Tag Archives: 1/2 Marathon

Mar31

Upcoming Races

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Hey Julia – I just had my daily Joe-Joes and a glass of milk. As you know, I run to eat. I was just thinking we need to look for races to run since we have nothing until the VB Rock&Roll 1/2 in September. Did you know there is a Marine Corps 1/2 in Fredericksburg? Unfortunately, we’ll both be on Spring Break April 7. That same day is the Autism Awareness 5K. Maybe another year for both.

Hit me with some bright ideas! We need to set some short term goals before it gets hot. When’s that Elizabeth River run?

Mar22

Record Heat Means Record Sweat

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I ran today for the first time since the 1/2 marathon last Sunday, and it was great to be out again. However, I had to run later than usual (it was actually daylight) and the temps today are record highs. It was in the high 60s by the time I was done, heat my body was not prepared to encounter. Needless to say, I was sweatier than I’ve been since October. Am I the only one who loves to run but hates to sweat?

If you tend to sweat, you may have some misgivings about getting a quilt made with shirts you’ve, well, spent some time in over the years. My sister-in-law had some concerns about that when thinking about having one made for her husband.  Apparently he has worked out in some favorite shirts for years, and they’re showing it. Well that is no obstacle when making a quilt – we just cut that part out.  In fact, we can use any part of the t-shirt or not, so stains can be worked around.  It’s those well-loved and used shirts that make the best quilts, so we can take care of them…no sweat!

Mar19

We Shamrocked It!

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What a weekend! Yesterday we ran the Shamrock 1/2 Marathon in beautiful Virginia Beach with several thousand runner friends.  The weather could not have been more perfect, and the company was delightful. Particularly so because they liked to talk, and any runner knows how that makes the miles slip by. Often this race is plagued by wind and cold, especially after the turnaround in Ft. Story. This time, if anything we had a slight tail wind. It was shirtsleeves and shorts (or skorts) for us the whole way home. Adding to the fun, we bellied up to the bar around mile 10, and accepted a cup of beer offered by generous neighborhood supporters. What a perfect way to hydrate AND get your carbs in a couple swigs. That was just the liquid courage we needed to keep those Sauconys and Vibrams pounding the pavement past King Neptune at 31st street and across the finish line. As we walked the several cool-down blocks, we were bestowed with waters, medals, hats, snacks, and best of all, these awesome hoodies, which are most quilt-worthy:

Then it was off to the tent to meet with friends new and old and celebrate a job well-done and fun well-had!  We hope all your races and activities this spring are just as quilt-worthy!

Mar16

Half Marathon – Half Quilt

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Shamrock weekend is upon us!  We are looking forward to the 8k & Final Mile on Saturday and 1/2 marathon on Sunday.  The weather forecast looks absolutely lovely for running – high of 68 degrees both days!  Our training for this weekend started back in December.  I convinced Sara we should PR at the 1/2 this year and found what I thought would be a successful training plan.  Unfortunately, it was a little ambitious for my left knee.  About 2 weeks into our official training I developed a chronic case of “runner’s knee”.  Needless to say, that slowed us down.  We scrapped the plan and came up with our new plan of “just having fun”. (Side note: I have the best running partner ever… she slowed down with me during my recovery when she easily could have ditched me for a PR!)

In the spirit of “fun” we thought it best to have a t-shirt made for the occasion…

We made our way to the expo this afternoon and accumulated a plethora of t-shirts.

2 – 8k t-shirts (Julia & her husband)

2 – Team Hoyt t-shirts (Sara & Julia)

1 -”Final Mile” t-shirt (Sara’s son)

3 – 1/2 marathon t-shirts (Sara, Julia & her husband)

Rumor has it that we will receive a “finishers hoodie” after the the 1/2 marathon on Sunday!! That will bring our quilt worthy t-shirt potential up to 13 in just one weekend!  I think we have a HALF quilt just in one weekend.  What a lucky weekend!

13.1 miles + 13 quilt worthy t-shirts = Half Marathon + Half Quilt

Love it!  Good luck to everyone running!

Mar15

Little Runners

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We’ve got a huge weekend coming up with the Shamrock Sportsfest.  In Virginia Beach, it’s become the start to the summer season…sort of.  There are a series of races at the oceanfront, beginning with an 8k Saturday morning, followed closely by a race called the Final Mile.  For the past few months, elementary school kids from all over the region have been running in P.E., and their distance has been adding up…to 25.2 miles.  On Saturday, they will run the final mile of their marathon distance!  W.T. Cooke is our local school, and I have a kindergartener running on Saturday. Here’s the cute shirt he’ll wear:

He’ll also get a shirt for running the race.  Here’s last year’s shirt:

So yes, it won’t be long before I’ll be making my 6 year old a quilt!

Mar9

Workin’ it

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We’ve been busy here at AcrossCountryQuilts.  We produced an awesome quilt named Aquaboy, which we still can’t reveal due to the sensitive nature of it’s bequeathing.  In other words, the recipient hasn’t received it yet, and is of an age whereby he may inadvertently see it on FB if we blog about it here.  So again, here is a process pic, but one step farther along than the last one we posted.

Making progress

Here you can see how we cut the shirts into squares or rectangles.  From these we saved a lot of the scraps for future projects, so there was minimal waste from this quilt.

In addition, we’ve been training for the Shamrock 1/2 Marathon which takes place next Sunday.  We have been enjoying the early sunrise on our morning runs.  Here is a shot of our feet watching the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean.

Julia is also running the 8k on Saturday with Team Hoyt, because she’s young and crazy and feeling great in her Barefoot….footwear? I hesitate to call them shoes. Shout out if you’re running or walking a race anytime soon!  Or doing anything quilt-worthy for that matter.  We want to know!