The Running Thread - 2018

[xjillianpaige]

So I never put the race I ran today on the calendar, but I ran my non-profit's 5k fundraiser today and my pace was...

10:43 for a finish time of 33:47 and I am sooooooo happy! I was anticipating a 37:00 race at an 11-12 minute pace and this is SO much better! Stoked!

And I know I owe a race report from the half a few weeks ago... I'm... working on it??

 

[TCB in FLA]

I had a weird experience on my run today.

Context to explain why it was weird: I am a middle-aged small white woman. I am fortunate to live in an area with a good network of paved multi-use trails within a very close distance. It is a very friendly area. Usually everyone you pass going the other direction - runners, walkers, and even some cyclists - will smile or wave or say "hi" or comment about the weather.

I had a 7EB run today before lunch. My EB pace is not very fast. I rarely pass runners going in the same direction as me. When runners pass in the same direction, usually we also wave or say "hi" going by.

There was another middle-aged small white female runner that I was slowly but surely catching up to several miles into my run. As I approached her, I thought she looked like she was struggling: her gait seemed a bit off, like she was trying not to limp. She wasn't keeping a very steady pace. I was considering whether I would ask her if she was OK when I passed her.

I got up beside her, and she suddenly took off like I had bitten her! She was definitely having issues, as she sort of hopped and skipped in her surge, definitely trying to not impact the ground in certain ways. I think my jaw may have literally dropped at how she clearly did this because I was passing her.

She got a little ahead of me and slowed back down, and sure enough, my steady pace meant that shortly I caught up to her again. Again, when I got along side, she took off. I called out, loudly because she had headphones, "You know, this is not a race!" It was just so weird and kind of rude. Also, it made me tense to think that we would be doing this over and over again for who knows how long.

Well, we were just about a tenth of a mile or so from a traffic light, where we both got stopped. I caught up to her and stayed out of arm's length and said, "You know, I didn't mean anything by passing you. I am just trying to keep a steady pace." I know she knew I was talking to her, but she wouldn't look at me or acknowledge in any way that I was there. This whole thing is totally out of character for this area.

When we got the walk signal, she took off again - fortunately for long enough to get enough ahead of me that I didn't catch up to her for another mile, where it was apparently her turn-around point. I gave her a wide berth passing her as she turned around, and again she wouldn't even look at me. So strange!

I have a lot of experience advising college students, and I know that there's usually more going on "behind the scenes" than meets the eye, but I am having a hard time explaining this runner's behavior. Every time I passed someone else going the other way who waved, it just reinforced how strange it was. Anyway, I will eventually shrug it off, but it just left me with such a weird feeling. Kind of ruined my run because I felt like I was projecting some kind of axe-murderer vibe or something.

So that’s just odd. I’ve been on runs where I’m constantly passed/get passed by someone since we are doing the same average pace but I’m run/walking while they are straight running, but there’s still an initial acknowledgement. Sorry that she ruined the vibe of your run.

But your running trail area sounds awesome!

 

[DIS-OH]

Hello, Running Friends!

I’ve been absent from this thread for a bit...started a new job in August and it’s kept me busy. I’m enjoying the job and learning a lot! If you have questions about students who are homeless, in foster care, incarcerated or preschoolers with suspected disabilities, I can answer them! I also handle the School District’s PR and social media. We ran a Bond Issue to build new schools and it passed on Election Day! We will, finally, be able to replace our 100+ year old elementary schools!

This Fall, I also judged six local HS Marching Band competitions and judged the State Marching Band Finals.

Back to running regularly and getting ready for the Half during Marathon Weekend.

Looking forward to hanging out on this thread more, too!

 

[SarahDisney]

Hello, Running Friends!

I’ve been absent from this thread for a bit...started a new job in August and it’s kept me busy. I’m enjoying the job and learning a lot! If you have questions about students who are homeless, in foster care, incarcerated or preschoolers with suspected disabilities, I can answer them! I also handle the School District’s PR and social media. We ran a Bond Issue to build new schools and it passed on Election Day! We will, finally, be able to replace our 100+ year old elementary schools!

This Fall, I also judged six local HS Marching Band competitions and judged the State Marching Band Finals.

