Podcasts for Runners

Let's face it, when I get into something, I really get into it. I'm deep into running right now. I watch running videos in the morning, listen to running podcasts while doing dishes, and read books about running if I read at all. If you're getting into running like I am, here are some podcasts that I subscribe to that I could recommend.

Marathon Training for Beginners with Mo and Harrison Crum
I'm currently listening to this one, catching up on old episodes. The 13 min/mile pace group leader of the LA Roadrunners recommended it.

Rise and Run
I listen to this every week when there's a new episode. It's a group of runDisney fans who talk about their training and interview a different guest each week.

The Joyful Miles Podcast

Writer, runner, Disney lover.

Extraordinary Strides

Your inspiration for movement & running. Stories & tips for motivation.

3-2-1 Go!
This one is annoying but I still listen to it sometimes. Carissa Galloway gives good nutritional advice for runners.

The Running Explained Podcast
Experts, coaches, and runners speak on a variety of topics, including training, nutrition, racing, and mindset.

Another Mother Runner
This one has excellent interviews with moms and dads who run and how they balance training with parenting.

The Extra Mile Podcast Galloway Edition
If you want to learn about the Galloway RUN/WALK/RUN training method from Jeff Galloway himself, this is the podcast for you. There's more to it than just interval training.

The Extra Mile Podcast 2.0
Training updates from runners while they're out for a run.

Run4PRs
This one has good information. Run4PRs has a team of coaches that specialize in running. They also interview guests. Even if you're not a competitive runner, you can learn from them.

Rehab for Runners
I have yet to start this one, but a friend I trained with recommended it. It's about common running injuries, their treatment, and prevention.

Mission Inn Run 2024 Race Report

The event itself: Where? How long? When? Weather?

The weather was good. It was about 55 degrees at the start and around 70 degrees at the finish, not too windy. Mt. Rubidoux shaded a good part of the trail, and the residential neighborhoods and parks had a nice amount of shade from mature trees. The 10k started at 7:45 a.m., and I was done by 9:10 a.m. It was enough time to stretch, cool down, and eat breakfast before the kids' race started at 10 a.m.

Course description and evaluation of event logistics

Downtown through a park, on a bike path, along another park, through residential, back through downtown. Plenty of potties, a simple start and finish line, and no waves at the start.

How you trained for the event

I followed a mixture of the Fit4Mom 10k training plan, the LA Roadrunners LA Marathon training plan, the Jeff Galloway runDisney half marathon training plan, and the Dumbo Double Dare training plan for the Disneyland race. I did observe a taper week before this race. I also focused on nutrition, hydration, and electrolytes in the week leading up to the run. I started to add hills and speed work 4 weeks before race day.

Your gear and nutrition

I had two cups of coffee two hours before the run. I ate a banana and Rx bar 30 minutes before my run. I drank an electrolyte drink about 1 hour before the race. I wore my Nathan Trail Mix waist belt to carry my Gu. I used the toilet about 20 minutes before the race started. I ate one Gu at mile 2 and another Gu at mile 4. Both had no caffeine. I drank some of my water with my Gu and some of the water ended up on my head, arms, legs, and chest.

Conversations you had

Dressing like Tinkerbell was a great idea. I had Disney Hits blasting on my Muzen, and people sang along. People were cheering Go Tink! It was excellent. I met a lady who was training for the Dumbo. She had hurt her foot, so she wasn't running that day. Lots of people started talking about the Disney races when they saw me. I saw a man who was wearing a Dopey 2025 shirt.

Your finish and associated emotions

Somewhere between mile 5 and 6, I started to run out of gas. I considered walking and giving up. I started thinking, how can you think you can finish a marathon if you can't even finish a 10k and I almost started crying. I just wanted the race to be over and for my family to come pick me up. But then we got to downtown, and many people were cheering. It gave me a kick of energy to finish the last half mile. My playlist got to "You'll Be in My Heart," I thought about my run club, and they carried me when my legs were tired. I felt like they were with me. Also, two dozen high school cheerleaders were yelling Go Tinkerbell!!!!! That inspired me to run through the finish line.

Your overall evaluation of the event

Overall, I loved staying at the Mission Inn and running the race. We parked the car and didn't need it. There are plenty of places to eat within walking distance.

