Jesse Ashdown ran the Tacoma City Half Marathon and finished with a time of 1:33:46.
This race time was only 2 min off my PR and I was only training 3x per week! I couldn’t believe how all that easy running prepared me for running so fast. And I felt great through the whole race. Another big note was that throughout this whole training cycle I never got injured and felt great during all my runs. Thank you Runner’s Connect!
Jessi Ashdown ran the Tacoma City Half Marathon and finished this distance in the time of 2:03:40.
This was one of the first races where I felt SUPER strong on the hills. I completely crushed the hills where normally that is a serious weakness of mine. I also felt fantastic for the first 8 miles and even though the last 5 were rough, I was able to finish strong.
Philip Lorenzo ran the Tacoma City Marathon and finished in a time of 4:50:33.
This is my marathon goal for the year. It’s my 6th full 26.2 race since 2012. I continue to learn more about myself and why I like to run. I’m looking forward to next year’s goal.
Geraldo costa costa ran the Tawid Mountain Marathon with a finishing time of 4.48. This was a personal record by 6 minutes!
Tawid is one of the most challenging mountains races in our region. Racing through rocky and forest terrain is not easy. In addition, we need to go up and down rice terraces with elevations up to 500 meters. Well, we added 4 more kilometers to the race because of lack of clear indications of the route. Anyway, it was a perfect trail challenge.
Peg DeBiasi ran the Big Sur 12k and completed this distance in the time of 1:47:07, which was a PR!
Big Sur 12k rather than the 21 miler I was originally scheduled to do but got sidelined by being hit by a car running 12 weeks ago. I had not run in 12 weeks other than one test.
I managed to run far more than I expected. After walking for the first 5 minutes I mostly did 2 min/30 sec intervals. I ran (really slowly) about 3 miles straight in the middle chatting with a man in his late 70s and his friend. By mile 5ish my still healing knee and right shin on the outside were starting to whine so I mostly walked from there on.
The first place marathon finisher blew by me as if I was standing still at about (my) mile 6.6. I peeked at my watch that one time, the rest of the time I just listened for the beeps. Not the race I had planned to do but amazing race venue and I managed to actually run some, which is more than I have done in months. We’ll see how my knee appreciated it tomorrow.
Greg Peters ran the Capital City Half Marathon (8.3 miles) and finished with a time of 1:28:33.
Race was cancelled due to lightning and thunderstorms moving into the area. I had finished 8.3 miles.
Rodrigo Jara Piccardo ran the Corrida Aniv. Paseo la Galería 5k, finishing this distance in the time of 17:33. This was a PR by 42 Seconds!
I felt great during the race and did the best I could. 2 PRs in the same month and I know I can give more. Thanks a lot RC!
Geoff Hablow ran the New Jersey Half Marathon and finished in a time of 1:44:57, which was a PR by 3:48.
Well now…what do we have here…but a PR for Half Marathon and hit my stretch goal of 1:45. Yippee. No doubt this was a tough mental challenge, one of those mile by mile…get to the next mile marker, only another x miles to go….but I did it. I recall mile 4 & 5 and mile 9 being tough effort wise. My plan worked out well as lined up behind the 1:45 pacer and kept her in view but ran my pace to start (they got about 15 – 20 seconds ahead). At about mile 8 I started to reel the group in and eventually caught and passed the pacer at mile 13…just in time. Oddly, I did not feel mentally prepared for the race and had doubts….but tried to settle in and focused on form, breathing and my ability to reach my goal. This was just a good race and a goal I have been chasing the past couple of years. Yeah to me (pat on back). Now I have to reset goals…or better yet, I earned the right to reset goals!
Stacy Thomas ran the CrazyLegs Classic 5 Mile and finished this race event in the time of 38:35.
Well as one of my friends on Facebook pointed out there were 10 people named Stacy in this race and I was the fastest among them. 🙂
It was a tough race in chilly weather with 15-20 wind, which felt like a headwind in every direction. It was my 7th time doing this race and I managed to get my 2nd best time. A very fun race to finish on the field in the stadium where the Wisconsin Badgers play football.
Amy Conner ran the Watertown Finish Strong 5K and finished this distance in the time of 25:02. This was a new personal record by 2 minutes!
This was a gun race and I was running with my oldest two children (I have four kids ages 5 through 12). I was probably a few seconds back from the actual start-I looked back, told the boys good luck, and started to run. I’m two weeks out from completing the Boston Marathon in 4:26. I’ve only run three times since the marathon including 6 miles yesterday in 70+ degree weather.
This morning was cool and sunny and when my first mile came in at 7:55 I was shocked! Mile 2 was about the same, and mile 3 I did slow a bit because my stomach was not feeling so good. When I saw the finish line and saw I might break 25 I gave it all I had. My official time was 25:02-good enough for 3rd place in my age division (ages 40-49)!
Two minute PR from my last 5K on Thanksgiving Day 2016 AND my first EVER place in a race! Thank you Coach Danny! I did not let my kids beat me today 🙂
Patrick Callahan ran the Endurance Challenge Series 50K Trail Race and finished with a time of 8:13:16, which was a PR!