Back to running regularly and getting ready for the Half during Marathon Weekend.

Looking forward to hanging out on this thread more, too!

Excuse me while I go take a nap because I'm exhausted from reading about how busy you are.
Glad to see you back here!

 

[jennamfeo]

My full re-cap from the Rock N Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon is here: #StripAtNight

But the short of it was: I hated it, I loved it, night races are hard, don't eat a huge bowl of Mac N Cheese before a race, bless people that hand out free booze during a race, and tonight is the last night to register for next year's race at $99! Come run it with me in 2019!!!!

@LSUlakes - my official time was 2:26:09 and yes I had a beer!

 

[jennamfeo]

Full recap of my Turkey Trot 5k from yesterday is here: Gobble!

Highlights: Bay finished her first 5k and we all took 2nd place in our age groups!!



@LSUlakes - finished in 26:26 which was a course PR for me!

 

[camaker]

Holly Springs Half Marathon Race Report

The Holly Springs Half Marathon is my little town’s local race. It’s put on by the local running club here and while the course is not my favorite, the proximity can’t be beat. It passes within a quarter mile of my house. I didn’t decide to run this race until last weekend, opting to evaluate my Chicago and Tuna Run recovery prior to committing.

Race morning dawned very chilly at 33-34 degrees, but here proximity and the small size of the race was of great benefit. I left the house at 6:20 and was parked at the start before 6:30. The start was at 7:15, so I stayed in the warm car until 7:05 when I headed to the heated bathrooms next to the start line. There was no line and I was in and out and in place towards the back of the start chute at 7:10.

My plan was to run the race at a long run training pace since it’s only 3 weeks until my next goal race. That translated to a target of ~10min/mile and a finish around 2:10. The course itself is hilly, ranging from rolling hills to a couple of brutal dirt/mulch track climbs, making consistent pacing a challenge, so I settled into an early pace that felt right that had me averaging ~9:45 min/mile.

The early section of the course ran through a combination of neighborhoods, greenways and parks. The greenways were narrow with significant right to left sloping in spots. In addition, there were a couple of wood plank bridges that had frosted over in the cold overnight temperatures. They had been half-heartedly sprinkled with dirt for traction in limited places and one of them was on an upslope making it hard to keep traction. I heard after the race that there were a number of spills on it.

The midsection featured a transition from pavement to mulch and dirt trails. The course had to be re-routed away from the greenway section I lost my shoes checking out last weekend, as ~4” of rain during the week had flooded portions of it. Also due to the rain, the mulch was very soft and gave even less energy return than normal. I navigated the hills without losing too much time and was cruising down the back half of the course slightly ahead of schedule.

As I hit the 12 mile marker, I started out a mini out and back section and saw a Tuna Run teammate inbound about two tenths of a mile ahead of me. I’m usually only competitive with myself in these races, but for some reason I didn’t want to finish behind him, so I decided to see if I had enough in the tank to catch him and turned up the pace. I caught him and blew past with more than a quarter mile left. Keeping the pedal to the floor (think Prius power, not V8 power) I rocked out an 8:15 final mile, crossing the finish line just over 2:04.

All in all, a fun little race, but not a “must do” by any stretch of the imagination. Thanks to anyone who read this far!

TL;DR, @LSUlakes , please update my race listing with a result of 2:04:14.

 

[KevM]

Well, my first marathon is in the books!

I completed it, but came no where close to my goal. It ended up taking me 5:58:15 because my right leg, from my toes up to my knee, started hurting around mile 15 and I decided that discretion is the better part of valor.

I did like the course of the Philadelphia Marathon. The weather was pretty nice, it was 34 degrees when the race started and was 44 degrees when I finished.

I’ll need to decide if I want to do another marathon. I’m thinking it’s possible that my leg isn’t in condition for acrually running a marathon. I like half marathons a lot, so it might be the smarter move to just focus on those.

 

[SheHulk]

View attachment 366064 Well, my first marathon is in the books!

I completed it, but came no where close to my goal. It ended up taking me 5:58:15 because my right leg, from my toes up to my knee, started hurting around mile 15 and I decided that discretion is the better part of valor.

I did like the course of the Philadelphia Marathon. The weather was pretty nice, it was 34 degrees when the race started and was 44 degrees when I finished.

