Team RunnersConnects throws down 13PRs and several solid debuts in new distances from 5 miler to marathon.

Dennis Moore ran the GO! St. Louis Marathon in St. Louis, MO coming across the finish line in the time of 4:19:15 which is a PR by 8 minutes and 37 seconds.

Dennis MooreThe wins – PR of 8:37 / After struggling with the latter part of training, I had goal of 4:12 – 4:15 for this, and I was able to maintain a pace well below that, even thinking not only “PR” at the half way point, but also a negative split and maybe even sub-4:00. But after mile 14, the rolling hills of this course began to beat me up. But I’m still pretty happy about the small improvement all things considered. More than the PR, I have much to build on with this race. Just like the early barriers I remember back in my C25K days getting started, at some point I’m going to have to start pushing myself past the mental barriers better – especially in training. I did, however, push through some walls today which would have probably stopped me a year ago. And I finished believing that with a little better health while training, and a little more intestinal fortitude, I can and will do much better.
Things to build on: Non-stop rolling hills! By the time I got to “Forest Park” in the last portion of the race where the hills were the worst, they won! I pretty much fell apart the final 10K, to the point that the down hills felt as bad if not worse than the inclines. I don’t recall ever thinking that before. A little windy, but not to the point I think it affected anything. I just hate wind! Not good for a Midwestern runner.

Cynthia Morris ran the Rock Creek Ramble 30K in Escure Ranch Sprague, Washington finishing this race distance in the time of 3:19:20 which was her first time running this distance.

CynthiaIt was overcasted and 45 with a 30 plus mph wind. Beautiful location with green rolling prairie and interesting rock mesas. This was a tune up race to get my fueling right for my upcoming ultras. The “trails” ranged from old ranching roads that had hard cow prints in them to just running across clumps of prairie grass. All the long 4 plus miles uphills were into the wind. There were at least 10 fence crossings on A-frame steps. Started out at an easy trail running pace as Coach Jamie wanted me to. At mile 4 there was suppose to be water but all it was was a large 5 gallon container. no cups. While I was busy staring at it trying to decide what to do, I totally missed a turn. added 2 miles by the time I figured it out! Got back on the trail and at 6 miles started picking up the pace. Caught 4 people that had passed me on my little adventure off trail. At about 5 miles from the finish, I picked it up for a “fast finish “. While sizing up an upcoming gate I caught my foot and went flying, landing on my nose (literally) and skinning “above” my knees. Got back up and continued on. This race was so much fun. The trails interesting and when they were good it was like riding a roller coaster. I think I won the 30k (plus 2 miles) but it was a very small race and no awards. Bummer as at my age how many races am I going to win? I kept thinking the whole was “this is so much fun!” And isn’t that what all this is about?!

Cheryl Shive ran the Project X 5k in Elkridge, MD finishing this race in the time of 27.16 which is a PR by 39 seconds.

New personal record and I was the third fastest female overall so I won a trophy and gift card. I wasn’t supposed to run that fast (10k 7 days later) and was aiming for a 9 min mile pace but got caught up in the race so I surprised myself. It was nice to get a new personal best and win a trophy and giftcard.

Matt Stewart ran the Australian Running Festival 50k Ultra in Canberra, Australia finishing this race distance in the time of 3:40:35 which a PR of 21 minutes o1 second.

MstewartAbsolutely beautiful conditions for this race and the sunrise over Lake Burleigh Griffin was spectacular; autumn leaves, mist rising off the warm lake and sunlight filtering through the trees.  The competition was a bit stiffer this year with this race doubling as the Australian 50k Champs and a selection race for the World 50k champs later in the year.  Last year my time was 04:01:36 on a slightly different course, this year – 3:40:35 so a 21:01 PR and improved my overall placing from 21st last year to 19th this year. I was using this race as a training run for the Comrades Marathon at the end of May so I’m really pleased with my progress and feeling confident about the next block of training.

Vajira Weerasekera ran his first marathon at the Canberra Running Festival 2015 in Canberra, Australia finishing this event in the time of 4:41:15.

 VajiraWIt was my first marathon. Raised funds for Shanthi Foundation and raised over $10,000 & i was the top fund raiser for the run as well. My plan for this first marathon was to be able to complete it fully, to run all the way, to be able to smile every km, to run strong and sprint the last 200m – Tick!  At 25km I felt great, the plan was working well, at 30km I felt very comfortable and didn’t know what to expect beyond 33km (as I have never run pass 33km), at 40km I couldn’t believe I was still alive & did wonder “what am I doing here?”, at 42km I knew I was still alive and it was time to sprint the last 200m, seeing the support crew at the end and remembering why I ran run this race made the finish an awesome experience!

