Bethany Marcel

I ran a marathon. 26.2 miles. 💪 After years of running half marathons, I finally felt ready and I’m so happy with how it went. I felt strong and steady, never hit the wall, and enjoyed the whole experience. The spectators were awesome, and I’ve never felt such camaraderie with other runners. So many high fives and cheers. Shout out to the woman runner who yelled out “You look so strong!” to me, and also the woman who made a heart with her hands and pointed at me 😆🥰 Made my day. The @newportoregonmarathon is incredible. Great course, organization, and people. 10/10 first marathon experience. ⁣ ⁣ My plan was to stay conservative with my pace, steady, and nail the last tough 6 miles. I did it. My last three mile splits were all 9:56. I remember racing 5Ks in high school, and the negative self talk I had back then, feeling like I was weak, wanted to give up. But I’m 39 now, I’ve been through a lot, and I’m tough. After running 23 miles, I hit the last 3.2 miles and I told myself, “It’s just a 5K. You can do a 5K any day of the week. Let’s go!” And I did. You can see in the video I’m tired, my form is a bit crazy, but I’m strong at the finish. I finished in 4:28:36. I’m happy with it and also know there’s room to improve. ⁣ ⁣ Thank you to all my friends and family who supported me, especially my incredible parents, my sister @foxcoxbox , my brother @evanandrewcox , and my best friend @miss_ryus . You know you’re loved when you receive texts BEFORE the race already saying how proud they are of you. Thank you to my marathon runner friends who gave me stellar training advice and helped me along the way. It meant so much. ⁣ The biggest thank you to my husband for handling all the race logistics, childcare, and generally being so supportive and incredible. The real marathon is the 4 months of intense training. The 20-mile long runs on a random rainy Saturday. He supported me through it all. ⁣ ⁣ A separate post coming about my daughter. ⁣ ⁣ I’m so happy. And so so so sore.⁣

A dream come true. I’m thrilled, honored, and still stunned that my short story “Animal Moments” is featured in the November issue of The Sun. I’ve been reading @thesunmagazine since college, long before I ever believed I’d really become a writer (swipe to the last slide to see just a few of the issues I’ve collected over the years). Now here we are, almost fifteen years later, and with a lot of hard work and rejection along the way. Huge thank you to everyone @thesunmagazine for making this dream come true. And thank you to @vermontstudiocenter , where I wrote the first draft of this story in early 2020. Please read and share 🙏 Pick up a copy of The Sun if you can! Link in my bio to the online version of my story

Bethany Marcel reads her Pushcart-nominated piece titled “Your Mother Imagines You Dead.” Follow her on Instagram @bethramarcel and find her online at /. #fracturedlit #flashfiction #microfiction #writingcommunity #amwriting writinginspiration amreading reading writers writing amwriting amwritingfiction writingcommunity writersofinstagram writersofig write writerslife shortstories

vacation photo dump, part 2 🌴 ☀️ 🐠

vacation photo dump, part 1 🌴 ☀️ 🐠

Thank you to everyone who came and ran with me for my first run of my 40s 🙌 My original plan to celebrate turning 40 was to run the Eugene Marathon this weekend, but then I got injured (because I am old 😜). So when the wonderful @melerdmann told our group about this run that happened to fall on my birthday I knew I wanted to do it! Thank you @melerdmann for making me feel so fancy, @jillsbrewster for the yummy cupcakes, and the rest of my friends for always being so awesome. Thank you to my friend Jenna and my husband for watching the kiddos while we ran. And a huge thank you to @keldonlou for helping me rehab, so that I can run pain free again, making the process so fun, and even coming out to celebrate! Thank you @foottrafficpnw for hosting the run, helping us make cool Strava art, and somehow managing the absolutely insane crowds. Now as many of you know, today is my daughter’s birthday, so now it’s time for me to go make bday magic happen for an 8 year old…

I’m 40! 🎉 I’m feeling very loved already. Thank you for being part of my life. ♥️

Vegas, but the version where you’re still in bed by about 9 pm every night ☀️🍹Thanks to my fam for treating me to some early birthday karaoke and more🎤

Read full story “When my daughter was younger it was hard. I read less. I went on walks or runs with her in the stroller and an audio book on. When I sat down and cracked open a book, it was for 10 minutes at a time or less. Now that she’s older, she’s reading for fun. At first, reading was a chore, but now she loves it. In the evening, when I say good night and she has a book in her hands, it’s just so cute. It’s adorable. We recently completed a reading challenge, where we read in every room in our house. I mean every room— the living room, the little closet, the garage. She picked the room, and then marked it off the chart. It was exciting to read in different spaces. And, it gave me time to read, and her time to read, too. It was good bonding for us.” Follow along for more stories from people I meet @people_read_books and subscribe to my Substack, link 🔗 in bio. 🗣️ @bethramarcel ✍️ @by_katiegarcia

This one is for the writers. 💕 If you’re not a writer, you may not totally get this one. Although maybe it’s also for anyone who has chased success as a way to search for love. I don’t know. I appreciate all the messages I’ve gotten about this one already. The newsletter is so new it can be hard to know what’s resonating, so it means a lot to hear from you. ⁣ ⁣ And thank you to @the_shit_about_writing for all their wisdom (and for connecting me with my incredible writing group through their beta reader match up). 💕 ⁣ ⁣ Link in bio! #writinginspiration #writingtips #writingcommunity #writersfollowwriters #writerscommunity #queryinglitagents #queryingauthors

Just a moment with the 🐈 and ☀️

I wrote about shame, starting a new thing, and more for my new Substack. Read, subscribe, throw tomatoes at it, etc. Link in bio ⁣ ⁣ #writinginspiration #writingtips #writingcommunity #writersfollowwriters #writerscommunity