We are less than two weeks out from racing the Boston Marathon, but I still feel like there is a healthy chunk of time left because I haven’t started looking at the weather yet, I will start stalking the New England Doppler on Thursday. On three out of the four Boston marathons I have completed the weather conditions were cold, windy, and wet, and that might be my fate again, but since Boston and the entire East coast has been pummeled by harsh, white, icy, and frigid conditions for months, my gut is nudging me that the tides might turn by race day and the sun will be out in full force. Either way, whether hot or cold, the journey from Hopkinton to Boston will be long and tiring.

I am excited for all of it.

It will also be the seventieth occasion I have covered 26.2 miles in one go. Most were run as stand alone marathons, twenty were within iron-distance triathlons, and a handful or so were on a treadmill, during training, and/or birthday celebrations. And although I have written about most of them, while researching my writing history last week, I discovered that there are four marathons I have yet to document in scribe form, so while you’re here, let’s trot down Marathon Memory Lane.

Ray Miller 50K, 2015, wearing the Superman TJ Maxx find in Cleveland.

Marathon #39: The Northern Ohio Marathon, 2015.

I ran this race held in Cleveland, Ohio as a training run for the Ray Miller 50K that was held the following November. I found it on marathonguide.com, sorted out travel quickly, and before I knew it I was chatting with a guy on a connection from Phoenix who had just run the Rim to Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon, solo, stashing convenient store sourced plastic water bottles throughout the route, and was on his way home to Cleveland. His name was Felix.

The weather was dreary in Cleveland the Saturday before the race. It was a nagging chilliness I assumed would linger into Sunday (race day), therefore the “throwaway” long-sleeved morning shirt I bought at TJ Maxx was never stripped off my torso throughout the race, and remains one of why favorite running/“everything” shirts to this day.

Also, I met two runners during the race that I have remained in touch with for over ten years. First, I met Rob on the starting line, and then we chatted over the first 3-4 miles running together. I never saw him the rest of the race, or before I flew home on Sunday afternoon, he has become a trusted confidante over email, as well as a dedicated blog reader for years. About halfway through the race I met Laurel, a charging Master’s runner who has served as a role model as a proficient runner and cyclist that I have often reached out to for guidance during low times injuries and setbacks throughout the last decade.

The race did not have a photographer, or many port-a-potty’s on the back half of the course, (thank goodness for loyal bars open early for Sunday NFL football games), but the course did serve its purpose to test my mettle for the Ray Miller 50K, and more importantly proved that the common interest of marathon running often creates unique and enduring uncommon connections.

Marathon #64: Forty-Fourth Birthday Treadmill Celebration/Kona Ironman Training Weekend

I wonder why I didn’t write about this historical birthday training weekend? It turned out to be my finale “Smashfest” weekend of training before crash(s) and injuries took me out of the triathlon for 2024 and 2025.

Day One: 4,200 yard swim in the pool, followed by a 113.5 bike ride from the pool in Porter Ranch, CA to Malibu, (same route I rode for my DIY Iron(WO)Men event in 2020).

Day Two: Treadmill marathon on my birthday, i.e., ticking off the Ironman distance over two days just a handful of weeks before competing in Kona, HI for the World Championships. The run felt manageable but tough, and although I don’t remember the intricacies of the workout, I know it did its job by giving me a reason to celebrate my birthday, being pleased and proud to be able to run a marathon.

Moments after finishing my birthday LONG run in Vancouver last September.

Marathon #68: Running 4 Hours and 46 minutes around Vancouver to commemorate turning forty-six years old.

This marathon turned out to be another birthday bash by running 27-28 miles along my favorite routes I had been tromping along all of 2025 in Vancouver. I didn’t stop my watch at stoplights, which there are an abundance of in Vancouver, which slowed me down, but I kept a steady pace throughout the run, and was able to complete another marathon+ adventure on my birthday.

Marathon #69: The Victoria Marathon

This was the last race I ran in Canada, and the fourth and final marathon of 2025. I absolutely loved everything about it. The race was held in the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island, which meant I needed to take a ferry to from Vancouver, a stunning experience, and my first real exploration beyond Vancouver the entire stint I was there, but what made that ferry ride memorable was that it was the last time I spoke with someone near and dear to me for over a decade, but because our paths have diverted since, there may never be an occasion to speak ever again. Thankfully, it was a pleasant and upbeat conversation to go out on.

The city of Victoria has a charming European vibe, and the race course was equally beautiful as it was difficult, but I felt good and ran well nearly the entire race, except for a surprising leg disturbance just over half-way through, the rainy race served as a fantastic finish to my adventure in Canada.

I still have one more long run workout to complete before tapering down into travel week, and blasting off toward Boston to visit with family, good friends, and run Marathon #70.

I read Shaka Senghor’s second book this past week, How To Be Free, a book about facing and breaking free of our personal prisons. Senghor was incarcerated for twenty years, but he writes about he set himself free before the system did, because of journaling and self reflection done mostly during years of solitary confinement. After release, he published his first book, Writing My Wrongs, was featured on Oprah Winfrey’s Supersoul Sunday in 2016, and spent years in the “C” suite of a corporation. In essence, he has lived a lot of life, and shares keen insight and tips for everyone to break free in whatever type of walls encase their prison.