Karen Hulbert ran the Last Chance BQ.2 in Geneva, IL coming across the finish line in the time of 4:19:21 which is PR of 12 minutes and 17 seconds and a BQ time.
I did it!!! BQ – 4:19:21 What an amazing experience, I never ran a marathon without bonking until today. I felt great the whole time and was able to pick up the pace at the end to finish under 4:20:00 so I can register for Boston on Friday. I ran the Last Chance BQ.2 marathon in Geneva, IL and would recommend it to anyone trying to qualify. You run a 3.25 mile loop around the Fox River 8 times. When I first told people I was doing this, they thought it would be kind of boring but it does have it advantages, they have elite water tables setup for your own unique fluids which you pass 8 times, awesome pacers and the greatest crowd support that you see every loop. Everyone racing is trying to qualify so you are all in the same boat. What a great feeling crossing that finish line and everyone cheering for you since they know you made it. This is a PR by over 12 minutes from my first marathon and a negative split to boot. Thanks RC for all your help and support, I never thought running a marathon could be so much fun!!
Gary York ran the Last Chance BQ.2 in Geneva, IL finishing this distance in the time of 3:35:54 which is a PR of 3:47 and BQ time.
The race was a big 4 minute BQ for me, which has been a goal of mine for the past 18 months. My wife and I met and married in Boston, so we look forward to going back for the race in April. I placed third in my AG, and avoided the bonk and dehydration which have been challenges in the marathon for me.
Amy Thomas ran the Erie Presque Isle Marathon in Erie, PA finishing this race in the time of 4:15:24 which is a BQ time.
It was a good news/bad news day….good news is that because I move up to the next age group in 2017, I pretty easily qualifed for Boston 2017. Bad news is my time was 6 minutes slower than last year – huge disappointment. I still ended up 11th out of 28 women in my age group. Had a strong first half and felt really good through mile 18. By mile 22, my legs felt like lead. Around mile 24, the pacer for the 4:10 time passed me, and my heart just sank…I just wasn’t able to push any faster. The last 1.2 miles were simply brutal – I was really woozy and had a hard time even running straight. I probably looked like I was drunk! My Garmin ran out of juice at 25 miles, but if I calculated right, I think it took me 18 minutes to run that last 1.2 miles. Ugh! There was an amazing lady right around that point who must have seen that I was struggling, and she started running next to me – so she really had to slow down her pace, and she kept asking me if I was ok. Of course I kept saying yes, because there was no way I was not going to finish! Am so grateful I finished. The medical people spotted right away that I was wobbly, and they took me to the medical tent. Very humbling. That was the last place I ever expected to end up! One of those character building experiences that gave me a whole new empathy for others who struggle! The outcome was so unexpected…I felt so ready for this race, and am not really sure what went wrong. One thing that may have affected things is that this past week was a super, super busy, exhausting week with a lot of responsibility and not enough sleep. So even though I did all the training, I went into the race not fully rested and strong. I am still so, so grateful for all of you coaches and the whole RC team – considering I was never an athlete, my time was still amazing, and I know I could not have done that and certainly could never have even finished this race had it not been for all the things I learned from you all! Thank you!!!!!
Morgan Daulton ran the The Road Home Half Marathon in Somerset, KY finishing this race in the time of 1:56:50 which is a PR of 1 minutes and 54 seconds.
This was a small half marathon where my father and stepmother live, so I decided to make this a tune up race for the Indianapolis half. My previous PR was 1:58:44, and my goal in November is 1:53:00, so I set my goal at 1:55:00. There were two huge hills at miles 3-4, but after that I did a good job of settling into an 8:45 pace. My mantra for the day was “Trust your training!” which is what Coach Jamie says all the time! I didn’t know if I was capable of keeping that pace up, but I just kept thinking, trust your training. I set a PR of 1:56:50, and got second place in my age group! I can’t wait for my big race in November. I’m confident I’ll meet my goal.
Rich Green ran the Lehigh Valley Marathon in Easton, PA coming across the finish line in the time of 3:37:24 which is PR of 5 minutes and 5 seconds and a BQ time.
