The Running Thread - 2019

[huskies90]

QOTD: Did you partake in any Cinco de Mayo events yesterday?

ATTQOTD: We celebrated on Friday. We went to a Mexican Bar/Restaurant for happy hour and had a few margaritas and Mexican food. Highlight for me yesterday was doing an 11 mile run in a steady rain.

We had more fun on Star Wars day at the UConn baseball game in Hartford. The team plays a few games each year at the cool new minor league stadium in Hartford. They dubbed the game Stars Wars Day Celebration and had a UConn Baseball/Star Wars shirt giveaway, players (pre recorded) and fans (live) answering Star Wars trivia questions on the jumbo video board and a bunch of other Star Wars stuff between innings. My wife and I both wore our Star Wars race shirts to the game which was cool to have a place to wear them outside of Disney lol.

UConn baseball started out hot and was ranked as high as 15th in the country but now have fallen to .500 in the American Conf and went from possibly hosting a regional (at the stadium in Hartford) to possibly not making the NCAA tournament. Team needs to really turn it around.

 

[baxter24]

ATTQOTD: If takeout from Chipotle counts, the yes we did!

 

[Princess KP]

QOTD: Did you partake in any Cinco de Mayo events yesterday?

Not on purpose. Had nachos after my HM yesterday (my go to food after a race) and a margarita at the movies last night.

 

[Neon Cactus]

Some friends and I talked about going out and getting margaritas, but ultimately none of us felt like actually going out. I did make tacos, though.

 

[JulieODC]

We had nachos for dinner last night, if that counts.

In other news, a friend of mine missed qualifying for Boston yesterday by 39 seconds. She’s got her sights set on a fall marathon now....but UGH!

 

[Slogger]

Way to Go @Smilelea!!!! You crushed your goals and your PR.

 

[PrincessV]

ATTQOTD: It wasn't Cinco de Mayo related, but I went to see Endgame for a second time, lol! And then made tacos and sangria for dinner, so I think I had it covered.

 

[StacyStrong]

ATQOTD- not really. I mean, I made sangria. We grilled arrachera and had chips/guac/Modelo with dinner, but we also grilled burgers, brats and hot dogs. My boyfriend is Mexican so those are just normal every day things. They don't really celebrate it.

 

[Slogger]

Way to go @OldSlowGoofyGuy......another impressive outing that was obviously motivated by tacos!

 

[Slogger]

ATTQOTD: No formal Cinco de Mayo outings for us. We made burritos to go with the margaritas that our college aged daughter and boyfriend made for us.
Wait a sec.....when did they learn how to make margaritas?

 

[Disney at Heart]

ATTQOTD: We ate at a Mexican restaurant on Saturday night. There were no special activities or anything. I was hoping for a Mariachi group, but nope. Cuatro de Mayo got no special celebration there!

At my 10k this weekend, the 2 leaders just off the start line kept running straight out of the recreation area instead of making a left turn onto the main road.Deputies stationed at the corner there were yelling at them, but they either were wearing earbuds or were just in the zone and didn’t hear. According to the deputies, some spectators were motioning them to go on straight. There were signs at the bib pick-up showing the route, the race director gave instructions before starting the race, and deputies were at the corner of the turn, and still they missed it. They went almost a quarter mile out of the way.One turned back and left mad, the other came back to the course, continued running, and came in second overall!!!

@LSUlakes It made me wonder if anyone here has ever gone the wrong way in a race. Would this be a good QOTD, or is it so rare that NOBODY else ever does it?
Edited for spelling

 

[run.minnie.miles]

ATTQOTD: Tacos for Lunch > Run> Nachos for Dinner

 

[Jules76126]

ATTQOTD: We did not. We typically eat Mexican at least one a week because its tasty and quick to make. Yesterday we had the fan favorite of pizza.

 

[Kerry1957]

Race Report
5/4 - @Kerry1957 - Great Western HM (2:36:29 / 2:33:44)

The Great Western is a point to point HM on an old railroad bed from Sycamore to St. Charles Illinois. As you may have guessed, its generally flat and straight, so it can be a fast course. About 600 runners finished this year and is very well organized. Last year I started too fast, turned my ankle on a branch later on, and staggered to the finish missing a PR by 2 seconds.

This year my goal was to get a POT to put me in the E Corral for the Disney Marathon. Although the E Corral cutoff for the W&D HM is 2:45, the cutoff for the Marathon is 2:36:30. The weather was terrific (50 degrees at start, 60 degrees at finish with a blue sky and light breeze at my back). I ran very consistent splits and finished feeling great at 2:33:44. That's a PR by about 3 minutes; mission accomplished.

I have another HM in four weeks. I will have to decide if I want to really push it and try to shave off another 4 minutes to have a POT for the D Corral at W&D. In some respects I don't really care what corral I'm in, but it does make for good goals/motivation.

