding, he just swam across the lake and ran into the woods.  Which is still impressive because he was just a little tiny cub!  That was the first bear either of us had seen in the wild ever!

And now, back to the running part of this blog.  After our relaxing Sunday, we had a little encounter with Leslie.  Tropical Storm Leslie, that is.  We both really wanted to run so when we got home from kayaking we changed into our running attire and headed outside to stretch.  We looked up at the sky and saw big, ominous, gray, scary, terrifying, threatening clouds.  Did that stop us?  Nah.  Should it have stopped us?  Abso-freaking-lutely.  Anyway, we took off our separate ways, and we were both enjoying the nice breezy weather.  Then it happened.  I, Mrs. Marathon, decided to turn around, cutting my route short, and right behind me was Leslie.  There was rain pouring down.  Literally right behind me.  Right where I needed to run to get home.  I had no choice, so I took off and kept running.  Right into the storm (yes, there was plenty of thunder and lightning too).  I knew that Mr. Marathon was aiming for his usual 6-mile loop, so I knew that I was closer to home.  I had no other option but to keep on running.  The roads and sidewalk quickly became flooded as I heard thunder rumbling despite wearing headphones playing music.  I saw huge flashes of lightning all around me as I tried to push all the way back home.  I finally made it (after 2.7 miles) and then grabbed my keys to venture out into the storm to find Mr. Marathon.  I drove his usual route, looking carefully the whole way along both sides of the road.  Finally, I found him waiting at about mile 2.9 under a small overhang that covered the porch of a building.  Turns out, the wind, rain, thunder, and lightning caught him, as well, right before he could reach his turn-around point.  Fortunately, I was able to find him and we both made it home safely.  Will we listen to the weather forecast better in the future?  Probably not.  Should we?  Probably so.  Maybe we will take a 50% chance of thunderstorms a little more seriously.  Or maybe not.

September 1 Kick Off Run!

After a fun day at the water park and a visit to the mall, we got home a little late so it was dark and rainy.  Yet Mr. Marathon was determined to start off the month of September with a few miles towards his 100-mile goal.  4 down, 96 to go!  Despite a rolled ankle, he still feels good about his run.  After all, he was asking for it, running at night in the rain!

Mr. and Mrs. Marathon

So first of all, allow me, Mrs. Marathon, emphasize that I am NOT running a marathon (yet!).  My current goal is a HALF MARATHON.  It just sounds super catchy.  And I might want to run a marathon... eventually (no promises though!).  But Mr. Marathon is currently training for the Richmond Marathon in Virginia.  He is running this marathon because his goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon!  Hence the "From Bassett to Boston" part of the blog title.  This means that he must complete the Richmond Marathon in 3:05:00 or faster in order to qualify.  He has made a goal to run 100 miles in the month of September and 150 miles in the month of October in order to be prepared come November, when the Richmond Marathon is held.  He feels as though he might have a chance with the proper training!

I, on the other hand, am training for a half marathon as I mentioned above.  But this is not any ordinary half marathon.  This is the DISNEY'S PRINCESS HALF MARATHON.  Hence the "From Southern Belle to Disney's Belle" part of the blog title.  Even though I don't know if I am going to dress up like Belle yet.  I have been told I resemble Cinderella.  And Sleeping Beauty.  But I like Jasmine.  I don't know.... tough decisions!  Anyway, I began running last August and have been running 5Ks and 10Ks with some intense training and lots of motivation and inspiration from my marathoning hubby!  I feel like I will be ready to tackle 13.1 miles come February when we get to make the big trip from our little town of Bassett, Virginia, to Orlando, Florida!

We started this blog together to keep us motivated and keep track of our progress towards our current goals.  We will record our runs and experiences here, so we can reflect on our progress and remain encouraged throughout our training.