Budget Tracker

10k Registration $60.31 (4 months early) + $33 for kids race (day-of)

Lodging $182.35 (4 months early) + $489.52 (at check out)

Costume = Pom Poms for shoes $7.29

Food 10/19 IHOP + BBQ = $50 + $55

10/20 Simple Simon + Spaghetti Factory = $50 + $60

10/21 Taco Station = $35

Snacks CVS + Market = $22 + $11.5

Race Photo = $20

Total $1075.97

Movies and books about running

I started making this list of movies about running when I was coaching the RunClub+ for Fit4Mom West SFV. Due to low participation, we're not offering a session until interest picks up again. So I guess I'm a former coach? If I have some free time, which I might between when my classes finish and my son's winter break from school, I would like to watch and read the following.

"Tyson's Run" is about someone's first marathon on Netflix (2022)

"Brittany Runs a Marathon" on Amazon Prime (2019)

"McFarland USA" on Disney+ (2015)

"Personal Best" (1982) rental between $3-4 on various platforms

"Run Woman Run" (2021) is currently unavailable for streaming

"Breaking Three Hours: Trailblazing African American Women Marathoners" (2022) on Prime Video

"Remember the Goal" (2016) on Hulu

"Overcomer" (2019) on Amazon Prime

"Spirit of the Marathon" (2007) on YouTubeTV or rental on other platforms

First Ladies of Running by Amby Burfoot Rodale Books (2016) ISBN-13: 978-1609615642
Forward by Shalane Flanagan, daughter of Cheryl Bridges
Runners profiled include Julia Chase, Roberta Gibb, Kathrine Switzer, Charlotte Lettis, Joan Benoit, Doris Brown, Francie Larrieu, Mary Decker, Jackie Hansen, Miki Gorman, and Grete Waitz

The Miles and Trials of a Marathon Goddess: 52 Weeks, 52 Marathons (2019) Tender Fire Books ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1732692725 by Julie Weiss, Ali Nolan, and John Hanc

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Marathon Training (2011) ISBN-13: 978-1615640584 by David Levine, and Paula Petrella. ALPHA (publisher).

P.S. David Levine is the coach of the LA Roadrunners and Julie Weiss is his wife.

My current obsession is RezRuns

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2z33hhGlDF1LLycxdR8FepONbp8xgsgJ&si=LlbJO-1yCGTZO4hx 

Others have suggested Run Run Rosie and Sisters Run the World

Love the Digital Event Guides from https://www.youtube.com/@RunningInMakeup

On the topic of runDisney, you will see photos of people with vast stacks of medals. They will have a letterboard that says perfect season. You will begin to calculate the cost of a perfect season. You will wonder what these people do for a living. But a wonderful person named Brian Davis on runDisneyRun has done some number crunching. He only looked at the Florida races: Wine & Dine, Marathon weekend, and Princess. He ignored the 5k's because those are not timed.

Of those 56,948 unique finishers in seven races, how many only finished one? How many finished ALL seven of these races? What about other numbers of races? Well, here’s the breakdown:
...Runners with 1 out of 7: 35,690 (62.7%)
...Runners with 2 out of 7: 11,887 (20.9%)
...Runners with 3 out of 7: 6,445 (11.3%)
...Runners with 4 out of 7: 1,144 (2.0%)
...Runners with 5 out of 7: 1,188 (2.1%)
...Runners with 6 out of 7: 187 (0.3%, the least common club)
...Runners with 7 out of 7: 407 (just a tiny 0.7% of the total)

So most people do just one race. Very few do all of the races.

How about the race weekends? How many can afford to do all three out of the three mentioned here?
...All 3 weekends: 1182 (2.1%)
...Just 2 weekends: 4802 (8.4%)
...Only 1 weekend: 50,964 (89.5%)

With Wine & Dine just under a week away, I'm having FOMO. I have to reassure myself that it's okay to have just four or five (or six) big races per year. Train for those. Save your money for those. You don't have to do every race that exists. You can have a nicer time doing fewer events.

2024 Race Weekends

Jan - Disneyland 5k (I don't think I would do this one again)
Mar - LA Big 5k
Jun - CdM Scenic 5k
Sept - SMC 5k/10k (I don't think I would do this one again)
Oct - Mission Inn
Dec - Holiday Half

