The 6 for 26.2 Inspiration Series – Bari

For me, inspiration comes from motivation and most of my day-to-day motivation comes from my amazing running community.  So, I thought I’d put on my interviewing hat and get to work asking some of my favorite runners the 6 questions I wanted answers to...and they answered.  I’m planning on running this series every Wednesday from now until June 4th or as long as I have people/posts for…so if you want to participate I would love all the inspiration I can get! (email me thehinzadventures @gmail.com)

I’m starting the series with Bari, we met online a couple years ago when we both realized we had a Michigan connection and soon became friends.  Then, right before I moved to London, I flew to Michigan to run in a relay race with her and we had a blast.  Bari has also struggled with foot injuries like me so she’s full of determination and that is a quality I admire!   Let’s get this party started…

Bari Fitzpatrick – I run. I eat. Sometimes I’m a triathlete but mostly I’m a runner.  I love to change my hair so I probably don’t look like my profile picture I parent now college-aged twins. I love a great craft beer and I’m trying to find my way back to my goal weight.  I’ve run 2 full marathons, 2 25ks and I think 16 half marathons.  I’m not fast (full PR 4:52, half PR 2:07) but I get the job done.  Bari blogs over at Live, Laugh, Run, Breathe.

1.  What do you think about for 26.2 miles?  I can barely come up with a playlist for that long..  
For my first marathon, I asked friends to “join” me for a mile.  I wrote all their names on my arm and during their mile, I would kind of meditate on how they had helped or inspired me.  I asked people to give me song ideas as well and when their song played it took my mind off things for awhile.  For my second marathon, it was really all about me and enjoying the experience and the hard work I’d put in to gunning for a PR.  The location was a place I’d never run (Detroit and into Canada) while my first was on roads and trials I’d trained on all the time.  The new scenery made a huge difference.

2.  How many miles do you run a week and what is you favorite running workout? (Tempo, Speed, Hill, Interval, Long) 
Since I’m just coming back from injury, I’ve only been running about 6 miles a week, but I was just released from PT so that’s about to change.  I’ve never been a high mileage girl, though, so even during my peak marathon weeks I probably ran less than 30 or 35 miles.  When I’m not really training, I like to hit about 10-12 miles a week.  As for my favorite running workout, I’d have to say I love to hate intervals.  Really pushing for 90 seconds to 1/2 a mile feels good because you know there’s a break coming when you’re done.

3.  Most people ask what your favorite race is but I’m interested in your worst race…what happened and how did come back from that experience?
This is a loaded question .  It all depends on what you are using to gauge that classification of “worst”.  Probably my worst half marathon experience was the 2014 Rock n Roll Chicago Half Marathon.  It was so stupidly hot and humid and I felt sick for pretty much the entire race.  I was also disappointed in the lack of bands and entertainment on the course,.  I’d won my entry to this one so at least I didn’t pay the enormous entry fee.  I said I’d never run another RnR event after that but I ended up going back in 2015 to run the 10k and I knew it would be miserable (July in Chicago just sucks) so I went in with a completely different mindset and just had fun with it.

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