Nicole Cornish ran the Fresh 15 (5k) and finished with a time of 30:48. This was a personal record by 2 minutes!
PR!!!!
Janet Encarnacion ran the Guinness Irish 5K, finishing this distance in the time of 26:58.
Very happy with race results! Official chip time 26:50, 8:38/mile, 3rd in age group. Continuing to improve since returning to running after 4 years. Busy this week and didn’t get a chance to scope out course or parking in person ahead as I usually would. A little windy and rainy. In the second mile ran a little faster than planned and mile 2-2.5 was hard but got the pace back after that. Otherwise happy with warm-up, fuel/hydration, pacing plans.
Janelle The ran the Tokyo Marathon and finished this race in the time of 4:54:30. This was a PR by 2 minutes 38 seconds!
My first marathon in almost 10 years and I set a PR and my first negative split (+ after having two kids!!). This was also my first star!
I felt so mentally and physically strong throughout this whole race! Runners Connect prepared me. The size of the race and the great crowds just let me get lost in the moment and, in all honesty, the miles just flew by!!!
I am so incredibly proud of myself! I didn’t miss a single training run and l paced a great race.
I learned so much about myself and my ability during those 26.2 miles and I know Chicago is gonna even be better!!!
Maurice Mcmahon ran the Trafford 10k with a finishing time of 32:49. This was a PR by 46 seconds!
Great running conditions. Wasn’t too confident of hitting my target of 32.30 coming into this but decided to give it a go. Was watching my splits both in mile’s on my watch and kms. Was on target up to 6k. Was a couple of seconds down at 7 and blew up. Paced eased between 7 and 8 but lifted it again. Hung in to finish in 32.49 which is a PB as far as I know. I was 3rd in my age category with only 22 seconds separating the top 3. Happy with how I battled back and didn’t throw in the towel.
Jason Lakes ran the The Woodlands Marathon and finished with a time of 3:49:18.
This was an interesting race. From a time perspective, my worst race in 3 years and I am disappointed in the time. This was a definite wake up call that I need to take a mental and physical break from the marathon training cycle. Two years ago, I did 3 marathons in 5 months and maintained good fitness – in fact two of my three best races. This time around, 3 in 5 months was probably pushing the envelope, and I sort of realized that going into the race.
The first mile-ish. I started out feeling pretty good. From where I was in the corral, I ended up around the 3:30 pace group and thought I could just run with them in the start as I did not want to waste energy weaving in and out of other runners. This worked well until we made a turn just before mile 1. Because it was such a large group, I got jostled by a few runners and ended up stepping on a curb weird – tweaking my ankle. It was weird in that it initially hurt, but then I got a surge of adrenaline and it felt fine for a while, but was in the back on my mind.
Miles 1-8 – I got the surge of adrenaline and got on pace through about 5 miles. However, somewhere between 5-6, my ankle reminded me it had been twisted a bit and my legs got really heavy. This became a mental grind and I did a terrible job of staying within the mile I was in – I was thinking, how am I going to cover the distance with my legs feeling like this – the ankle came and went, but it was just an overwhelming feeling of I have a looooonnnggg way to go. I made it through the 10K split at 7:47 pace, so I still had a chance to get where I wanted to go, but mentally, I was really struggling. I might as well have been at mile 18 or 20… By mile 8, I knew I was running 8+ pace and that a BQ day was probably out of the question. And once I literally said out loud, this is not a BQ day, I started feeling so much better mentally.
Miles 8-13 – I used these 5 miles to convince myself to just cover the distance today – that would be the win. This was the opposite of when I BQ-ed in Houston when I knew I was going to do it at mile 8. During this race, I knew I was not at mile 8, even though I had plenty of runway left to make up some time. This was kind of a change my mindset 40-45 minute stretch to just have fun and soak in the atmosphere.
Miles 13-16 – Once I crossed halfway, I stated feeling good physically and mentally. I had worked through my ankle, it was feeling good and I started getting really excited about just running a marathon and how lucky I was to be there. It was a complete 180 from miles 1-8 when I was grinding mentally and I just had fun. I actually made up some time in this stretch and looking back, if I would have had a 10 mile tempo in me, I might have been able to get close to a BQ – or at least sub 3:30.
Miles 16-20 – This was kind of a lost section – I enjoyed it, but the course is somewhat open and there are few people out other than runners – its kind of the most desolate section. I could not keep the momentum from 13-16, but still smiled and really started trying to encourage other runners on the course.
Miles 20-23 – I latched onto the 3:45 group and ran with them for a while. That made the running feel a lot easier and was another 5k-ish stretch where I felt good and everything felt smooth and easy.
Miles 23-25 – I passed a timing mat at 23.3 and it said 3:24 on the clock. Honestly, this was discouraging as the last time I ran this course, I finished in 3:15. So, I had a bit of a down moment, but then remembered, I get to run a marathon and this is fun.
Mile 25 – finish – I felt amazing – really strong from 25 to the finish. In fact. somewhere around 400 meters to go, I looked down and my watch had me at 6:55 pace – I was absolutely hammering with a kick I have only had once in 10 races – the one in Chicago. Its such a fine line as I liked kicking to finish (and would have picked off two more racers with another 200 meters), but always feel like I left too much on the course. The interesting thing was/is I was not nearly as disappointed as I was in Houston, even though I was 11 minutes slower.
The negatives are obviously the timing – taking away my first race (Pre RC), my marathons have been the rule of 3rds and this was in the bottom 3rd. I also did a terrible job mentally of staying in the mile I was in and dealing with adversity with the curb issue. By mile 13 it felt fine, so its no excuse.