I’ll need to decide if I want to do another marathon. I’m thinking it’s possible that my leg isn’t in condition for acrually running a marathon. I like half marathons a lot, so it might be the smarter move to just focus on those.

Love the medal! Congratulations!

 

[michigandergirl]

View attachment 366064 Well, my first marathon is in the books!

I completed it, but came no where close to my goal. It ended up taking me 5:58:15 because my right leg, from my toes up to my knee, started hurting around mile 15 and I decided that discretion is the better part of valor.

I did like the course of the Philadelphia Marathon. The weather was pretty nice, it was 34 degrees when the race started and was 44 degrees when I finished.

I’ll need to decide if I want to do another marathon. I’m thinking it’s possible that my leg isn’t in condition for acrually running a marathon. I like half marathons a lot, so it might be the smarter move to just focus on those.

Congrats marathoner!!! That is an awesome medal.

 

[IamTrike]

These reasons make sense to me. Since we're full of unsolicited advice today, I make the following suggestion:

When you have a negative thought, either mentally or on line, add a 'but'. Ideally the 'but' should include an course of action to remedy the negative thought.

Examples: I thought about not even starting the marathon, BUT I realized how much fun I would miss out on, so I'm not going to let that happen.

My calf tightness forced me to shorten a run, BUT I talked to DB about it and we made some adjustments to the plan, so I'm good.

This does several things:

1. Reassures you that everything will be alright.

2. Trains your mind to think like that so that if adversity hits during a race, you express the negative thought AND a plan to address the issue.

3. Alerts us than an intervention is not necessary.

+1 to this. Running is very mental so training the mind is a really important aspect of that. At the same time I always stuggle with how encouraging to be. I wouldn't want people to push themselves so hard that they get injured. At the same time I think a lot of people are a lot more capable than they think.

I don't know that this is limited to any particular Pace group. Driving to our 10k yesterday I got to talk to DS about high school track practice. He's struggling because he's new to track and its pretty hard and he's not sure if I can do it.

My first post, but I have to chime in here. I’m an old, slow runner. Discovering RunDisney about five years ago nudged me from walking to run/walk/run. Inspired by these boards and my running buddy, I signed up for Dopey last year. It would be my first full marathon, too.Training didn’t go as well as I hoped,but I did manage lots of shorter back to backs. By race weekend, my attitude was “I can do the 5, 10 and half, and start the marathon. After that, who knows.” I struggled with pace and kept slipping back. When the balloon ladies passed me, I just decided to do what I could and if they made me stop I would. Well, I finished! I never even got a warning, so I’m not sure how that worked. Anyway, the “do your best and just don’t quit” attitude can work, as I think you have already decided.

I am really glad that you finished, I'm sure continuing to run after the balloon ladies past you took a lot of mental strength.

Well, I did think about the money I had spent on Dopey registration so I realized I had already spent money on it. Sometimes I believe reasons like this are why runDisney stopped offering deferrals. I wonder if people kept deferring after beginning to comprehend what they had gotten themselves into.

Disney deferral policy seems particularly onerous. I think you may be right. Because there are so many newer runners at Disney they may have had a higher percentage of deferrals. (It could also be a money grab)

@Sleepless Knight this is for you. I am not Wendy fast, but I am sure some would say experienced and fairly quick. My next challenge after my successful Chicago marathon is a 50k trail race. Why because I spent the summer day hiking the Appalachian Trail in Ga, completed all 78 miles and all but 3 of those both north bound and south bound. I loved it so thought sure a trail race only slightly longer than a marathon, I can do this. Last weekend I went to a trail, I have only done a few trail runs, this was a much more technical trail. I had never done it before. I was supposed to do 2 loops of the 5 loop trail. That did not happen that first loop was so difficult and seriously made me think there is no way I can do that race. I was very discouraged after Sunday. However I am telling myself not to quit. Do that trail again, second time will be better. My plan is to run the trail again on Sunday and hopefully do that loop twice. I have to try.
.

Good luck on your first trail race. Trails are definitely more difficult than road, but you can definitely do it.

I had a weird experience on my run today.

