I love planners. This may be one of the dorkier things I confess to, but there is something satisfying about getting a brand new planner, flipping through the upcoming year and marking important dates – birthdays, anniversaries and races.

Week 11 has come to an end, with a happy 30 miles completed. My boyfriend and I were planning on going to Cuyahoga Valley National Park today, but a serious case of allergies for him resulted in a decision to postpone CVNP in favor of a weekend at home.

And even without his allergies, it was 90 degrees. I’d rather go up there once the trees are turning and take in autumn instead of sweat all over myself and gripe about the humidity killing my ponytail.

So here I am. After training for over two months, the fall races are coming up and I’m getting excited.

As much as I love winter training and spring races, fall is definitely my happy running season. I can already feel sunshine on my face at Run Like A Girl and see the gorgeous colors at Fort Harrison State Park.

The banners for the Columbus Marathon have gone up on High Street downtown, and a few weeks ago I started watching YouTube videos about the Patient Champions. I believe the video is from 2018’s race, with a clip of the father of one of the Patient Champion’s talking.

24 of the 26 miles are dedicated to their individual Patient Champion, and the kids get to pick their own theme. In the 2018 clip, the father was in a Captain America costume – his son’s mile theme was Avengers/superhero – talking about what it meant to him to see runners and spectators high-fiving and speaking loving encouragement to his son. The father was crying, which wound up making me cry.

The combination of kids and crowd support in Columbus gets to me too. Of all the races, Columbus is definitely the most emotional.

The Indy Monumental Marathon is a fun reason for my mom and I to road trip out to Indy. The race itself is phenomenal and I can’t wait for the Mile 12.5 beer mile, as well as running through the gardens at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. But the city itself is absolutely breathtaking, from Monument Circle to the Indiana Central Canal and our favorite Old Spaghetti Warehouse location.

Finally my fall racing season wraps up with the Hot Chocolate 15k. So far it’s been cold, with plenty of chocolate at the finish line and maybe one of my favorite medal series yet.

So that’s where I’m at. Longer training runs are slowing down and my inner hype woman is gearing up. It’s almost time. Let’s roll!

Happy Running!

– Allison

P.S This morning I decided to take a walk at Hoover Reservoir. These are my favorite pictures.