The Running Thread --2025

[nancipants]

You couldn't pay me to run a corn tunnel in the dark

Definitely not after the movie Signs.

 

[Naomeri]

Definitely not after the movie Signs.

I was thinking Children of the Corn

 

[KCO5988]

I ran a Ragnar race a number of years ago and had to run past a cornfield in the middle of the night alone, with no other runners in sight. 10/10 do not recommend for keeping a normal heart rate while running!

 

[rick1zoo2]

Race wrap up: Today we did the Bird-In-Hand half marathon, which is located in Amish-land PA. The race itself was well organized, there was a big pasta, pizza, and pie dinner last night at bib pickup, along with a 5k. The highlight, of course, was the shoofly pie. I believe there were more than 2000 runners.

Not much to report as for both of us it was not a great race. The nice, low 50 temperatures from last week were replaced by a very muggy 71 degrees, 91% humidity, 69 dew point at race-time of 7:30 am. I think it was 80 by the time we finished. Also, there were many hills on the course which made it very tough. I did a lot of walking and just glad to have finished.

If you might remember from April, we also did the companion Garden Spot Village Half Marathon also in Amish-land PA. This qualified me for the highly coveted road apple award, which you can see me proudly displaying along with the medals made from real, used horse-shoes. I think the road apple award may need to be kept in the garage as I don't think there was enough lacquer applied to the real road apples.

What a difference 48 hours and 20 degrees made!! Still recovering a bit from Saturday's awful Half Marathon, we decided to just get out and do an easy recovery run today. It was 50 degrees out, low humidity, dew point of 47. I wasn't paying attention to my pace, but it felt really great and even did the main hill at full speed twice out of revenge for all the hills on Saturday. And then around mile 4-5, I managed to find that awesome gear where I feel like I can just fly. Then cruised through the final mile, ended up doing about 6 miles total at the pace I was supposed to do on Saturday. I also noticed that my heart rate was much lower during today's run compared to Saturday's race.

So we spent a lot of time analyzing what went wrong on Saturday, and since it affected both of us, I am convinced it was the weather that did us in. One week prior to the race, we both felt great, and did a few amazing long runs and felt we were ready for the race. But that weekend the weather was cool - in the 50's as it had been for a few weeks. So even though we had plenty of runs this summer where it was warm and humid, we must have lost that conditioning due to the cool weather in August. I also realized that I was a bit dehydrated for the race, and even though I had water or gatorade at each stop (every two miles), it was not enough to make up for it. It took most of Saturday and a lot of water until things got back to normal hydration for me. And I also went too fast at the beginning - I didn't adjust for the weather and didn't do run/walk intervals from the beginning as I had planned to. I really need to learn to stick to the plan!

 

[jmasgat]

In the “minor catastrophe” department, I seem to have lost my beloved ASICS windproof headband—a workhouse of my running gear that has saved me from many a nasty headache (my ears do not respond well to cold/wind). Maybe it’s still enjoying Iceland, who knows, but I am now faced with an even worse task than finding new shoes.

It’s hard to find a headband labeled as windproof, and many of the ones that are just have a “windproof front panel” which does me no good—it’s got to have it over the ears.

I’d welcome any recommendations, if anyone has one.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

What a difference 48 hours and 20 degrees made!! Still recovering a bit from Saturday's awful Half Marathon, we decided to just get out and do an easy recovery run today. It was 50 degrees out, low humidity, dew point of 47. I wasn't paying attention to my pace, but it felt really great and even did the main hill at full speed twice out of revenge for all the hills on Saturday. And then around mile 4-5, I managed to find that awesome gear where I feel like I can just fly. Then cruised through the final mile, ended up doing about 6 miles total at the pace I was supposed to do on Saturday. I also noticed that my heart rate was much lower during today's run compared to Saturday's race.

So we spent a lot of time analyzing what went wrong on Saturday, and since it affected both of us, I am convinced it was the weather that did us in. One week prior to the race, we both felt great, and did a few amazing long runs and felt we were ready for the race. But that weekend the weather was cool - in the 50's as it had been for a few weeks. So even though we had plenty of runs this summer where it was warm and humid, we must have lost that conditioning due to the cool weather in August. I also realized that I was a bit dehydrated for the race, and even though I had water or gatorade at each stop (every two miles), it was not enough to make up for it. It took most of Saturday and a lot of water until things got back to normal hydration for me. And I also went too fast at the beginning - I didn't adjust for the weather and didn't do run/walk intervals from the beginning as I had planned to. I really need to learn to stick to the plan!

Can confirm, Saturday was rough. I just had a regular medium-long run with a pickup, and I was slow and felt terrible (we had a similar weather story). So I think your analysis is probably right!

 

[michigandergirl]

I got in to the Big Sur Marathon!!! My excitement quickly turned to panic when I realized how much hill training I'm going to have to do...

Has anyone here run this? Any advice on the course/training?

 

[nancipants]

There is a 50 percent sale at Crowned Athletics today and I am showing immense restraint in not buying anything.

 

[The Expert]

There is a 50 percent sale at Crowned Athletics today and I am showing immense restraint in not buying anything.

I caved and bought a sports bra and tank to match a few items I already have. The "final sale" thing scares me a bit, and it's a bummer no loyalty codes work. I don't think Crowned is going anywhere but it certainly feels like a supplier switch and/or complete overhaul of the product line. Considering how tariffs are probably affecting her business, I'm not shocked.

 

[nancipants]

I caved and bought a sports bra and tank to match a few items I already have. The "final sale" thing scares me a bit, and it's a bummer no loyalty codes work. I don't think Crowned is going anywhere but it certainly feels like a supplier switch and/or complete overhaul of the product line. Considering how tariffs are probably affecting her business, I'm not shocked.

Oof, that’s true. I said I wasn’t going to buy anything but I might stock up on their bras cause I love them.

 

[dis_or_dat]

I got in to the Big Sur Marathon!!! My excitement quickly turned to panic when I realized how much hill training I'm going to have to do...

Has anyone here run this? Any advice on the course/training?

Congrats! (And happy belated birthday!)

I ran Big Sur last year. Roads are EXTREMELY cambered, just a warning.

I would be doing lots of downhill training. And with the cambered roads, my toenails are still recovering!

There’s a 2 mile hill, which sounds bad but is a relief with all descent. Actually, there’s lots of rolling hills so I’d train for that.

My year, the winds weren’t as bad as was anticipating - but probably more the exception to the rule. Heard they can be really strong.

There’s also not much crowd support but i would mostly enjoy the views and classic stops (piano man, taiko drummers, and strawberries).

LMK if you have any other questions!

 

[avondale]

In the “minor catastrophe” department, I seem to have lost my beloved ASICS windproof headband—a workhouse of my running gear that has saved me from many a nasty headache (my ears do not respond well to cold/wind). Maybe it’s still enjoying Iceland, who knows, but I am now faced with an even worse task than finding new shoes.

It’s hard to find a headband labeled as windproof, and many of the ones that are just have a “windproof front panel” which does me no good—it’s got to have it over the ears.

I’d welcome any recommendations, if anyone has one.

You can't buy the same thing you had? I'm guessing it was something you had for ages and is no longer made...