• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Mile By Mile

Life is what happens when you're busy running marathons...

  • Home
    • Contact Page
    • Privacy Policy
  • Recent Posts
  • Run Coaching
    • Coaching Philosophy
    • Contact Page
  • Left Menu Extras

    • Bloglovin
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • Training Plans & Downloadable Resources
    • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • Virtual Race Resource Guide
  • Running
    • Running Posts
      • Runners’ Roundup
      • Fartlek Friday
    • Favorites
    • Races
    • Workouts
      • Running Workouts
      • Strength Training Workouts
  • Right Menu Extras

My running story

‘m Lisa, a wine-loving-runner living in Baltimore, MD. I grew up in New York (Long Island) and moved to Baltimore to attend college.

Growing up I was always active- taking dance classes and playing field hockey- but didn’t really like to run. I actually joined the track team and after realizing how much I hated running, begged the coaches to let me be a thrower.

Once I was in college, I exercised on my own terms to stay in shape and offset my awful eating and drinking habits. By the time I was a senior, I was running up to about 5 miles a few days a week.

After college I became even more interested in health and fitness and I was focusing on getting healthier. As I started graduate school at Towson, I would make it a point to work out 6 days a week, and plan my meals to eat as healthy as possible while living a very busy lifestyle (working 40 hours a week including weekends, from as early as 6am to as late as 10pm, and occasional overnight shifts, plus taking 4 classes a semester). In 2007 I decided to run the Baltimore 1/2 marathon. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I loved training, racing with all the crowd support, and the feeling of crossing the finish line. I continued to run but didn’t race much, mostly due to not having enough money to spare on race fees.

In 2010 I started having bad hip pain, and was diagnosed with a labral tear. I had surgery but was running again within 4 months. After that my husband (boyfriend at the time) decided to start running too. I got him to sign up for his first 5k in 2011. Since then we have done a handful of races, including a marathon on our way to our honeymoon. We don’t run together, but it’s great to have someone to talk about training with, complain about the bad runs with, and share the feeling of success with after a great race.

I love reading blogs about other runners’ training experiences.You can read more about why I started blogging here.

I hope that this blog will connect me with others who share the same passion for running. Thanks for stopping by!

20130821-183007.jpg

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Katiemac says

    June 23, 2014 at 12:45 am

    I’m like way inspired

    Reply
  2. Amber says

    August 10, 2014 at 1:00 am

    It was cool meeting you at the Chuck 12 today & I love the name of your blog!

    Reply
    • [email protected] says

      August 10, 2014 at 11:17 am

      Thanks! Great to meet you, too! I love finding more Baltimore area bloggers:)

      Reply
  3. Sharisse @ sharissepieces says

    October 14, 2014 at 8:34 pm

    Hi, Lisa! So… you had me at wine!!! You also have a very inspirational story. How awesome that you and your husband are into running together – marathoned to your honeymoon!?! Super cute!!! Looking forward to catching up and reading more 🙂

    Reply
    • [email protected] says

      October 14, 2014 at 10:29 pm

      Welcome! and thank you!

      Reply
  4. Lizzie says

    October 21, 2014 at 10:08 pm

    I just came across it from Health Diva Eats! I go to Towson and saw that you live in the area! Just saying hello! 🙂

    Reply
    • [email protected] says

      October 27, 2014 at 12:28 am

      Thanks for stopping by!!

      Reply
  5. Karen @runningfifty.com says

    November 8, 2014 at 7:33 pm

    The name of your blog caught my eye. It’s perfect! I am new to blogging and am happy to have found yours. Since you enjoy wine, I thought I’d mention a race my husband and I did this summer in Michigan called the 13.Wine Half Marathon. I knew we had to run it just because I loved the name! It is run past acres and acres of vineyards and lots of wineries. And there is wine tasting at the end! We had no idea Michigan had such an awesome wine country. We loved it!!

    Reply
    • [email protected] says

      November 9, 2014 at 1:27 pm

      That sounds like an awesome race!! I will need to look into it. My husband actually has family in Michigan and we usual visit there but unfortunately we go over the holidays. It would be great if a trip there ever lined up with this race!
      Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

      Reply
  6. Marnie @ SuperSmartMama says

    January 31, 2015 at 1:46 pm

    Hi Lisa, it’s always fun to hear about others’ running stories. Great story, great journey, and I’m glad to have found your blog!

    Reply
    • [email protected] says

      January 31, 2015 at 3:09 pm

      Thanks for stopping by, Marnie!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Welcome!

logo
Food Advertisements by

Training Plans and Running Guides

Training Plans
  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Past Posts

Categories

VDOT Certified Coach

VDOT Certified Coach

RRCA Certified Coach

RRCA Certified Coach
logo
Food Advertisements by
logo
Food Advertisements by

© 2025 Mile By Mile Blog All rights reserved

Footer

Mile By Mile Running

Life Is What Happens When You're Busy Running Marathons

Lets Run!
  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
Alright, my last post about the Richmond Marathon Alright, my last post about the Richmond Marathon (maybe). This one is about lessons learned/areas for improvement.

