7PRS and Several Debuts in varying race distances for Team RunnersConnect

Brian Hazard ran the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, CA finishing in the time of 3:35:54 which was a PR by 29 minutes.

BHazardThis was my third marathon, and a huge PR! Not only because I ran faster than before, but because for the first time, I didn’t bonk! For that I credit Marathon Nutrition Blueprint. I executed Coach Jamie’s plan, and the splits were far more precise than they felt at the time. I’ve never pushed myself so hard or ran through so much pain, but I remember Coach Sarah saying that she shouldn’t be able to walk the day after a marathon. I actually exceeded what I thought was my max heart rate, so I feel confident I left it all on the road (Strava gave it a 545 “Epic” Suffer Score). Thank you coaches!

Alan Frischer ran the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, CA coming across the finish line with a time of 3:46:46 which was a PR and BQ.

This is my most important post. I ran my marathon today in Huntington Beach, California. My predicted time was 3:47. I ran it in 3:46:46. I felt strong the whole race. My early pace was 10 -15 seconds below my marathon pace. For the rest of the race I held my pace steady. The last mile I did feel tired but willed myself to continue at the marathon pace. This was my PR!. This qualified me for Boston. I am very pleased and grateful. I want to tell all of you in Runners Connect that I followed the program precisely. There were times I had my doubts, but I do want to say it really really works. Thank you all for the amazing support. Best of luck on all of your runs and races.

Rob Sklenar ran the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, CA as a pacer for the 4 hour marathon group bringing his group in at 3:59:03.

RobSkI was the 4 hour pacer for this race. I’ve paced the race at least 3 years in a row and love the event. It’s always special to have a chance to help some people achieve their goals, especially to help some runners get under the 4 hour mark for the first time. The blessing of being fit and healthy enough to pace the full while still training for my own goals is never lost on me!

Sascha Fennel ran the Course Du Soleil Half marathon in Nice / Monaco coming across the finish line in the time of 1:49:16 which is a PR by 3 minutes and 28 seconds.

SaschaFIn the weeks before I struggled a lot. Two weeks break around Christmas I came back to running on January 01 and felt like an elephant. Heavy, no form. Then a bad cold hit me. I did some runs but more than anything I got discouraged. I have to thank the coaches Jamie, Sarah and Danny as well as some of you to provide me with positive messages. Six months of training do not vanish as fast. But still I was not able to keep my training schedule with the crazy work schedule I had these last three weeks. The first sign of hope was the training session of last Sunday, when I was able to execute a “Michigan”. Started as one of the last. First km flat then my “beloved” killah hill”. Telling myself “you got this!”. And I did. Passing people slowly but with a good rhythm, not a crazy one. After this I said to myself, if you want to achieve your goals, go for it now. Don’t wait. If you don’t make it and crash at the end, you will have all the excuses. No excuses necessary. With each km I became more confident. At km 15 we go up around 100m over 2km. Good thing I read about this the night before so I was prepared. I kept my effort and everything went fine. Once on top I chased down into the finish.  You have told me I would be able to succeed todays race. And I did. PR plus sub 1:50:00 and everything with a little negative split despite starting off strong ! Thank you, RC, for the tremendous support !

Ramona Dragnea ran the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon in San Francisco, CA finishing this race in the time of 1:57:38 which is PR by 1 minute and 27 seconds.

RamonaDI ran this race two months after I started training with Runners Connect and PR-ed by 1 min 27 sec. The program must be working!  It’s a nice race that starts at a decent hour (8 am), with some very mild elevation gain and 2 miles downhill in the middle.  I warmed up before the race (by now a rule that I follow!) and started first mile on the slower side then kept the pace pretty constant throughout the race, including the 600 yards of uphill.  I’m very excited about the new PR and I’m sure the training plan put together by Coach Jamie had a major role in this.

Holly Enzler ran the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon in San Francisco, CA finishing this race distance in the time of 1:38:17.