Despite a solid training schedule, I headed into this race with a couple if injuries that were of great concern. I was worried that all of my preparation would be wasted. But last night. I told myself that nothing was going to prevent me from running the race I had “earned” to run. Sure enough, I was able to concentrate on staying on pace and any discomfort I was feeling faded away. I was able to draw upon many of the “race specific” training workouts, which provided me not only with the physical ability to run a PR, but also with the confidence of knowing “I had it in me” to run strong. I stuck to the PC marathon plan to the letter: easy first 4 miles, holding the pace from miles 5-13, increasing the pace a bit through mile 22, and then keeping it together through the end of the race. I have to acknowledge all of the RC research with regard to fueling and hydration. I previous marathons, I would suck down a GU every 45-60 minutes, and choke it down with Gatorade. That was the extent of how I consumed energy. No wonder my last 6-10 miles were always so problematic. I devoured all of the articles having to do with this often ignored, but insanely important, aspect of racing. I can honestly say that how I fueled and hydrated leading up to and during the marathon made a huge difference in my performance. I owe it all to the amazing, patient, and brilliantly knowledgeable RC coaches, without whom I couldn’t have done what I managed to do in my last two marathons!
David Hendrix ran the Plaza 10k in Kansas City, MO finishine this race distance in the time of 44:16 which is a PR of 2 minutes 38 seconds.
10k tune-up race. This was my last hard effort run until my marathon in 3 weeks. PERFECT weather. Everything went really well. I was targeting sub 45 with an ‘A’ goal of sub 44. I’ve never really raced a 10k distance, so I wasn’t too sure how to plan it out. My old 10k PR was just a 6.2 mile section of last year’s half marathon. All of the mile markers were quite short, and I was kind of worried that the course was not going to be the full 6.2, which would have given me a great time, but not a true 10k time. Turned out that the last 0.2 was closer to 0.35 and the course ended a little long. Finished in 44:16, so the extra bit over 6.2 pushed me just past 44 minutes, so basically hit my ‘A’ goal for 6.2. This was a good confidence builder going into the full in 3 weeks. Most of this race felt comfortably hard. Never felt like I was dying til the last 0.1 or so when my stomach was just not having it. Set a 10k PR by 2:38 Within the race, set a 5k PR by 45 seconds. Ran mile 6 at 6:45, which is the fastest mile I’ve had in any official race of any distance ever. Unrelated by exciting nonetheless, my family has started doing 5k’s once or twice a month since May, mostly walking, but now a little jogging here and there. My brother PR’d as a jogger, dad PR’d walking, and mom paced my sister to a PR of over 10 minutes. Great races for the whole family today!
Kim Rankin ran the Hooters 2 Hooters 10k in Clearwater, FL finishing this race in the time of 1:23.
Well this was my first time doing a 10k not using run walk intervals. Finish time wasn’t what I hoped for . But it was a learning experience that I need about pacing. Wasn’t awful but somewhat frustrating as I tried to make it through despite having gotten caught up in the crowd and started too fast. It has been over 9 months since I raced this distance. So I guess it’s okay to have a race like this. It’ll get better when it’s cooler and not 98% humidity and high 70’s /low 80’s.
Laurie Householder ran the Milestone Half Marathon in Savannah, GA coming across the finish line in the time of 1:45 which is a PR of 3 minutes and 57 seconds and taking 3rd place female overall.
I was a tad nervous going into the race as I was feeling very “under-recovered” earlier in the week from some tough marathon-specific workouts, but slow running and rest made me anxious to RUN by the time Saturday rolled around! A poor weather forecast of rain meant no headphones for me (kinda wish I had practiced this more!) I recognized a local speedy ultra runner and her friend so I knew they would blow me out of the water (which they did!- 1:27 & 1:28), but, because it was a small race, I felt good about possibly coming in 3rd if I paced smartly. I held steady at 7:55-8:00/ mile for the first 6 miles and held a position of 5th female. At the turn-around point, I passed 2 females and built up a solid lead (running 7:49pace). I walked through a couple of later water stations to catch my breath a bit, but kept my paces up and followed a guy running a similar race and neither of the 2 girls behind me were in sight. I picked the pace up a bit and passed the guy in front of me around 10 miles. This is where it got hairy… With no one anywhere in front of me and “sleepy/ absent” volunteers, I missed my turn around 11.5 miles! I didn’t get far before realizing it, but the volunteers seemed clueless how to get me back on track! I almost panicked, thinking that I was going to lose my lead! I lost about 30- 45 seconds (estimated) trying to figure out what to do when I saw one of the girls I passed heading down the correct path. I jumped back into it and sped past her as fast as I could! She didn’t seem to want to match me so I felt confident in my newfound lead again, but I was mad that a couple of men had passed me that I had passed awhile back. I ran the 12th mile in 7:24 out of pure anger at my mistake, passing both men. The course was long (13.4 miles, and, yes, I ran the tangents- everyone found it to be long- not certified, but wheel measured) so I sprinted the last . 4 as fast as I could, but one of the men out-kicked me in the final yards. I finished at 1:45. However, despite really wanting to see a 1:42-1:43 time on the clock, I was thrilled to have fought back for my 3rd overall female place and confident that with a true 13.1 distance and without my route mistake, I would have gotten the time I was fighting so hard for!
