Tim Styka ran the Cheesehead Run Half Marathon and finished with a time of 1:39:31. This was a new personal record by 8 minutes!
This was a PR for this course and less than my PR for the half overall. This is usually a somewhat challenging race as it is always warm and humid. In addition, much of the race is through farmland on narrow 2 lane blacktop roads with no shade (although a few miles on the back half of the course are now on a trail). I felt strong throughout the race and was able to cheer on a number of people struggling at the end… I as that person before. Kind of cool to have given back.
Amy Conner ran the Falmouth Road Race and finished with a time of 1:05:01. This was a personal record by 5 minutes!
This was my second time running the Falmouth Road Race. I first ran it last summer (2016) in a time of 1:10. The race is 7.1 miles and is point to point. The first 3 miles are rolling hills and trees which provide shade. The last 4 miles are flat but offer very little protection from the sun. The weather this year was significantly warmer than last year! Given the heat, my goal was to have a solid race and not worry so much about the outcomes. I’m training for the Chicago Marathon so I knew I had the fitness to run well, but again, the heat!
Miles 1-3 felt good. The hills didn’t feel overwhelming. As I came to the flat section of the course, I realized I felt comfortable running an 8:30-8:45 pace in the heat. Mile 4 was my fastest mile. The heat did become a factor-I walked through the water stops at miles 5 and 6 which slowed down my pace, but I was ok with it. I knew I was far ahead of last year’s time. The race ends with a massive hill and I did not want to walk it. I was determined to run up it no matter what. As I came to the top I could see the race photographers and I forced myself to smile.
Thankfully the finish is down the big hill. I caught my breath at the top of the hill and focused on getting down and across the line. As I crossed and looked at my watch I realized I was 5 minutes faster than last year! While my time was no where near an age group award, I came in 108 out of 692 females ages 40-49. That is the top 15% of my age group.
This race demonstrated that my training is working, my fitness is improving, and I can manage a race in tough conditions. Thank you RC for helping me make such significant progress. I can’t wait to see how I do when the weather starts to cool down!
Nate Torgerson ran the Ragnar Great River Relay Race and finished in a time of 24:50. This was a team PR by 40 minutes!
We had three new people on the 12 person relay team, and they did great over the 200 mile course! I fended off my calf injury and ran pretty well, even though it hurt, starting with a 49:09 7.2 miler, then a 44:38 6.3 miler, and finishing with a 20:27 3.2 miler. The temperatures ranged from 80 degrees to 55 degrees, so much cooler than other years. Our team, the Medtronic Neurotic Soles, finished third overall, first in the corporate division.
Jared Spencer ran the Derek Davis Memorial 5k and finished this distance in the time of 18:02, which was a PR by 10 seconds!
Finished 4th overall out of almost 400 runners and 1st in my age group. My time of 18:02 was a race PR by 10 seconds.
Andre Arseneau ran the Servus Edmonton 1/2 Marathon with a finishing time of 1:46:48. This was a new personal record by 1:12.
Unexpected and unplanned PB (it was supposed to be a tune up). My wife PB’d in the 10 km. And a cool story to remember: I came up behind a pair of young ladies (twins I think). They were efficiently, but politely, moving through the crowd, side by side. I followed them then said I was going to stay behind them, they were doing great getting through the crowd. I said it was like having blockers. We continued for a bit more, then when I moved past, I thanked them for their help and wished them luck. The response was a wave and “Godspeed”. Classic.
Darci LaFave ran the Olga Memorial Footrace – 10K, finishing this distance in the time of 46:54.
This is a local race which is a fundraiser for the Rotary Club. I’ve raced it before, but hadn’t done it since 2014. Two friends and I decided to run it the night before and we’re so glad we did. We all had a good race and got to see lots of local friends. The race also has a generous number of raffle prizes, so there are lots of winners!
Domenic Matalone ran the Lachine Bonneville Half Marathon and finished the race event in the time of 1:58:42. This was a massive personal record by 0:17:49.
