Hustle up the 875 (Hancock) 2020 {race recap}

I climbed up the Hancock for the 3rd time a few weeks ago. 

The climb consists of 94 floors of pure stair climbing fun to get to the top of this monolith. 

After completing this race the past 2 years, I felt good about knowing what to expect and how things go for this event. I’m never fully ready to embrace the pain that comes with climbing up stairs for 20 minutes. The best way I describe this to people who ask is that it feels a bit worse than a 5k you are trying to race full out. And you'll likely finish a little faster than the 5k.


I climbed for my work team. We had a ton of first timers this year. Some of them had been practicing daily in the stairwells at work.

We also had an MRC team With 8 first time participants.

We were both in the same wave so it was fun to mingle with MRC + work peeps.

We got in line right when they opened our wave so our wait was quite short. They let each person start every 8 seconds to avoid congestion in the stair ways.

In 2018, I finished in 18.xx, in 2019, I finished in 19:xx. I wondered if this year I’d finish in 20:xx to keep the streak of progressively getting slower alive. 

I felt ok going into the race. I’ve been doing stairs somewhat consistently and also been doing strength circuits. I felt generally more prepared than previous years. 

My plan was the same as the previous years- to keep a very slow waking pace and try not to stop.

As expected around floor 35 my legs or body decided to wave the white flag and decide it was done. (Same as years past. I tend to hit the wall here)  I pushed through and kept going- with my head down so I wouldn’t be seeing the floor progress.

With about 20 floors to go I felt better and they seemed to go fast even though I was still plodding along at the same pace. 

I finished in a predictable 20:xx to keep consistent with the previous years. 60 seconds slower over 94 floors is nothing.

It was a clear day and the view from the top was gorgeous!

I love the medal and colors so much.

I felt like I executed the climb to the best of my abilities but was surprised to finish a bit slower. At times it was hard to pass people on the stairs so this might have contributed to a slightly slower time. Regardless, I’m happy with another finish for this event.

Stair climbing is better with friends. I’m so proud of these folks.

We waited for everyone to finish and then got an elevator back to the bottom.

We went to Centennial for post climb beer and food. And the obligatory cider and medal pic.


Zé wanted to wear my medal for #medalmonday celebrations despite the fact he did not contribute to my training at all for this. He hates stairs and inclines (unlike his late bro). 

The volunteers are awesome! The race is well organized. It’s such a cool, different event and I highly recommend giving something like this a try since it will force you to go out of your comfort zone to incorporate hills and stairs into your life. The view from the top is also pretty sweet- and perhaps even better since the way to get up there wasn’t easy. 

What’s next?

• Take the bridge
• Atlanta 13.1
• Presidential Towers climb
• Shamrock shuffle 

Publix Atlanta Half Marathon 2020 {race recap}

On Sunday, March 1, 2020 we ran the Publix Atlanta Half Marathon.

We arrived to Atlanta Friday and got lunch before heading to the expo. Centennial park was closed off due to the trials, but I got this sweet snap of the Olympic Rings because of my long arms. 

We went to the expo and got our bibs. It was interesting how they assigned your bib when you arrived and even printed your name on it. While I was waiting for my bib (it took a little longer than Kim and L due to the guy learning how to assign them) I looked around and saw....

MEB! We waited in a brief line to get our bibs signed and take pictures. I told him “thank you for all you’ve done for this sport.” L was going to ask him to be his medical contact but chickened out, and instead showed him a pic of them together from 2009 when they both ran the San Jose half. One of them won... Meb is an amazing human being.

Obligatory silly pic at the expo.

Show your gold was the theme of the weekend.

While we were leaving, we saw a photo of Aliphine and had to take a photo “with her.” We have been huge fans of Aliphine for a while. Fun fact: When Aliphine was injured last year, she filled her time crocheting beanies. I thought this was amazing so I had to purchase one each for Kim and I back in October.  Fun fact # 2:  about a month ago Aliphine reached out to me and said she was sorry for sending the wrong color and insisted on sending me an orange one. I told her we were really happy with the green and gold beanies but she insisted and sent me an orange one. I told her we were coming to Atlanta and were excited to cheer for her and hoped that she would be able to fulfill her dream and make the team.

We hoped so much that we would be able to met her in real life but decided pictures with her at the expo would be better than nothing.


