The Wall

It's been awhile since I've posted a photo of my wall. It has since grown a second tier.

Click here for blogs about the races! 

Top
Warrior Dash hat, Logan, Ohio 2011

First tier (Left to right):
Flower City Duathlon, Rochester, NY 2013
YMCA indoor Triathlon, Rochester, NY 2013
Flower City Half Marathon, Rochester, NY 2013
Quakerman Duathlon, Orchard Park, NY 2013

Second Tier
Hocking Hills Indian Run, Logan, Ohio 2010 and 2011 (my favorite medals, made of clay by school kids)
Holiday run at Sharon Woods, Columbus, Ohio, 2010
Buckeye Classic, Columbus, Ohio, 2011
Cinco de Julio, Columbus, Ohio, 2012
Flying Pig Marathon, Cincinnati, Ohio 2012
Cleveland Marathon, Cleveland, Ohio 2011
Warrior Dash, Logan, Ohio 2011
Columbus Marathon, Columbus, Ohio, 2011
First on the First, Westerville, Ohio 2011
First on the First, Westerville, Ohio 2012

Bottom:
Sticker from the Highlander Cycle Tour, Canandaigua, NY 2012
Rochester Autumn Clasic Duathlon, first in my age group, Rochester, NY 2012
Tough Mudder sweatband, Attica, Indiana 2011, atop a photo of my Columbus friends
Keuka Lake Triathlon race bib, Penn Ya, NY 2013
Reindeer run antler ears, Rochester, NY 2012
A Nu Race Trail Run, Perrysville, Ohio 2011, first overall female

Hello potential employer!

I'm kind-of sort-of poking my nose around for a new day job.

By "kind-of sort-of" I mean that I'm happy with the job I have now. Really happy with it, actually. But I'm thinking that it may be time to take that next step up.

If my resume is in your hands, you've probably found your way to my blog through a Google search, trying to figure out a little bit more about the woman with the obnoxious Italian last name. Welcome, you've found my personal blog! While you're here poke around a bit. It won't take you long to figure out the following:

• I like to write
• I play with data for fun
• I like to bargain shop
• I'm a textbook Type A personality
• I'm ambitious
• I'm an awesome writer
• I like my smartphone
• I'm a team player
• I like shoes (preferably the kind that lace up, but I'm not afraid of a clunky heel, either)
• Most of the music I like was recorded before I was born
• Did I mention that I'm a really awesome writer?

In case you're wondering about the blog, I started blogging on a private weight loss forum when I got the silly idea to train for a 5K in 2010. When I advanced to the 10K I transitioned to a public blog. I kept it going as I trained for a 10-miler. Then a marathon. Then through getting certified as a Spinning instructor. Then another marathon. Then another. Do your knees hurt yet?

Mostly I write this blog so friends and family can keep up with my training, but I do a few things to boost traffic, just so I can experiment with what works.

The blog gets about 2,000 hits a month. I do consider search engine optimization when I write. I do this by trying to think what Google search terms will drive people to the posts, and I also try to mention as many brand names as possible. Most of my blog traffic comes at around 8 to 10 a.m., with 8 to 10 p.m. also seeing traffic boosts, and Saturday afternoons. I like to set things to auto-post during these times so they're fresh in RSS and Facebook feeds.

Most of my traffic is driven by searches for events such as the Warrior Dash, the Flying Pig Marathon and the Tough Mudder, and also searches for specific brands of shoes. Strangely, "oolong tea" is the top search term of all time.

Thanks for reading! It's very much a work in progress, but feel free to check out my professional blog here for links to all my stories.

Race Report: Tough Mudder Indiana 2011

I felt like I had run 10 miles. I was done, defeated. We had jumped into an ice bath, clawed up one too many hills, forced our way over three walls and run through endless mud puddles.

We turned around a corner, walking at this point and saw a little sign that read "Mile 4".

Then there was another sign mocking us: "Don't worry, you only have 6 miles to go!"

