The Running Thread - 2016

[CheapRunnerMike]

It's nice to see how many people here get to run with their spouses...it's a great way to spend time together!

@roxymama you need to let your hubby know that you peddle for show and run for dough!

 

[roxymama]

It's nice to see how many people here get to run with their spouses...it's a great way to spend time together!

@roxymama you need to let your hubby know that you peddle for show and run for dough!

HAHA, I will let him know that for sure!
He says going from biking to running is a weird sensation. His plan this spring is to bike to the indoor pool, swim, then bike back home, park the bike and then run until back home. The hardest part will be wanting to run after getting back home I think.

 

[rteetz]

QOTD: Do you prefer to run alone so you can set your own pace or with others? If running with others do they have to be of the same pace or do you mind slowing down for them? If your pace varies to much for the person running with you, how to you go about letting that person know?

I've only ever run with someone in a race once and that was my sister. In training I've always run alone. In the WDW 5K this year my sister and I stayed together the whole race and had a great time. I set the pace and she kept up, we stopped for characters and never walked. She never seemed to be falling behind of anything either. I think I'd probably prefer to train on my own so I can do my own pace. Now for a race I think that would depend. A Disney race I would like to run with others and I'm not really going for time. If I'm running for time I'm obviously going to prefer to run alone.

 

[hotblooded]

QOTD: Do you prefer to run alone so you can set your own pace or with others? If running with others do they have to be of the same pace or do you mind slowing down for them? If your pace varies to much for the person running with you, how to you go about letting that person know?

I've only ever run with people slower than me, solely because most of my friends don't run regularly. If someone comes along for a jog, it's like a social run date. I do most of my training runs alone, so it never bothers me to slow down for a run every once in a while. I love the companionship, and it makes me happy when my sister or my boyfriend show an interest in my hobbies.

I get so jealous when I see families running together at races! I'm 25, and my parents have passed away, and I don't plan on having kids, so it makes me feel terribly lonely.

 

[Miranda]

I get a little jealous of the couples/families at races, too. I often go to my races alone. SO doesn't run and we don't have kids, and while he's come to support me at some races, I know he gets bored waiting for me, so I don't make him go. I don't think he minded it at Tink... he got the ChEAR Squad package with the breakfast and the special seating areas, so he had plenty to do to keep him occupied with that and going back and forth from MK to the finish. But I know he gets bored at the local races where there's nothing much to do but wait.

 

[camaker]

QOTD: Do you prefer to run alone so you can set your own pace or with others? If running with others do they have to be of the same pace or do you mind slowing down for them? If your pace varies to much for the person running with you, how to you go about letting that person know?

Always alone. Just me and my audiobook.

 

[cavepig]

ATTQOTD - I prefer to run alone...but my whole family runs so sometimes I run with my mom if I want a slower run or have tried to run with my brother if I want to try to catch someone the whole time as he faster. I have a friend that I have run long runs with but the problem is I feel like I'm the rabbit the whole time helping her and I'm having to slow more than I would like and it's not benefiting me. It's nice to have someone out there on long runs to run with, but I just don't know if slowing down so much is good for me in the long run. I wish I could find someone in my pace that would help push me as well. It's a struggle though telling someone you don't want to run with them because they slow you down.

 

[michigandergirl]

ATTQOTD: My training runs I always run alone, mostly because I like it that way, but also because it's just too hard to coordinate otherwise being a busy mom of three. For races however, I have run every race over the past year with a dear friend of mine (she's the one who talked me into the Disney marathon). She is a little faster than me usually, but on race days we decide ahead of time if we are going to run together or go it alone and meet at the finish. We are always texting each other about running and we keep each other motivated.

Good luck to everyone with races this weekend! If you get a chance, please post pictures of your bling!

 

[gjramsey]

ATTQOTD: Most weekdays I am a lone wolf. We used to have speed workouts at a HS track, but the school district got angry with us for having organized workouts on school property. So now there might be a number of us a the track, but all doing our own thing.

On the weekend long runs, we tend to have a lot of different paces and distances going when we meet up, but usually always have someone to run with and will adjust pace accordingly. I will try to do one 18-20 miler by myself, since that is the way a race usually ends up.