Planning 2025
Jan - Citrus Heritage, Rose Bowl Half, Surf City, Disneyland, Carlsbad Marathon
Feb - Palm Desert Half, Firecracker, SRLA Friendship Run, Ventura Marathon, Mardi Gras Madness, Chinatown Firecracker
Mar - LA Marathon, San Diego Half
Apr - Mountains 2 Beach Marathon, Chesebro Half Marathon
May - OC Marathon, La Jolla Half Marathon, Seaside Marathon (Ventura), Verdugo Mountains 10k
Jun - Valencia Half, Red Rock Rumble, Griffith Park Trail Marathon Relay
Jul - Ditmars Wine Run 5k (Council Bluffs, IA)
Aug - Pride of the Valley 5K, America's Finest City
Sept - Santa Monica Classic, Disneyland Halloween Half
Oct - Long Beach Marathon, Moorpark Mammoth Run, Malibu Moves, Mission Inn Run
Nov - Drumstick Dash LA, Catalina Island, Run Malibu
Dec - Holiday Half, Santa Monica-Venice Christmas Run

The Mission Inn Run started giving out a pin and hat for legacy runners who have done the run 3 years consecutively.

Coach Chat on Tapering

The LA Roadrunner coach's tip for week 5 was about tapering. A Taper Week is when we do less mileage. Not zero miles, but maybe half what we would have done the previous week.

I read somewhere that before we had smartwatches that monitored everything, there was an easy way to find out how refreshed you were. That was to record your resting heart rate first thing in the morning and put it in your training journal. If your resting heart rate is low, then you're ready for another hard effort. However, if your resting heart rate is high, it is indicative that you may need another recovery day. And I never really took the taper week seriously, until this time.

Mission Inn Run 2024 Training Journal
Day	Wk	Date	Dist (mi)	Duration (H:MM:SS)	Pace (min/mi)	Split (run/walk)
S	x	8/18	4.5	2:03:43	26.7	walk only
T	0	8/20	2	0:50:00	25	walk only
R	0	8/23	4.8	2:15:00	28	walk only
S	0	8/25	4.78	1:03:58	13.4	run only
T	1	8/27	3	0:42:05	13.8	run only
R	1	8/30	2.2	0:30:07	13.6	run only
S	1	9/1	4.5	1:10:00	15.3	hill walk / run
T	2	9/3	3	0:45:00	14.25	walk / run
R	2	9/5	3	0:41:13	13.5	run only
S	2	9/8	3.2	0:43:08	13.4	run / walk
T	3	9/10	1.3	0:26:57	20.75	walk only
R	3	9/12	2	0:34:29	16.5	walk / run
S	3	9/15	3	0:42:30	14	run / walk
T	4	9/17	2	0:31:40	14.8	walk / run
F	4	9/20	2.75	0:37:32	13.7	run only
S	4	9/22	3.35	0:44:05	13.1	run / walk
T	5	9/24	4.4	1:18:24	17.8	walk only
R	5	9/27	2.6	0:36:47	14	run only
S	5	9/29	4	1:08:00	14.5	run / walk
T	6	10/1	2.8	0:41:22	14.3	run / walk
F	6	10/4	2.5	0:35:51	14.2	run / walk
S	6	10/6	2.63	0:38:58	14.8	run only
T	7	10/8	2.7	0:39:39	14.5	run only
F	7	10/10	3.37	0:45:52	13.5	run / intervals
S	7	10/13	7	1:47:55	15.4	run / walk
T	8	10/15	3.75	0:51:35	13.8	run only
F	8	10/18	active recovery			walk only
S	8	10/20	6.2	1:21:52	13.2	run only

All the rows highlighted in yellow were intentionally either intervals or hills. Okay, so maybe it wasn't a real taper. In the week preceding my race, I did 85% of the miles I did the previous week. But I did feel more rested on race day. When you're training, your hormone levels drop. All hormones. And when you rest, your hormone levels come back up. So that you can start pushing again. And you repeat this cycle repeatedly. The LA Roadrunners training plan has a taper in week 5, week 9, week 13, week 17, week 21, and weeks 24-26.

Mark Lane-Hobert is an educational psychologist who studies motivation and mindfulness. He is also a runner. He put together a 26-week devotional to follow along with marathon training. It's in a Google Doc right now, which is no-cost.

Marathon Training Devotional

Zone 2

What is Zone 2 and why is it important? How does it relate to weight loss? How does it relate to marathon training?

I made a video about the Magic Mile and why it's important. I shared the video with my run club. A magic mile is a time trial that you do every 3-4 weeks. You can take that one simple number and plug it into a VDOT calculator or JeffGalloway.com to determine what pace you can expect to do for different distances. The advantage of the magic mile is that it's very simple to measure. And it's an accurate predictor of performance on race day.

After recording, editing, posting, and sharing that video, I attended the LA Road Runners Thursday chat with coach David and he showed a graph of his heart rate and lactic acid from running and cycling. The way he explained it was kind of confusing to me, so I wanted to do a bit of WRITING TO LEARN, hoping that I would be able to understand all the colorful designations on the graph a little bit better.

