Richard Alberts ran the Comrades 2018 (Down) and finished with a time of 10:45:17. This was a personal record by 58 minutes!
So…..after being sick on Friday afternoon, I woke up Sunday feeling ready. Very slow start due to the congestion of 17000 runners all heading out at the same time. 7 minutes to cross the starting mat. Trusted my training and ran easy could have gone faster but held back with friends which I think was a good call. Didn’t let the crazy uphills get to me. I knew what was ahead and I kept on moving, only stopping a few times to wait for people to catch up. All the time, keeping in mind that my 100 miler in 7 weeks time is the goal. Body is a bit stiff and sore, but all in all I feel good. Great success for me thanks to my training plan from RC. Bronze medal achieved. 2 more goals this year…..100 miles and a sub 4 marathon!
Bill Keefe ran the Celebrate W. Hartford 5k and finished this distance in the time of 22:19.
Not sure I’d call this race “special” but it was a big…well, learning experience. My plan was to run a 7:00 min 1st mile, then a 7:00 or slightly under 2nd and then do what a could from there.
As I crossed the 1-mile mark, the timer called out 7:00! Whoa! I felt good. I ran the 2nd mile convinced that I was on pace only to find that I ran a 7:26, pretty much shooting the PR. Finished the 3rd mile in 7:00 and kicked the last bit hard but I don’t think I’ve ever been that frustrated at myself after a race. Good news? Well, took 2nd in age category and beat last year’s time by almost 2 mins.
Chris Carey ran the Take the Reigns 5K with a finishing time of 22:34.
Ran the Take the Reigns 5K today as a tune up for next month’s Peachtree 10K. Was really hot and humid this morning. Did some dynamic stretches and some strides and changed into my racing singlet (changing into a dry shirt before the race helped a lot!). Today’s race was my first real trail race; fortunately it’s on a trail I’ve probably run over a hundred times. It’s not an easy course at all and the loose material they use on the trail itself makes it tougher to get a good push off.
The gun sounded, and I found myself going out too fast. Fortunately, I realized that early and throttled back and fell into a nice, steady pace. The first mile of the course, despite a few small hills, is definitely the easiest, trailing the lead runner by about four seconds. At about mile 1.5, the trail goes into some woods. The shade was welcome, but this stretch of the course is tough with tons of hills and twists and turns.
At mile 2.5 there is a 70-foot hill that is about as steep as any hill you can find. It’s just a killer. At this point my legs and lungs were burning and I was gasping for breath, but I knew I had the downhill and less than a half mile to the finish, which also happened to be one of the flattest stretches of the course. I hit the open field, saw the finish arch, and ran with what I had left. Looking over my shoulder, I saw absolutely no one behind me. The hill had obviously claimed some victims. It was then that I really began to realize that I was about to be the overall winner of a race for the first time. I crossed the finish line and collapsed under a shady tree.
Going in to this race with the weather and the difficult course, I knew that a PR was very unlikely, but I’ll take first place!
Tony Malinauskas ran the Savage Obstacle Race 10k, finishing this distance in the time of 1:52:22.
PODIUM! I was careful in this race b/c I’m coming back from a knee injury, so I tried to run low impact by wearing very cushiony shoes, going slowly on downhills, and avoiding sudden accelerations and lateral moves. Despite all that, I came in 2nd in my AG. Even better, I found that my knee worked just fine, so in my next race in a couple of weeks, I’ll not hold back!
Hein Mynhardt ran the Comrades ultra and finished this race in the time of 8:58:22.
Hardest thing I have done in running shoes but the fulfillment of a bucketlist wish. Touted as the oldest and largest ultra in the world, I toed the line with 21000 runners at 05:30 am in Pietermaritzburg and ventured to Durban, 90km away, over the most hilly terrain seen by me.
Was it not for all the work I put in strength training, I would have been in serious trouble. End of the day I got my sub 9h goal and crossed the line in the Moses Madiba Stadium and got a taste of what it feels like to finish in a Grand stadium. If you a runner, this is a must do event.
FYI- first thing a South African runner will ask you is how many comrades you have done, they regard marathons as training runs.
Travis Dowell ran the North Avenue Mile and finished this race event in the time of 7:49, which was a PR by 6 seconds!
This is a 1 mile race, which is not that easy for a long distance runner, but it is challenge I like to do. Having tendinitis since April 11 took somewhat of a toll on my keeping in shape while recovering, so I was glad I was recovered enough to do the race and get a PR, even if it was a modest one. Adding up the miles I did going to the starting line, doing the race, and running home, I got in 8 miles, which is the longest I have done since I first started the recovery from tendinitis.
Aldert van der Stoel ran the Stadtlauf (city run) Dresden 2018 5k and finished in 0:19:34. This was a new personal record by 0:02:09.
I had been training hard the last 4 Months for the HM today… Because of a calve injury I hadn’t been able to run much the last 4 weeks. The last week I felt the injury had finally healed. I did not want to risk getting injured again, so I registered for the 5K instead. So today I went all in for a under 20 minutes 5K and got it! Really happy since it resulted in a nice PR! The calve held it perfectly! now it’s time to make up mind for the next period… I already registered for the Amsterdam Marathon in October!!
