LauRunning

 I ran up to the top of all seven of Edinburgh's hills, and I feel shattered for it. Not a medal, but a coaster this race. Why Seven Hills of Edinburgh I planned on signing up to the Edinburgh Half Marathon this year because my partner, John, wanted to run it. He signed up, but when I went to do so 36 hours after he did, it was already sold out. I still wanted to do a big run this year, but I didn't want to travel far. That's when I remembered the existence of the Seven Hills of Edinburgh, a race I've often thought about doing, but every time I've looked into it, it's sold out. The race is as it sounds. You run to the highest point of each of Edinburgh's seven hills. There's no set route. Just reach the peak and run the hills in a set order. This year, I set myself a calendar reminder for when entries went on sale. Good thing I did, because it's a race that does pretty much sell out in minutes. John was also kind enough to agree to run it with me, ju...

I felt more satisfied with racing in 2024, getting to run half my races with loved ones and not feeling unfulfilled by any of them. I want to build back my strength in 2025 after my longest run-free spell due to illness. Best race of the year: Giants 5k. A goal for running to be more social Last year, I said I wanted running in 2024 to be more social. I wasn't going to sign up for any race on my own unless it was an interesting one. Running in 2023 reflections post Two of my four races ended up being with others, and as expected, I liked those races better than the other two. My partner John and I traveled down to Stratford-upon-Avon for a half marathon. I was delighted and surprised to get my second-best half marathon time - probably the power of doing a race with somebody else. Shakespeare Half Marathon recap Selfie after finishing the Shakespeare Half Marathon. The best race this year was the Giants 5k, where I unexpectedly got my best 5k race time. The weather was less than ide...

I got my best 5k race time at a rainy run at MetLife Stadium with my family. Rainy jump. Why Giants 5k My boyfriend, John, is a big New York Giants fan. I was intrigued when I got an email from the Giants about at 5k at MetLife Stadium where they play. The race finished in the end zone, formers players were going to be there - it sounded like a cool thing to do, especially as it fell on our anniversary. My sister, whose husband is also a Giants fan, reached out to me about the race not long after I got the email, as we were scheduled to be visiting her that weekend. We agreed we’d go to the race, and we all ran it, including my young niece who ran the kids race. The weather  This race was wet. In a forecast where pretty much every other day in the lead up to and after the run was sunny, race day was rainy. It wasn’t predicted to rain until the afternoon, but there ended up being frequent showers from the moment we got there. We got our race shirts before the run, and while I wasn’t...

I ran Marathon Pour Tous 10k, a nightime run for the general public organized by Paris 2024 during the Olympics. It was a cool experience, but a tough run battling the heat and tiredness. A sleepy finisher. Why Marathon Pour Tous 10k I first head about the Marathon Pour Tous (Marathon For All) in autumn 2022 on the Runner's World website and was immediately intrigued. The Paris Olympics were going to host a marathon open to the general public on the same course the Olympics athletes would run.  That sounded like such a cool and once-in-a-lifetime experience. When I read the article originally, I had just run the Yorkshire Marathon, where I got a great time, and was keen to find my next marathon to run.  While two years away at this point, I figured I might as well take a chance at trying to get a spot in this run. The way to enter it? I had to download an app and participate in running challenges each month, which were logged through the app. Each challenge said it was associa...