 

[Bree]

ATTQOTD: I forgot it was Cinco de Mayo when I got groceries on Friday. My DH smoked ribs and a brisket for dinner.

 

[jennamfeo]

No racing for me this weekend, but I did go spectate the Broad Street 10 Miler in Philly! I didn't realize so many DisRunners were doing that race or I would have made a sign!!! Doh. I missed seeing @SarahDisney (but she saw my husband!) and @mrsg00fy. But I was out at mile 8.5 by Oregon street clapping and cheering in the rain for like 35 minutes! I would have much rather been running. There were soooo many people running and trying to find anyone in that crowd was obviously impossible. It was such a great time though. Good job to all our DisRunners!

ATTQOTD: DUH. I had the best tacos east of the Mississippi and like a million Margaritas.

 

[DopeyBadger]

It made me wonder if anyone here has ever gone the wrong way in a race. Would this be a good QOTD, or is it so rare that NOBODY else ever does it?

In 2015, I was running a HM. We approached a turn, but the girl in front of me didn't take the turn (ear buds and in the zone). There were no volunteers directing us, and I couldn't be completely sure whether she was even part of the race. I saw the sign, confirmed we were suppose to turn, sped up on the wrong way and caught up to/yelled to her, informed her we were suppose to turn, and then ran back to the course. She seemed thankful enough, until she sped ahead of me on a thin trail right after the turn, and then proceeded to slow down boxing me in. Learned later she was part of a girls cross country team running a HM and apparently boxing in is a common tactic in XC races against competition.

In 2017, I was running a 10k, and the leaders went the wrong way (the lead bike took them that way). I always make it a point to study the course and the turns. So I knew they were going the wrong way. But it wasn't a huge deal because it was just kind of a square road design so whether you turned or went straight you'd end up in the same place. Most everyone else in the race followed behind me. I ended up almost exactly in the same position behind the leaders when we converged. And afterwards we all confirmed with each other that everything was seemingly fine distance wise (and given the huge gap they put on me to finish that made the small distance details irrelevant).

 

[camaker]

@LSUlakes It made me wonder if anyone here has ever gone the wrong way in a race. Would this be a good QOTD, or is it so rare that NOBODY else ever does it?

I've never ended up on the wrong path, but one of the local running group had that issue at the Blue Ridge Marathon a couple of years ago. He was running the full and somehow managed to miss the turn off to follow the marathon route and ended up on the half marathon course. He had no idea that he'd done it until he crossed a timing mat and heard a volunteer's walkie talkie say "Do you have eyes on Bib #???". A volunteer pulled him from the course and, after some debate with the race director, they decided he was too far along to recover for the marathon and sent him on to complete the half marathon. As he came to the last couple of miles heading into the finish, the courses converged and he wondered why everyone seemed to be cheering for him! Unfortunately, the bibs for the marathon and half were easily distinguishable and he was the first marathon bib to hit the finishing stretch. The spectators thought he was the marathon leader, crushing a very hilly course! Talk about embarrassing! He even showed up as the marathon winner in the results for a few days until they got the DQ sorted out...

On a side note, taking a wrong turn or getting lost on a course is one of my recurring race nightmares. I always try to get intelligence on how well a course is typically marked before committing to it.

ATTQOTD: DW invited friends over and made tacos and margaritas for dinner for Cinco de Mayo last night.

 

[IamTrike]

I've never gone the wrong way in a race but I know of two occurrences here locally where the course was marked improperly so the distances were off. I didn't participate in either of these but heard reports from friends that had run.

At one of the local halves the police did not like the location of the turn around so they moved the cones. This added about 2 tenths of a mile to the course. Not a huge deal, but really frustrating for people that were running really close to PR paces. At another race one of the corners wasn't properly marked, as a result people missed a turn which removed about .3 miles from a 10k.

 

[Guidman]

Race Recap: 5/5 Pittsburgh Half Marathon (1:35:00/1:32:39)

Always one of my favorite weekends here and my main spring goal race. The weather all week was all over the place calling for rain on Sunday. Thankfully it was only a drizzle just before, waiting in the corrals, but otherwise pretty good: 52 degrees.

Outside of the first mile, where I had to take a quick 20 second pit stop, I ran between 6:57-7:11(most between 7:03-7:05) for the first 12 miles. Mile 12 is the worst in the race, since at about 10.5 miles you make a left turn onto a bridge that is an incline for about miles or so and the once you cross it you turn left into another hill. Did mile 12 at 7:10 and then your left with a slight downhill back into downtown. Mile 13 was 6:27 and crossed the finish line in 1:32:39. A new HM PR by almost three minutes.

All in all a really enjoyable race and weekend. There were easily the most amount of spectators on the course in the eight years I've done it. On Saturday I did the Kids Marathon (1 mile) race with my oldest niece, who's six. Almost 7k kids in it, the definition of organized chaos. Easily the highlight of my weekend. My niece and myself had a blast doing it. And yes, she beat me.