The Running Thread -- 2022

[Herding_Cats]

No. It was before AK. I think it was a donkey or a sheep? I just looked through my photos and couldn’t find what was there.

You managed to get to the Affection Station? I am very much impressed

There's a spot between MK and AK where you go around a corner/turn and there's usually some sort of rotation of animals to pet: goats, donkey, sheep, llama/alpaca, etc. I want to say it was around mile 15? Before the water treatment plant?

 

[kps7795]

No. It was before AK. I think it was a donkey or a sheep? I just looked through my photos and couldn’t find what was there.

For me, there was a llama. It was really funny because the runner in front of me tried to pet it and the llama backed away. I couldn't help but shout out, "No touchy!"

 

[flav]

You managed to get to the Affection Station? I am very much impressed

There were two special participants for MW 2020. Here is one:

 

[azrivest]

Maybe because I've never done MW but... weird Not sure I'd wanna touch the possum... Although I've cuddled alpacas before!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Maybe because I've never done MW but... weird Not sure I'd wanna touch the possum... Although I've cuddled alpacas before!

Yup yup...especially since possums set my dog off like nothing else - I'd be shunned when I got home

 

[Novatrix]

For me, it took 4 years to go from greater than a 5 hour marathon to less than a 4, but it took less than a year to get from a 6:14 to a 4:33.

Marathon 1 Jan 2018 Disney– 6:14:15 –Marathon Only - Was doing good until I twisted knee half way through (blame severely cambered roads which I wasn’t used to), it was a slow, painful slog in the 2nd half

Marathon 2 Nov 2018- 4:33:21

Marathon 3 Jan 2019 Disney– 6:06:58 – Part of Dopey. This time got to stop for every single photo, pet the goat at Affection Station, ride Everest and overall have a great time and still finish faster than the previous year.

Marathon 4 Dec 2019 – 4:44:51

Marathon 5 Jul 2020 – 4:55:30 including 25 minute stop to eat because I was bored with running a virtual marathon

Marathon 6 Nov 2020 – 4:22:03

Marathon 7 Nov 2021 – 3:36:36 My most consistent training cycle for a race.

Marathon 8 Jan 2022 Disney– 4:19:32 -Part of Goofy – Got to stop for all the photos I wanted plus be on the first Tower of Terror elevator of the day during the race.

Marathon 9 Oct 2022 – 4:07:05 – battled injury in the spring, illness in the summer and demotivation in the fall to still turn out okay

 

[pluto377]

My marathon progression was-
2001 MCM 6:10:59 I went from couch to marathon in 6 months for a charity.
2005 NYC 4:56:00 I didn't keep a log back then, but I wasn't training consistently for that whole 4 years.
2009 Disney 4:30:44 really inconsistent until July 2008
2010 Disney (on Ice) 4:19:57
2019 Disney 6:44:58 part of Dopey, stopped for pics, rode Everest
2022 Disney DNF :-(

The peak of my running life was in 2009 when I set all my PRs. I probably won't ever get back to that form again, but I'd love to get to a 5-5.5 hr marathon.

 

[The Expert]

There were two special participants for MW 2020. Here is one:
View attachment 724868

I had forgotten they gave them bibs! That was so cute.
And possums are AWESOME -- I would pet one in a second!

 

[lookingforsunshine]

There were two special participants for MW 2020. Here is one:

When I tell you that my motivation to get to mile 20ish is going to be to pet an animal... I am not lying. Also I love possums!! And goats. And all of them.

I think I've shared this before, but one time I ran a half marathon with the goal of petting as many dogs as I could during the race. I got 29.

 

[SheHulk]

Maybe because I've never done MW but... weird Not sure I'd wanna touch the possum... Although I've cuddled alpacas before!

But... its name is Sparkle Poptart!

 

[pluto377]

But... its name is Sparkle Poptart!

That name is AMAZING!

 

[kps7795]

I have only participated in one marathon:
2022 Disney 5:18:13

I highly doubt that I'll get close to 4:00 until I run a marathon other than Disney. I had an incredible time stopping for 22 pictures with characters, the Orange Bird, the Nautilus submarine display and the llama. It would be great to go sub-5:00 AND get all the pictures that I want (which is every picture), but that is definitely not going to happen at this race. My serious training didn't begin until October because I was coming back following a stress reaction that I sustained in April.

