The Running Thread--2024

[Kerry1957]

A gentleman out walking was struck and killed yesterday morning just a couple of blocks from where I live.

Be careful out there folks!

 

[mmm_texas]

Also continuing the shoe talk. My new pair of Xero Speed Force II shoes is out for delivery this morning! This will be my 4th pair, and I definitely recommend them for runners going the minimalist route.

 

[Naomeri]

It’s not the closest I’ve been to being hit by a car. That title goes to actually being on the car’s hood (bruises only) with a wrecked bike about 15 years ago. But yesterday while crossing at a crosswalk in the early dawn hours with my noxgear blazing and headlamp on, the right turner on my side waited for me and the left turner on the other side took that as their cue to gun it and then immediately gnash the brakes, as my hands came up in a “What the h?” gesture and I shouted “do I need more xxxxxxx lights on for you buddy?”

Fun times.

Yikes!! I was almost run off the road by a postal truck on a straight, empty road while wearing my noxgear and a hi-vis cap. They turned a corner, sat for a minute (presumably rearranging the last mail deliveries or something) and then just started driving straight at me--angling toward the shoulder, instead of driving straight or angling away from a pedestrian as most drivers would (and should, when possible)--I bailed into the grass, luckily there was some flat shoulder and not a steep ditch.

 

[kps7795]

Non-guaranteed applications for the Chicago Marathon opened today. This is my first time applying for the Chicago Marathon. Did anyone else put their name into the lottery?

 

[mtnmjd]

Non-guaranteed applications for the Chicago Marathon opened today. This is my first time applying for the Chicago Marathon. Did anyone else put their name into the lottery?

I just did.
Third times the charm, right? I've missed out the last two times so maybe this is my lucky year?

 

[PrincessV]

Near-death experiences with distracted drivers is pretty much a daily experience for me: we have the honor of one of the highest pedestrian fatality rates in the US. Go us? Anyway, last week, when we still had no power after Hurricane Milton, I was almost mowed down when a truck ran a red light. The twist? It was a DUKE ENERGY POWER TRUCK. The irony was not lost on me.

As silly as it sounds, I have heard that sneakers need recovery periods between runs too (just like our bodies), so maybe now that you have more time between uses of Pair 1 it's getting a full recovery and is able to perform better (at least in dry conditions and temporarily)

Not silly at all, just not my situation! Current Pair 1 used to be Pair 2 to a previous Pair 1, so they’ve been rotated their entire life so far. That’s in addition to Pair 3 for speedwork and Pair 4 for the treadmill. Nothing gets worn more often than every few days here. Current Pair 1 has become some other kind of shoe entirely - in fit, feel, response, everything. It’s absolutely bizarre and I’m loving it!

 

[jmasgat]

Got an email for NYRR. Apparently I have a guaranteed entry to the NYC Half. Guess I should figure out if it's anything I want to do. Pretty surprised at this since my NY Marathon time was dreadful, but I aged up based on race day age and so my time still works.

Maybe I'll make a hotel reservation just in case.....

 

[kps7795]

As silly as it sounds, I have heard that sneakers need recovery periods between runs too (just like our bodies), so maybe now that you have more time between uses of Pair 1 it's getting a full recovery and is able to perform better (at least in dry conditions and temporarily)

From my understanding, the foam that is used in running shoes compresses during a run. This is why it is recommended to not use the same pair of shoes two days in a row.

 

[avondale]

Glad you are okay!

Opposite sort of story, but this morning I was turning left out of my neighborhood (it was light out already) and I almost hit a bike that was crossing in front of my neighborhood. I slammed on the brakes and cursed at myself for not seeing him. Then, after turning, I realized that since my light was green he was crossing on a red and didn't even bother to hit the button on the crosswalk. I don't get people!!!

I teach on a large college campus. The students on bikes and e-scooters pay absolutely NO ATTENTION at all to traffic laws, stop signs, which side of the road to use, jumping from sidewalks to roads, etc. Not only do you have to be careful about turning right because even with a turn signal, bikes/scooters will pass you on the right, but you have to watch left turns, too, because if you're waiting for traffic going the other way to make your left turn, scooters will go around you ON THE LEFT if they feel like it. During the high-traffic times on campus, it's really very stressful to drive.