The Tough Mudder seemed like a much better idea when we signed up in July. Yet another sign mocked us. "Think it's cold? What did you expect, it's November!"

I'm ready to kill Beth at this point for suggesting this. She looks miserable too. I keep my mouth shut and truck onward.

I did the Tough Mudder Sunday in Attica, Indiana with Beth O., Traci P. and her cousin Katie H. What an experience! I came out alive, something only 60 percent can say (40 percent drop out), and despite the toughness of the event I had so much fun.

It was a 10-mile course with 23 obstacles at an ATV park. We couldn't do all the obstacles but I'm stoked that I was able to do the ones that I could. (These may not be in the right order! I'm going by what the website said which isn't entirely accurate.)

It was also a road trip, so the four hour drive included a trip to WalMart to over-prepare:

SpeedyJessica.blogspot.com hits the road!!

This crazy elf hat is only the first clue toward the crazy thing I got to wear as my throwaway layer :)

I'm super-stoked! Not only will this be my first time wearing something silly to run in, but it's my first road trip for a race! I'm headed to the Tough Mudder in Attica, Ind. with three other girls.

I'm bringing my laptop with the goal of posting some photos and videos from the road.

It'll be like the Warrior Dash but 10 miles long. I fully expect to look far worse than this when I finish!

Race Report: 2011 Buckeye Classic 10K

Run DMC and friends at the Buckeye Classic. 

It took me over an hour to run a 10K, and given all the factors involved I'm still thrilled with my time! Official time was 1:02:36, a 10:06 pace.

Let's just say I woke up this morning a bit dehydrated. Forgot my rule of thumb last night, 1 to 1. I didn't think it would be that bad, but it was.

That and the hills were evil! From here on out it's hill repeats twice a week until Salt Fork, and once a week thereafter!

It was the Buckeye Classic at Highbanks Metroparks in Lewis Center. This is one I decided to do on a whim, using my free race entry from volunteering at Emerald City.

2 more races for 2011: Buckeye Classic and Salt Fork Trail Challenge

Where did 2011 go!?!?!?

In addition to the Tough Mudder Nov. 20, I've picked out 2 more races to round the year out.

In less than 2 weeks I'm going to do the Buckeye Classic 10K. The goal will be to beat my current PR (I've only done one 10K) of 56:53.

On Dec. 3 I'm planning on running the Salt Fork 10-mile trail challenge. The goal will be to beat last year's time of 1:57:42.

After reacquainting with my pillow and my TV, here's what's next!

Me and running buddy Karl showing off our
marathon medals at Brews.
I'll do an official photo post soon!! 

I can't get the 30 Rock theme out of my head. Because making it through the end of Season 2 (love the episodes with Edie Falco) and most of Season 3 has been hands down the most productive thing I've done since the 2011 Columbus Marathon. (Tracy Morgan just tried to kill Jimmy Fallon. Very nice.).

**Warning: Pointless, scatterbrained post ahead**

That's outside of work, that is. I did get to cover what will probably be the story of the year, when a bunch of wild animals were set free in Zanesville, Ohio. In between chuckles over the increasing absurdity of the story, I managed to get one of my stories picked up by USA Today, and another by the Cincinnati Enquirer. (Insert shameless plug for professional Facebook page here.) 

"It's like Noah's Ark wrecking here in Zanesville." Jack Hanna

And here's some more news: I'm now a certified Spinning instructor. Starting in November I'll be teaching at the Newark Y, 6 a.m. Wednesdays and 6:30 p.m. Thursday. So if you're in my neck of the woods come see me!

Spinning was the only activity I did last week, so my DailyMile displayed a whopping one workout. I proudly posted this shining accomplishment on Facebook and Kim B. promptly responded: "Hey...you are supposed to be taking it easy."

Facebook post from Monday 10/24. 

Spinning Thursday was fun but slightly nerve-wracking. Jamie let me be in front of the class with her. Once I'm settled in and on my bike I realize I'm in a 90-minute class. But Jamie ran Columbus too (and we wore our twin shirts that day to prove it), so if she could do it, I had no excuse. I survived the first half no problem. Most of the class left at the break, leaving just a few brave souls. Jamie let me cue some jumps, and I learned that it is not easy to talk and count in my head. 

