The Running Thread - 2020

[JulieODC]

Sending To @Jules76126 and @OldSlowGoofyGuy

 

[FFigawi]

Sorry to @Jules76126 and @OldSlowGoofyGuy for their losses

 

[shellott-hill]

Sharing bad personal news: my mother-in-law passed away today from COVID-19. We were there at the end. I loved her like my own mother and she loved me like her son.

I am so sorry for your loss. You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[DopeyBadger]

@OldSlowGoofyGuy

 

[Dopey 2020]

@OldSlowGoofyGuy
So sorry for you loss

 

[SarahDisney]

Sharing bad personal news: my mother-in-law passed away today from COVID-19. We were there at the end. I loved her like my own mother and she loved me like her son.

So sorry for your loss. Sending lots of virtual hugs to you and all of her loved ones.

 

[Waiting2goback]

 

[Jules76126]

Sharing bad personal news: my mother-in-law passed away today from COVID-19. We were there at the end. I loved her like my own mother and she loved me like her son.

I am very sorry to hear about your loss.

 

[camaker]

PSA for all my Ghost peeps out there. Holabird Sports has the 12s on sale for $84.50 today. Might be a good opportunity to stock up. They’re a very reliable seller, btw. I’ve ordered from them multiple times.

 

[GreatLakes]

Sorry for your loss @OldSlowGoofyGuy

I had another in person race this weekend. It was a cross-country style race through the orchard and woods of a local farm. I loved it but unfortunately took a wrong turn which added over 2 minutes to my time. I was in a solid second place and ended up about half way down the pack and had to claw myself back up. I managed to get back to 4th.

I was so annoyed at myself because I totally just missed the marking. The leader is a high school kid that was way ahead so I missed the lead 4 wheeler making the turn but I just didn't pay attention. I'm sure I also lost time the remainder of the race because some of my motivation was just gone.

My next scheduled race is a mix of cross country and trails which means so far I have only done non-road races in 2020. I had the goal of doing more trails but didn't think that would mean no road races 10 months into the year.

 

[Kerry1957]

Race Report: Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon, Lexington, Kentucky

Previous PR: 2:30:30
Race Goal: 2:29:59
Stretch Goal: 2:25:00
Actual Time: 2:20:52

The race was originally to be held last spring, but was rescheduled for Saturday. My original goal was very modest; just improve my time enough to get into a "timed" corral for Wine & Dine and for Disney Marathon. I was very happy to finish with a 9-minute PR and beat my stretch goal by 4 minutes. 900 miles of driving over three days from Chicago, but well worth it.

The race was extremely well organized. We even had a required zoom meeting a few days before the race to emphasize all of the changes required by the pandemic. Packet pickup was quick and easy. We chose a 15 minute window during Friday with a 30 person max per time slot. Bibs and swag were pre-packaged and I stood in a socially distanced line for about a minute and I was done. In the packet was a wristband with a time to be at the startline on race morning in 5 minute increments (waiting in our cars until then). Everyone wore their masks at the start and pretty much everyone took them off (as suggested) during the first 100 yards or so. RTB usually has about 5,000 runners but this year was only about 650 HMers with another couple of hundred 7-milers and 3-milers.

Went went well....

• My @DopeyBadger plan. Billy encouraged me to step up to a 5-day a week plan and it paid large dividends. I finished strong and my HR stayed pretty low for me (140 average and 160 max).
• The weather. 43 degrees at the gun and 53 degrees at the finish. High clouds and no wind.
• The course. Run the Bluegrass bills itself as "America's prettiest half marathon" and did not disappoint. We ran on country lanes past some of the grandest and most historic horse farms in the country. Like runDisney, many people were stopping to take photos of the horses and stables. The course is hilly, but as a run/walker it was fine as I continually adjusted my planned 2:15 run / 30 second walk on the fly to ensure I ran down all of the hills and walked up at least part of the steepest inclines.

What did not go well...

• My refuelling. A self-inflicted, unforced error. I was using tailwind for the first time in a race. I had an 8-ounce water bottled filled 2/3 with a concentrated solution of tailwind. My plan was to drink 1/3 at the 4, 8, and 11 mile water stops which also had self-serve 8-ounce water bottles. The 4-mile stop went well (I thought) I drank the tailwind, grabbed a bottle of water, and drank it as well. But a couple of hundred yards later I realized I threw my tailwind bottle into the recycle bin along with the empty water bottle. How and why I have no idea. I panicked thinking I would run out of gas by mile 10 or 12. It took most of mile 5 to settle down, relax, and get into my pace again. I don't know if it really made that much difference to my time or physical condition at the end.

I am looking forward to running this race again, when all of the extras (pre-race runDisney / RTB group tent, post-race beer and bourbon tents, etc.) are once again offered.