 

[IamTrike]

Todays QOTD is brought to you by one of our fellow posters. Thanks for the idea and great question. Also, to anyone else that has a QOTD they would like to ask, just send me a PM and I will use it in the near future.

QOTD: Do you prefer to run alone so you can set your own pace or with others? If running with others do they have to be of the same pace or do you mind slowing down for them? If your pace varies to much for the person running with you, how to you go about letting that person know?

If time affords it I will usually choose to run with someone vs running alone. I'd prefer to do speed and tempo work with people but that very rarely lines up. I do most of my weekend long runs with friends. It helps that I have 4 close friends that are all usually training for similar distances that are similar paces.

To me this ties to your motivation question a while back. I definitely find that if I am struggling with motivation having a commitment to meet a friend is a great way to ensure that I get out and run.

 

[ZellyB]

QOTD: Do you prefer to run alone so you can set your own pace or with others? If running with others do they have to be of the same pace or do you mind slowing down for them? If your pace varies to much for the person running with you, how to you go about letting that person know?

ATTQOTD: I'm almost exclusively a group runner. Often that group consists of just me and my DH during the week although we have a couple of other friends who join us sporadically. Our long runs during training season are with our Galloway group. My DH and I joined this group back in 2012 when I first took up training for my first half and after two years, we became pace leaders for one of the groups. My DH runs at my pace for the most part and since we lead our pace group for Galloway, we obviously set that pace. When running with some others, I don't mind to slow down if need be, but we are already pretty slow, so it's rare we need to do that. I just ran the longest I've ever run as a solo run a couple of weekends ago (8 miles). It was strange for me and wouldn't be my normal preference, but it was actually nice to have that time alone in my head, so I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.

 

[PrincessV]

QOTD: For your runs, do you tend to run out the door or do you drive somewhere? When you do drive, what motivates you to do that? Is it terrain?... a change??? meet people??... So what's your story?

ATTQOTD: Generally, out the door: it's about a 1/2 mile to leave my immediate neighborhood, and then I have tons of options to cobble together for whatever distance I need - nature preserves, parks, shaded residential streets, beaches, dirt/gravel trails, golf course car paths. I will drive to a bridge to do hill repeats, since I have no actual hills, and in summer I'll drive to a shaded park to run after work because the route to the park from home is in full sun.

You want the people that you love to get moving, but in a way that they will come to look forward to like we do running. The key is to get them looking for something like that, not to push them into something that we like. Biking, swimming, yoga, weight lifting - so many options out there. They all work.

So true! I love the idea of getting my son to run with me, but we've tried and he's just not into running. Ironically, HE's the one who got me started on running Disney lol!

He said he heat was brutal and over 50 runners dropped out from the 160 person mens field. He finished 65th and was happy just to finish because of the conditions.

This just blew my mind... because those conditions are my winter, lol! Shoot, I was running in heat indexes over 100 most of summer. Of course, I'm also running 2-3 times slower than the pros...

QOTD: Do you prefer to run alone so you can set your own pace or with others? If running with others do they have to be of the same pace or do you mind slowing down for them? If your pace varies to much for the person running with you, how to you go about letting that person know?
ATTQOTD: Training or racing for time - alone. "Racing" for fun - with my BRFs. When running with others, I have a firm policy of "race your pace"; if our pace happens to be about the same for part or all of a race, great! But any party is free to take off or hang back as needed to feel comfortable. I like to have that conversation before we make the decision to run together, so everyone is on the same page and can do what they need to do without hurt feelings.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Something that surprised me during the Olympic Trial Qualifying was that during the telecast they stated ~50 of the 168 males running were making their marathon debut (haven't been able to verify this statement since). I get that you can qualify via half-marathon standards (and many men did) but that seemed crazy to me that around 30% of the male field had never even run a marathon before.

As for the QOTD, I'm a solo runner. I'm awfully specific about my workouts and paces and would imagine unless someone is training for the same race/paces I would not be a joy to run with. However, when it comes to races I would always prefer to have some people around me to use them as competitive motivation.

 

[FFigawi]

QOTD: Do you prefer to run alone so you can set your own pace or with others? If running with others do they have to be of the same pace or do you mind slowing down for them? If your pace varies to much for the person running with you, how to you go about letting that person know?