Race Report: Hocking Hills Indian Run 2011 20K

This race has the best medals, made by school kids!

I remember going down to Hocking Hills for the first time for this race last year. Driving in I was freaking out. It was my first 10K and it was going to be crazy hilly.

This year, I was super excited driving up and down the rolling hills headed to Logan. This was my second time doing the Hocking Hills Indian Run. I did the 20K in 2:03:22, finished 7th in my age group of 17, and 104th of 256 overall. Last year I did the 10K in 56:53.

Age group results here. Overall results here. Course map here. Topographic map here.

Nothing went right from the beginning of the day, but all ended well! My iPod was dead and I lost the cable, and as I'm driving off from my apartment my wrist felt kind light. What's missing? Crap, gotta go back for the Garmin.

Driving down I got stuck in traffic twice in Thornville, once for the Hell Run and then for the Backwoods Festival. But all was well, I made it to the Hills, and as I'm picking up my race packet a familiar face waltzes in.

Urban Dare Columbus race report, and other musings

Life has kept me a little busy lately, in good ways, so this is going to be uncharacteristically short (as in -- here's what I can write while inhaling a hummus sandwich on my lunch break).

First up -- the Urban Dare Saturday. This was a fun event -- though it was more scavenger hunt, less dare. I did it with my buddy Jason. We had no idea what to expect when we got there, we were handed blue shirts to wear and told to await further instructions. There were about 80 teams.


First instruction: Run to the statue 20 feet away. That was easy. We got our other instructions -- all clues of places to go around downtown Columbus. In Columbus, I know where the statehouse is. And Einstein's bagels across from the statehouse. And... that's it.

Thanks to a glorious invention called the smartphone (I'm not cool enough for one, but Jason was) we got online and deciphered the clues, and plugged them into the GPS. They were all statues, restaurants and landmarks.

We got turned around a couple times, and almost ran 3 miles out of our way. We ended up having to run a mile back because we missed a landmark. We also had to stop a couple total strangers on the street and ask them to recreate this photo:

Beyond this, though, the "dares" were pretty pathetic. At most landmarks we just had to take a picture to prove we were there. At one we had to do a 3-legged race. At another we had to jump rope. Far from the rock climbing walls and stuff the event advertised! It was still a good day though.

The event was billed as 5-7 miles. I decided to be crazy and I went to MIT that morning and did 6 with Kim, and my hamstrings were screaming from Crossfit two days before. Thanks in part to my superior navigating skills, we ended up covering 9.3 (with lots of stops in between!). Our official time was 3:32 (there were many stops). Total was 15.3 miles for the day, giving me a 27 mile week, my highest since Cleveland.

I'll update later with some more links and stuff. In the meantime, a few other random musings:

July will be busy!

Major ALERT!!! The price of the Columbus Marathon goes up after June 30. So once I get paid I'll have a few days to decide if I want to seal the deal. I've been tempted by a few other October marathons, but my gut is telling me to go with Columbus!

In the meantime the stars have aligned to show four races in four weeks, all while starting Crossfit classes! (Yay for race comps!)


Two of my local running buddies, including Tracy who blogs here, have raved about Crossfit training. Eons ago I signed up for a Groupon at Ohio Krav Maga and Fitness, which has a location in Gahanna. My intro is today! My legs are screaming at me for running uphills at the bio yesterday, so I hope I survive!

As for the races:

June 25: Urban Dare, an adventure race, 5-7 miles (I'll still go to MIT in the morning!) Our team name is inspired by a Bondiband, "Will Run for Beer".

July 1: Worthington Hills Firecracker Trot 5K... can I beat 24:27?? I'm not sure how hilly it will be. The best thing about this run: It's only $10! It's a Friday evening run, so I'll still go to MIT the next morning :)

July 9: Cinco de Julio cuatro miler, my goal is under 34 (an 8:30 pace)! It's on a Saturday evening so I won't go to MIT, but I will do a 2-mile warmup to get my 6 miles in for the day.