Perfect conditions and perfect friends.

Manish Dhruv ran the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon/5K in San Francisco, CA in finishing his first 5K in the time of 25:57.

ManishDTravelling to Santa Rosa on work and impromptu registered for the race just for fun. I have been not been running for last 2 weeks and initially felt jittery about the race but mentally had to tell myself to just let go and enjoy the race. It was quite cold in the morning and coming from a hot country like India, my hands and feet went numb. It was only after 3 Kms that I started to fine. The race in the Golden Gate Park was completely downhill track and it helped me get a good timing. I have never ran a timed 5K race and it was good to see what I could achieve.  Thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and the race 🙂

Lisa Thomas ran the Winter Beach Run 10 miler in Jacksonville Beach, FL finishing in the time of 1:16:50.

LisaTI feel like I had a little breakthrough at this race. Running on a windy beach in February is not one of my favorite things to do but I was pleasantly surprised at how strong I felt throughout the race and everything felt good physically. I kept thinking about how I have definitely developed a stronger aerobic system from all my “easy” miles. I now preach to everyone about the easy/hard principle. Thanks RC!!

MJ Llamas ran the Distance Series in Virginia Beach, VA finishing in the time 2:33:22 which was a 13 minute improvement from last year.

MJLDistance Series is a local race sponsored by our running club to help runners train for Virginia Beach’s Shamrock Marathon and HM held in March. This is my 2nd year to run the 15 mile distance. I had 2 goals for this tune-up race… first is to test my Shamrock Marathon training fitness and second, hone in my race nutrition. I was hoping for a 2:20ish finish time, but due to super strong gusty winds (Garmin said 14mph but it felt stronger) combined with 17 degree temp, it was very hard to stay focused on my pacing. I was literally getting blown all over the place. We were a small group of runners and the course was wide open space. Nothing but cold, gusty wind for 15 miles. But because I have my RC training to back me up, I still managed to shave 13 minutes off my time from last year. The best part was the conditions from last years’ 15-miler was close to perfect (mid 40’s, sunny, zero wind). Yet I was able to race faster this y ear given the windy/cold conditions. As far as my race nutrition, I found a few things that need tweaking. And this tune-up race gave me the opportunity to simulate what I can do on race day. Overall, I can’t stress enough how much RC’s training system has revived my running life. I look forward to running more happy and faster miles!!

Jason Bryant ran the Winterdash 5k in Pearland, TX in finishing this distance in the time of 22:01 which is a PR of 55 seconds.

JasonThis was my first true run of any effort since my marathon a couple weeks ago. I haven’t done any speed training for months, so to log a 5k PR with a little marathon fatigue still left in my legs was nice.  I dropped 55 seconds off my time since my last 5k in September. My goal is to push toward a 20:00 5k later this year.

Vera Fajtova ran the Super Sunday 5 miler in Cambridge coming across the finish line with a time of 39:16 which was a PR of 1 minute and 30 seconds.

I think this is the first time I clocked in under 8 min miles for a 5 K or a 5 miler, so psyched!  What is it about a race that makes me go faster and not even know it?

Brenda Steedman ran the Dee Why to Manly Sun Run 10K in Manly Beach, Sydney, Australia finishing her first road 10K in the time of 55 minutes and 9 seconds.

HeidiBThis was my first 10k on the road so I was keen to see how well I could execute my race plan. I used all I’d learned from my training- preparation, pacing, running close to the corners, warm up as well as the best way to run hills (that last hill was a killer!). And I think it came together pretty well on the day and I couldn’t be happier with the result. Thanks RC coaches- it really does work!

Fernanda Avila Falsarella ran the Dee Why to Manly Sun Run 7K in Manly Beach, Sydney, Australia finishing this race distance in the time of 41 minutes and 20 seconds.

It is a very hilly route. Beautiful views along the north coast of Sydney.

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