Mike Smart ran the Plusnet Yorkshire Half Marathon in Sheffield, UK finishing in the time of 1:26:32 which is a PR of 9 minutes.

MSmartI’d had a really good training block leading up to this race with only a few minor set backs but for some inexplicable yet typical reason my ankle decided to play up at the end of last week. The ankle felt stiff this morning rather than painful so I jogged down to the race start to see how it felt – not perfect but manageable. And as I’d be passing my house about 2 miles I figured it’d be easy to see how it coped with race pace and pull out if need be.  Soon enough we set off and others went racing past as usual, checking my watch showed we were going at 5:45 – oops! I slowed it down to 6:30, settled in and started to drop back down the pack a bit. Predictably half a mile later I was starting to pass people once again. After the 1st mile the course starts to head uphill and over the following 4 miles gains 800 feet of elevation. It was time to dig in, forget about the pace and run by RPE. Plus the road soon opens up into countryside which provided very little shelter from the 35mph side winds that were blowing. A lot of people were either caught out here or hadn’t spent as much time running on the hills and the small pack I was in slowly reeled in quite a few others who had been ahead of us whilst averaging a 7:35/mile pace. Thankfully it was soon time to turn off the hill and cut across back to the main road back into town. Unfortunately that also meant turning into a headwind that more than cancelled out the slight downhill. More hard work, a quick gel and some digging in. A mile and a half later and it was time to turn back towards town for the downhill and with the wind at our backs at last. A lot of people I’d talked to thought this section would be easy – 6 miles pretty much all downhill – but I’d not looked forward to it. I think people tend to under estimate the impact of running down hill for a long time, particularly on tarmac. It was only a few miles in when my quads started to complain at the pace and I had to slow it down a bit to ensure I’d have something left for the finish. Luckily the course had fantastic support from the crowds with only a few stretches not being lined with people and this helped to keep my mind off the pain. Soon enough we were getting towards the flat finish and the legs were still just going. Except the actual finish wasn’t flat and was about 500m of uphill. Eurgh! One last surge and I was done. Official chip time – 1:26:32 and 86th. I’m extremely pleased with that given the course and the conditions. Now just to see how the ankle reacts…

Benoit de Ligniville ran the Paris Marathon in Paris, France finishing the race distance in the time of 3:28:59 which was a PR of 16 minutes.

I eventually made it ! Breaking the 3 hours and a half on a marathon was my main goal for this season and it was made possible thanks to the training. My strategy was to run a negative split, but I failed to restrain myself in the first kilometers so I choose quickly to take the pace I trained for instead. I managed to keep the pace all along the race except for the last 2 km, but I was able to stay within my goal. I look forward for my next race (probably a 10km, as I think I have room for improvement in that sector), but first and foremost, I will relax and enjoy !!

Rooney Kelly ran the Marsden Half Marathon in Marsden, Ontario, Canada running the race in time of 2:07:49 which was over a 2 minute PR.

RooneyKellyThe half marathon I participated in this weekend was the most challenging and entertaining run I have ever been a part of. It was a cold morning with up to 45km winds. We were told there were “some” hills but nothing we couldn’t handle. It turns out there were 26 rolling, STEEP hills. I learned swear words I never knew existed. There were a lot of laughs over those darn cliffs, I mean hills. I felt strong until the end but couldn’t beat the wind and fell short of meeting my time by 10 seconds. I am slowly inching my way towards my goal and feel encouraged by my growing strength and endurance. I have Runners Connect to thank for that.

Maggie Arnold ran the Raleigh Rock and Roll Half Marathon finishing in the time of 1:50:29 which is a PR by 3 minutes and 14 seconds.

This was a tough race for me. It was super hilly. I also go distracted by the 1:50 pace group. I felt like they were running really fast in the beginning, but I was trying to keep up with them none-the-less and blew my negative splits. I also had a massive bathroom break need in the middle (you said you wanted details!) I’d been battling a GI thing all week and after my Gu it fought back!!  That being said, I still had a PR…now on to the next race!!

James Hunt ran the Zoe 5K in Oviedo, Fl coming across the finish line in the time of 18:32.

