Last Monday, the Marines Corps Marathon announced the in-person event would be canceled and the race would be going virtual.

The news was expected. All of the major fall races (New York, Chicago, the re-scheduled Boston) had already canceled. MCM was one of the longer hold outs, but I knew it was only a matter of time.

That hadn't stopped me from starting to train though. I pushed through long runs in some brutal July heat and humidity hanging on to the sliver of hope that I'd be able to run a marathon this fall.



When I got the email with the news telling me my options, I ignored it for more than a week.

It's not that I didn't want to face reality. It's more that I've had such a struggle with this race over the last couple of years, and I just didn't know what I wanted to do.

If you've been around for a bit, you might remember that in the winter of 2019 I trained for and eventually ran the Marines Corps 17.75K. This race gives runners a way to bypass the lottery system for the Marine Corps Marathon with a guaranteed entry for the fall race.

I signed up for the 2019 MCM and was excited to run my first marathon in 7 years. But then my appendix ruptured and I needed emergency surgery. Recovery took longer than I would have hoped, and by the time I needed to start training for the marathon, I had zero base and no endurance.

I deferred to 2020.

Like most people, when covid hit, I figured the lockdowns of March and early April would mean that I'd be for sure running MCM in October.

So I prepped accordingly. I started building my running base back up. I did the RW Run Streak in the early summer to make sure I was ready to train injury free. And then I kicked off my official marathon training in early July (at the nice flat beach).



But here we are -- still in the middle of a pandemic that continues to get worse by the day.

MCM gave registered runners two options. I could defer my race entry to 2021, 2022 or 20223 and automatically have a spot in this year's virtual race. Or I could request a full refund and opt to re-register for this year's virtual race.

I was conflicted about what to do. I'd worked hard to get my race entry, and I didn't want to give it up. But deferring yet again didn't seem very appealing either.

On my most sad and depressed days, I'm not confident that we'll be in a better place in fall of 2021 and able to have events that attract 20,000+ people. Maybe we'll be there by 2022. But with my history of injuries and just the general uncertainty in the world right now, I'm not comfortable committing to something that far out.

So, I requested a refund. I'm grateful MCM offered this choice. Many races that had to cancel did not offer refunds.

I also registered for the virtual race this year. I don't know that I'll have the heart to continue training for a virtual marathon, but I want to give myself more time to think about it before I make a final decision.

So I guess that's where I am. It's tough. This whole situation is tough, and I really just miss normal life.

As the warm weather rolled around in June and I was able to get outside more and even start to see a couple other humans, my reading levels definitely dropped from the huge volume of books I'd finished in the last two months.



Still, I finished 7 books in June. Half way through the calendar year, I've read 65 books, which puts me on track to read more than 100 books this year. That would be a first for me since I started regularly tracking my reading on Goodreads.

Five Stars

Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris
After meeting Cilka in the Tattooist of Auschwitz, I was curious to learn more about her life. She survived Auschwitz only to be convicted as a Nazi conspirator by the Soviets and sent to a gulag in Siberia. While this story is fictional, the author's note at the end makes it very clear where she took liberties with the story and where she drew on facts in her research. This book was heart-wrenching and yet somehow still hopeful. I loved following Cilka's story and learning more about this tragic history.

Four Stars

The Queen of Hearts by Kimmery Martin
This felt like reading a Grey's Anatomy plot line in book form. You've got the drama of two best friends, one keeping an age-old secret. You've got the ex-boyfriend moving back to town and re-entering the picture, and you've got medical drama with some of the very well off families in town. This was a fast read that I couldn't put down and I'm excited to read Martin's next book.

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land
The entire time I was reading this book, I found myself admiring the author for her constant determination to figure out the next step for her and her daughter, while she fought to make ends meet. I thought the author told her own story in a way that was able to create empathy while highlighting the flaws and gaps in many of our government benefits programs.

All Adults Here by Emma Straub
I loved this story that closely examined shifting family dynamics -- a matriarch rethinking her sexuality, a set of parents re-thinking their involvement in their daughter's life and a son constantly searching for approval and a daughter forging her own path. This was a super fast, perfect for summer read.

Camino Island by John Grisham
I haven't picked up a John Grisham book in years, but after talking with a friend about how excited she was for the newest Grisham book to come out, I snagged this audio book from the library. It's about the theft of rare manuscripts from Princeton University and the teacher that gets sucked into cracking the case. I really enjoyed the story and it made for a compelling audio book.

Three Stars

Untamed by Glennon Doyle
I thought this book started super preachy, and I wasn't really feeling it. But then at some point I felt the tone changed a bit, and I got more into it. I especially liked and related to some of the parts where she talked about not caving to societal pressures and expectations of women. I also appreciated her honesty and willingness to talk about leaving her husband to marry a woman and how that changed, and in many ways, enhanced certain elements of her family's dynamics.

Two Stars

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
I had such high expectations for this book after reading Station Eleven, but I was pretty let down. It took me forever to get through, and while I did think the general storyline was interesting, I also felt like at any point I could walk away and wouldn't feel bad about it.

On Saturday, I completed this summer's RW Run Streak. I ran at least one mile every day between Memorial Day and the 4th of July. That's 41 consecutive days of running.



I've never done a run streak before, and I found this experience to be interesting. It was definitely a good challenge, and it forced me to approach running in a way I never have before.

I'm used to more typical training plans that have set running days, cross training days and dedicated rest days. They're typically more structure than a running streak and sometimes the workouts can be really prescriptive (a speed run vs a tempo run vs a long run).

