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tara | running ‘n’ reading

@runningnreading

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🏃🏻‍♀️ always a runner
📚 reader~book pusher
📖 The Romance Revival
🎧 The Final Target

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🗽 Less than ONE MONTH until New York! 🗽

Before I get too caught up in the excitement of race day, I want to take a moment to say THANK YOU. ❤️

This year has looked a little different for me. I didn’t have the capacity to go all-out with fundraising like I have in the past, and honestly, I wasn’t sure what this campaign was going to look like.

But you all showed up.

Because of your generosity, I’ve raised $5,334 for the American Cancer Society — surpassing my $5,000 goal and officially putting me on my way to New York!

Don’t see your name? I’d love to chase a few stretch goals before my cutoff on Monday:

🏃 26 MILE SPONSORS
A $20 donation sponsors a mile of my NYC Marathon. I’m just a few sponsors away from having all 26.2 miles covered!

🥈 2ND BIGGEST FUNDRAISING YEAR
Just $200 more would make this my second-biggest fundraising year ever — with ONE race instead of the seven races that made up last year’s total.

🏆 BIGGEST FUNDRAISING YEAR EVER
Last year’s record was $6,397. I’m currently at $5,334, so $1,063 more would make this my biggest fundraising year ever.

These are completely optional stretch goals — especially if you’ve already donated. ❤️ You’ve already done more than enough, and I am incredibly grateful.

But if you’ve been meaning to donate, haven’t gotten around to it, or just want to help me chase one more milestone before I hit the streets of New York…

There’s still time.

You can support my American Cancer Society fundraiser through the link in my bio. 🔗

And if there’s someone you’d like me to carry with me, I’m still collecting names for my “In Memory” and “In Honor” sections. Send me their name and I’ll make sure they’re part of this journey.

Less than a month. 26.2 miles. One incredible cause. ❤️🗽

Thank you for helping me get here. Now let’s see what we can do before the starting line.

#AmericanCancerSociety #NYCMarathon #DetermiNation #TeamACS

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When Run Club has a Boston theme…

#weready #runclub #running #bostonmarathon

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💙🤍❤️ @fleetfeetlittlerock Firecracker Fast 5K was fast indeed. 16:48 lifetime best for 🥈 overall. The women’s field was incredibly quick today!

I woke up this morning and just decided that today would be a day to throw all the eggs against the wall and see what breaks. I’ve been asking myself “why not me?” so I went out aggressively and tried not to feel too crazy.

Forever grateful for my community and for a fully fueled and healthy body! #RunResponsibly

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#MedalMonday for the SoMa Mile
5:54 2nd AG, 69th OA

This race started like many others.

Thursday evening, I was helping at @fleetfeetlittlerock packet pickup and making plans for race morning with @jennyrwilkes & @stephhappypace.

Then Friday happened.

As I hit the afternoon slump, my mom called. I let it go to voicemail, figuring I’d call her back on my drive downtown. Seconds later, a text came through telling me to answer my phone. When I called back, she told me she had been in a wreck—and from the background noise, she was still at the scene.

I grabbed my things and headed to Conway. For the first time in 81 consecutive races, I genuinely didn’t know if I’d make it to the starting line. And honestly, I didn’t care. There were more important things.

Thankfully, what could have been catastrophic ended with scratches, bruises, and a few unanswered questions. Most importantly, my mom and grandmother were okay.

After getting everyone home and settled, my mom looked at me and said, “Go run.”

So I did.

I made it back to Little Rock just in time to miss my assigned heat and get moved into the Elite race. Which is funny, because I am very aware that I am not elite.

The entire evening felt surreal. My legs were there, but my mind was somewhere else. Everything felt heavy.
Then the gun went off. Within a block, I was dead last.
And for once, that didn’t matter.

As I approached the finish, I could hear @claire__tiff, so I pulled off my headphones to be able to hear—the crowd, the encouragement, the community.

I finished dead last by a lot. I also finished just two seconds off my PR.
But what I’ll remember isn’t the time.

It’s the hugs afterward. The people who checked on me. The encouragement. The reminders that running is about so much more than results. And @lennon_nicole joking she recognize my finish line trademark: barf.

This race wasn’t about chasing a PR. It was about gratitude.

Gratitude that my mom and grandmother are still here. Gratitude for the opportunity to run. And gratitude for a community that shows up for each other when it matters most.

Sometimes crossing the finish line is enough.
This was one of those times.

Race 82 complete.

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I’m so grateful to everyone who has donated so far! I hit my first fundraising goal-and now just trying to get all my miles sponsored. @grandmasmarathon is in 2 weeks-do you think we can get every mile covered?

Link is in my bio!

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A BETTER MAN | Inspector Gamache, #15

Vivienne is pregnant...but she’s gone missing. Where did she disappear to? Did she run away from her abusive husband or did he possibly kill her? In the midst of trying to find Vivienne, Quebec is flooding. Gamache, Jean-Guy, and Isabelle are trying to manage an environmental crisis while also trying to find a missing person.

Alright...after committing to reading 15 books in this series, it’s safe to say that I like this author, the characters, and the books. But I have also noticed with the last 2 books, I’m beginning to feel weary picking these up. There could be a couple reasons for this...and I’m hoping the most likely issue is that I’m trying to get through them too fast. I think I need a little space and time before I venture to pick up book #16.