Heart Rate-based training zones are a big thing now. Apparently, the big thing in exercise science a few years back was HIIT which is high-intensity interval training. Now the big thing is Zone 2 training.

• Zone 1 You can easily hold a conversation with someone.
• Zone 2 Roughly 65% of the calories you burn are fat.
• Zone 3 Talking in this zone takes effort, but you could sustain this pace for hours?
• Zone 4 You are no longer burning fat to fuel your effort. Lactic acid production increases dramatically as you switch to burning carbohydrates for energy.
• Zone 5 Your heart is beating at 90-100% of the max heart rate. Talking is out of the question. Cannot hold effort for more than a minute or two.

The goal of the coach's chat was to discuss speed work and how that plays a role in training for a marathon. A way to lengthen your baseline (extending the scope of zones 1 and 2, preventing lactic acid build-up) is to train in some of your workouts at or near the anaerobic threshold. You can achieve this by running intervals or doing a HIIT workout. The LA Marathon training plan I'm following has only 15% of the workouts doing speed work or intervals. I have been trying to incorporate some of this as hill workouts.

• R-pace (repetition): VDOT = 10:43 mile
• I-pace (interval): VDOT = 11:07 mile
• T-pace (threshold): VDOT = 13:32 mile
• HMRP (half-marathon race pace): VDOT = 16:23 mile
• MRP (marathon race pace): VDOT = 16:32 mile
• easy: VDOT says 14:13 ~ 15:30 miles

VO2max is the “maximum volume of oxygen” an athlete can use per minute relative to body weight to produce energy during an all-out, sustained effort of a few minutes that is well above the anaerobic threshold. This has to be measured while running on a treadmill or biking on a stationary bike while hooked up to a ventilator and doing your max effort. It's very uncomfortable but I actually participated in a research study on cyclists while I was in graduate school. They measured my VO2max to qualify me for the study, to see if I had the aerobic capacity, in fact, of a trained cyclist. Then they measured my bone density to see if there were significant differences in the arm and leg bone density of runners vs. cyclists. The PI was Dr. Michael Liang at  California State Polytechnic Institute, Pomona.

A higher VO2 max is indicative of a higher anaerobic threshold, which, by definition, means a higher level of lactic acid tolerance. Functionally, this means that a level of exertion that used to be anaerobic (for you when you were a beginner) can now become aerobic with longer duration potential.

Lactate Threshold is defined by a specific concentration of lactate in the blood. (2 mmol/L) So you have to have blood drawn to measure this. Functionally, this means when you are putting your body through more stress, which takes longer to recover from.

Below your aerobic threshold, exercise is sustainable ‘indefinitely.’ Even very lean people have reserves of fat stored. However, if we can only store 2000 calories as glycogen in the muscles, this is why people tend to hit the wall at mile 20 of a marathon if they're running too fast (zone 3 or above), because the rate of calorie burning is 100 cal/mile. The point of fatigue will be determined by muscle glycogen stores, and at some point, you’ll hit a wall where exercise cannot be continued due to glycogen depletion.

See, the marathon training plan from the LA Road Runners is so confusing to me because it's like an alphabet soup. Last Wednesday's run was supposed to be 10 min easy + (3 min T-Pace + 2 min HMRP)x3 + 4 min T-Pace + 10 min easy. I don't hate math and I hate looking at this. If it were always the same, I would program my Seconds Pro app and then go from there, but this is just too confusing.

10 min 15 min mile = 0.66 of a mile 

3 min / 13.5 min mile = 0.22 of a mile 

2 min / 16.5 min mile = 0.12 of a mile

4 min / 13.5 min mile = 0.29 of a mile

total distance         =         2.63 miles

Honestly, I just can't do this math at 4:30am and it doesn't really work with the distances I have that I regularly run. Is this just to make sure we're not getting bored or is it really doing something for the anaerobic threshold? Last time I trained for a half marathon, I just ran through the city every other day. Sometimes with my dogs and sometimes without. I did two weekday runs and one long weekend run. I did about a 5k on weekday mornings before work and between 10 and 13 miles on the weekend. I had no training plan, no coach, no goal. Back then, my only goal was to maintain my sanity while finishing my PhD.