July 17: Greenswell Triathlon relay... guess which part I'm doing! Second opportunity to PR in a 5K. The Manic Mojo's will dominate!!






My next blog will be about the Tough Mudder, which I'm signed up for with Beth! I tried the strength training program for it and it's brutal!!

Warrior Dash 2011 in Hocking Hills: The real race report, and 30 lessons learned

T-shirt and medal

I kind of skimped on the previous Warrior Dash race report, so here's the no-holds-barred, nitty-gritty detail-ridden, bare-all report!!!

See results and photos here!

Warrior Evelyn

Miss Evelyn H. arrived at my apartment at about 1 p.m. last Sunday and after a brief detour to Quiznos we started the southbound journey to Hocking Hills. We stopped at a Big Lots for duct tape, face paint and band-aids. No face paint, so we settled on magic markers.

Lesson #1: If you hurriedly walk into a Big Lots, approach the clerk and ask where you can find duct tape, face paint and band-aids, you will get looks.

Warrior Beth

I finally touched base with the always-adventurous Beth O., slowly recovering from a wedding the night before. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: "Beth!!"
Beth: "I am soooooo hungover"
Me: **Laughs hysterically** "That's no excuse, you ready??"
Beth: "He77 yea"
(Boring logistical talk)

Lesson #2: A hangover is never an excuse not to run. I set my 5K PR on Jan. 1.

Warrior Jessica

We approach Hocking Hills on a long and windy road and make a pit stop at Wendy's. Very clean people sought race advice from very dirty people celebrating their muddy victories with burgers and Frosties. The consensus: "Dude, that was awesome."

Lesson #3: If you don't like port-a-pottys, stop at Wendy's on your way in to pee.

The parking lot, two miles away from the actual event, was a madhouse. Mud tracks went in both directions. Some people were tailgating. I saw some clean people walking back to their cars. "If I come out that clean I'm going to be sorely disappointed", I say. "Don't worry, you won't!" a guy replies. Then I saw the solution to their cleanliness -- a long line of people waiting to be sprayed down by a hose. The parking lot was in a very open area and I saw several people stripping down and changing, chucking their muddy clothes in the trash.

Lesson #4: This should be obvious, but bring a change of clothes!

Muddy shoe pile

We boarded a bus to get to Kaeppner Woods. Walking in we saw a mound of muddy shoes. The event was going to clean them off and donate them to charity.

With 20,000 people participating throughout the weekend I was impressed by the organization. First we had to sign a waiver, the only thing I really remember on the form was "I will not dive headfirst into the mud", beyond that I just wrote "JAs" down the line and scribbled my name at the bottom. Then we got our packets which included a shoe chip, that doubled as our free beer token, a viking hat and a shirt. Evelyn paid extra money for these cool stickers that went under the eyes.

(More after the jump. Much more. Keep reading!!) 

I want to do everything, but my debit card says otherwise

It is going to be a phenomenal summer, especially since I am now doing a 40K at Hocking Hills, I think I just got talked into doing the Ohio/Indiana Tough Mudder (more on that later), and of course training for the Columbus Marathon with MIT.

But, I'm just a single gal living off a reporter's salary in Ohio, and some of these events cost mucho dinero, especially with gas at $4 a gallon. (And at some point I need to buy some new furniture, and a new DVD player/Netflix streamer, and a new phone, and a new laptop, and and and...)

So, today I decided to bow out of Hood to Coast. I'm sad to do it, there are some really phenomenal people on the Spark team and I've always wanted to visit Oregon. After looking at the costs, in order to do Hood to Coast I basically would have to bow out of every other event here in Ohio. It's something I would have considered, except the Coasties and Ghosties have 11 alternates lined up, so I figured I'd let someone else have fun there while I tromp through the woods, the mud, and the streets of Columbus here at home, hopefully with my partner in crime!

After all, I'm young, there will be plenty of other opportunities!