Pre race: we Did a way too long shakeout run with Naz Elite Hoka. Then we spectated the Olympic trials for several hours. Then we ran take the bridge Natties. All stories and blog posts for another day. 

Pre race Flat Xaar:


Meb signed our bibs at the expo 🥰

Race morning we met in the lobby to walk a few blocks to the start. 

It was calm, and mid 30’s. It was really perfect conditions for a race.

As we were walking towards the start line we saw... 

ALIPHINE!!

We were able to talk to her for a few minutes and she remembered me and the beanies 🥰 (I felt bad we didn’t have them on, but we had worn them non stop with the exception of the race)  we showed her the pics we took “with her” at the expo. Gah. She’s so great.   Her story is so inspiring, and I’ve loved following her. 

We were on cloud nine. I was practically in tears. Meeting her was the icing on the cake to a perfect weekend in Atlanta.

Pre race photo with Kim and L before we ate hillz for breakfast.

Going into the race I had low expectations for time. Specific training was non existent. No speed work, no real long runs. Just cycling and running and stairs. I was giving myself a lot of rest post Chicago since I haven’t been feeling great. Gaining weight makes speedwork not fun and then I don’t want to do it even though some intervals would help. I cant be in “racing shape” 100% of the time. Such is life. Sometimes it’s just nice to jump into a race for the experience and to see a new place. 

More sand bagging: We were also on our feet for a while spectating and I also “raced” Take The Bridge the night prior. My legs were pretty trashed but I had planned on this.

The gun went off and soon we were running the streets of Atlanta. The first few miles were really congested due to the narrow streets. It eventually spread out and was fine.

I took a Maurten at mile 2 because I was hungry- I didn’t plan ahead for breakfast. Shortly after my iPod died. I tried to fiddle with it to get it to work but no jam. Ugh. I realized during this race that I listen to music because I don’t want to hear people talking or singing and their foot stomps. I do enjoy singing along (to myself) which makes the miles fly by.

At mile 5.4 I saw people handing out shots of Powerade and vodka. I took one. They said I was the first customer of the day. I told them it was great and hoped to see them in a few more miles. 

At mile 5.9, Atlanta track club was handing out beer. I stopped and had some. 

Around the 10k, I noticed the bottom of my foot was starting to bug me due to my shoes rubbing in a weird way. I hoped this wouldn’t turn into anything. But by mile 9 when I stopped to have another beer with Hash House Harriers, and started running again I was in quite a bit of pain due to the gigantic blister that had developed. My shoes were also rubbing the top of my feet in a weird way too. F%CK.

I chugged along and felt decent climbing the hills. Each step was increasingly painful due to the blisters. I tried to take my mind off the pain by giving high 5’s to officers and spectators.


Accurate photo depiction of me finishing. The one above this sentence and below. 🙃

I was so happy to be done with the race and to not have to take any more steps on the gigantic blisters on both feet. 

I turned my phone on to see I finished in 1:55:55. And saw a text that L had finished one minute after me with a 1:50.xx (he had started in the wave behind me) I was over the moon happy for him! He has been working so hard- and also has been incredibly consistent with his running. To PR by 4 minutes on a hill AF course after Saturday’s craziness is just insane. This man has some epic PRs ahead.

I found L pretty quick since he was literally behind me by 60 seconds.

Smiles after 13.1 miles.

PR for L! I’m so happy for him both personally but also in a coaching perspective. To see him smash PR after PR is just so incredible.

After we got cleaned up we checked out of the hotel and went to Torched Hop for a proper celebration.

Obligatory beer + medal photo.

Chicken and waffles with Thai pepper infused maple syrup.

We also ran into Moses from Southern California who was also in Atlanta. We met him through MRC when we made a special run for him when he visited Chicago last year. Reason 2,389 I love this run club.

Post race thoughts:

• Eat small breakfast pre race. I should know better to plan ahead and have something available. 
• Wear socks with these shoes. I’m not sure I ever wore them without socks before this. Smh. My own stupidity. Now I have 2 large blisters. Fun. 
• Took Maurten gel at mile 2 and mile 7
• Took water from most aid stations
• Base salt multiple times
• Powerade + vodka at mile 5.4
• Beer at mile 5.9 + 9.0
• Wtf iPod? It worked fine last week for the Hancock climb. 
• My stair training + strength paid off - the hills were not terrible. Even with close to 800’ of Gain. 
• The course was great! A big loop through Atlanta. 
• The volunteers were next level friendly. 
• The award for the most Georgia sign goes to the one that said “Go Y’all”
• I felt a little hot and probably could have done without the longsleeve.(or a lighter option than the hyper warm)  I thought I’d be cold due to not “racing” and taking an easier pace. 