Okay, admittedly this blog post is a real jumble of ideas. But in all that confusion, I came out with an answer to my question, why am I going for a speed limit of 20:54 per mile in long runs? That seems very slow to me. The answer is that it keeps me in zone 2 or below. I've been tracking my heart rate as I walk Albert to school and as we go on long walks on Saturdays. If Albert is in the jogging stroller and we're going along at a pretty good pace (let's say less than 20-minute miles) then we're in zone 2.

The data above is from a 4-mile walk where we did about 18-minute miles. It was a conversational pace, we were chatting the whole time. I don't know how SamsungWatch5 sets the heart rate zones, whether these are defaults, or whether they're based on my age and max heart rate. I guess it's the formula 220 - age, which for me is 220 - 44 = 176.

I was starting to get bummed out because I've been running for a year now and I haven't experienced any significant weight loss. I was starting to accept the fact that just like breastfeeding where some people drop weight right away and some people maintain or gain weight, maybe I was that type of runner who doesn't lose weight while training for a marathon, maybe I am just destined to maintain or gain weight. But now this reveals that I might just need to slow down to stay in a fat-burning heart rate zone.

Coach Bennett on the Nike Run Club app is always telling us to run the mile we're in and have a goal for each run, even a goal for each mile. Don't worry about how fast you're going because sometimes faster is not better. You want the workout you're doing to meet your goal for that workout.

The only reason I was trying to get faster is that the LA Marathon has a time cut-off of 6.5 hours. So to run 26.2 miles in 6.5 hours, I would need to be running about 14.9 minute miles. So I've been obsessed with getting to that pace or faster for my training runs. It's very easy to get caught up in PRs if you look at your training data on Strava. There are no awards for going slower. But there might be rewards if what you are looking for is losing fat (inches).

Consumables

In other news that nobody cares about except me... I made a list of the running shoes I've purchased and how I have evolved from Brooks Ghost to Brooks Ariel.
http://bitchonabike.blogspot.com/2009/11/mission-inn-run.html

http://bitchonabike.blogspot.com/2015/06/if-shoe-fits.html

http://bitchonabike.blogspot.com/2021/06/shoe-heaven.html 

http://bitchonabike.blogspot.com/2023/11/rundisney.html 

The internet says you should replace your running shoes every 300–500 miles, or roughly every 4–6 months if you run 20 miles per week. But it adds that heavier runners may wear out their shoes more quickly. I replace mine about every 200 miles because it seems like I start feeling the impact of running on sidewalks and streets around that time. It's not worth getting shin splints.

Shoes

• June 2019 silver ghost 11 = $99 via Zappos
• May 2021 grey pink blue ghost 13 via Nordstrom = $130
• Dec 2022 white black blue light ghost 14 via Zappos = $109 
• Oct 2023 white purple coral ghost 14 via Brooks 178 miles = $98.49
• March 2024 black Ariel 23 via Fleet Feet Encino 250 miles = $160 
• June 2024 grey green Ariel 20 via Amazon 194 miles = $92
• August 2024 grey pink sulphur ghost 14 via Poshmark = $45
• Sept 2024 grey pink Ariel 23 via Amazon = $119 

I added wings and I only wear these for teaching

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I've written before about what qualities of sports bras are good for larger-chested women. I haven't written about how things changed when I had my son and have been a breastfeeding mom for several years now. The sports bras I like now have front-closure. They're very supportive but also very constricting. I can only wear them for a short time before they start to hurt. I recently added a few lighter ones from Freya active, which have a back closure. They're good for warm weather when I want something more breathable.

http://bitchonabike.blogspot.com/2014/05/otto-titsling.html

http://bitchonabike.blogspot.com/2014/05/coolmax-or-dri-fit.html
http://bitchonabike.blogspot.com/2022/05/month-of-mama-part-2.html

The crazy thing is that the internet says you should replace your sports bras every 6 months to 1 year. That's why I have so many. But since I roll them up and put them together with shorts and a top, I like having many different ones. I feel like they can last longer if you have a larger collection to rotate through. Another great thing about the SheFit bra is that you can wear it as a swimsuit top. The straps are rigid due to the velcro, so they're not stretchy. They're not going to get "stretched out." So I do feel like they last longer. But they also feel very industrial.

