Over Indigenous People's Day weekend I decided to give myself a little bit of a running challenge. I was originally supposed to be running the 2020 Chicago Marathon and I was bumming hard that I wasn't going to be there, so I decided to try to do something special - a weekend-long marathon! The plan was to try to get to 26.2 miles total from Friday to Sunday. I've been wanting to get my body used to running on back to back days and running on tired legs, so I made a plan to build up my mileage each day starting with the shortest distance on Friday and the longest distance on Sunday. Of course, first step was laying out all of my gear for the weekend!
You'll notice that I had a bib on this pile - that's because I was planning to *finally* run the Virtual Providence Half Marathon that I was originally supposed to run in May! Packets for this race didn't come in the mail until mid-summer, and I think at that point I was feeling pretty salty that all of my races were getting cancelled, so the idea of a virtual half that was supposed to be in-person was too much to bear so I kept putting it off. For this weekend, though, I wanted to have something to celebrate to replace what was supposed to be an amazing trip to Chicago, another state completed in my 50 States challenge, and my very first Abbot World Major Marathon. So I thought that this weekend was the perfect weekend to finally finish the PVD Virtual Half and have some race bling to brag about once my weekend-long marathon was complete.
FRIDAY (6.23 miles)
Day 1 of the challenge was pretty straight forward, and a great way to kick off the weekend! I ran the first 3 miles with Miss Snowy and the second 3 solo, with a .23 mile cool down walk. I don't think that there was anything too significant to write home about for this run, but it was good to kick off the weekend feeling strong and having some positive energy entering a running challenge!
SATURDAY (7.09 miles)
Day 2 was SO DANG HOT! 🔥🔥🔥 In reality the weather was beautiful and I was thankful that we had a random warm day in the middle of the week, but I was really underprepared for the heat. (Note how red my face was!) I was wearing shorts for this run but I was also wearing a long-sleeve tech shirt for the first 6 miles which was ROUGH. I picked up Snowy to run the last mile with me, and needed to shed the long sleeve or I probably would have passed out haha. Overall this was a great run, though, and I was glad to get through it.
SUNDAY - Virtual Providence Half Marathon (13.11 miles)
The last day of the challenge was the day I was finally running the Virtual Providence Half Marathon! I had other plans later on in the morning so I got up SUPER early to get out the door and get my miles in. The morning actually started out really warm and muggy, but as the sun rose it got progressively colder? 🤔 It was very strange. I did a few shorter loops closer to home while it was still dark out in an effort to stay safe, and then when the sun finally rose I did a larger loop to get myself to 13.1. I felt good pretty much the entire run and kept the pace nice and slow. I picked up Snowy for the final mile so that she could celebrate my finish with me!
The Providence Half Marathon sent along a decent amount of swag items with your registration, including a fleece zip-up hoodie and a tech shirt along with the medal and bib. I've actually been trying to run this race in person for a few years (I was trying to run the full for my Rhode Island marathon before I ran Newport!), and I never pulled the trigger on registering until this year for the half marathon. Unfortunately I picked the year that COVID struck and cancelled the race! However, I appreciate how communicative the race organizers were in navigating the unknown waters of cancelling a race during a pandemic. It did take them a while to send out the race packets to everyone (which honestly is why it took me so long to complete the race!), but they did their best to make sure runners felt accommodated and I really appreciate that. It hasn't been an easy year on the running community, but I know race organizers are trying their absolute best!
I ran a total of 26.43 miles over the course of the three days!
It felt great to get out there and tackle a challenge like this, even if it was self-imposed. I definitely see more random challenges like this in my future. They make running fun! I highly recommend trying it yourself if you're struggling to find motivation. It's definitely helped me quite a bit! 🏃♀️
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