About me

It sure is hard to find a running blog to which I can relate.  Are you like me, trying to become a better runner while navigating the rest of life?  My husband Dan and I are 30-somethings, on active duty in the army, and currently live in and love Kansas' first city, Leavenworth!  We are both busily developing our careers and pursuing hobbies (like running!) and enjoy the time we get to spend together and with our dog Nugget and our silly backyard chickens.  We love that the army enables us to live and serve all over the world.  

When not running (or fretting about not running), we ride road and mountain bikes, ski and snowboard, I bake (and Dan eats piles of) cookies, and we look forward to moving to snowier mountains one day.  I like citrus flavors, the color orange, and knitting/crochet.

I don't do Facebook - deactivating my personal account has eliminated unnecessary drama and negativity in life and much increased my time (for running or anything) and happiness.  
Please reach me instead at realworldrunner [at] gmail [dot] com.

I recently signed up for twitter, but don't do that anymore either.

My pictures are terrible, I doctor none of them, and I use my iPad, iPhone and Canon Rebel interchangeably.

Love, Mags (a real world runner herself)

My PRs (always a work in progress!):

• 5K: 22:45 (Ft Bliss Turkey Trot, El Paso, TX, 2012)
• 10K: 48:27 (Weston Wright 10K, San Antonio, TX 2013)
• 7.2M: 56:49 (High Noon Saloon Rudolph Red Nose, Leavenworth, KS, 2015)
• Half Marathon: 1:43:44 (Lucky 13.1, Peculiar, MO, 2016)
• Half Marathon: 1:49:25 (Mayor's Marathon, Anchorage, AK, 2005)
• Marathon: 3:52:22 (Adidas Auckland Marathon, Auckland, NZ, 2005)

Other races I love:

• Cleveland Marathon Cleveland, OH (2002)
• Gasparilla Distance Classic Marathon Tampa, FL (2010) sadly, they don't host the marathon distance anymore...
• San Antonio Marathon of the Americas San Antonio, TX (2002)...now part of the Rock-N-Roll series
• Salt Lake City Marathon SLC, UT (2013) 
• Transmountain Challenge Half Marathon El Paso, TX (2012, 2013)
• El Paso Marathon El Paso, TX
• Army 10-miler...despite qualifying I haven't been there yet
• Fort Bliss German - American Oktoberfest Night Run 8K El Paso, TX (2012) 
• Big Lake Triathlon Big Lake, AK (2005)
• Ft Leavenworth Turkey Trot 5K FLVN, KS (2014)
• High Noon Rudolph Red Nose 7.2 Leavenworth, KS (2014, 2015)
• Groundhog 10K KC, KS (2015)
• Mrs Robinson Romp (A TrailNerds Production) WYCO, KS (2015)
• Psycho Wyco (Trail Nerds) WYCO, KS (2016) 

Cycling events I love:

• Pancakes in Paradise San Antonio, TX (2011)
• Tour de Gruene Gruene, TX (2011)
• Fiesta Wildflower Ride San Antonio, TX (2011)
• Clarksville Rotary Metric (100 mi, other distances available) Clarksville, TN (2011)
• Savannah Century (100 mi, other distances available) Savannah, GA (2009)
• Oryx Challenge (62 mi, other distances available) El Paso, TX (2012)