 

[Dopey 2020]

A question for all the Strava users out there, or I guess more of an observation that I know the answer to but value input on things I don’t know about.
I‘m signed up for the NYC virtual marathon which requires an upload to Strava upon completion. Ive never used it, and after trying many apps I found that I like my Apple Watch and the activities app that comes with it. So I downloaded Strava and after a bit of research and tweaking some settings my runs appear in Strava with all associated info as they should, but all come up short on the distance. It seems Strava modifies the GPS to what it thinks is more accurate than the original device and on the loop I run this is costing me .2 - .25 miles every 5 miles. That’s a potential for 1.25 miles or more over the course of my virtual 26.2. It seems that there isn’t anything I can do about it but have others had the same experience with any devices? Do I have to run 28 miles to be sure I get credit on race day? I would be upset if I run a marathon and get listed as DNF for only registering 25 miles.

 

[Jules76126]

A question for all the Strava users out there, or I guess more of an observation that I know the answer to but value input on things I don’t know about.
I‘m signed up for the NYC virtual marathon which requires an upload to Strava upon completion. Ive never used it, and after trying many apps I found that I like my Apple Watch and the activities app that comes with it. So I downloaded Strava and after a bit of research and tweaking some settings my runs appear in Strava with all associated info as they should, but all come up short on the distance. It seems Strava modifies the GPS to what it thinks is more accurate than the original device and on the loop I run this is costing me .2 - .25 miles every 5 miles. That’s a potential for 1.25 miles or more over the course of my virtual 26.2. It seems that there isn’t anything I can do about it but have others had the same experience with any devices? Do I have to run 28 miles to be sure I get credit on race day? I would be upset if I run a marathon and get listed as DNF for only registering 25 miles.

My Starva recently has been terrible. I have no idea what is going on. My runs either come up way short or one run came in with a pace that was very unrealistic. I would also like to know if others are having this problem and what they did to fix it. I also know that my routes are not short as I have been running the same loops for years.

 

[MissLiss279]

A question for all the Strava users out there, or I guess more of an observation that I know the answer to but value input on things I don’t know about.
I‘m signed up for the NYC virtual marathon which requires an upload to Strava upon completion. Ive never used it, and after trying many apps I found that I like my Apple Watch and the activities app that comes with it. So I downloaded Strava and after a bit of research and tweaking some settings my runs appear in Strava with all associated info as they should, but all come up short on the distance. It seems Strava modifies the GPS to what it thinks is more accurate than the original device and on the loop I run this is costing me .2 - .25 miles every 5 miles. That’s a potential for 1.25 miles or more over the course of my virtual 26.2. It seems that there isn’t anything I can do about it but have others had the same experience with any devices? Do I have to run 28 miles to be sure I get credit on race day? I would be upset if I run a marathon and get listed as DNF for only registering 25 miles.

Yikes! That’s a bit of a difference. Mine from my Garmin watches (previous Fenix 5s to now Fenix 6) is a 0.01 difference. I always make sure I wait until that 0.01 shows up on my Garmin before I hit stop. This results in a round number on Strava. But this ‘error’ is for the total run not for each mile.

 

[camaker]

A question for all the Strava users out there, or I guess more of an observation that I know the answer to but value input on things I don’t know about.
I‘m signed up for the NYC virtual marathon which requires an upload to Strava upon completion. Ive never used it, and after trying many apps I found that I like my Apple Watch and the activities app that comes with it. So I downloaded Strava and after a bit of research and tweaking some settings my runs appear in Strava with all associated info as they should, but all come up short on the distance. It seems Strava modifies the GPS to what it thinks is more accurate than the original device and on the loop I run this is costing me .2 - .25 miles every 5 miles. That’s a potential for 1.25 miles or more over the course of my virtual 26.2. It seems that there isn’t anything I can do about it but have others had the same experience with any devices? Do I have to run 28 miles to be sure I get credit on race day? I would be upset if I run a marathon and get listed as DNF for only registering 25 miles.

Can you download the Strava app and track the run using that rather than just the Apple activities app? That should upload reliably. Maybe give it a couple of test runs.

Yikes! That’s a bit of a difference. Mine from my Garmin watches (previous Fenix 5s to now Fenix 6) is a 0.01 difference. I always make sure I wait until that 0.01 shows up on my Garmin before I hit stop. This results in a round number on Strava. But this ‘error’ is for the total run not for each mile.

This has been my experience using Garmin, as well. 0.01 mile reduction when uploading, regardless of run distance.

 

[Guidman]

I'm so sorry for both of your losses @Jules76126 and @OldSlowGoofyGuy.

Had my first (and most likely only) in-person race of the year yesterday. It was a half marathon. The race is usually held at the end of March but was delayed (they do a 5k, 8.1mile, half and 30K all together). It was split up with two races each day over the weekend at different times. There was only alittle over 100 people for the half. Had to wear a mask before and after, once you crossed the start line you could take it off, socially distanced start as well.