Djamila Grossman ran her first marathon at the Schorfheide Trail Marathon in Altkunkendorf, Germany finishing this race in the time of 5:25:41.
This was my first marathon and it’s been a dream of mine for almost 10 years. It was a really small race, around 60 runners doing the marathon distance, I was the 6th woman to cross the finish line. Jamie was great to work with and I had no serious problems with injuries throughout the entire training period. This was a trail race with quite a few hills. That’s why the time is slower than it would have been on a road. I love running on trails it’s what I run for. I’m pretty good on the uphill, I noticed, hills don’t bog me down, I don’t mind them. Pretty early on my IT-band got tight and I had to stop a few times to stretch it out. Honestly, at around 26 km I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to finish because it hurt pretty badly. But then I pushed through and a 5-km uphill made the pain subside a little bit. During the last km’s some sort of adrenaline rush kicked in and I didn’t feel anything, I finished strong and without pain. Now I’m a little sore and I can feel the IT band but it’s getting better every day. Thanks so much to Jamie and RC – this was the best decision to join, can’t wait for the next race!!!
Scott Langman ran his first marathon at the Queen City Marathon in Regina, SK, Canada coming across the finish line in the time of 3:42:22.
This was my first marathon. I finished 64th overall, 53rd among men, and 5th in my age group. So, first off, yay me! I ran my first half marathon race in late 2014 and while my time wasn’t amazing, it was good enough that I considered my two year half marathon challenge (from couch to 5K to 10K to 21K) wrapped and needed a new challenge for 2015. Enter marathon training. Early on, I was targeting sub-4, but as I ran more and more through the winter and spring, it became apparent I could do better. I set my goal at 3:45 and began training in earnest with Runners Connect in May. The training went so well that I started dreaming of a 3:30 marathon, but that’s a dream for 2016. I made the classic rookie mistake of starting too quickly as I navigated through the crowd. My legs started showing signs of the fatigue that was going to cripple me later around the halfway point, but I ignored their whining and continued on faster than I should have. I had a race plan for3:38 (ambitious, I know), but I was even a few minutes ahead of that for nearly 3/4 of the race. At which point I guess I bonked. I felt I had a good nutrition strategy, but that doesn’t work so well if you’ve been running the entire race too quickly. The last 1/4 of the race was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, pushing myself to keep running at an easy pace just to finish. I had enough time in the bank from my fast first 30K to finish under the3:45 goal, so I can still be happy with the result while mourning what could have been and learning from my mistakes.
Owen Van Walleghem ran the Queen City Marathon in Regina, SK, Canada finishing this race in the time of 3:18:43 which is a PR of 11 minutes and placed him 1st in his Age Group.
I ran the Queen City Marathon yesterday, and the weather was perfect, sunny and cool. I fell a little short of my goal time (I was aiming for 3:10:00, but finished in 3:18:43), but this is still an 11 minute PR! I did hit my secondary goal of finishing in the top 20 (placed 19th overall out of 477). I was also surprised to find out that I placed 1st in the 30-34 age division! I’m still a long ways off from a BQ, but these results are motivating. I did my best not to focus on my watch, and rely on feel to make sure I was conserving enough energy for later, while still pushing myself along at a decent clip. I didn’t hit the massive wall at mile 18 like my last marathon, but I did hit a bit of a fence (if this isn’t a thing, I think we should make it one) around mile 22. I pushed hard, but my paces still slid by about 20-30s/mi. This is much better than the 1-2min/mi they dropped last time. As I get more marathons under my belt, hopefully I can improve even more on this. The race itself was decent. It was a nice flat course through some pretty neighbourhoods, Regina’s downtown, and many miles through a relaxing park. There was some decent wind in the park, but for every second it slowed you down going in, it helped you along going out. There were a couple of points where they had us running on the shoulder of busy roads with two-way traffic and no barriers or signage that I could see to help protect us, which felt a bit dangerous, but that’s my only complaint.This was a great way to end my training season.