Well, we were just about a tenth of a mile or so from a traffic light, where we both got stopped. I caught up to her and stayed out of arm's length and said, "You know, I didn't mean anything by passing you. I am just trying to keep a steady pace." I know she knew I was talking to her, but she wouldn't look at me or acknowledge in any way that I was there. This whole thing is totally out of character for this area.

When we got the walk signal, she took off again - fortunately for long enough to get enough ahead of me that I didn't catch up to her for another mile, where it was apparently her turn-around point. I gave her a wide berth passing her as she turned around, and again she wouldn't even look at me. So strange!

So part of this other runners behavior seems odd and part doesn't. During one my early half marathons I wound up running beside a women. There were points where one person slowed down but that person always caught back up to the other. We spent most of that race probably less than 2 feet apart. Neither of us spoke to each other during the race. I wound up tying my PR and had a great run. After the race I found the lady and thanked her. She had just mentally decided to match my pace and I had decided to match hers. It wound up being a great race for both of us, but I think it would have been weird if we talked to each other during the race. So from that I can understand the person trying to keep ahead of you. I don't understand the weirdness when you were stopped though.

Holly Springs Half Marathon Race Report

The Holly Springs Half Marathon is my little town’s local race. It’s put on by the local running club here and while the course is not my favorite, the proximity can’t be beat. It passes within a quarter mile of my house. I didn’t decide to run this race until last weekend, opting to evaluate my Chicago and Tuna Run recovery prior to committing.

Race morning dawned very chilly at 33-34 degrees, but here proximity and the small size of the race was of great benefit. I left the house at 6:20 and was parked at the start before 6:30. The start was at 7:15, so I stayed in the warm car until 7:05 when I headed to the heated bathrooms next to the start line. There was no line and I was in and out and in place towards the back of the start chute at 7:10.

My plan was to run the race at a long run training pace since it’s only 3 weeks until my next goal race. That translated to a target of ~10min/mile and a finish around 2:10. The course itself is hilly, ranging from rolling hills to a couple of brutal dirt/mulch track climbs, making consistent pacing a challenge, so I settled into an early pace that felt right that had me averaging ~9:45 min/mile.

The early section of the course ran through a combination of neighborhoods, greenways and parks. The greenways were narrow with significant right to left sloping in spots. In addition, there were a couple of wood plank bridges that had frosted over in the cold overnight temperatures. They had been half-heartedly sprinkled with dirt for traction in limited places and one of them was on an upslope making it hard to keep traction. I heard after the race that there were a number of spills on it.

The midsection featured a transition from pavement to mulch and dirt trails. The course had to be re-routed away from the greenway section I lost my shoes checking out last weekend, as ~4” of rain during the week had flooded portions of it. Also due to the rain, the mulch was very soft and gave even less energy return than normal. I navigated the hills without losing too much time and was cruising down the back half of the course slightly ahead of schedule.

As I hit the 12 mile marker, I started out a mini out and back section and saw a Tuna Run teammate inbound about two tenths of a mile ahead of me. I’m usually only competitive with myself in these races, but for some reason I didn’t want to finish behind him, so I decided to see if I had enough in the tank to catch him and turned up the pace. I caught him and blew past with more than a quarter mile left. Keeping the pedal to the floor (think Prius power, not V8 power) I rocked out an 8:15 final mile, crossing the finish line just over 2:04.

All in all, a fun little race, but not a “must do” by any stretch of the imagination. Thanks to anyone who read this far!

TL;DR, @LSUlakes , please update my race listing with a result of 2:04:14.

View attachment 366023

Sounds like a fun little race, but that elevation map is why I try and head out of the triangle for a lot of races.

 

[Slogger]

Congrats @KevM on completing your first marathon! What an amazing accomplishment. Philly is a fun place to run.

Congrats @xjillianpaige on your 5k finish that was better than you anticipated.

Congrats @camaker on your Half Marathon and hitting the turbo boost at the finish. Looks like some serious elevation at that course.

Congrats @jennamfeo on your family age group domination at the Turkey Trot. Great pic.

AND congrats on the Rock n'roll Vegas and sharing your trip report and pics. Do they have an after party or is it before the race?
Can't wait to do RnR and Vegas one of these years.

 

[KevM]

@SheHulk & @michigandergirl, yeah it’s a cool medal.

