Karen Scobie ran the Semi-Marathon International de Marrakesh Half Marathon with a finishing time of 2:11.
I set out to run today for fun – I wasn’t in peak condition for a myriad of reasons, and one little part of me wouldn’t have been surprised if it took me over 2:30 to finish. However, I felt good, the weather was amazing, the crowd energetic, and I was so fricken stoked to be running in Africa!
My hip and foot were sore but only enough for me to be aware of them. Imagine my surprise when I finished with a time smack dab in the middle of my HM finishes – faster than the ones I trained super hard for with Runkeeper in 2013 (and when I was 20lbs lighter), and understandably slower than the one RC has trained me through (before injury and a hectic work schedule disrupted my training). So, I can look at this as either my 3rd slowest HM, or my 3rd fastest – I’m going with the latter!!
Chris Liegel ran the F^3 Lake Half Marathon and finished with a time of 1:29:21. This was a personal record by 6:25.
This was a big PR. I didn’t even plan to go particularly hard until I was standing at the start. I hadn’t done any taper. This was not even really a tune up race–just a race to break up the training this winter. When I saw the 1:30 pace group I thought maybe I could hang with them. It was a tough run and I barely held on to finish with the 1:30 group but I did it. There was no kick at the end of this race. My time was good enough to get 3rd place in the 50-54 men. I may be 50 years old but I still like to take home a ribbon.
Rob Sherlock ran the 2017 Rotary Mission 10 Half Marathon and finished in 1:48:48, which was a PR by 2:02.
It was a big PR for me because the previous record was on a flat course and I’d never run this one before. At mile 5 the uphill was such that I’d all but given up the thought of a PR but by mile 8 I was feeling really strong! That carried me through to 11. The race plan called for the last mile to be “as fast as possible”, which I was planning to make my fastest mile; while I missed the goal of 1:48:30, it wasn’t by much and I did not miss the PR! And, the slight pain I’d felt last 2 weeks training (shin splints and ankle) did not and have not re-surfaced!
Tim Warren ran the Boston Prep 16-Miler and finished this race in the time of 2:29:24.
I went up to Derry, NH for a 16- mile race today. My third time racing here. I’m older, wiser and slower now! It is a very hilly course and they advertise this as a “Boston Prep” race. The hills slowed me considerably and each of the one-mile splits that had more than 100 feet of elevation gain had me slowing to 10:00+ pace. But I managed to run 7 splits with a pace under 9:00, including the last three. So I held up well and had some gas left for the finish. My official time was 2:29:24, about 7 minutes slower than a year ago. Tough competition up there too. Just over 400 runners total. In my age group (M60-69) I finished 9 of 11.
Sean Regan ran the Securian 10K and completed this distance in the time of 00:42:01, which was a PR by 37 seconds!
10k race went well overall. PR by 37 seconds. 10th overall out of a field of 363 and first in age group. I’m happy with this finish. But there was more in the tank. So I’ll take the PR and know my 10k best is yet to come!
Jay McCombs ran the ARR Desert Classic Half Marathon and finished in a time of 1:26:46, which was a PR!
First half marathon. Went great. Ran a conservative first half (thanks to good insight from Coach Claire) and had a strong finish. My goal going into the race was to run under 1:28. Running under 1:27 was absolutely awesome. Instead of getting caught up trying to run with the lead pack I let them go early and just ran my own race. I was neither passed nor did any passing. I was a chase pack of one! Finished 7th overall and second in my age group. Already looking forward to my next race in March!
Peg DeBiasi ran the Presidential Inauguration International Marathon and Half Marathon (HM) and finished with a time of 2:49:00.
4 laps of a pretty park. Cold temperatures 28 degrees at start, 35 at finish, and brisk 10-15mph wind made for a chilly race. Slower than I hoped but incredibly inspiring to run with the athletes on marathon #5 in 5 days on the 5th continent. My friend Dan is part of this year’s Triple7Quest and a group of us went to run with him for support.
Most inspiring was a woman named Chau, a 70 yr old originally from Vietnam running with shrapnel in her arms and legs from the war. And my friend never fails to amaze me, he passed me a bunch of times to get a 3:45 finish, his fastest so far of the 5 days. For the last three miles when my quads were annoyed and my butt chafed I kept repeating “if Dan and Chau can run their 5th marathon in 5 days my legs can go 13”. So while my time was even slower than “easy pace”, it was another once in a lifetime experience. Which is why I run, not for times, but experiences.