 

[The Expert]

I think I've shared this before, but one time I ran a half marathon with the goal of petting as many dogs as I could during the race. I got 29.

I did this for the Tink Half at DL in 2017! About half that course is through Anaheim and there were lots of folks with dogs out. One of my stats for that race was DPM = dogs per mile. I can't recall what the number was, but it was a lot.

 

[GreatLakes]

My marathon progression went like this:

2009: 3:44
2011: 3:16
2015: 3:30
2017: 4:09 (had to walk the last 5 due to injury)
2022: 3:15

The full isn't a distance I generally like, I always did it to try to BQ and once I'm done with Boston I think it will be a while before I run anything longer than 13.1 on the road. The next goal will be a trail 50K.

 

[opusone]

I was listening to the Run4PRs podcast earlier today Episode 183 "How Long Will It Take to Reach My Goals & 'See Results.'" They said that it should take approximately 2-3 years to go from a 5:00 marathon to a 4:00 marathon. They stipulated that there are a LOT of variables that could skew the results including how many days per week one is running etc. Nonetheless, I am curious to hear from you 4:00 and less marathoners how long it took you to go from 5:00 to 4:00.

I have experienced the opposite of everyone else here as my marathon times have been going the opposite direction. My first marathon in 1993 was my fastest, and they’ve been going downhill ever since. Therefore, I will tell you how long it takes to lose about an hour on your marathon time: approximately six years.

 

[kps7795]

My marathon progression went like this:

2009: 3:44
2011: 3:16
2015: 3:30
2017: 4:09 (had to walk the last 5 due to injury)
2022: 3:15

The full isn't a distance I generally like, I always did it to try to BQ and once I'm done with Boston I think it will be a while before I run anything longer than 13.1 on the road. The next goal will be a trail 50K.

That is seriously cool. Congratulations again for qualifying for Boston!

 

[dobball23]

I was listening to the Run4PRs podcast earlier today Episode 183 "How Long Will It Take to Reach My Goals & 'See Results.'" They said that it should take approximately 2-3 years to go from a 5:00 marathon to a 4:00 marathon. They stipulated that there are a LOT of variables that could skew the results including how many days per week one is running etc. Nonetheless, I am curious to hear from you 4:00 and less marathoners how long it took you to go from 5:00 to 4:00.

I have done three marathons, all as part of Dopey. This is after my first thought when completing my first half marathon in 2013 was, "I can't imagine turning around and doing all of this again. Doing a marathon is insane and I will NEVER do one."

2018: 3:53 ("ran" a ~3:20 half with my wife the day before)
2020: 4:14 (hot!) (1:48 half the day before)
2022: 3:42 (1:43 half the day before)
2023: my first standalone marathon. Let's see how I do!

 

[camaker]

It's been very interesting seeing how everyone's marathon times have progressed. Here are mine. I've left out most of my Disney marathons because they've almost always been taken at an easy, completion pace, including just the first one to set a baseline. I've also included a couple of virtuals as I think they help show the rate of progression, too. To add to the baseline, I started distance running at ~45 in 2015.

Jan 2016 Disney - 5:48:47 (nursing a rehabbing hamstring)
Nov 2016 City of Oaks - 4:20:22
Oct 2018 Chicago - 4:18:10
Dec 2019 Space Coast - 4:37:08 (nursing a dodgy, tight hamstring)
Mar 2020 Virtual - 4:27:06
Oct 2020 Virtual - 4:15:43
May 2021 Tobacco Road - 3:57:30

I'm sure I could've posted additional improvements along the way, but I made the decision to focus on increasing distance and running ultras rather than focusing on pace starting in 2019.

 

[Bree]

Question about splitting up a training run. I’m going out of my comfort zone and want to join up with a group that meets up and runs 3.1 on Thursday nights from one of our local restaurants. There is beer at the end so it’s a good incentive Thursday is my easy day so I was planning on running some in the morning and some at night. Okay to do this?

 

[DopeyBadger]

Question about splitting up a training run. I’m going out of my comfort zone and want to join up with a group that meets up and runs 3.1 on Thursday nights from one of our local restaurants. There is beer at the end so it’s a good incentive Thursday is my easy day so I was planning on running some in the morning and some at night. Okay to do this?

In this circumstance, there would be minimal issues with splitting the easy day. Easy days are mostly active recovery and filler for the weekly training load.