In a separate incident, a local paved trail (Rock Creek Trail, for those in the DC area) has some street crossings with traffic lights, crosswalks, and pedestrian-crossing signals. One time I was running up to the intersection to cross and a person walking a bit ahead of me was crossing the intersection in the crosswalk, so I sped up to catch the crossing signal while it was in my direction. Just before I entered the crosswalk, I realized the pedestrian was crossing AGAINST the light - the cars now had a green light to go through the crosswalk where she was walking. (Maybe she entered the crosswalk just before the light turned green - don't know - but clearly she didn't pay attention to the "don't walk" signal.) So I slammed to a stop before I got into the intersection. A bicyclist behind me, who was speeding up like me to get the signal, crashed into me from behind. Sigh. It wasn't a bad collision at all, but clearly none of us were paying very good attention to what was going on. This was several years ago, but I still boggle at how the pedestrian ahead of me just strolled right into that intersection and seemed to have no idea the cars had a green light.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

I teach on a large college campus. The students on bikes and e-scooters pay absolutely NO ATTENTION at all to traffic laws, stop signs, which side of the road to use, jumping from sidewalks to roads, etc. Not only do you have to be careful about turning right because even with a turn signal, bikes/scooters will pass you on the right, but you have to watch left turns, too, because if you're waiting for traffic going the other way to make your left turn, scooters will go around you ON THE LEFT if they feel like it. During the high-traffic times on campus, it's really very stressful to drive.

In a separate incident, a local paved trail (Rock Creek Trail, for those in the DC area) has some street crossings with traffic lights, crosswalks, and pedestrian-crossing signals. One time I was running up to the intersection to cross and a person walking a bit ahead of me was crossing the intersection in the crosswalk, so I sped up to catch the crossing signal while it was in my direction. Just before I entered the crosswalk, I realized the pedestrian was crossing AGAINST the light - the cars now had a green light to go through the crosswalk where she was walking. (Maybe she entered the crosswalk just before the light turned green - don't know - but clearly she didn't pay attention to the "don't walk" signal.) So I slammed to a stop before I got into the intersection. A bicyclist behind me, who was speeding up like me to get the signal, crashed into me from behind. Sigh. It wasn't a bad collision at all, but clearly none of us were paying very good attention to what was going on. This was several years ago, but I still boggle at how the pedestrian ahead of me just strolled right into that intersection and seemed to have no idea the cars had a green light.

When I first moved to Colorado, I spent a couple months in Boulder. I HATE driving in Boulder because of all of this. So many cyclists/scooter people/even walkers in Boulder just DGAF about rules of the road. I'm happy I got out of there and I don't plan to ever go into that town again.

 

[FlyingDonut]

More shoe talk: how often do you replace insoles / inserts? I don't have custom fit ones, just superfeet, but I kind of want to use them for at least two pairs.

 

[Professor_Cookie]

I teach on a large college campus. The students on bikes and e-scooters pay absolutely NO ATTENTION at all to traffic laws, stop signs, which side of the road to use, jumping from sidewalks to roads, etc. Not only do you have to be careful about turning right because even with a turn signal, bikes/scooters will pass you on the right, but you have to watch left turns, too, because if you're waiting for traffic going the other way to make your left turn, scooters will go around you ON THE LEFT if they feel like it. During the high-traffic times on campus, it's really very stressful to drive.

In a separate incident, a local paved trail (Rock Creek Trail, for those in the DC area) has some street crossings with traffic lights, crosswalks, and pedestrian-crossing signals. One time I was running up to the intersection to cross and a person walking a bit ahead of me was crossing the intersection in the crosswalk, so I sped up to catch the crossing signal while it was in my direction. Just before I entered the crosswalk, I realized the pedestrian was crossing AGAINST the light - the cars now had a green light to go through the crosswalk where she was walking. (Maybe she entered the crosswalk just before the light turned green - don't know - but clearly she didn't pay attention to the "don't walk" signal.) So I slammed to a stop before I got into the intersection. A bicyclist behind me, who was speeding up like me to get the signal, crashed into me from behind. Sigh. It wasn't a bad collision at all, but clearly none of us were paying very good attention to what was going on. This was several years ago, but I still boggle at how the pedestrian ahead of me just strolled right into that intersection and seemed to have no idea the cars had a green light.

Teenagers on class 3 e-bikes are a menace here. I’m surprised none have been seriously injured yet. Well, as far as I know, none have.

 

[SarahDisney]

Got an email for NYRR. Apparently I have a guaranteed entry to the NYC Half. Guess I should figure out if it's anything I want to do. Pretty surprised at this since my NY Marathon time was dreadful, but I aged up based on race day age and so my time still works.

Maybe I'll make a hotel reservation just in case.....

Ooooh that's my favorite non-Disney race, I highly recommend it!