Christine Sandvik ran the Miami Marathon with a finishing time of 3:30:08.
Windy and rainy conditions throughout the race made this a little challenging, but at least it wasn’t too hot! I was only about 30 seconds short of a PR, so that was a little frustrating, but overall I was VERY pleased with a strong & consistent run. I also found out I won my age group out of nearly 170 people, which was pretty exciting for a big race!
Tony Pallotta ran a 10k race and finished this distance in the time of 00:47:15. This was a PR by 2:26.
Had to do a time trial at the local track. I couldn’t make it to the race. Legs and body felt strong throughout. However, I really struggled with my cardio. Although I ran a 2:26 PR, I was 2 minutes short of the goal. I wanted to run a 7:15 pace but ended up at 7:36. Ran first 2 at 7:21 pace but couldn’t sustain it and the remainder was tough. I think I learned that I need to adjust my goal if I struggle to hit training paces. Also, since running a strong 5k at 7:00 pace in September, training 40+ miles per week, I’ve only averaged 25 miles since. I need to go back up to 40+.
Pam Carr ran the Celebration Marathon and finished the race event in the time of 3:18:08. This was a new personal record by 3:26.
It was one of those races that you don’t really think that you will PR in because of the race day conditions. It started with picking up my bib race morning. I went back to my car to stay dry and warm. The weather was 48 degrees with rain chances the entire race. Thanks to RC coaches and runners I was well prepared for the rain. It really didn’t rain hard, but it was a constant light rain for most of the race. Towards the end of my race, the rain did pick up a bit. It wasn’t bad at all. However, the zig zag wet board walks weren’t fun. I would guess that there was close to 2 miles of boardwalks which we had to run twice because of the double loop.
My race plan was to run the first 3 miles at 7:45, 3-20 at 7:35, and the last 6.2 as fast as I could. Around mile 18, spectators began telling me that I was the 4th female. About quarter mile later, I could see the 3rd female. I could tell that I was “catching” her. I had passed her by mile 20. I knew that I was still feeling strong, and my garmin was @ 2:45 and I had already passed 20 mile mark so I new that I would PR. I was determined to try for second. Around mile 23-24, I could see the 2nd female. I got close, but she was finishing strong too. She beat me by 13 seconds. I will say that I was proud of that 3rd place. the 1st and 2nd females were 30 & 34 (I’m 42). I finished 29th overall. Thanks to all of the coaches (Danny and Claire) and runners would encouraged me in light of the less than ideal running conditions. Thank you to Claire, who 2 weeks ago, said let’s test you with some faster paces. I can honestly say that the heat and humidity of the first 4 months of living here really improved my running. I did get discouraged during that time because most of the time, I would have to adjust my paces for the heat/humidity. Feels good to crush your PR. So now my sights are on sub 3:15!!
Laurie Householder ran the JROTC 5th annual Resolution Runz 5k and finished in a time of 20:41, which was a PR by 38 seconds!
I have been trying to get below 21 minutes in the 5k now for about 6 months and finally did it! I find 5k’s tough mentally… I have figured out that I just have to accept the fact that it is going to feel super uncomfortable for most of the way and just hang on to my pace for dear life! Most of the race was on course gravel-covered paths which made gripping the trail tough and a bit tricky, but this encourages me to think I might have even been able to knock a couple more seconds off on an all road 5k. I nearly caught the 1st place female, but when she saw me just over her left shoulder, she kicked it into a gear I didn’t seem to have and finished 7 seconds ahead of me. I placed 2nd female overall (1st place Masters female)! Was excited to have held my pace the whole way- 6:43, 6:42, 6:41, and then 6:07 for the final .1! Now that I’ve checked that box, I guess it is time to set a new goal! But first, I have a little thing called the Boston Marathon to prep for… 🙂
Jose Lucero ran the Max Tott Half Marathon with a finishing time of 1:56. This was a personal record by 4 munutes!
I ran my best half marathon today! Even though I was two minutes short of my goal, I managed to finally get a under 2:00 register in the half marathon. All the training paid off and finished the race really strong. Training for this race was harder as you have the holidays in the middle and there is a lot of partying and I got a little injury that stopped me a 10 days. Another challenge this time was that I had a lot of business trips so the last stretch of my training was done in the middle of a lot meetings and work in 5 different cities.
