Thanasis Kypraios ran the Run The Lake 10k and finished in a time of 41:06, which was a 34 seconds PR!
Only fourty days after marathon and almost 5 months before official goal race, I signed in to this race because of the beautiful location. I had little expectations from this race, it had a good amount of uphills and my days prior to the race were full of hard training.
So, the race starts and I try to keep a comfortably hard pace, at around 4:15 min/km. I keep my pace in the uphills, accelerate a little bit on the downhills and the even parts. I pass more and more people, many of whom are running the 4*5K relay. I still feel good, comfortable. At around km 9 I realize I am very close to a PR! I step on it and I finally do it! The race was 200 meters more than 10K, but I manage to catch a glimpse of my watch when I complete the tenth km. 41:06! Yes, man, well done, I think. Thank you RC team and team mates. Thank you!
Ed Chuchaisri ran the Chiang Mai Marathon 2015 and finished with a time of 01:55.
I love the weather in Chiang Mai. Nice and cool, unlike in Bangkok. I am already looking forward to the next year event.
Matt Garvey ran the Celtic Solstice 5 mile and finished the distance in the time of 39:19.
It’s my annual go to race, and the site of my 5 mile PR and I run in a kilt. Plus the chance of having to run in blinding snow has a certain appeal. Oh and there’s soup and cookies post race!
Mark Soo ran the Chiang Mai Marathon and finished with a time of 3:37:32, which was a PR!
This was my first full marathon. I chose Chiang Mai as this is in the north of Thailand and at this time of the year the weather is very pleasant. The start was good and ran with a few friends from my club who also joined this event. Everything was fine till 28km when I started to struggle and the pace dropped dramatically. The last 14km was very tough and just about avoided cramp in the last few km’s.
The course was around 700m short and I finished it in 3:37:32. Taking the average pace I would have finished the full distance in 3:41:44. The time was slower than predicted based on an earlier half marathon time but I know these are only approximate finishing times. Overall I’m happy with the time and the performance as it was my first marathon. I will take the lessons from this and hopefully improve in future races.
Thanks to all the RC coaches for the structured training plan and advice and the RC members for the motivation and support.
Nicola Tortora ran the “Corrida del Progresso” Half Marathon and finished in 1:35:30. This was a personal record by 4 minutes!
This was a flat HM race in the middle of the Bologna (Italy) countryside. The previous was on this same race last year and I manage to cut it down by 4 minutes :-).
I followed all the recommendations from RC on how to tactically run the race. I wanted to keep a 4,30 min/km pace and did a good start and first part of the race and managed to keep the pace, than after km 14 I was running by myself and did not have any reference as it was at the beginning and fell a bit behind (but enjoyed the landscape though). Than I finished with a strong last Km below the targeted average. I’m happy and my legs were not completely exploited when I arrived and my wife was there waiting for me (she did run an alternative 13 KM non competitive run along the same route and she arrived just in time for a good picture)…so I’m looking forward to the next one. Good fun 🙂
Jeoren Domensino ran the California International Marathon and finished this distance in the time of 3:22:29.
The race plan worked very well again! I completed the marathon in 3:22:29, which was only 12 seconds slower than my PR. I was happy with the result and enjoyed the running. CIM is not as easy is being advertised on their web site 🙂 Next up is the Boston marathon!
Mary Watson ran the Islamorada Half Marathon and finished with a time of 2:45:22.
The first Islamorada Half Marathon was a beautiful course in the Florida Keys. I felt more prepared than I ever have for a race, thanks to my RC training, and was looking forward to my best half ever. Unfortunately, there were several factors which prevented this from being my best performance, but I never could have handled them as well as I did and finish had I not trained with Runners Connect and the guidance of the RC coaches.
The race started right after a morning downpour, and the temperature was about 78F and muggy at the start, warming from there. I started a little faster than intended, but made an effort to slow a little for miles 2 and 3 and was feeling strong, right where I wanted to be. I started to increase my speed for mile 4, as planned, but had a little slow down in the next couple of miles, as there were bridges to run over and it was getting hotter. Still, I wasn’t too worried until the turnaround in mile seven, which took us straight into a headwind. Winds had been predicted at 20mph, and I think were at least that, especially at the tops of the bridges. I was fighting just to move forward, and found myself running considerably slower using considerably greater effort. I ran even slower than my easy pace for miles 8, 9, and 10, using all the energy I had, and finally had to succumb and run/walk for the final 3 miles.
My final time was quite a disappointment, to say the least, but I am trying to focus on the positive and be encouraged by the strength of the first half of my race. Thank you, coaches, for your help and guidance, and to all RC members for your encouragement along the way. Thank you also to RC for the wealth of information which helped me to prepare and get the most from my training.
Beth Filla ran the Dallas marathon and finished with a time of 3:55: 48. This was a PR by 14 minutes!
Finally broke the 4-hour mark, which was huge! And, felt good throughout the race. The only “disappointment” is that BQ for my age is 3:55:00! Next time…