1) Starting in the right corral- I knew I wanted to start a little slow but I think I started too far back and I ended up boxed in later in the race. 

2) Increasing fueling- I think I did the best I could on this day but now that I know more about what works/doesn’t work for me I think I can try to get my carbs/hr a little higher for next time

3) Self-doubt- On paper I knew my training showed I could run a certain time. My coach knew I could run a certain time. But deep down did I believe I could run that time? I’m not really sure.

4) My right piriformis- This little muscle has been giving me trouble FOREVER and it likes to rear its ugly head the most during races. I’m working with a PT but it’s hard to address the issue when I can go months without any problems and then at mile 15 of a marathon it starts acting up. So while this is certainly an area for improvement I am not really sure what I’ll be able to do to keep it from happening next time.

5) Ignore the data leading up to the race- During race week my sleep scores were horrible, my HRV tanked, and my watch told me I was “strained”. I might just stop wearing it during the taper next time.

What lessons have you learned during a marathon or big race?

@richmondmarathon #racerecap
It’s been 5 days since the Richmond Marathon and i It’s been 5 days since the Richmond Marathon and it feels like a lifetime ago! I am working on my full race recap which I will post on my website but I wanted to share some reflections on here. Today I want to focus on what went well. Every finish line is an accomplishment, and while every race can teach us something I think it’s always important to focus on the positive.

First off, Richmond was a great race with amazing crowd support! There were some hills (a few steeper than I expected) but nothing crazy.

Fueling went well- after my train wreck of a run a few weeks ago I had to adjust my fueling plan and took out the Tailwind High Carb and went back to regular Skratch instead. I tried to make up for the difference with gels but my overall carbs per hour was a little less than it had been when using the Tailwind. I think I got about 65 g/hour so I’d like to get that up a bit next time but I didn’t get nauseous and took gels up until the end of the race.

Shoes felt good- during that same training run I had some top of foot soreness from my laces. I changed my lacing technique and had no issues on race day. 

Mindset- I did a lot of work preparing for the race mentally and was able to use those strategies during the race. I focused on one mile at a time and shifted my goals when I knew my original goal was not going to happen. 

Pacing- Even though I didn’t run my goal pace I was able to run fairly consistently without drastically slowing down at the end. 

Recovery- I felt pretty good following the race and wasn’t even sore anymore by Tuesday. This was probably the least sore I’ve been after a marathon.

Strong training cycle- this year I feel like I’ve been clawing my way back to where I was a year ago after several illnesses last winter and spring. I had a great training cycle with @lauranorrisrunning and I know I’ve made more progress than my race time shows.

Marathons are a huge investment so I really tried to make the most of the experience!

@richmondmarathon #racerecap
Happy Medal Monday! I can’t believe the Richmond M Happy Medal Monday! I can’t believe the Richmond Marathon was only 2 days ago. I’m barely sore (probably because I was trained for a faster time than I ran) and am feeling good.

I included a list of my marathon times on the last slide here, which I posted in my stories yesterday. I got some messages about how others can relate to feeling like their times “reset” at a certain point- whether it was after an injury, having kids, or just time off from running.

I think we can get so caught up in PRs that it may take away from the overall progress made in the process of training. Sure, there are runners who come back from having kids and immediately set a new lifetime PR. But many of us will need to chip away at our times to get to where we want to be.

Focusing on progress and the gains made in a training cycle vs a specific race time can help to keep things in perspective!

Now, I’m trying to figure out spring racing plans. What’s everyone running this spring?

#medalmonday
What a day! This race (and really, this week) was What a day! This race (and really, this week) was a rollercoaster. I knew pretty early on that my legs and my lungs were not feeling my goal pace. Each time I sped up it felt really hard- way too hard to not even be at 10 miles yet. So I just focused on running the effort that my body would allow. I used all the mental strategies I had to get through each mile. Ultimately, I wanted to run faster than my marathon last November, which I did by almost 2 minutes, making this a postpartum PR. More importantly, I smiled almost the whole time.

After finishing we had to rush to get out of our hotel room and spent the whole afternoon driving home. Over the past 2 days I’ve spent almost 10 hours in the car.

More to come soon…just hoping to get home and get some rest soon!

#richmondmarathon
Follow on Instagram

Some of the links on my site are affiliate links. This means that I may receive a small compensation for clicks and/or purchases, but this will not cost you anything. Your support is greatly appreciated!

 

© Mile By Mile Blog, 2025. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Mile by Mile Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Mile by Mile Running · Copyright © 2025

Copyright © 2025 · Carpe Diem on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in