The Max Tott race in Guatemala City is our oldest event, now on its 80th edition. It has a some really hard hills and some really fast downhill segments. I tried to follow my projected pace and the strategy you guys suggested. It worked really well, maybe I started a bit too slow, specially on the hills but I managed to make up the lost time on the last 10k. I finally did negative splits! I really enjoyed the last part of the when I accelerated and started passing a lot of guys. I felt that I could have run a couple more KMs at that pace.
Freddy Hochstetter ran the Max Tott Half Marathon, finishing this distance in the time of 1:59:33.
This was the 80th installment of the Max Tott marathon, its a very hilly marathon going around a old road of Guatemala City. We had incredible weather, it was a crisp 55 degrees at the start and 65 when finishing, sky was overcast. The race goes down 3 shallow ravines and up one hill, I was extremely happy to not have my injury be a problem, but still felt cautious especially uphill.
Peter Hadeed ran the Miami Marathon and finished this race in the time of 3:36:46. This was a new personal record by 8 minutes!
Race was pretty decent, done it twice before. Weather was a little challenging at times, but was ok for me. I like overcast weather!
Maad Khalil ran the Liswerry 8 and completed this race event in the time of 01:01:23, which was a PR by 00:04:52.
This is the first race I was able to sustain a constant pace of under 5 minute. The race was for 8 miles. Its a very popular race with various clubs in Wales and the U.K. Not only I managed to cut my time by 04 minutes 52 seconds from last time for this race , I also managed do improve on my 10K time by 11 seconds which was an added bonus .
The most important aspect I took away from yesterday’s race was putting two methods I learnt from training with RC into actual use; 1. Judge your pace and allow for room for the second half of the race 2. The strides we do at the end of a workout are so beneficial not only physically but psychologically too when you feel completely spent at the last 800 meters of a race .
Fernando Hernandez ran the Miami Half Marathon and finished with a time of 1:56:12. This was a personal record by 7 minutes!
This was my second half marathon. The first one last year was for me to prove that I could run this distance, but after finishing I realized I ran too conservative and that I could have ran it faster.
This year in spite of the rain and the wind, I had a good feeling and was able to keep a constant “fast” pace but with enough strength left to run the last five km a little faster. Today I feel perfect, no pains, no sores and I’m very proud of my new PR…
Marius Enescu ran the Gerar 2017 Half Marathon and finished in a time of 2:06:35.
This was not your typical HM race. The concept is very interesting. You run as part of a trio and all the team members are supposed to run at the same pace and be at all times next to each other. There can’t be a gap larger than 10m, or you’re disqualified. Gerar, actually means something like frost, freezer and it’s supposed to be a celebration of January which is the coldest month in Romania.
For me this was a celebration of running, a passion I shared with 2 of my very good, not so well trained friends, but this race was not about PRs. We had only 3 goals: finish the race safely, have fun and if possible not finish last. We accomplished all of them. Smiles, celebration, cool pictures, positive vibes, Gerar is also the first bigger local race of the season, so a lot of runners join to kick-it off with style. 🙂
Carmen López-Acevedo ran the Medio Maraton Getafe Half Marathon and finished in 1:56:39, which was a PR by 1 minute!
This was my third HM, my A goal was to do under 1:55 and B to PB. Very happy to achieve my B goal, I started quite conservatively and my last km was my fastest, 5:04 min/km pace so perhaps next time I will up the pace a little mid-race as I felt I could have done a little better. This was my first long race fueling exclusively with UCAN. I had my usual race day breakfast 2.5 hours before, oatmeal and a cappucino, and 30 minutes before the race I took one sachet of lemonade UCAN mixed with 250ml water. I had a gel in my pocket just in case but didn´t need it.
Ramon Pastor ran the Terrassa Half Marathon and finished with a time of 1:35:00. This was a personal record by 2 minutes!
This was my first race after I joined Runnersconnect, more than 2 months ago. What made this race special was that this was a very hilly race (more than 250m altitude gain) and a very windy day, but despite all of this I could do my PR by 2 minutes vs. an extremely flat HM… This was really beyond my expectations. I improved on this same race 7 minutes year to year, which is incredible for me. This encourages me a lot to go for the final weeks of my marathon training towards Barcelona’s marathon.