Bras

Enell size 4 - high impact
🖤Black 2/18/21
💜Purple Reign 4/8/22
🏳️‍🌈Pride 2/14/23
💂‍♂️Black Camo 3/13/24
🌚Midnight Run 6/18/24

Shefit 3 Luxe - ultimate
💗"Confident" pink 2/18/21
💕Rose Taupe 2/18/21
🍉Watermelon tie-dye 4/11/22
🌷Pink floral 4/11/22
🎾 pastel lime 8/10/22

Freya Women's Dynamic Wireless Sports Bra 38J
🐆 Pure Leopard Aqua 3/13/24
🔥 Hot Crimson 3/8/24

What I like to do is arrange my running outfits with shorts, bra, and tank top in a leggings organizer so I don't have to figure out what goes together in the dark when I go out for my morning runs. I tried running without a tank top a few times this summer but unfortunately my light up vest band made a few chafe spots on my torso, which was no bueno.

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I might as well toss the inventory of sunglasses into this post. 

May 2022
Zeus = white / purple BFGs
Donkey = orange / blue
Tats = pink / pink
Flamingos = pink / blue
Dinotopia = teal / purple
Kraken = purple / purple

May 2022
Falkor = blue / blue
Bourbon BFG = blk / org
Orange crush BFG = org / blu

June 2022
Onyx = black / black BFGs
Knock = brown BFGs
Bourbon BFG = blk / org
Nessy = teal / green

June 2023
Thorny = red / green / gold
Fireworkin = white / blue

August 2023
Flamingos = pink / blue
Dinotopia = teal / purple

May 2024
Bloody Mary = red/purple
Nessy = teal / green

The reason why I put these under consumables is that they break, get lost, get scratched or otherwise gifted to friends and family. The only ones I still have that are wearable are Bloody Mary, Nessy and Dinotopia. Fireworkin and Flamingos are scratched but I haven't thrown them away yet because they're cute and I let Albert wear them if he wants to. They're important because as polarized lenses, they protect my eyes from sun damage. And at $25 per pair, they're more affordable than shoes and bras.

I guess the final topic would by the CRZ Yoga shorts that I love. They're compressive in the midsection, which holds my FUPA from jiggling while I run. I get XL size with 8" length. I prefer the ones with the phone / wallet pockets on the sides. They're great for walking around Disneyland too. I've gotten so many compliments on them while in the parks. I had planned to wear them as swimsuit bottoms but this one pair started to get a hole in it so I tossed it in the trash. The last thing I need is to get chafing from skin rubbing while on a training run or during a race.

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Why do I need so many? Well, I guess the answer is that you only need 3. One to wash, one to wear, and one for a spare. But in the case that I'm running or working out every day, I would need at least 5 in rotation to get through the work week. Considering some are wearing out, it's good to replace them. I used to have an IKEA Pressa which is an octopus with 8 arms. I would put my bra and shorts on the clips and hang the tank top over the arm. This is also a good way to dry them I guess after a run so they don't stink up your laundry basket. I prefer the 8" length over the 10" which feels hotter (not sexier) in the summer. Definitely was on the fence about the lighter colors, which do show the cellulite more. But those I tend to wear under a running skirt, so they don't show much anyway.

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I have acquired several sparkle skirts. For the sparkle running skirts I have turquoise, yellow, lime and baby pink. For the specialty skirts, I have magical shapes, mermaid, red with white polka dots, the 2023-24 squad print which is pink teal black and purple polka dots on a white background, the 2024-2025 squad print which is bright rainbow colors on a black background, an Encanto print, and a Forest print. I want to add many more because I'm obsessed with colorful stuff, sparkly stuff, and collecting. I would get the Tangled Flowers (purple) and a matching tank top. I want the Frozen Snowflakes print skirt for my Holiday Half Marathon. But at some point I have to pump the brakes, write a blog post like this and ask myself, is this something I really need for my marathon training, or is this just silly and not something that will help me get my miles?

Of course, each skirt has a matching hat or visor, so I had to get a hat organizer. I was also amassing a large collection of headbands and friendship bracelets and it was hard to find the ones I wanted, so I got an organizing rack for headbands too. I have an organizer for my sunglasses and I actually love it. My husband made it custom for me when he had access to a machine shop in grad school. The Headsweats visors fit me too tight, resulting in a headache after just two or three miles, so what I do now is cut the elastic and sew in an extender. Some of the extenders are pieces of ribbon with reflective elements and other extenders are just elastic.

RIP Falcor and Two Tats

I got the brilliant idea to train for the LA Marathon as a way to shed the post-baby pounds that lingered after breastfeeding. But I'm starting to realize that just like breastfeeding, some people lose weight while training for a marathon and some people gain weight. There's no guarantee that training for a marathon will lead to weight loss. And the truth is that I'm still breastfeeding. Not much anymore, not even every day, but we haven't completely weaned yet.

https://bitchonabike.blogspot.com/2023/11/fun-month-boring-month.html