Kevin Dollard ran the Bill Hogan Memorial 3.75 miler and finished with a time of 0:24:06.
New Years Day. Never raced 3.75 miles before but pace was great.
Rob, H.von Pflug ran the HK Half Marathon Championships, Tai Mei Tuk with a finishing time of 02:15:00.
Chantal Hart ran the Joe Kleinerman 10K, finishing this distance in the time of 0:48:57. This was a personal record by 03:37.
The tune up race felt great! It was my first time running in Central Park in a while, so bring on the hills. The weather was pretty decent as well. I was looking through my old race results to see if this was a PR for me, and I realized that I haven’t run a 10k since 2016! My best 10k was actually in 2015, which I ran in 52:34. The official race results on the NYRR website are always off from my Garmin. They’re showing than I ran 6.2 miles on Saturday in 48:57, which is a pace 7:53/mile, while my Garmin shows I ran it in a 7:43/mile pace. Regardless, it’s still a PR from my time in 2015 of 3:37, so I’m pretty pleased with the results.
Laurie Householder ran the Jacksonville Marathon and finished with a time of 3:12:02. This was a personal record by 0:01:33.
Well, I’ve run enough marathons to know that some days the body feels light and springy and the miles just fly by until you have to dig deep for the last 10k. Other days, the body feels like lead and you have to fight for every mile, LONG before the 20 mile mark. Despite a stellar training cycle that indicated I was ready for and capable of a ~3:02 and with solid mileage peaking at 90 mpw, I knew by 10 miles in that I was handed the second kind of day… By mile 16, I’d stopped checking my mile splits. With my “A” goal out of sight, my only motivation became to finish this darn race. However, by mile 22, I realized that if I just maintained a sub-8:00/mi pace for the last 4 miles, I could still set a new personal record in the marathon. Renewed motivation! I crossed the line in 3:12:02 (7:19 average pace), a solid 1:33 PR, 1st place in my age group, and 14th female overall. So, despite a bitter taste in my mouth at finishing 10 minutes off, I am at peace with the fact that my body just didn’t have it ON THIS DAY, but the training benefits of this cycle are still there and will serve me well in the next one. This was my 11th stab at the 26.2 mile distance and one thing is for sure, it never really gets easier, you just get faster. The hubby, on the other hand, crushed his half marathon PR yet again with a super solid 1:48!
Robert Islam ran the Befana 10k and finished this distance in the time of 0:39:35. This was a PR by 90 seconds!
Well it was at the back of a patella tendon flare up so I was just hoping for a decent time. This race was the first one I ever took part in 7 years ago and I remember doing 43:30. So I’ve improved by a 4 min margin.
It was really cold but I ran in my shorts and vest. The first few kms flew by although I had to check my pace a bit. Around 4k I knew I was going fast so I just tried to manage my effort. The last 2ks were on a wet trail with potholes and muddy surface. Really annoying but I pulled out all the stops and kept the pace going. I even had a kick towards the end which was satisfying. All in all, a great race. Thanks to the RC team for the support.
Vivek ran the Joe Kleinerman 10k with a finishing time of 0:49:13. This was a new personal record by 1:09.
Got into my corral and we were off at 8 am… I crossed the start line a couple of minutes later. The first km was downhill but also crowded so I could not take full advantage of it. Then came the Harlem hills.. I was looking at power and trying to target 260 w but think I may have spent a bit more energy on the hills. Km 3 – 5 flew by, again burning a bit higher power than the target. After km 6 I was fatiguing and km 8 was a killer with some steep ups and downs. Ended up walking 2 times on up hills to catch my breath. Km 9 was also hard but the last km was downhill and I took full advantage. Finish line around the bend and I sprinted over – totally spent!
Very happy with the result though I did miss moving from corral E to D by 14 seconds. Ah well – next time ?! Thank you to all my fellow RC cheer squad and the coaches ??! Special shout out to Coach Ruairi Moynihan for his video on tangents ??. I focused on running on the inner side as much as possible and saved 70m as compared to my last 10k race in Central Park.
Logan Berry ran the Brandon Half Marathon and finished in a time of 1:29:15. This was a personal record by 1:15.
I ran a sub-1:30 half marathon! I ran the Brandon Half in Florida as a tune-up for the Mesa Marathon. Out & back course. The weather was perfect, 46°F at the start. I knew there was an uphill at mile 3.5, so my plan was to go conservative (6:40-45) at least until I passed that, then step it up 10 sec if I felt good.
I thought I was well rested but at 2 miles I could already feel heavy legs. I got up that hill and then realized there was another hill, and another. Not giant mountains, just 30 foot rollers but it made it kind of hard to lock into a consistent pace. I was glad I had a Stryd; I tried to keep the power right at 290W. When I turned around I realized my legs didn’t really feel sore now, just comfortably numb. Coach Laura said it was OK if I was feeling good I could push deeper to see where it takes me. I decided to experiment and pushed it up to 6:25-35 on the downhills and flats but the efforts were cancelled out by the uphills. I got to mile 10 ready to rub a spirited 5k finish. That lasted a mile. Miles 12-13 the leg fatigue came back with a vengeance. I lost about 15 seconds a mile. Maybe if I went to the well I could have held it but my mental state of being at the time convinced me it wasn’t worth it for 30 seconds when I already knew I was going to hit my primary goal of sub 1:30.
Official time 1:29:15. I finished #5/137 overall, 2nd masters, 1st age group. I am extremely happy to finally join the sub-1:30 club. But I am even happier to accomplish something that has eluded me for too long – a well-executed race.
Andrea Hudson ran the DRC Frigit 5k and finished this race in the time of 0:33:51.
I’ve been injured, so I started out with zero track or interval workouts and relatively low milage. Did my warmup, sorted myself in and started out well enough at roughly 7:35 pace until I got almost tripped by a canine and his owner. I was slowing down a bit in the second mile, but gave it a good effort and then I saw them again in the second half of the course ???♂️I was so happy to see them and then I passed them (it was a young guy) after that my motivation was a bit deflated, but I tried to maintain a good effort and finish strong. Heard some canine sounds behind me in the very last part of the race and I was able to go with that and finish strong, nobody passing me. I was a fun race, cool and sunny, saw a lot of friends and felt great the rest of the day. My time was good enough for 4th female and first masters ??♀️I think I’m ready to start training again.
Mark Westmoreland ran a 5k race and finished with a time of 0:20:07, which was a PR!
Reston, VA New Year 5K – 20:07/ PR and AG win! Perfect weather and well-run event. Other than forgetting to to start my watch during a chaotic start, I feel good about this and am confident I can improve on the pace. Due to construction, the course was altered. I wasn’t able to get far enough up front at the start and it was far too congested in the first mile or so and a few runners even hit the pavement at switchbacks. The altered course 3 mile mark snuck up on me and I had plenty in reserve for a top speed sprint for the last 10th.
