Fall has officially arrived in New England. Summer was kind to us this year and stretched through most of September giving us over 20 days of sun. I wish I could package up the warm summer days and unwrap them on the days when I feel the gloom of the grey “stick season” beginning to affect my mood and energy level. I suffer from “Seasonal Affective Disorder” or as the appropriate acronym states I get S.A.D. Do you get S.A.D.

With the changing of the seasons and the end of a crazy busy summer race schedule I have fallen into a slump. My body is fatigued and has reminded me of this by gifting me with not one but two colds in the past two weeks.  I know my body is telling me to rest and slow down but sometimes it is so hard to dial it back. I am trying . . .

September ended with two high points however which will help me to stay motivated. In mid-September my awesome team of Pete and Gerry’s Organic Chicks had an amazing race at Reach the Beach NH. We raced our hearts out and had an amazing third place finish in the women’s open division. We were in disbelief at our finish time and overall place. What an accomplishment! It was awesome to see 12 women pull together to work as a team and support each other through the night and the miles to finish with smiles on fast legs at the beach.

Pete and Gerry’s Organic Chicks

Leg 1 of Reach the Beach Relay-Fast Chick in a skirt

After Reach the Beach (and only two and a half or so hours of sleep during the race) my body was feeling pretty fatigued and I immediately caught a monster cold. During the week I slept and rested as much as possible because I new I was headed to the Cape the following Saturday for the ZOOMA Cape Cod Women’s Half Marathon. Leading up to the half my first priority was to get healthy so I ended up not running at all during the week. My body thanked me and I was able to shake off my cold. Phew! At the ZOOMA Race I decided to see how my body felt once I was on the course and to pace myself accordingly. I used the first 2-3 miles of the race to find a comfortable pace and to work my legs out (I definitely should have gotten that massage post-Reach the Beach!). I settled into my pace and focused on the beautiful ocean scenes on the Cape. The temperature was perfect. In the 60′s and a light misting rain. When I had 2 miles to go I was able to dig deep and pick up my pace (doing pace pick-ups during training runs has definitely helped me to find this extra kick). I crossed the line in 1:42.21.  It was not a PR but I was proud of my finish and for the first time ever I won my age group at a half marathon!!!!!!

ZOOMA Cape Cod

Go for it!

Proud runner chick

Now with the leaves and the seasons changing it is time to refocus and set some new goals. I have a lot of things that I am hoping to work on and improve upon this fall and winter . . . PLEASE STAY TUNED . . .

I received a package from Skirt Sports today and opened the box to discover skirt heaven. A box full of beautiful lapis blue Gym Girl Ultras and  fresh crisp white Wonder Girl Tanks peeked out at me.

Skirt Heaven

The Pete and Gerry’s Organic Chicks are getting ready to hit the 100 mile relay course this weekend as an ultra relay (3 chicks) team at the Vermont 100 on 100 Relay. And in September our larger 12 person team will be racing the 200+ mile course from Cannon Mountain in Franconia, NH to Hampton Beach, NH as a part of the Reach the Beach Relay, NH.  Our team is strong and will be fast. And we will run our hearts out in our skirts!

What is your favorite piece of running apparel that makes you feel strong and fast?

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Fresh Friday: Convert to Skirt with Skirt Sports

Last night I was cleaning the coat closet. I threw my two fluorescent yellow running vests on the floor. The next thing I knew, Piper (3.5) was wearing one and Brock (16 months) was trying to put the other one one. What then ensued was a moment of pure kid joy, energy, and imagination. Piper began a “race” with Brock around our farmhouse. With a lot of laughter, cries of, “faster!” and “come on Brocky!” they completed six “laps” of the house. I could not stop laughing and loved seeing them have such a blast together. When the “race” was over Piper exclaimed, “that was a great race Mommy!” and carefully helped Brock out of his vest. This was an awesome mom moment!

Do you think they will be ready for the night leg at Reach the Beach?

Runners Alley

If you are a runner and haven’t yet completed an insane 24 hour, 200 mile overnight adventure relay yet then you have been missing out. This is the ultimate team adventure for adults. You will remember your younger days participating in team sports. Riding in the van for countless hours while occasionally hopping out to run for a while perhaps wearing a chicken hat, carrying a rubber chicken named Wilson, or even perhaps sporting your favorite pink tutu will allow you to totally let go of your adult life and to just have fun (although I am not sure that is what most people on the planet would call it). You will enjoy the hilarious nature of this event as you find yourself totally sleep deprived, running down a long stretch of roadway, wearing a reflective flashing vest, headlamp, and red flashing lights in the middle of the night with your goal being to catch the blinking light up ahead and finish at the Beach with the other crazy members of your team. The Reach the Beach Relay (http://www.rtbrelay.com/) events are the adventure of a lifetime and definitely worth putting together a 12 member team(or if you are truly insane , a 6 person ultra team) and sign up soon. If you feel ready (and you know you are) you can sign up now for Reach the Beach MA in the spring and Reach the Beach NH in the fall.

Take a look and see what the ESPN sports team had to say about this:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=6583449

Did the ‘Santa’ in your life wait until the last-minute to pick out the perfect gift to put under the tree? Here is one of my new favorite running must-haves that will have you shouting with glee on Christmas morning:

1. The Garmin Forerunner 405CX (https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=142&pID=31859_)

My new best friend

I got this GPS watch for my birthday this year and even though I am still figuring out how to operate all of the different functions this is my new best friend on the roads and on the trails. It has more bells and whistles than the new-top-of the line SUV. You can track every aspect of your training including heart rate, mileage, pace, distance and much more. You can upload the data from your runs to the computer and analyze your run (although you may not want to wear this post holidays due to all of the pace slowing holiday eating but how could you resist those delicious Christmas cookies?) Another super cool function is the ability to set up a virtual training partner (for the days when solitude is what you crave which of course is the necessity of all runner moms on certain days!). The only thing I wish Garmin would change is to offer this in some more girlish colors because I know many women who would definitely sport this in pink or purple or a pretty spring green.

Look out Reach the Beachers . . . here come the chicks!

I’ll be out there this winter tracking my miles as I train for a marathon this spring and another Reach the Beach Adventure. See you on the trails!