By 2015, I had completed 50 races – reflections, from back then, are here. Ten years and five months later — also, two kids, one global pandemic, and one conquered tenure track later — I have now completed 80.
My 80th race, the RDC Half Marathon, went great! I am not fast by the standards of where I was at the time of my 50th race — pre-kids, pre-pandemic, pre-tenure track. But I ran the half-marathon distance 8 minutes faster than last year. I ran it in the middle of grading, travel, kids’ illnesses, and crushing grant deadlines. And somehow, by some miracle, I even placed second in my age group. Apparently, at small races like this one, the 8 minutes I shaved off my time from 2024 to 2025 make the difference between being middle-of-the-pack and being in the top five in the age group. A pleasant surprise to be taking home this, very minor, award, which happens to be my first race award since 2020.
What a journey those last 30 races have been. The 55th was the Ironman. The 66th was the Triathlon Age Group Nationals. The 69th was my first triathlon in North Carolina, after I started my tenure-track position at Duke (I started my position in July 2018 and ran this race in September of that year). The 73rd–77th were virtual races (remember when all races were virtual?) The 74th was the one and only race I ran with a baby in a stroller: my son loved the stroller before learning to walk, but not after, and my daughter expressed no desire to be stroller-confined ever. The 79th was the first race I ran at my son’s school. I am thanking my lucky stars that I am still lining up at race starting lines. Someday I will not be able to do this. Today is not that day.