The course is an out and back 5k then two 5 mile laps around a lake. Great weather for it, only downside of the field being that size is I was basically by myself the entire race so had to hope my own pacing was enough. The course is in one of the more popular parks here in Pittsburgh so there was a ton of people out biking and walking along it too so had to navigate around them at times. Set a new PR, 1:28:30. It was nice to have some sense of a normal event again. That'll probably be the only in-person race I'll be able to do this year, everything else is virtual.

 

[jmasgat]

@Kerry1957 Congrats on your race! I did that race last year, and found it to be a challenging, but lovely course. The big hill that everyone kept saying would be the worst was not bad, but all the other rolling hills added up! Glad to hear it went well.

 

[Kerry1957]

@Kerry1957 Congrats on your race! I did that race last year, and found it to be a challenging, but lovely course. The big hill that everyone kept saying would be the worst was not bad, but all the other rolling hills added up! Glad to hear it went well.

Thanks! This year's course was a bit different from previous years as we started and ended from the Kentucky Castle a few miles away from the usual Keeneland. It had plenty of rolling hills but not a "big hill".

 

[opusone]

A question for all the Strava users out there, or I guess more of an observation that I know the answer to but value input on things I don’t know about.
I‘m signed up for the NYC virtual marathon which requires an upload to Strava upon completion. Ive never used it, and after trying many apps I found that I like my Apple Watch and the activities app that comes with it. So I downloaded Strava and after a bit of research and tweaking some settings my runs appear in Strava with all associated info as they should, but all come up short on the distance. It seems Strava modifies the GPS to what it thinks is more accurate than the original device and on the loop I run this is costing me .2 - .25 miles every 5 miles. That’s a potential for 1.25 miles or more over the course of my virtual 26.2. It seems that there isn’t anything I can do about it but have others had the same experience with any devices? Do I have to run 28 miles to be sure I get credit on race day? I would be upset if I run a marathon and get listed as DNF for only registering 25 miles.

I do not use an Apple Watch, so I cannot attest to the accuracy of it, but like others above, my Garmin watch has always been within 0.01 miles of Strava for runs of 6 miles or less. For my last Disney half marathon, I had 13.11 miles on my Garmin watch and 13.15 miles on Strava, so Strava was 0.04 miles longer (not shorter). The only Strava quirk that I have seen over time is that if you stop your watch, then move to a different location and resume your run/watch, it sometimes (maybe all the time) counts the distance while stopped, but again, that makes the Strava mileage longer, not shorter.

 

[huskies90]

Very sorry for your loss @OldSlowGoofyGuy.

I also had another live race this weekend:

Black Goose Half Marathon
East Providence, RI October 4, 2020 7AM

With all the remaining 2020 CT races longer than 10K canceled or gone virtual, I decided to travel to RI to do the Black Goose half marathon in East Providence, RI. This race had an “open start” which means you show up anytime between 7AM-9AM, get your temperature checked, head to the start line, remove your mask and go!! I wanted to start as close to 7AM as I could but with a 90 minute drive, I ended up crossing the starting line around 8AM.

I wanted to start early because I knew the race was not closing roads and there were a few stretches on busy roads. Most of the course was on quiet side roads and almost the entire second half of the race was on a long bike trail which was nice. However, by the time I hit the bike trail, it was pretty crowded with other bikers, runners and walkers as well as other racers which caused some additional weaving and added some distance to the 13.1 miles (my watch had me at 13.35).

As for the race itself, the open start and low participants - the race was capped at 250 - really spread out the field. There were times on the quiet side roads where I was all by myself which at those times made me feel like I was doing a training run by myself. But I did see many runners on the course and passed about a dozen or so along the way which helped give it a race feel.

The course was very well marked and there were cones set up on the busy streets as well as volunteers helping with traffic. There were several water stops (7 or 8) with prefilled water in cups on a table and volunteers keeping them filled. It was a great day for a race with sunshine, a cool 48° and no wind.

I had a great run and finished with a new half marathon PR of 1:35:05 which is a 7:15/mile pace and was my exact goal pace. And, if the 2022 Marathon Weekend happens and if for some reason they go back to the old deadlines for POT, I am now all set.

This is the third live race I’ve done post Covid - a 5K, 10K and half - and all three had different ways to deal with crowding at the start. For the 5K, we single file lined up 6 feet apart and did 10 second start intervals. The 10K used multiple small start waves of 50 with each small group spread out 6 feet apart at the start. And the open start for the half. All three approaches worked well to keep everyone safe. I did like the open start because it took some of the pressure off of getting to the start line on time and you can go when you were ready. But out of the three, I liked the wave set up the best as it felt the most like a race.