How Fall 2025 Went + A Start to 2026
After a spring 2025 cycle of missing most of my race goals, the fall ended up with a few home runs!
Things that clicked...
I took two more swings at the sub-1:20 half marathon. The Dick Beardsley Half in September was another miss with 1:20:59, but a 1st Female victory! So that was fun.
FINALLY, six days after sleeping on the bathroom floor with a wicked 12-hour stomach flu, I broke 1:20 at the Fargo Mini Marathon in October with a 1:19:54. It was a cool day and my somewhat-recovered body carried me through. I'm glad it was a half, because I definitely wasn't feeling good enough yet for a full!
Then the marathons. I represented Cass Clay Creamery again at the Every Woman's Marathon in November, which was in Scottsdale, AZ. This was an amazing trip! I had such a great time and sharing this again with Leo made it even better. we're sold on living in Arizona as snowbirds someday. Dreaming :)
This race a tricky course and execution went so well. I finished 1st Overall and got a picture with Olympian DEENA KASTOR at the finish. Definitely was icing on the cake! Leo and I enjoyed pool time and just the absolutely beautiful scenery and weather in Scottsdale. The sponsorship from Cass Clay has made training and racing possible over the past couple years and I am beyond grateful that they choose to work with me!
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| A HUGE thank you to Cass Clay Creamery for this opportunity again! |
A fairly even split on a not-even course!
And one more for the season: The Marathon Project in Chandler, AZ for December (5 weeks later) with my dear friend Amanda. This was another awesome trip to Arizona! Getting there was a little tricky with flights being cancelled and running from winter storms but, by God's grace, we made it!
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| 4th Female Overall |
Things that didn't click...
I had been fighting a cranky hip since strength training in March 2025 (hip/knee issues throughout 2025 season) and, when I finally went to the clinic for the issue in February 2026, they found I had a small hernia on that hip side. This was actually a blessing in disguise, as I had been worried that the symptoms were caused by possibly ovarian cysts or even a stress fracture or reaction in the hip. I had a robotic laparoscopic hernia repair procedure in early March and a mesh has solved the problem!
Overall, I would count this as a good thing and, oddly enough, it's the same inguinal hernia issue that my son had repaired in 2024. Maybe we don't win the genetic connective tissue strength lottery! Haha. The great thing is that technology is amazing and it was a very smooth and successful surgery (for both of us).
On to the next one.
Given that I had the hernia repair 12 weeks prior, I wasn't sure that I would race the Fargo Half Marathon I was signed up for this spring. The buildup of mileage and recovery process went great overall and I did end up racing! On a hot day (somewhere around 68-75 while we ran/86% humidity, per my Garmin), I ran a 1:22:13 and was very pleased with that. My hips were sound, I felt decently fit and I didn't die in the heat! 2nd Female and the heat basically had me red-lining the whole way :s whoops!
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| Literally mile 1, because my face isn't beet red yet! |
So here we go, 2026! Quite a few race plans currently in the hopper.
Life is crazy and sometimes I wonder why I add decently competitive marathon training on to the already heavy life load? But then I remember how much I missed the grinding efforts in those hernia repair recovery weeks and even early easy running weeks. I'm grateful to be back and I really love pushing my limits.
I'm not sure what is harder, juggling solo-parenting training/homeschooling/sports mom driving during harvest or planting season. I think harvest feels harder? But the fall race weather is way more enjoyable than spring!
Making the life schedule and puzzle work is getting trickier as the kids get older, but I LOVE this older kid season of watching them do what they love. Turns out they all are quite the runners and it's a joy to watch each soccer game, track/xc meet, band concert, t-ball game, etc.
When I started this blog in 2013, I never could have imagined how fast that newborn baby season would teleport to this one - four sons, unique personalities, a whole lot of action + noise, and the joy of watching them grow up as young men.
God is great.
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