Mary Watson ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon and completed this distance in the time of 2:33.
I felt better prepared for this race than any other, and, although I didn’t PR, was very happy with my performance.
The weather was cloudy and cool at the start, perfect for running. I was careful to go out conservatively, as my usual mistake is to go too hard early and hit a wall later in the race. I tried to mimic the feel of a cutdown, and push a little harder with each mile. I may have been too conservative, though, as I finished with the feeling that I could have gone a bit harder in the middle miles and still have finished okay. Mother nature did make herself known. In my final two miles, it poured rain, which was cooling, but also really threw me off.
Thank you so much, coaches, for all of your help, great advice and knowledge, and your constant encouragement. I have accomplished during this training what I never knew I could, thanks to you! Thanks also to the RC community, who never made me feel like the slowest runner in the group, but instead like part of the team! You all inspire me with your accomplishments every day.
Kate Blanco ran the Sri Chinmoy Running Festival 30k and finished with a time of 2:48:24. This was a new personal record by 3 minutes.
This festival has various distances and in the past I ran the half marathon. For the last two years I’ve done the 30 km. It is a 5km loop around park lands and it’s also a flat course however it changes and doesn’t get boring. I beat my time from 2015 by three minutes and felt like I could have run a bit further – though not much!
I ran a half marathon 4 weeks earlier and did that in the same average pace of 5.40 km. I kept a lid on my pace at the start and that paid dividends later in the race. Another bonus is I came second in my category 55-59 and got a medal. The organisers do a fantastic job and we can all have a post race pancake – yum.
David Young ran the Quadzilla 15K Trail Race and finished with a time of 1:37:05, which was a PR!
This was my first venture into a trail race so I really didn’t know what to expect. I’ve been doing weekly trail runs through local state parks but the race experience was so much different than the slow Sunday trail runs. Going in I thought I’d just “run in the race” for the experience rather than “race the race” but once things got started, I was off and racing.
The temperatures were up that morning, the sun was hot, and the very hilly course was rugged and tough. Even though it was brutal it was probably the most fun I’ve had in a race. The shirts for the race have the slogan “I eat hills for breakfast” on it. I’m still trying to figure out if I ate the hills or the hills ate me. Either way I finished 117th out of about 500 which was good enough for 4th in my age group. Looks like the race had about 150 or so DNF’s.
They bill this race as the toughest trail race around my area. This trail race really resonated with me. I’m going to look for more local races like this and try to incorporate more training runs into other local trails.
Janis Crum ran the La Sportiva Table rock 10k and finished this distance in the time of 1:40:39.
First difficult trail race, which was 2000 ft in elevation – for the first half! The rest was downhill, and I was feeling strong until I hit a rock and busted my knee. I got back up and ran the rest of it.
Ericka Binkley ran the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in 01:55:01, which was a PR by 36 seconds!
This was a great race for me! It was one of the first long distance races I’ve done where I didn’t feel like I completely tanked at the end. I credit the Runners Connect training plan for helping me build the right kind of endurance and fitness to be able to do this! The last few miles still felt tough, but I kept going and maintained a pretty consistent pace. This was a 36 second PR for me…not much for a half marathon, but hey, a PR is a PR! 🙂 This race helped me know that I’m on the right track with my training for my goal race this fall.
Mark Soo ran the Pattaya Half Marathon and finished in a time of 1:49:41.
This was a tune up half marathon race where I wanted to see where my fitness currently is. I started off the race at a reasonable comfortable pace with the idea that I would try to speed up in the second half of the race. I don’t normally take any fuel during a half marathon but I thought I would try taking a gel at around 13-14km to see if I would notice any difference compared to not taking on any fuel.
My idea to speed up slightly during the second half of the race didn’t happen. I started to struggle around at around 14km. I had already taken the gel about a km before but to be honest I didn’t really feel anything. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to keep up the pace from the first half so made sure I focused on good form till the end. I finished in 1:49.41 which is quite a bit off from my PB but I thought my current fitness would be somewhere close to 1:50.
This is the longest distance I’ve done in a while (after a bit of a break with a knee injury). It was good to use this race to gauge fitness and of course great to finish injury free. I have another half marathon on 12 August where I hope to go faster.
Tom Benoit ran the Runners World Classic 5k/10k/HM with a finishing time of 3:33:06.
I ran the Runners’ World Classic in Massachusetts. It’s a 5k and 10k on Saturday and a half marathon on Sunday. I really had to think about pacing, partly to have enough energy for all the races, and also because, for the 5k/10k day, it was nearing 80 degrees by the end of the 10k. Times were 26:18 for the 5k, 59:48 for the 10k and 2:07 for the HM, a total of 3:33:06, and good enough for 6 of 12 in my age group. The 5k was only 20 seconds per mile off my PR and the HM only 35 seconds per mile, so given I did 3 races, I was very pleased with at. I had never raced a 10k, so I’m calling that a PR!
Bethany Martin ran the SpoKenya 7k Run/Walk Race for Clean Water and finished with a time of 48:27. This was a PR by 6 minutes on the 5k.