During this run streak, I didn't pay attention to any of that. My goal every day was to just go outside and run. I didn't have to run a set distance or go at a certain speed.

In fact, I actually think I probably ran fewer miles at slower speeds during the run streak than if I had been on a regular training plan. Part of the reason for that is I was trying to really hard to avoid injury. When I have regular rest days built into my schedule, I worry less about having adequate time to recover between runs. But during this run streak, I found myself intentionally working in shorter runs and slower runs to ensure that even though I wasn't getting a true day off that I wasn't pushing myself to the point of injury.



I think the biggest positive takeaway from the run streak is that even a one mile run is better than nothing on some days. In the past, I'd often skip a workout if I couldn't set aside at least 30 minutes or muster the motivation to do something that felt like a more quality workout. During this run streak, that notion went out the window, and I found myself embracing the short and sweet 1 mile run days. Even on the days when I had no motivation to run, I could talk myself into something that would only take 10 minutes.

Like being on any sort of training plan, I struggled with motivation at different times during the run streak. The difference with a run streak was that if I gave into my lack of motivation and just skipped a day, it would have ruined the whole thing. So I dragged myself out the door no matter what, even if I really, really didn't want to run that day. And of course, I always felt better after finishing the run.

Now that the run streak is over, I thought I'd really be looking forward to some true rest days. But when I woke up Sunday morning, I was itching to run. I didn't let myself though. My legs have been exhausted, and I know my body functions better when I actually let myself rest. So on Sunday, instead of a run, I did an upper body weights workout.

This run streak certainly cemented a habit and a desire for daily movement, and I'm going to be taking that into account as I figure out what my next training cycle looks like.

Here's how week six of the run streak played out.

Monday -- 2 miles. My legs were dead after my long bike ride the day before.

Tuesday -- 3 miles. My legs were still feeling the bike ride, but they weren't quite as heavy as Monday.

Wednesday -- 1 mile. Ok, apparently my legs really just needed a true, easy recovery day.

Thursday -- 3 miles. This run was slow, and mentally I was looking forward to the end of the streak.

Friday -- 2.5 miles. I slept in a bit because Friday was the holiday, but that was a poor decision because by the time I got outside for this run, it was pretty miserable out.

Saturday -- 3.1 miles. I thought I'd wrap up the run streak with a 4th of July 5K. This was a super hot and steamy run. Not my fastest, but I was proud to have stuck with the run streak!

Total: 14 miles.

I'm really glad I did this run streak. It was a fun distraction during these strange pandemic times.

We were lucky that when we bought our house we didn't need to do any major renovations or work. It was perfectly live-able from the moment we moved in. The previous owners had re-done two of the bathrooms, refreshed the kitchen and added some nice touches like the built-in book cases that I'm obsessed with.

But as we settled in, there were a few things we were interested in updating.

The first thing I tackled was the master bathroom. This project wasn't particularly high on our house to-do list, but it wasn't overly complicated, and April's rainy quarantine lockdown meant I had nothing but time on my hands to get started.

Before we get into the fun details of the before and afters, let me start by saying, we live in Washington, D.C. Our master bathroom is tiny. Given the space limitations, my goal was to start with some small things that I hoped would make the space look fresher and more modern and wouldn't require me to bring in outside help during a pandemic. (Though I dream of doing something with the shower in the future).


This is the "after shot." I took this from right in the doorway to try to give you a sense of the size and spatial relation between things that you'll see in other pictures.

The first thing that needed fixing was the floor. A previous owner had stenciled over the original tile. I felt generally meh about the pattern and probably would have let it linger for a while, but by the time we moved in, the paint had started to chip and you could see the tile peeking through. That drove me nuts.



You can see the chipping is really noticeable in the upper right by the shower. Please also note the black baseboards, which I was definitely not a fan of.

So I texted my uncle who's a general contractor and asked for advice. He recommended paint remover and a lot of patience.

And so that's how I found myself spending a large chunk of my April evenings chipping away at paint on the bathroom floor. This was tedious and honestly kind of awful work, and I was very, very glad our bathroom is as tiny as it is.



And here is what the floor and baseboards look like with all the paint removed.



Honestly, I'm not 100% in love with the original tile. I mean I like it better than the chipped paint, but at some point I might consider doing something different with the floor. For now though, I'm just happy to have a nice, neutral floor.

Next up was the vanity. This was the original vanity when we moved in.



I didn't care for the bright blue or the knobs that weren't level. Also it wasn't the nicest paint job ever, you could still see streaks of white through the blue paint.

Oh, and the hinges had been painted over. If you're gathering from this post that I'm a little bit particular about things, you'd be right. This just looked sloppy.



My goal here was to find a nice grey for the vanity and replace the hinges and knobs with something more modern.



The last thing on my list was to create a simple frame for our builder's grade mirror that would match the color of the vanity.



The Internet promised me this would be the easiest DIY task of all. But we ran into a few complications and ended up having to completely take the mirror off the wall, attach the frame and then re-hang the mirror with new dry wall anchors.

It all worked out and the frame looks nice. It was just far more involved than a bunch of DIY blogs led me to believe.



Also, what a difference white baseboards make (see photo below)! For some reason, painting these white just made me feel like they were less of an eye sore, and blended in more seamlessly with the room. The bathroom is small enough as it is, I don't need weird baseboards breaking up the way your eye falls over the room.



So there you have it. New floor and baseboards, updated vanity, new mirror frame. My first home renovation complete!