James Barrand ran the Canmore Rocky Mountain in Canmore, Alberta finishing this distance in the time of 42:35.
This was my first attempt at racing a 10K. I usually race the half or full marathon, but thought I would throw in some shorter races to change things up and hopefully help improve my marathon times going forward. The race went really well, I started off a little fast but soon found my pace and then latched on to some runners who helped me push through the middle miles of the race. The legs started to tire around KM 6, but I was fully prepared for it given the training leading up to the race. In the last 2k, I still had a little left and was able to up the pace and pass a few more runners. Finished 9th overall and 2nd in my age group. Really, really happy with how the run went and am looking forward to seeing how the training helps me in longer races.
George Willard ran the Downtown Willoughby 5K in Willoughby, Ohio coming across the finish line in the time of 23;27 which is a PR of 1 minute and 10 seconds.
A lot of the course is on streets I run during training. Finished 110 out of 1600+ runners.
Christopher Berry ran the Dino Dash 10K in Calgary, AB, Canada finishing this distance in the time of 40:03 which is a PR of 30 seconds.
Although not a big PR or the time I had hoped for, this was simply a tune up race for my goal half marathon at the beginning of October. It was a scorching hot day and I think I suffered for it. However, I did come 1st in my age group winning me a cool new medal to add to the collection! I started off at a good pace, comfortably hitting the first 3 mile splits I wanted to, but I quickly dropped off the pace and struggled to bring it back until the last half of the final mile. Frustrating I couldn’t get under the 40 minute mark but very pleased to win my age group category.
Anthony Boyadjis raced the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City coming across the finish line in the time of 6:50.
A good barometer given lack of pure mile based speed work. Even splits at 3:25 per half. Lots of fun.
Janet Smith ran the Bozeman half marathon in Bozeman, Montana finishing this race in the time of 2:19:50 which is a PR by 6 minutes.
I ran this with a girlfriend and i was her first half!
Mike Sheridan ran the Swallowfield 10k in Swallowfield, Berks, UK finishing this race in the time of 39:06.
A small local race with about 250 runners. The course starts with an uphill section for the best part of 2.5km, so not easy if you get your pacing wrong by going off too hard. At the top, I had two or three people to work with and by the time we worked our way back to the start area after 5km, I had worked through them and ran the second half as a solo time trial. My second 3 mile segment (4.8K) was the fastest at 18:41 mins/secs, and I just managed to speed up for the final 1k + into the finish in 39:06 (just 7 secs slower than my PR despite this being a tougher course). Finished 20/261 position and 1st male Vet. One of my clubmates won 1st female overall and set a new course record, so a good morning’s work.
Siobhan Donegan ran the Maple Leaf Half Marathon in Manchester, Vermont finishing in the time of 1:41:00.
On Saturday I ran the Maple Leaf Half Marathon for the third year in a row on a picture perfect fall day. My goal was to try to run a little faster than I did last year in the hopes of building my confidence for the marathon I am running in October. I managed to run all of 5 seconds faster over the 13.1 miles but still have tried to spend the last 48 hours gleaning pearls of wisdom from this race effort that might help me come October! The race was uphill for miles 1-4, downhill 5-7, a steeper uphill for 7-9 and then a gradual downhill 9-13.1. I ran conservatively and felt generally strong until the uphill stretch at miles 7-9. I thought the worst was behind me at approximately mile 8 but soon met up with an even more intimidating hill that I guess I did not remember from last year. I tried to tackle it strategically but felt like I struggled nonetheless. I was very glad to make it to the top and get that behind me, knowing that the hardest part of the race was over and done. By mile 10 I was visualizing the race’s elevation map which, after 3 years, I had pretty much memorized! I knew the rest of the race was generally downhill and FLAT. Earlier that morning, I had contemplated trying to do a fast finish late in the race as the conditions were pretty near perfect. I gradually picked up my pace and soon was closing in on the finish line. I was totally ecstatic as I took that elusive right turn marking the home stretch into the park where the finish line awaited me. Such a thrill! I ran only 5 seconds faster but was happy that I persevered on the hills and was able to push myself at the end. Grateful for my RC training and hoping it will help bring my running to the next level over these next 6 weeks!
Troy Hanson ran the Jeff Winter City of Lakes Half Marathon in Minneapolis, MN finishing in the time of 1:52:16.
Beautiful location, beautiful weather, perfect size (about 1,000 racers, so not too crowded), very affordable ($45), great commemorative race pint glass, etc.
