By Dustin Benson So I agreed to spend three wonderful hours and thirty+ potentially more dramatic minutes pacing my wife to qualify for Boston at the Phoenix Marathon. Should you find yourself in a similar situation, I bet you'd like to know how to handle it. Why? I was very fortunate to have a successful race last fall at the Richmond (VA) Marathon. We had great weather, my Continue Reading
Fits Do Race Reviews: The Phoenix Marathon
Marathon #21 complete! State #16 checked off the list. On Saturday, February 27, I completed my 21st marathon, the BMO Harris Phoenix Marathon (i.e. often referred to as the "Mesa Marathon," and not to be confused with the Rock n Roll Phoenix Marathon) We flew into Phoenix Friday morning, arriving around noon. We headed straight to the expo. Expo: The marathon expo was held on Friday, February Continue Reading
Weekly Recap: The Things You Can’t Control.
Here I am, one week out for the Phoenix Marathon. My goal race. So, one week before the marathon, you're supposed to relax, enjoy the taper, try not to stress, stick to your normal routine... This week was basically the opposite of that. No routine. Lots of stress. Not a lot of relaxing. We had to be out of our house to have our floors refinished. (They look fantastic, btw!). We spent Continue Reading
Weekly Recap: Two Weeks Until the Phoenix Marathon
I still love running; I'm just not "in love" with running. That about sums up this week. If you recall, last week was a big one- it was my peak week with 76 miles. I loved running last week. But this week? It kinda lost its charm. The incredibly cold windy weather meant that I was on the treadmill basically the whole week. And of course, my body was tired from the previous week. And I had the Continue Reading
Weekly Recap: Three Weeks Until the Phoenix Marathon
WOW. What a week. It was my peak week in training and I survived. Barely! Here's how it went. Monday: 1,000m repeats at a "cruise" pace, i.e. 7:40 min/mile. 2 miles to warm-up, 8x1000m with a 1 minute recovery jog in between, 2 miles to cool-down. 9 miles total. I ran this with Matilda the vizsla and when we got to the point in the route where we would usually turn for our normal 7 mile route, Continue Reading
Weekly Recap: 4 Weeks Until the Phoenix Marathon!
Last week, I mentioned that my work trip was cancelled as I was needed in Minneapolis and it was good I was here! Work definitely was the focus last week as it was very busy; I was challenged with trying to fit in the running where I could. There was not a lot of time to focus on my marathon training- not a lot of time for double runs- or even single runs! Morning running was no longer optional Continue Reading
Weekly Recap: Five Weeks Until the Phoenix Marathon
Starting off this post with a gratuitous picture of Matilda the vizsla. You guys said you wanted more, right? Actually, thanks for all your comments on my naysayers post. I am glad that there are people who find value here! And I definitely don't want to discourage commenters from sharing their opinions- I do welcome a 'healthy' debate, I swear. But it felt good to put it all out there and Continue Reading