Not sure if the picture really shows that it’s an actual bell. So every movement has the bell ringing. Which I found to be very neat.

 

[SheHulk]

@SheHulk & @michigandergirl, yeah it’s a cool medal.

Not sure if the picture really shows that it’s an actual bell. So every movement has the bell ringing. Which I found to be very neat.

Yeah! I ran the half a few years ago and both the half and full had real bells as medals too. Yours is fancier though.

 

[garneska]

For those keeping up, I did another trail run today. This was a repeat of what I was supposed to do last weekend. Last weekend was the first time in this particular trail. It terrified me. I was afraid with every step. The first three miles were technical with scrambling but the last two i was over it but they were much easier. I finished last week pretty discouraged, but I was not giving up. This week I did the same loop but did it twice. Yes the first 3 miles of the loop are tough. It has climbing, roots, rocks, leaves and then scrambling where it is not possible to run. I did it though, two loops, and while still not fast not quite as terrified.

So lesson learned, always good to have one of those, I am terrified the first time I do something. I tend to get back up and do it again and get more confident but the first time is terrifying. It was like that swimming, on the bike, new trails everything. Am glad I realize this, and spent Saturday hiking part of my trail race. Thankfully the trail race is about 2 hours from me, we drove up and hiked what I expect to be the hardest portion. Boy am I glad I did that. One I have some clue for the race and two see lesson. Plan is to get up and hike there two more times before the race. Hoping that will make it less terrifying the day of the race.

I am a tad concerned as this section has a lot of steps and I am not comfortable at all going down. I am very slow afraid I will fall. I am accepting that I will just be slow.

Man I will say the trails definitely make you a little less watch dependent. Just not possible to push pace, I did 10 miles in 2:15, but I did not eat dirt so it is a win.

 

[MissLiss279]

Route 66 Marathon race recap

This was my fourth time running this race. Even right before the race I wasn’t sure how I wanted to run this race. I hadn’t trained specifically for this race. My last ‘long run’ was a 50k 3 weeks ago. I had ran an 11 miler and and 8 miler, but I wasn’t sure how prepared I was for it. I figured I would run however I was feeling. Problem is that you usually feel good at the beginning, and can go out too fast. Would this be a problem???

Race day was of course the worst weather day of the week. Cool front blew through the day before. Race start temp was 35 and would only get to about 38 by mid-day with 10-15 mph wind and overcast.

I decided to start with the 4:20 pacer group, and see how I would do. The first half (until mile 12.x) is ran with the half marathoners so lots of people for a good portion of the race. The first quarter of the race headed south with the wind at our backs, so I got a little warm with my layers, but at mile 7.5 we turned the corner to head back north along the river. The wind made it cold for those last 5-6 miles to the halfway point.

Tulsa is pretty hilly and I was doing okay with the hills. At some point I got in front of the pace group. I felt okay for the first quarter, but when we turned into the wind and the course leveled out, I started to feel tired. Not even to the halfway point. I’m pretty sure this was mostly mental. I tried to take stock - are my legs/feet really hurting or tired? No. I’m not hurting. I’m not breathing hard. My heart rate’s okay. So I kept chugging along. I got a bit of energy when the half and full marathons split, and I started to feel better. We got back into the hills, and the second half hills tend to be a little longer than in the first half, and they trend upwards for a while. I think I was actually feeling better with the hills, because I could coast and recover a little on the downhills. The last quarter I was feeling tired again, a little achy. I was trying to keep the pace under 10. I was doing okay.

Route 66 also has the Center of the Universe Detour just after mile 25. It adds 0.3 miles to the race, but you get an extra Coin/Medal from Santa, and you get to run the ‘World’s Shortest Ultra’. Since I was not going for a PR, of course I was doing this! I also really just wanted to finish, but I still found the energy to make the extra trek.

Instead of having a mile 26 marker they have a mile 25.9 marker with a timing mat so they can give people who took the detour a 26.2 ‘finish’ time as well as the actual finish time.

This race is really well supported for a race of 10-12000 runners with the majority running the half. I think the course is really pretty - there are a few industrial areas, but mostly you run through parks and neighborhoods.