More shoe talk: how often do you replace insoles / inserts? I don't have custom fit ones, just superfeet, but I kind of want to use them for at least two pairs.

I usually use them for two pairs and replace them after the second one. I was told by the running store (who you would think would want to sell me more insoles) that they last longer than shoes

 

[Herding_Cats]

More shoe talk: how often do you replace insoles / inserts? I don't have custom fit ones, just superfeet, but I kind of want to use them for at least two pairs.

I have powerstep insoles, recommended by my PT, that are going on 2.5 years old. I think they are different from superfeet since they have a plastic insert in them, so ymmv.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Good morning, I hope everyone is well and enjoying their fall races. I am awful at staying consistent with reading the boards but I love it when I come back and see how folks are doing. I know Wine and Dine is right around the corner--wishing everyone the best race weekend ever.

I wanted to share a thank you post for @DopeyBadger . Yesterday, I ran the Detroit Free Press International Half Marathon on a beautiful, crisp, and sunny fall day in Michigan. I went into this particular race as trained up as I could be--consistent with hitting my mileage, a lot of hill work, the right amount of speedwork and the majority of miles done in my easy pace. It was a great training block. I had two goals for this race--a PR and more importantly, a sub-two hour finish time.

The course is spectacular--you start in Detroit at 7am (to Eminem's "Lose Yourself," which is the unofficial race anthem), around mile 3 you go over the Ambassador Bridge to Canada (through border patrol/customs) and after a few super fun miles in Windsor, you have the underwater mile coming back to the US. It's pretty darn amazing.

I was being paced by a great friend who runs with my running club and I was holding steady for the first 10 miles but as I approached the last 5k, it was starting to get really tough and I knew that I had to dig pretty deep to keep my pace up. I thought about all the people in my life who supported me and all the nuggets of information that @DopeyBadger has provided over the years about how to mentally work through the space when it gets hard.

I crossed (just barely, more like collapsed? ) the finish line in 1:58:30 (which was a 3 and a half minute PR). After chasing this goal for THREE years, I was shocked, thrilled, and light headed at the same time. I needed 20 minutes in the medical tent before I could stand up straight but I recovered just fine. Running is the most amazing and yet heart-breaking journey. I turn 50 next month and to be able to do this brings me immense joy.

DH and I have been doing RunDisney races since 2016 (usually princess or marathon weekend) and we love it. But I am hoping now, when we go to run Princess weekend in 2026, I will finally be able to join him in Corral A without making him drop back to join me. I apologize if that sounds like such a frivolous thing -- it's not meant to-- only to share that some things are worth waiting for.

Wishing you all best in the upcoming RunDisney season!

Woo hoo! Congrats!

 

[camaker]

More shoe talk: how often do you replace insoles / inserts? I don't have custom fit ones, just superfeet, but I kind of want to use them for at least two pairs.

I use the stock inserts that come with my shoes that my PT modifies for me. She recommends they be replaced every 1200-1300 miles or so.

 

[Scootin'By]

I use the stock inserts that come with my shoes that my PT modifies for me. She recommends they be replaced every 1200-1300 miles or so.

How about do you have to change the oil?

 

[The Expert]

The answer is always yes.

I am so susceptible to enabling that I'm pretty sure I enabled myself to buy two new pairs of shoes from this post. SMH!

I had been considering it anyway, but a friend who is a trainer and PT told me I may want to rotate in a stabilizing shoe while recovering from plantar fasciitis. So I ordered a couple pairs (Brooks Adrenaline GTS and Glycerin GTS) to try out with my Ghost Max. I love ordering from Brooks directly as they always upgrade to express shipping for free and it's one of the few items I can order and get in a few days out here in the boonies.

 

[nancipants]

I am so susceptible to enabling that I'm pretty sure I enabled myself to buy two new pairs of shoes from this post. SMH!

I had been considering it anyway, but a friend who is a trainer and PT told me I may want to rotate in a stabilizing shoe while recovering from plantar fasciitis. So I ordered a couple pairs (Brooks Adrenaline GTS and Glycerin GTS) to try out with my Ghost Max. I love ordering from Brooks directly as they always upgrade to express shipping for free and it's one of the few items I can order and get in a few days out here in the boonies.

I wear the Adrenaline GTS and like them a lot!

 

[Professor_Cookie]

How about do you have to change the oil?

These days oil changes in your insoles are much easier. The filter is on top of the insert. Pump the old oil out, change the filter, new oil and filter in. Torque to spec. At least with euro inserts. Don’t know for sure about JDM or Freedom insoles.