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Cascade Express marathon — wrapping up a painful and transformative Boston Beard 2024

September 16, 2024 by Brent

Cascade Express

This is one of the toughest race reports I’ve written. I ran the Cascade Express marathon on September 7, a race capping 12 solid weeks of training. The temperature at the starting line was far too warm. I struggle in races and general training in hot weather, so I struggled for most of the 26.2 […]

Filed Under: 2024 Boston Beard Tagged With: Boston, Boston 2025, Boston Marathon, Boston qualifier, BQ, Cascade Express, Cascade Express Marathon, fitness, goals, God, life, marathon, marathon training, motivation, race, run, runner, running, training

Boston Beard 2024 week 8 — when challenges come, how will I choose to show up?

August 12, 2024 by Brent

Marathon training is never perfect. It is never linear progress, and there are always difficult moments and bad weeks. For me, week eight of my buildup to September’s Boston qualifier attempt could have defeated me. The downward spiral started when I woke up Monday night coughing. So I didn’t make my track workout Tuesday morning. […]

Filed Under: 2024 Boston Beard Tagged With: Boston, Boston 2025, Boston Marathon, BQ, fitness, goals, life, marathon, marathon training, motivation, race, run, runner, running, training

2023 wrap-up — floating along for another year

December 30, 2023 by Brent

2023 wrap-up

Massive waves crashed into the beach as I ran along California Highway 101 this morning. With each step I thought back to 2016 and 2017 when I lived in southern California and ran those same miles daily. While running, I stared at the horizon and reminisced on how to write a 2023 wrap-up. I’ve floated […]

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: 2023, 2023 wrap-up, goals, growth, life, motivation, new year, personal, running

Looking back at 2020, a year of growth amid uncertainty

January 4, 2021 by Brent

2020

I snapped this picture at the start of summer. Red Rock Canyon’s scenic drive, along with my favorite trailheads, were closed down. It is a fitting 2020 image. Looking back at 2020 I scraped a layer of skin off the top of my right hand a few days before Christmas. It wasn’t a big deal, […]

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: 2020, 2020 review, 2021, life, marathon, motivation, new year, New Years, seize the day, training, year in review

Running in frigid cold, wind, and ice — no excuses and no complaints

January 13, 2018 by Brent

frigid cold

New Year’s resolutions are notoriously hard to keep. The gym crowd thinning by mid February has become a running joke (pun intended). I haven’t had many issues following my physical running resolutions in the past few years. But this year I added a goal that could be quite tough to reach. No complaining about the […]

Filed Under: Running Tagged With: cold, complain, complaint, frigid cold, life, New Year's resolution, Ohio, run, running, winter, winter running

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About me

Brent Shirley My name is Brent Shirley, and I'm a stay-at-home dad with experience writing and selling running shoes. Married to a surgeon (she's much smarter than me). Certified RRCA running coach and 11 time Boston Marathon qualifier (2015-25, although I missed the cut in 2015-16). 50 sub 4 finisher.

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