After putting running on the side to pursue other sports, I decided to come back to my passion and start running again. I never followed any structured training plans and always felt I had better times in me. When I signed up for this half marathon I had two goals. One was to train smart and not get injured and the other was to improve by time. Thanks to RC I accomplished both !! The coaches are great with timely and constructive feedback. The encouragement you get from the group leaders and the other RC members goes a long way in helping you stay the course !! A big thank you to the RC family for helping me succeed !
Carol Grisso ran the Pacific Pathways Sprint Triathlon (5k) and finished this race in the time of 00:29:51.
Finished sprint triathlon: 1st (F 70+) age-group. My bike leg was incredibly fast for me! Second half of run was on trails, so I’m really pleased with my time.
Leonard Kenna ran the Iroquoia Trail Test race and finished in a time of 1:51:10, which was a PR!
I was ready for the mud, the roots, and the steep climbs, but the ROCKS! Oh my, the rocks. It’s been over a year since I last ran in any sort of trail race. This event has always intrigued me as it is so technical in nature that they don’t call it a “trail race” but rather a “trail test”. They restrict the number of registrants to a relatively small number the reason of which became very clear as a lot of the course was a very narrow single track. They had about 300 participants for the three events (7k, 18k, and 34k). I decided the 18k seemed the best bet to give me a challenge but not too long if it turned out to be a nightmare. Having no idea what the course was like ahead of time I decided to go with a strategy of just all out hard and face adversity when it came. The first half of the race was pretty well what I expected; very technical avoiding small rocks and roots, sloshing through the mud. I felt really strong and slowly worked my way past some of the slower runners primarily on the steep uphill sections. I was feeling pretty good at that point. But then the course veered off the trail onto what seemed like a seldom used deer track. With the small number of runners there were moments where I did not see anyone and began to wonder if I was even on the course. The course, I should mention, is on the ridge of a large escarpment that runs through southern Ontario. One of the distinguishing features of the escarpment is the gigantic granite boulders that make up a large portion of the ridge. The second half of the course involved, in part, running over these boulders and trying not to fall into the deep fissures separating them. I admit that I was passed by a few of the younger runners while I just concentrated on staying upright and not breaking an ankle. I did survive the course (only fell twice) and was exhausted but very happy with my race. Most of the racers were pretty young so my age group was rather large (50 – 98) but I came in 5th in my age group out of 27, and I came in 20th overall (out of 97). And, because it was the first time I have ever run an 18k race, it was a Personal Best!
Mark Soo ran the Parkrun 5k and finished with a time of 19:58, which was a PR by 27 seconds!
I’m back in the UK for a while now and the local 5km parkrun is just a few minutes walk away from where I live so I thought I would have a crack at this and see if a PB (current PB is 20:25) or going under sub 20 was possible. Going sub 20 has long been a goal of mine for this distance.
I’ve not run a 5k for a long time and my training for the last couple of years has been geared towards marathon and ultra distance. My current training cycle is for a 70km mountainous trail run so at opposite end of the scale. However, the last time I did a 5km parkrun I was not signed up with RC and did not have any real structure to my training. Since then I have had must more consistent training and fewer injuries to deal with.
As I rocked up to the start line and started chatting with some of the volunteers they told me that the route has changed since the last time I ran here, its a bit more hilly and probably half the course was off road. That made me a bit nervous as to what was possible but I thought I’ll just give it my best and see what happens. They now have pacers so I tucked in behind the 20 min pacer and thought if I could keep him in sight I would have a chance.
Right at the start the pace was pretty brisk, it was hard to get into a rhythm with such a quick start and also it being off road. The hilly parts weren’t too major but I’m sure they made a difference. I had the 20 min pacer just in front of me all the time. There were times where I wanted to slow down and a multitude of excuses came to me but I put all of those to one side and focused on how much I wanted to achieve this goal.
I focused on form and convincing myself that I was feeling strong but most of all it was the desire to know that I had given it my best shot that pushed me onto the finish. I never did get past the 20 min pacer but he finished a few seconds under 20 mins and also just ahead of me. I sneaked in at 19:58. Goal achieved with a new PB by 27 seconds and going sub 20!
I’m thrilled to have achieved my goal of sub 20 which I’ve had for a long time. I may just want to have another crack at this distance to see if a quicker time is possible!