JamesHuntMixed feelings about this race. Yes I ran what I call a “10 year PR” improving on what I ran in January by 3 seconds. However, I ran the first mile too fast (5:42) and then (naturally) hit the wall in mile 3 (6:23). Finished strong and took 2nd overall, but never threatened to win. Had I run more disciplined early, I think I might have given myself a chance for a final charge and run much faster for the day. That said, I ran poorly, ignored my game plan and still ran faster than on anyday in the last 10 years, including 20 seconds faster than this same race a year ago, where I felt I ran out of my mind fantastic! So thank you to RunnersConnect who has trained me to achieve success even on an off day!

Theresa Brennan ran the Doyle’s Emerald Necklace 5 miler in Boston, MA coming across the finish line in the time of 42:59 which was the first running this distance.

TheresaFirst 5 mile race for me so automatic PR but – more importantly – this is the first race ever where I’ve held a sub 9 minute pace for the whole thing! I’m very excited to see this progress.
I definitely need to work on pacing for shorter races as I’m used to taking a few miles to get warmed up before increasing speed. This time I had to go out kind of faster than normal and by mile 4 I was dying. I took a 30 second walk break but then finished strong.

Brian St.George ran the Fitger’s 5k in Duluth, MN coming across the finish line with a time of 17:14.

Brian St. GeorgeThe best thing about this race was realizing what a consistent year of RC training has done for my fitness level. I ran this race over a minute faster than my 5k time last year. I feel like I’m well on my way to setting a new 5k PR early in the season, yet I’m actually training for a marathon. The weather for the race was perfect; 50° with almost no wind! One of the coolest moments in the race was rubbing elbows with 2004 Olympian, Carrie Tollefson, as I passed her in the first mile. She won the women’s race and brought her crew along, so there was a bit more media than normal surrounding the start of the race (they had a drone hovering over the race filming…felt a little creepy).  I ran the race with the same strategy and pacing as my PR last August. I wanted to test my fitness, but didn’t expect to find myself fresh and running strong with a mile to go. I’m normally pretty upset with myself if I finish knowing I had more in me, but I’m OK with this one because I really didn’t expect to be in PR shape in April.

Lana Britt ran the Big D Half Marathon in Dallas, TX finishing this race in the time of 2:05:36.

LanaBrittThis race was definitely not a PR, but I was pleased to make it to both the start and finish line. I had a really great training season, and this was my target race. However, in the two weeks before race day, I developed pain bad enough in my lower left leg that I thought I might have a tibial stress fracture. I really appreciated Coach Jamie working with me to provide appropriate cross-training for easy days and the final pre-race speed workout, plus the encouragement. With essentially a week of no running prior to the race, I ran a hard effort and trusted my training, without relying on a watch. In the end, the terrible humidity slowed me down, but I felt that I raced as prepared and as well as I could have considering the pre-race circumstances. In the past, nagging aches the week before a race might have led me to skip the race altogether. Instead, I was able to do my best for the day and worry about the factors I could control.

Kristi Whitaker ran the Divas Half Marathon in North Myrtle Beach, SC finishing in the time of 2:04:49.

KristiWhittakerThis was a tune-up race, and a girls’ weekend away! I went into it planning to run for fun without a time goal, and see how I felt. I felt great, the weather was perfect. I ran conservatively through mile 9, then kicked it up a little. At mile 12, I realized NOTHING hurt! Not knees, hips, calf, foot… Yippee!

Chris Bussa ran the Big House 5k in Ann Arbor, MI finishing in the time of 26:24.

ChrisBussaFinished on the 50 yard line of the UofM football stadium. I was injured for most of 2014… and this was the first 5k I had run in over a year. Although it was not a PR, it was the 2nd fastest 5k I have run (since 2012 when I started up running again) Thanks Jamie for all of your help!

Alberto Pinton ran the Kvantumloppet 10K in Stockholm coming across the finish line in the time of 40 minutes 25 seconds.

 AlbertPDefinitely not a pb course. Few flat stretches, lots of undulation and quite a few climbs. Some trail patches with puddles and roots. Great fun but demanding on the speed and rhythm.

 

Christopher Sussman ran the Half Marathon Unplugged in Burlington, VT finishing in the time of 1:25:40 which was 5 minute course PR.