The positives are I covered the distance and once I took away the BQ expectation, I think I had the most fun of any race I have run during the race itself. I smiled, chatted with other runners, and place wise, while I dropped from 170 to 282 between 10K and 10 miles, I climbed back up 13 spots to finish 269/1030 that started (a little over 700 finishers). I also seemed to do better at fueling (every 3 miles) and hydration.
I’ll take the recovery period and figure out what is next – either sub 40 10K or sub 90 Half for some spring and early summer races. Honestly, in looking at HR data, it appears I had a little more speed in me fitness wise. I definitely feel like I had too much in the tank at the end, whereas Houston, I had nothing left in the tank. I’ll try to view this as a nice zone 4 LR for upcoming speed training…
Rolando Perez-lorenzo ran the Washington Heights 5K and completed this distance in the time of 22:52.
The course is an out and back hilly and very enjoyable one. I left my watch plugged at home So I played it by ear. Not sure it was the best decision. I was afraid to go out too fast. So I started it conservative and kept that way for the first significant uphill (about 0.5 mile into the race). No problem. Followed a strong runner for the next hill which plateaus at the one mile marker. Big downhill for half a mile and the identical big uphill the second half mile to mile marker 2. Still in one piece. Let the next down help and took the last up easy. Last about half a mile pushed harder, Not exhausted bit a good effort. I think I needed my watch and perhaps could have done it a bit faster. No complaints, tho. Enjoyed the race and felt strong.
Janet Ruest ran the Arizona Half Marathon and finished in a time of 2:17:18.
Temp. 13C at start, 19C at end. I find this route hard… undulating, and about 95% is on cement trail with a limited section being asphalt. Thought I could do better on the way back (turn around was at about 8.5 miles [13.5km] – but couldn’t). Calves felt like they were starting to cramp (just a couple twitches) at about 19km (wore calf sleeves). A couple of hammy niggles/pulls at 13k, 16k, 19k. Took 5 short Walk breaks on the slight inclines.
Small race: 306 finishers, 3rd in AG. Basically a hard training run vs full-out race. Satisfied with the result today.
Nicholas Florio ran the Tokyo Marathon and completed this race event in the time of 4:09:00.
We after all these years I finally got that elusive 6th Star. Woke up to cold temps around 38 degrees which was nice. Ate some carbs and mauraten gel and drink then head to the start line. After waiting in the cold for 1-1/2 hours we finally headed to the start. Very crowded but well controlled. Did some drills before but planned on trying to do 9 min miles for a 4 hour goal. Things were going well with planned mutagen gets at the 10K, 20K and 30K miles and salt tablets every hour. At mile 15 the sun was beating down strong and the temperature rose a lot well into the 50s. Tried my best to hang in there and keep the pace up despite people starting to drop with cramps. Although I struggled the last 6 miles I stayed focused and did not walk. I tried to pick up the pace the last 5K but my thighs were burning. Good news is I had enough training in me to keep going and not stop repeating to myself “One day I am not going to be able to this, today will s not that Day”. Thanks to the RC staff for all your support and encouragement.
Dylan Mcfarland ran the That Dam Run Half Marathon with a finishing time of 1:38:49. This was a new personal record by 4:04.
I ran this race last year and I really like this race because it’s very local, the course is interesting where you start on a dam which is only 15 minutes from where I live. Despite being in Colorado in March, we’ve been lucky every year I’ve done it with nice weather. This time I really focused on coming up with a pacing plan and simply sticking to it. Literally every other race I just get caught up in the excitement at the start and gun it. This time I made a “ProPace” plan for my watch and thought about pacing quite a bit, and then really committed to the plan once the race started with my watch telling me each pace as each mile ticked off. Because I have always gone out too hard, to break the habit quickly I had the beginning be pretty relaxed, and I just let the pack run way out in front of me, hoping I would catch most later as the race played out. This was ran intentionally positive splits, because you start on the top of the dam, run down for 6.5 miles or so, and then turn around all uphill. So I knew the way back would be way slower and I tried to push the pace down the hill to account for the slow down on the way back up. The first 3 miles and the last 3 are on top of the dam and are pretty flat, so I tried to put it into gear on those final miles to close with a good time.
I stood at the finish line for a good half hour after I finished just to join in the excitement and root for people as they came in. I was 24th overall but when the winner ran it in 1:19, being 24thd feels pretty good. I’m happy because it seems obvious to me my fitness is improving and despite a hard effort today, I’m injury-free and feeling pretty good!
Keith Brittain ran the Fitually Marathon and finished with a time of 3:58:03, which was a PR!
This was my first full with a goal time of 4:00. Conditions were not great, with race temps reaching in the 70s, no wind, fog and 90% humidity. Hydration plan was key and I finished strong with roughly 8:45 splits in the last few miles. In cooler temps, and now having the knowledge of completing a full, I could definitely have shaved some time. Overall, I’m not too beat up the day after. Great training plan – fitness was there!
Neal Mcmahon ran the Tokyo Marathon and finished this race in the time of 3:15:57.
Beautiful day in Tokyo for a marathon. Overall, it was a good day putting my second fastest marathon in the books. My knee that has been an issue during the last 6 weeks of training felt good. I pushed the pace a bit after the first few miles in an attempt to put me in position for a time near 3:10. I went for it a bit. Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the kick I needed in the last 10k to get there. But still held a decent pace to finish with a good time and a successful race. Optimistic for the future and looking forward to getting faster after recovering.