Did this with my parents, first ever with Mom. Mom and Dad walked and crossed the finish line holding hands and smiling. So cute. First time I’ve ever run a real race longer than a 5k. PR on a mile (9:47). PR on a 5k (31:36). Goals for the race were: finish, run the whole race, finish in less than 55 minutes. Official time: 48:27. Official pace: 11:08. And the whole 3rd mile was up hill!
Shweta Soral ran the BNP Endurathon 25k, finishing this distance in the time of 2:38:59. This was a massive PR by 22 minutes!
This race is considered one of the toughest race in Mumbai, considering in the route there are 2 climbs of 600 and 800 meters along with more climbs on the route. It has 2 loops each 12.5 kms. Last year I finished in 3:00:28 (1st loop went fast and dint have enough energy for 2nd loop). This year managed to finish in 2:38:59 by conserving energy in 1st half.
Kathy Balme ran the Lindsay Milk Run 5k and finished the race event in the time of 24:29.
The race was a small one, held in a smallish town, sort of countryish. The first half was generally on an incline, and the second half of course came down. I’m not used to doing 5k distances; you have to gut it out the whole way, and it’s hard! Anyway, I finished, not a PB, but that’s okay; I was pleased enough with my time. The finisher’s medal is a hoot! It’s a cowbell! I placed second in my age group (50-59), so I’m quite pleased with that!
Diana Cano ran the Spring Race Arboledas 10k, finishing this distance in the time of 58.02.
I did a very great race! Nice weather and nice course. I did 58mins! I could do less but the first km was so difficult to run because we were many runners in a narrow street so there was no chance to go faster as I wanted to make 56min! But I’m definitively very happy with my result!!
Luc Berthouze ran the Hove Promenade Parkrun 5k and finished in a time of 20:58, which was a PR by 1:41.
A tune-up race to get a sense of my true fitness following disappointing 10k a couple of weeks back. My race plan (21:00) involved paces that I wasn’t sure I could keep to but, this being a tune-up race, there was nothing to lose by going for it. Race management was not perfect (went a bit faster in the first mile and paid for it during the second) but I did the last 1.1 mile 10s faster than target average pace. Next goal: sub-20 🙂
John Sheridan ran the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon and finished in 1:52:02. This was a massive personal record by 0:20:37.
I really wanted to break two hours this year in the half marathon. Last year I thought I could do it, but this same race was on a hot day (81F and 80 percent humidity), and it just wasn’t going to happen. It was my first half, and I ended up running it in 2:12:39.
I did the Chicago marathon in October and then ran as much as I could through the winter and had some great races in the spring (5k and 10k). I followed RC’s basic HM race plan and ran miles 1-3 at about HM pace+10 seconds. At mile 10, I was still feeling good and crept up to 8:39. I told myself I could do anything for another half hour and ended up running negative splits from there on out: 8:35, 8:17, 8:12, 7:52.
A big thanks to RC coaches Michael, Danny, Sarah, and Jamie for a great training schedule! I finished today with a 20-PR in 1:52:02.
Ron Dawson ran the Wildfire Half Marathon and finished with a time of 1:43:53.
Tune up race for marathon in September. First time I have ran sub 1:45 in hot weather on a hilly course. Finished first in my age group and 17 out of 213.
Angela Bogner ran the Run to the Moon 10k and finished this race in the time of 45:57, which was a PR!
When I began my re-birth as a “serious” runner 18 months ago, many years after a past life as a competitive runner, I proclaimed, ” I’ll never run more than a 5K. Anyone of sound mind would not run a marathon, but Ok ,I’ll try a 10K.” After yesterday’s 10k, I am super excited to try a half marathon.
Steve Curran ran the Runners World Classic 10k and finished this distance in the time of 1:10.
Did the 5 and Dime (5k & 10K) at the runners world classic. It was a hot one.
Charlotte Taylor ran the Dorset Invader Half Marathon and finished in a time of 2:39:31.
A trail race where adversity was overcome!! My calf popped at 7k and I was all for giving up but persevered albeit quite slowly 😉
The race itself was brilliant, lots of runners dressed up in Roman soldier garb complete with swords and shields hurtling through the fields of Dorset on a blistering hot day … complete madness but loved it!
Francois Langdeau ran the Demi-marathon de la bande du canal Chambly Half Marathon with a finishing time of 2:04. This was a PR by 10 seconds!
It was a PR for me, but a special one. My first race this year was done in 2:06, so roughly a 2 minutes improvement. I am still trying to beat the 2 hours mark, and I think it looks promising.
The weather yesterday was not favorable, as the temp was around 84-85 degrees. So to get this time despite the warm weather was quite nice.
I also applied the principles that are talked about on this site for the race. Started very slow for the 5 first 5k, then got on my race pace (I chose a very conservative number because of the temperature) and then in the last 5 km, I pushed it. I had planned for a cutdown (-5 sec per k) but I felt I had so much energy left in the bank that my cutdown was *way* more aggressive than anticipated. It was a fantastic feeling to finish that strong, flying by other runners who were struggling. It was my first time with such a strong finish and it was … just fun.
So all and all a very fun race, a real confidence booster and definitely a new way at looking at more upcoming races. Thank you very much for all you help and insights.