Gamache and Bouvier are characters that I’ve come to love, but I do feel like the story is stalling out. Every book has a central mystery to solve, but the majority of the book feels like it’s focused on the higher ups being upset and disappointed with Gamache. The story just isn’t moving forward from that point, and while I will force myself to finish this series if necessary, I’m sincerely hoping the next book propels us forward!

Penny does a great job of giving us a new mystery to work through, and I appreciate how she continues to introduce fresh material. But the series shines with these characters we’ve come to love and I would just really like to get back to some of the things she did early on that made this series so great. // 32

As always, love reading through this series with @runningnreading! 🩷

#hwrreads2025 #abetterman #louisepenny #minotaurbooks #journeytothreepines 🌲🌲🌲

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6 Degrees of Separation

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a #6degreesofseparation post. I used to do them in my blogging days and I always found them to be so fun. Here’s how it works: #booksaremyfavouriteandbest hosts this challenge, so every month, she chooses the starting book. Everyone starts with the same book but creates their own chain - so everyone’s chain looks different - and that’s what makes it so fun!

1️⃣ This month we started with ORBITAL. Orbital was the 2024 Booker Prize Winner. This year, Sarah Jessica Parker is joining the judges to determine who wins the 2025 Booker Prize Winner.

2️⃣ Sarah Jessica Parker published GOLDEN CHILD under her own imprint, SJP for Hogarth. Golden Child is set in Trinidad and the main characters are twin brothers.

3️⃣ Another book that has brothers as main characters is CUTTING FOR STONE by Abraham Verghese.

4️⃣ Abraham Verghese also wrote THE COVENANT OF WATER, an Oprah’s Book Club book which I loved. It’s a multigenerational story set in India.

5️⃣ Another multigenerational story that is on my all-time favorites list is HOMEGOING. It’s a book I hope to reread in 2025.

6️⃣ THE IMMORTALISTS is another book that I read years ago when it was first published. I loved it so much it’s also on my Reread in 2025 list!

Now that you got the hang of it, I’d love to see some of your chains. I tagged some of you who I thought might be up for this challenge…can’t wait to see what you come up with!

#bookchain #bookchallenge #bookishlists

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Hi 👋🏻 here’s what I did today:

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@ervv92 and I are excited for another round of fun as the fall racing season kicks off. To all our athletes, YOU GOT THIS. 👊🏻👊🏽
To anybody looking ahead at winter or spring seasons, WE GOT YOU! 👊🏻👊🏽 If you’re curious about what it looks like to be part of our team, hit the link in the bio or shoot us a DM!

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What happens when you take a lifelong runner and focus their work towards what will most help them reach their goals?

You get @runningnreading rocking out and crushing not just her goal marathon, but several races along the way.

Tara BQ'd in 2018 but not by enough time to get into Boston, she kept working at it but got frustrated and derailed due to various factors. She started working with us this past April and we took a different approach.

We took the fact that she was doing lots of aerobic work between her running history and work in triathlons and said, what's missing is some speed right now. Enter us completing ignoring that she was eying marathon goals for the first 5 months and instead focused on speed speed speed and then in the last 2 months or so we got more marathon specific.

At the same time we were working to get her training aligned to her goals, she was working with one of our favorite Sports Dietitians (shout out @featherstonenutrition group programs) and was also working really hard on understanding how to support her training and racing goals.

How'd it all work out for her these past few months?

Well, she hit 5k PRs, and then 1.5 months later she hit a half-marathon PR (during a workout), and then finally this past weekend she hit almost a 7 minute marathon PR to give her a 9 minute BQ.

No worries, she still thinks "marathons are hard".

Tara, the epitome of train smarter not harder.

Congrats on all the great things you've accomplished this season! Rest, relax, put your feet up!

#runningcommunity #runnersofinstagram #running #runner #run #marathontraining #marathoner #BQ #bostonmarathon #runningmotivation #runninginspiration #mastersrunner

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@runningnreading hasn't raced a marathon in two years, and it's been 4 years since she's felt like she's nailed one. So, important to this marathon build for us has been ways to build her confidence and help her feel like her goals are within her capabilities.

So why not have ourselves a day this past weekend?

Tara ran her first half-marathon in as many years and the goal was practice what we could for marathon day. The results?

✅ A monster marathon effort workout with a cut down at the end.

✅The best fueling and hydration she's executed on a race

✅And oh, a 6 min half PR, feeling like she was holding back. NBD.

We still have work to do before we give the marathon a go, but man, am I proud of the work Tara's put in so far.

That work was focusing on speed through a hot and grueling Arkansas summer.

That work has been working hard on her nutrition and fueling.

That work has been pounding the pavement day in and day out.

That work has been in her head on how she mentally approaches races and big days.

So proud of what you've done already Tara! Can't wait to see where we go from here!

#running #run #runner #marathontraining #marathoner #marathons #halfmarathon #PR #capableofmore #runnersofinstagram #runningcommunity #runningmotivation #runinspiration

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Book club tonight to talk all things Finlay.

IG would only let me tag 20 people but there were way more fans of Elle Cosimano’s books on our zoom meet tonight.

📕 #1 Finlay Donovan is Killing It

📕 #2 Finlay Donovan Knocks Em Dead

We are so excited for Book #3!

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