The Next Big Thing

Well, there’s a few…

I’ve hinted at having some pretty awesome things coming up. My marathon was a big, big race but it was only the beginning 🙂

1. I’m finally going to see my family in Ohio. My mom, brother, and sister live in Ohio and it’s rare when we go visit them. Luckily, one of them manages to make it down here to Arizona–my sister not so often as she’s got her clan to travel with. My husband, Ben, was the one who suggested us making the trip up there this time and he had zero reservations from me 🙂 We’ll be heading out there in a few weeks and it just so happens to be right before my little girl’s 2nd birthday. So, she’ll be having her birthday party with her cousins; I’m we’re so excited!!

Of course, I thought about whether I could squeeze in a race while I was there. I found a local 5k close to my sister’s place and signed Ben and I up. My sister is a runner so it wasn’t too difficult to get her to join in as well. But guess what?? My non-running, 6’2, 280 lb brother signed up too!!!! This will be his first race and our first race all three of us have done together!! I’m so ridiculously pumped about this.

He texted me this yesterday: “3.5 mile fast walk done!”

I had the biggest smile all day from reading that.

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2. Rock ‘n’ Roll Madrid, Spain anyone?

Ben and I were looking at spring/early summer races and considering Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego in June. We looked at the website at what other RnR races there were around the time frame we wanted and we saw Madrid. What if we did something crazy like that? We are not very spontaneous people and doing things like just isn’t normal for us. But, we were in a moment and we decided to go for it! We’ll be taking a week long trip to Europe late April starting in Spain, then going to Italy, and going home from France. I don’t think it’s fully registered that we’re doing this.

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3. Grand Canyon Rim 2 Rim

Living in Arizona, going to the Grand Canyon is a must. I went with my family when I was 6 and don’t remember a thing 😦 It’s been on my to-do list for quite some time and when my run club told me they do a yearly hike in the canyon I jumped at the chance. There was a pretty long waiting list but after a few months of waiting, I made it!

I’d be doing it alone with my club though and hiking the canyon was something I would have loved doing with my husband. But, this was an opportunity I wasn’t sure I’d get again. The dates to hike are mid to late May and since I’ll be going back to work (more about that another time), those days are blackout days. I couldn’t pass this up.

So on May 17th I’ll be making a 23 mile hike down the canyon and then making a 25 mile return back up. Sounds like fun, right? I’m so freaking excited about this!!!

Now that my marathon is over, I’ll be doing a lot more trail running and branching out a little from my usual pavement/treadmill runs. I’m looking forward to doing different things and can’t wait for this challenge.

Want more info on this? Go here to read about this awesomeness that is Rim to Rim.

So there you have it! I have other races sprinkled in between, but these are the next big things 🙂

–What’s on your race radar?

–What are some cool races you’d want to do? (I still have quite a few things on my wish list lol!)

 

 

19 responses

  1. Yay Ohio! I was born in OH. I think it is awesome that you will all be running together. I’m still trying to get my brother to run with me in something but I doubt it will happen. He’s a lot of talk. 😉

    The Grand Canyon thing sounds really cool. Hard, but really cool!

    And yes please to Spain… but sadly it won’t be something I’ll be able to do for quite some time. I have been to Italy though. It was pretty amazing! I hope you have an amazing time!

  2. I’m so jealous of your Madrid race. I’ll be going to england in the fall and will find a race to run while there, but I really like the Rock nRoll events and wish one coincided with our trip. Plus I’ve never been to Spain.

  3. Wow, so many fun things coming up! The Madrid race will be amazing, I love Spain!!! You are going to have a blast. The Rim to Rim looks incredible too! Robyn and I went to the Grand Canyon hiking before Ash was born and it was an amazing trip! I cannot imagine what it would be to do that hike, that’s so awesome!!

  4. That’s great that you and your siblings will be doing a race together! I just did one with my dad and it was a lot of fun 🙂 And yay for booking that European trip! It sounds like so much fun.

  5. I’m in Ohio too! The weather is finally better so hopefully it won’t be too bad when you get here! The race in Madrid sounds amazing. I’ve never been to Spain and would love to go.

  6. Oh My Gosh you have the coolest events coming up on your calendar!
    #1 – have fun visiting your family! It’s so special to celebrate a birthday with family when they live far away. I wish I could say I’d celebrated any of my birthdays with my cousins (CO vs VA, about as bad as AZ vs OH)
    #2 – a marathon abroad?! Awesome. Once in a lifetime in my book. I’d love to do a race abroad.
    #3 – Ahh R2R has been on my bucket list for about a year now. One of my friends did it in high school, and I the time I thought she was absolutely bonkers. Funny how things change 🙂

    • Yeah, it’s tough having family so far away 😦
      We’ll be doing the 1/2 marathon–my husband says he’s not crazy enough to do a full yet lol!
      It is def crazy how things change!!