Weekly Recap: And, Charleston is cancelled…

Well, it kind of feels like March 2020 over here!

I was not expecting the Charleston Marathon to be cancelled due to Covid in January 2022, but it was.

I respect and understand the race organization’s decision, but that doesn’t make it less disappointing. I was excited for this marathon, my training had gone relatively well, and I was particularly looking forward to exploring Charleston post-marathon!

On Thursday, 9 days before the marathon, we received an email that it was cancelled.

We have the option to run it virtually, though no official race results will be submitted, or we can opt to get a partial refund to be used towards the marathon next year. I’ll do the latter; running a virtual marathon doesn’t really make sense for me for my 50-state goal. I wanted to run Charleston, not run 26.2 miles on my own, even if I flew to South Carolina and ran it solo/virtually there.

Dustin and I decided to cancel the entire trip to Charleston with the hopes that we can take that trip next year instead. We had a historical walking tour booked, as well as a few dinner reservations (and of course, flight and hotel) but have cancelled those.

There are a lot of runners complaining on social media that they should get a full refund, but I do not expect that. The race registration was clear; there would be no refunds due to weather, covid, etc. I am sure that the organization must have a ton of sunk costs already and I don’t want to bankrupt them by demanding a full refund. I am sure it was such a difficult decision to make.

I’ll be honest that the cancellation caught me by surprise though! I hadn’t heard of other marathons cancelling this year. Disney was this weekend; Houston is next weekend, and they are both going forward as planned, but I’m sure every location and race has a different situation to consider.

The email noted that the city of Charleston is already overwhelmed with the Covid surge; a marathon with thousands of people could be tragic to the health care system. There were also quite a few members of the event staff and volunteers who were sick with Covid, so it was too hard to put the race on as planned without those people.

I appreciate that running is a huge privilege; I recognize that I’m fortunate to even have this trip and race on my calendar. I’m grateful to be healthy while thousands are still dying from covid every day. Dustin and I are both vaccinated and boosted; we had hoped that this time of marathon cancellations was behind us, but with the current surge, that is unfortunately not the case.

As far as my training, I started counting down to the Charleston Marathon several weeks ago; I did the Tulsa marathon 8 weeks before Charleston was meant to be, but I treated Tulsa like a supported long run, running an easier pace than race pace.

• 7 weeks out– Thanksgiving week- I was back up to 60 miles of running
• 6 weeks out- A trip to Arizona- about 60 miles of running including time on the trail in Sedona!
• 5 weeks out– Another 60-ish miles, several on the treadmill
• 4 weeks out- Another 60 miles, including a solo 20 mile Christmas Eve run!
• 3 weeks out– Yet another 60 mile week (almost all on the treadmill), but the start of the taper for Charleston!
  

And this week would have been a recap of training 2 weeks out, with next week being race week.

I’ll still recap my fitness this week for posterity!

Monday: 6 treadmill miles with strides, 8:50 min/mile, 30 min upper body on the Peloton app + 10 min core

Tuesday: Workout day- and I was able to do it outside!

My friends Julie and Isabelle met up with me for it, 3 miles easy, 4x(8 min at marathon effort, 3 minutes faster, 4 min easy jog), 1 mile cool down to 10.8 miles, 9:10 min/mile average. The trails were still pretty snow covered, so the workout was a challenge. I didn’t hit the paces I had hoped for, but the effort was there. I was just so happy to be outside, I didn’t mind not having a perfect workout.

10 min core after the run on the Peloton app

I was treated to a lovely sunrise. You don’t get those sunrises on the treadmill, ha!

Wednesday: 6 miles on the treadmill before work, 8:50 min/mile. 20 min of core on the Peloton app

Thursday: I had an early meeting, so planned to do my run over lunch on the treadmill, but it was that morning that we learned that the Charleston marathon was cancelled!

I’ll admit I temporarily lost a bit of motivation, but I eventually did 5 miles on the treadmill, 8:40 min/mile pace. I did 20 min of core + 30 min of lower body on the Peloton app after work.

Friday: 3 junk miles on the treadmill, just for fun, then 20 min of core + 10 min arms & light weights on the Peloton app

Saturday: Long run outside, yay! I did 10 miles with my friends Julie and Christie, 8:45 min/mile average. It was about 12 degrees when we started, “feels like” 0, and the trails weren’t that clear, but we didn’t mind.

Sunday: Temps were back below zero with a nasty wind chill, so I did 6 miles on the treadmill, 8:45 min/mile average, followed by 10 min of core. I’m doing Emma Lovewell’s “Crush Your Core” 4-week program, so I did do core everyday, which is essentially my goal of doing the program!

Summary: 47 miles of running, a mix of strength on the Peloton app- mostly core

A weird week overall. Leading up to a marathon, I’m more thoughtful about food, sleep, hydration, alcohol, all those things, but then to find out 9 days out that the race was cancelled, I was a little discombobulated! We are strongly considering a backup marathon- more to come on that!

In other news, I’ve been doing a lot of purging/organizing lately- being stuck inside due to the cold will do that.

I had a bit of an obsession of BIC Bands/Sweaty Bands in the past. So, I joined my local “Buy Nothing” Facebook group and gifted all of these headbands to a new home. Yay!

I’m also excited to be a Nuun ambassador again this year! I think this my second year as a Legacy (i.e. an ambassador for more than 4 years.) Happy to chat about this amazing product.

It’s my hydration of choice; my favorite flavor is Wild Berry. What’s yours? My dad also crafts these neat NUUN holders if you’re interested in one! I’ll give you a fair price. 🙂

That’s it for this week!

I’m linking up as always with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner as part of their Weekly Rundown. Check it out!