@LSUlakes
I finished the 26.5 miles in 4:20:54 (and the 26.2 miles in 4:17:52). I’m pretty happy with that. Considering the 26.2 mile time is only 6 minutes off my PR, I wasn’t specifically training for this, and this course had a lot more hills than my PR race - I’ll take it!

ETA: Sorry that was such a book!

 

[Waiting2goback]

View attachment 366064 Well, my first marathon is in the books!

I completed it, but came no where close to my goal. It ended up taking me 5:58:15 because my right leg, from my toes up to my knee, started hurting around mile 15 and I decided that discretion is the better part of valor.

I did like the course of the Philadelphia Marathon. The weather was pretty nice, it was 34 degrees when the race started and was 44 degrees when I finished.

I’ll need to decide if I want to do another marathon. I’m thinking it’s possible that my leg isn’t in condition for acrually running a marathon. I like half marathons a lot, so it might be the smarter move to just focus on those.

Congrats on finishing and don't decide on doing another full now, there is plenty of time to decide. For the most part, most people's first full doesn't go as planned. A lot of people say they will never run another one. Me, on the other hand, I was so mad at myself during the last 8 miles I was walking my first that I decided during that race that I had to do another because I knew I was better than my showing in that race.

 

[Waiting2goback]

There has been a theme the last week or so of people trying things they are afraid of, pushing themselves, or trying new distances. This seems fitting. Once I got out of my comfort zone and tried running that's when everything changed for me. Looking back on it I see the life of a couch potato, who lived in fear, really wasn't all that comfortable at all.

 

[LSUlakes]

My first post, but I have to chime in here. I’m an old, slow runner. Discovering RunDisney about five years ago nudged me from walking to run/walk/run. Inspired by these boards and my running buddy, I signed up for Dopey last year. It would be my first full marathon, too.Training didn’t go as well as I hoped,but I did manage lots of shorter back to backs. By race weekend, my attitude was “I can do the 5, 10 and half, and start the marathon. After that, who knows.” I struggled with pace and kept slipping back. When the balloon ladies passed me, I just decided to do what I could and if they made me stop I would. Well, I finished! I never even got a warning, so I’m not sure how that worked. Anyway, the “do your best and just don’t quit” attitude can work, as I think you have already decided.

Officially, welcome to the thread! Thanks for your post and for reading along!

Hello, Running Friends!

I’ve been absent from this thread for a bit...started a new job in August and it’s kept me busy. I’m enjoying the job and learning a lot! If you have questions about students who are homeless, in foster care, incarcerated or preschoolers with suspected disabilities, I can answer them! I also handle the School District’s PR and social media. We ran a Bond Issue to build new schools and it passed on Election Day! We will, finally, be able to replace our 100+ year old elementary schools!

This Fall, I also judged six local HS Marching Band competitions and judged the State Marching Band Finals.

Back to running regularly and getting ready for the Half during Marathon Weekend.

Looking forward to hanging out on this thread more, too!

Glad to have you back! Glad things are returning a bit back to normal for you.

View attachment 366064 Well, my first marathon is in the books!

I completed it, but came no where close to my goal. It ended up taking me 5:58:15 because my right leg, from my toes up to my knee, started hurting around mile 15 and I decided that discretion is the better part of valor.

I did like the course of the Philadelphia Marathon. The weather was pretty nice, it was 34 degrees when the race started and was 44 degrees when I finished.

I’ll need to decide if I want to do another marathon. I’m thinking it’s possible that my leg isn’t in condition for acrually running a marathon. I like half marathons a lot, so it might be the smarter move to just focus on those.

Congrats! The first marathon is one of the greatest things ever!

 

[LSUlakes]

QOTD: How much does the weather impact your daily runs? Does running in one set of conditions have a bigger mental impact than running in others?

ATTQOTD: I think mentally one set of conditions v/s another has a huge mental impact on a particular run. For example, this weekend I was told to run 15 miles! I thought to myself, well there is no way I this is going to go well. Then I looked at the weather and I thought, well at least thats in my favor. I took it very easy and was able to run, with some walking the 15 miles. Now, if it would have been a bit warmer I would have had a lot more doubt and would have talked myself out of all 15 miles. So for me at least, the weather can change my mind about a particular run.