Big jump from 10 milers to The North Face Endurance Challenge Series Washington DC 50K trail race given that my previous longest run was just 14 miles. Running well until mile 20, banking some time while it was still cool, when the heat, almost 90, caused me to slow down and walk a bit. About 2000 ft up and 2000 ft down in this out and back race. Although I finished in the back of the back I finished and had a great time, had time to talk to other runners before, during, and after, and full-filled two of my goals for 2017 running a trail race and running an ultra. Volunteers were great and my first race eating real food … Didn’t use any of my gels and just added nuun to my water bottles and didn’t cramp like I did in my HM last year.
Gord Funk ran the Great Train Race 15k with a finishing time of 56.20. This was a personal record by 2:40.
Today was a race against the train. Everything went very well – the weather was dry and cool. A good nights sleep, and no aches and pains of any kind. The race itself – a 13.5 hilly course raced against a steam train, was beautiful and quite spacious after the first 5 kms. I was aiming for a 56 min finish, and completed the course in 56:20 – which I’m very happy with. Last year, I ran in 59 mins, so it was the improvement I was after. Last year, the train finished in 56:20 – this year, it was 50 seconds faster, so I didn’t beat it… 🙁 This was only my second ‘fast’ race, and I felt pretty good going through the warm-up, from knowing what I needed to do, to being relaxed and calm until it was time to put my ‘game face’ on. Looking at my numbers just now, I ran a 3 min negative split over the second half – due as much to the hills on the first half as my pacing. However my pacing did work, and I’m really appreciating the intuitive understanding I’m gaining as I compare my experience to the numbers. HR avg was 166, cadence 196, and stride length 1.2m. Many thanks to the coaches for answering the questions all the way through. I presented a complicated case of training for this run, while keeping an eye out on a marathon I’m running in June, so we mixed up some marathon specific workouts along the way.
Kumar Rao ran the Longhorn 10K and finished in 56:32, which was a PR by 1 minute!
This was a trail race going through scenic farmlands near the Thorseby Park in Northampshire UK. The trails on very narrow mud, grass and gravel paths running through country estate and forest. There were some hills that posed a minor challenge, but the main challenge was the uneven surface. The weather was good with temperatures of around 8 C.
The official time was 0:58:39 and I was placed first in the 65-70 male category. However, Garmin showed the distance to be 10.43 km. Moreover, the 10K route was also being used for loops for half and full marathon, which suggests that the actual distance may have been closer to 10.5 k. According to Garmin my time for 10K was 56:32.
My original intent was to just run this as a recovery run, so I started at the end of the pack and ran quite slowly for the first 4 km. But as I managed to pass the crowded start and felt good, I decided to do the rest of it at a good pace. Paces for 2 km splits (min/km) were 6:37, 6:10, 5:27, 4:57, 5:06. This turned out to be a good shake out run 6 days after the Boston Marathon, which helped me recover from the tight calf muscles.
Kumar Rao ran the Boston Marathon and finished this race in the time of 04:25:10.
I was glad I was able to complete this race in a reasonable time. Back in January I had serious doubts of whether I would be able to run this race due to a series of injuries, starting with a hip flexor injury during the Paris marathon in April 2016, followed by ankle stress fracture and bursitis during the training for Berlin. This had prevented me from running for over 8 months in the year preceding the Boston race. I was glad that the Runners Connect training got me in shape to run this race and finish it fairly strong.
My race strategy was to use the first three miles to warm up to ensure the ankle problem did not hamper the running and then to go with close to marathon pace effort. The actual time for the first half was 2:02:27 against planned 2:01:54. The 30 K split was 2:58:30 against planned 2:53:46. Subsequently the pace considerably slowed down. While I felt I was running quite comfortably, I could not keep up the pace.
I think the main problem was dehydration due to running through the water stops. I was drinking much less water than during my training runs, out of fear of having to take a bio-break. While I was able to complete the race without any break, my learning from this race is that it is better to risk a 2 minute loss due to bio-break rather than risking dehydration. The recovery has been quite swift. I had no major aches or pains following the race and I ran a 10 K race in UK the following Sunday.
Andy McComb ran the Virgin Money London Marathon and finished in a time of 4:23:16. This was a new personal record by 10 minutes!
Amazing atmosphere and great to be running with a group from Bermuda and with family support on course. As they said at the Expo I felt privileged to have the opportunity to run this marathon given the huge demand for places. This was only my 2nd marathon (NYC in Nov 2016 being the first) and have to thank RC for a very effective program and race plan that helped me enjoy this run. Very pleased with my execution of race plan and running negative splits. Boy was it hard to keep the pace down for 1st half with all the crowd support. Managed to raise over $7k for radiation therapy project so feel really good about that.
Susan Cleveland ran the Carmel Marathon and finished this race in the time of 4:05.
Two of my close friends ran the race.
Kirsten Kalkhurst Burbo ran the London Marathon and finished with a time of 3:45:13.
I ran this marathon 6 days after running the Boston Marathon so I didn’t expect much from my performance. That said, I was pleasantly surprised at how refreshed I felt and I thoroughly enjoyed every mile of this race. It was more congested than I would have liked and had I known I was going to run so well, I might have pushed a bit more for a PR (which would have required just a 44 second improvement). But then again, if I HAD pushed, I may not have enjoyed it as much. I am satisfied that my training got me to a place whereby I could run a 3:45 on the heels of a 3:53 in Boston and still enjoy it. I can’t ask for much more than that. A special shout out to coach Danny who talked me off the ledge when my fatigue reached its peak 2.5 weeks out from Boston. THANK YOU!