Ok. So I lied. The best part of this trip was while we were walking back to the hotel and saw this fox mosaic randomly on the sidewalk. I’ll attribute this to CB giving us a “sign.” He loved hills and inclines so much and would power up them. He definitely gave us strength today. Miss you, big fox. 




What’s next?

Presidential towers stair climb 🏙 

Shamrock shuffle ☘️ 

Shamrock Shuffle 2019 {Race Recap}

Ran my 8th Shamrock Shuffle on Sunday! 

TL;DR version: I got my 2nd fastest time and had fun with some great people. 

Saturday morning we ran over to the expo with our neighbors and met up with some of our run club. 

Did the expo thing, got some swag and had fun. It seemed better than last year-maybe more consolidated. Last year I kept thinking “where’s the other room of vendors?”

This year we had a record 41 people and 8 teams running for Our run club- Mikkeller Running club!

When I signed up for the race back last year, I had grand goals to train for low 6’s and try to place in my AG (you never know who’s going to show up, blah blah) but in December I started feeling really crappy. I gained 10lbs and a lot of body fat. I attribute it to the residual effects of Ironman training and elevated cortisol. 

I trained fairly well, but never felt great despite an average of 45 miles per week.  My speedwork was around 6:00/mile but I always felt really tired and not fresh, even outside of running. 

Goal for Sunday was revised to: sub 35 and I’ll be happy. I ran a 10k with Ze avg 7:00, so I figured that not being dog aided (pulled) I could probably hold it for 5 miles.

Woke up Sunday morning, had a coffee and a slice of my latest homemade red fife wheat loaf.  We walked over to grant park to meet our team. 

41 people ran with us. I’m still so blown away at what this community has become.

We dropped our bags after pics and headed to our corrals.

The cool thing about having a running club is that you’re never alone- especially at this race. There were at least 10 people from MRC in the same corral as me.

Obligatory skyline shot. 

We lined up initially close to the start- I remarked how empty it was but then realized it was still pretty early. As the corral filled up, I decided to get out of the herd of 5 minute milers and start at the back. Didn’t want to get trampled- yes I still have trauma over the Chicago marathon 2011 when I got tripped in the first 400m due to idiots.  

A few of us started the race together- which was nice. I felt really good maintaining high 6’s but didn’t feel mentally into this race while running. I stuck with Matt and MH for like 2 miles and eventually they started pulling away. I tried to keep up but was stuck on my pace. 

Crossed the 5k in 21:17 - not bad considering how I’ve felt for the past few months.

(Actual manually lapped splits)

Finished in 34:19. I was happy to break 35 again and was content with my time.  We ran into more teammates since about 10 of us finished within a few minutes of each other. 

Its where we discovered that we placed 2nd in the team division!

We got our bags and walked towards the fountain to chill while our other teammates finished. We ran into MRC Seattle captain John at the fountain. It was great to meet him finally!

We made sure to get a group picture post race too. 

I am just so proud of our entire group- people PR’d like L by 5 minutes!! For others it was the longest they’ve ever run.  So inspired by these folks. 

I wasn’t too far off my time from last year despite feeling quite meh. I have to thank my rabbits Matt and MH- I wouldn’t have run as fast if it wasn’t for them. To see people I knew ahead of me kept me more engaged had I been there all alone. 

8 years of shamrock data. 🤓

We went to Ballast Point to celebrate and hydrate and eat. I love these people.

And then went to Lone Wolf where potentially bad decisions were made.

Overall, I’m really happy with how this race went, and how I paced with relatively even splits. I’m going to go to the doctor soon to see if something is out of whack because I’m sick of feeling dull. And I want to be 100% for Chicago Marathon Training.


8th Shuffle in the books! Looking forward to doing a 10k in a month and then really getting into marathon training. (And also looking forward to figuring out why I feel so flat all the time and fixing it!)

Extremely thankful for this amazing group of people. 

Housekeeping: (40f/calm)

Took a sis gel 10 min prior to the race

No water during the race

Long sleeve with singlet and shorts- overkill. Drop the long sleeve.