Not a PR (1:21:58), but a 5 min improvement over last year in the same race and hopefully a step forward to being prepared for my goal race of the Vermont City marathon in late May and a 3 hr or 3:05 finish. I was a little worried about this race since I have spent the last year trying to get control of a heel/retrocalcaneal bursitis issue in my right heel. The heel did not bother me during the race, but flared up afterwards. Although it is sore, a few days of rest should help and it seems manageable. I felt really good about my preparation for this race and seemed to eat the right foods and gave myself the right amount of warm up/jitters time before the race started. I am going to try to remember this approach for the marathon in a little over a month. I was also really happy with my pacing and managed negative splits so that seems to be a positive as well. Will continue to focus on hip and core strengthening as these things might be a t the crux of my heel issue. In reading about running form and seeing a picture of myself from this race, I have a sneaking suspicion that the way my knee(s) rotate inward when I land probably has to do with extra strain on my inflamed bursa. With work and discussion with my PT, also thinking my form and focusing on my left foot push off with cause me to land more efficiently on the problem right foot/achilles. Okay — enough about the issue that consumes my mind! It was awesome to run this race at the same time as my wife and be able to cheer her into the finish with her brother. We also had a hint of spring weather and I am ready to run in more mild temperatures!

Ying Ford ran the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in Washington DC finishing this race in the time of 1:16:49 which was a PR.

YingLBecause the race distance was shortened I don’t know how much time I have improved. I had knee problems a week before the race, I was just think to finish, get the medal and try to enjoy myself. The night before I did very serious foam rolling and stretching. In the morning of the race foam rolled and streched again, also put some biofreeze cream around the knee. It was such a beautiful day. When they announced the race is going to be shorter, I was not disappointed at all. I didn’t have pain until mile 8. I constantly rate my pain, if it’s 7 or 8 on scal of 10 I walk. I did 1:26:49. My watch (Timex run trainer) says 9.31 miles, my husband watch (garmin) says 9.36 miles.  I used an online calculator if I run BQ (3:55), my 10 miler time need to be 1:23. I think if it was a full 10 mile course I should be able to reach my goal. Now I need to rest long enough to baby my knee, and prepare to run my BQ in May!

Pippa S ran the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in Washington DC finishing this race in the time of 2:05:51 which was a PR.

PippaSI was feeling really, really negative coming into this race – weight gain, poor training, just a hard time getting my head into it. on race day i made a new mantra to repeat as I ran and really ran for fun – was a great day. My RunnersConnect training helped me finish on predicted time even though my training cycle had been so off. this race was a big confidence booster for me.

Margaret Hoogland ran the  Cherry Blossom 10 miler in Washington DC finishing this race in the time of 1:45:52.

 MargHI made a weekend of visiting family and friends. During my years of living in DC, I volunteered but could never run it. The course is gorgeous, well organized, and surprisingly special. Despite starting off far slower than intended – Yep, this is only my 3rd big race, I am happy with my time given my training up until this point and I didn’t walk. It also gives my ideas of what to change or to experiment with before my next races.

Alice Wagner ran the Yuengling Lager Jogger 5K in Pottsville, PA finishing in the time of 33:45.

This is a well organized race with 3000 participants that starts and finishes at America’s oldest brewery. The first .9 mi is up hill then a quick down hill and flat. After that two quick steep uphills before the nice down hill finish. Last year I placed 2nd in my age group. This year I had a faster time but came in 5th. There were 46 women in the 60-69 age group compared to about 20 last year as I recall.  Also last year I was doing run/walk in 3/1 minute intervals. I’ve transitioned back to all running.

Allie Whitelaw ran the Singer Island Half Marathon in Florida coming across the finish line in the time of 1:42:51 which was a PR of 12 seconds with 1st Age Group Award.

AllieWhitelawSlowed my planned pace down a little bit because of the heat and had four x.5 mile steep inclines over bridges, but was overall really happy with the race and felt like I had a strong run! PR of 12 seconds and first place in my age group!

Anne-Lise Vivier ran the 2015 Run for the Parks 4 miler in Central Park, New York, NY finishing in the time of 34:51 which is a PR by 2 minutes and 22 seconds.

It felt like an “off day;” my legs felt heavy, yet I PRed by a bit. Not only was this my best 4 miles, it was also my best pace ever on any distance! I guess the training is starting to pay off! I am happy with my finishing time, but a bit frustrated because it felt like I should have been able to do better. Looking back, my first race ever was approximately 10 months ago. It was a 5k. Today, I ran a 4 miles in exactly the same time.

 Jennifer Miller ran the Big D Marathon in Dallas Texas coming across the finish line with a time of 3:54:27 which is a PR by 6 minutes.

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