Right now, I do all of my runs by myself because no one else in our little expat group wants to run the parking lot with me. That said, I like running with other people for the social aspects as well as the training ones. It's nice to have someone pace you when you're not feeling it, and it's just as nice to be able to do that for someone else. Plus, the conversations and the stories make the miles hurt less.

 

[rteetz]

Something that surprised me during the Olympic Trial Qualifying was that during the telecast they stated ~50 of the 168 males running were making their marathon debut (haven't been able to verify this statement since). I get that you can qualify via half-marathon standards (and many men did) but that seemed crazy to me that around 30% of the male field had never even run a marathon before

I agree. The winner Galen Rupp though that was his first marathon. My teacher qualified with 2:17:38 at Chicago so this was his second marathon.

 

[alexce]

ATTQOTD: I run alone, although the hubs comes out with me most of the time. He walks at a good clip, and we meet back at certain points or times. Even when we are in the same race, we split up. At the SW 5k recently, I stayed in my corral rather than move. Felt weird to leave him in the crowd, but I can't walk at his speed (shorter legs) and he can't run at mine (hates running).

I like running more than other activities because it is just me. I struggle in races sometimes with all the distractions.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

QOTD: Do you prefer to run alone so you can set your own pace or with others? If running with others do they have to be of the same pace or do you mind slowing down for them? If your pace varies to much for the person running with you, how to you go about letting that person know?

I run alone 99.9% of the time- I've run only one half with a partner and we stayed together (I think I slowed her down a bit the last few miles since running downhill for 7 miles hit me harder than expected since I couldn't train that well since Florida is well flat) we will be running dark side together and I'm determined to keep up

For the 5ks I run with others I take it at their pace because a) they are untimed so who cares b) the Only reason I signed up was to do it with them..

 

[derekleigh]

Todays QOTD is brought to you by one of our fellow posters. Thanks for the idea and great question. Also, to anyone else that has a QOTD they would like to ask, just send me a PM and I will use it in the near future.

QOTD: Do you prefer to run alone so you can set your own pace or with others? If running with others do they have to be of the same pace or do you mind slowing down for them? If your pace varies to much for the person running with you, how to you go about letting that person know?

I'm a lone wolf runner, unless you count my dog Finley, whom is ALWAYS ready for a run. But my training runs are a chance for "me time" but also focus on what particular method of running I'll be doing (tempo, fartlek, etc). Another reason is usually my runs take place at 4:30 in the morning and not too many other runners are up at that time.

 

[SunDial]

This week we have the following folks running a race or races! @Keels @Disneyland_emily @Anisum @DVCFan1994 @Miranda and @SunDial . How is race weekend looking for yall? Training has gone well? Any adjustments you would like me to make to your goal time for the weekend? Good luck to each of you and safe travels as you head out. I look forward to reading about yalls experience.

A lot of great questions and answers for the past week. Been busy. There are no expectations for this weekend other than to have a great time running the GSC with my daughter who wanted to do it. I am themed as Ariel and my daughter (29) will be themed as King Triton. To share my costume with y'all



So you see this is all about having a great father/daughter weekend.

 

[IamTrike]

A lot of great questions and answers for the past week. Been busy. There are no expectations for this weekend other than to have a great time running the GSC with my daughter who wanted to do it. I am themed as Ariel and my daughter (29) will be themed as King Triton. To share my costume with y'all



So you see this is all about having a great father/daughter weekend.

Have a great run. Looks like you are in for a really fun weekend. I'm sure you are going to get lots of good comments.

Something that surprised me during the Olympic Trial Qualifying was that during the telecast they stated ~50 of the 168 males running were making their marathon debut (haven't been able to verify this statement since). I get that you can qualify via half-marathon standards (and many men did) but that seemed crazy to me that around 30% of the male field had never even run a marathon before.

As for the QOTD, I'm a solo runner. I'm awfully specific about my workouts and paces and would imagine unless someone is training for the same race/paces I would not be a joy to run with. However, when it comes to races I would always prefer to have some people around me to use them as competitive motivation.

From what I've heard from people that were trying to qualify, a lot of people choose the half marathon option to qualify. There is a shorter recovery period if you miss the time cut-off and have to race again to try and make it. I could see a lot of people, particularly those who are just focused on qualifying to run at the Olympic trials only focusing on half marathons.