Yoi Ohsakk ran the New Milford Fire Dept 5k and finished with a time of 20:35, which was a PR!
Race strategy: The “B” goal was to finish under 21 minutes and the “A” goal was to get an overall PR (20:30 or better). I managed splits of 6:31, 6:31, 6:37 for the first 3 miles and had to just hang on with a 6:33 pace for the last 0.1. It was not an overall PR but it was a 35 second course PR compared to what I did in 2016. I went a little fast on the first 2 miles but did not fade much on the 3rd mile thankfully. My goal was to finish the 3rd mile at 6:30 pace or faster and the last 0.1 at 6:00 pace or faster. What also made this race so special is just how much time and preparation was put into this race.
Val Hinsperger ran a Half Marathon race with a finishing time of 1:59:08.
Year long race plan: 2019 is based on staying strong rather than hitting a number. The coaches have helped me come back from a stupid self-inflicted running injury. I chose this race to see if I could run smart 2 weeks after my spring goal race.
The Pre Race strategy: I decided I was going to start from the back and work my way up. I knew the last k was a big up and then steep downhill down to the finish ( not my strong suit) so that was in the back of my mind. Because I am 61, it’s also somewhat easy to spot us “grey hair’s” so I figured I would have a good chance to win my Age Class if I ran only to win and not with a goal time. This meets the need to try run a few more races this summer than run a “one hit wonder”: – which happened with my 2018 fall race.
The Race: Started at the back and ran behind some fit looking ladies for 5k. The course had 10 turns on it ( each way so 20 turns in total) and it was fun to see all the volunteers. At 5k I moved up and ran steady, enjoying the scenery. At the turn around I knew what I was in for so took it up a notch and began to reel in the younger generation. I was only passed by one fast guy and so had the joy of doing all the passing. My friend was with the race photographer at the top of the last hill and yelled for me to smile so I get the best ever race picture.
The finish: Everything paid off. I won my age class, finished 8th overall and had zero leg recovery issues. The post race party was awesome with everyone dancing the afternoon away.
Thanks to the Runner’s Connect coaches and community. The spring season has been meaningful and rewarding!
Julia Landrum ran the Tunnel Marathon and finished with a time of 4:14:56.
Well, it was a great course and beautiful day. Highly recommend. But I missed my time by a lot. I think 2 reasons… 1) I got super nervous and wasn’t able to turn it to positive energy and 2) I fell pretty hard at mile 3. It threw my confidence.
I cut and bruised up my knees and hands but I don’t think anything structural. But, I just didn’t “try” after that. I do feel great now… Am thinking about doing another marathon in August. I kind feel like I fell off a horse and I need to get right back on!
Andra Ghent ran the Raleigh Rundown Downhill Mile Race 5k and finished in a time of 6:10, which was a PR by 37 seconds!
I’m very happy with how this race went. 5/15 in my age category. I’d had two disappointing mile races on the track prior to this (6:51 and 6:57) and I was about to give up on the mile altogether. Those races helped me learn how to race a mile though. Key for me seems to me to not go all out on the first 400M as that left me feeling like I was dying and that there was no way could I continue at anything close to that pace. This time, although my first split was still the fastest, I had a much better feel for “”very fast but not dying”” pace and held back *a little* in the first 400-800M. Probably also helped that I wore my Vaporfly 4% on this which I’m going to wear next time I do a 1-mile race on the track as well. I definitely felt the downhill in my quads from almost the very start but felt fine at the end.
William Bell ran the LEAP 5K and finished this distance in the time of 0:39:26.
Best time this year. Perfect day for a race. Finished 1st in 65-69 group!
Sean Gilmore ran the Lululemon 10k and finished this race in the time of 0:46:22, which was a PR by 75 seconds!
Great event! Well organized and nice swag. For the race, I started out too fast. The tall buildings in downtown TO made it a problem to get the GPS to lock. So I ran with the crowd pace which is a no-no. Once we hit the lake front after the first 1k, the headwinds were strong. I didn’t get into flow like I hoped and it felt like I was fighting each km. But it was a great result! Now back to focusing on the the fall races…
Michael Carr ran the New Milford 5K, finishing this distance in the time of 23:42.
Fastest 5K since 1 Jan 2015 and highest PLP (75.6%) since Fall of 2014. I got 3rd in my age group. This was a USATF-NJ Masters Championship, so the best competition available. I had positive splits but felt strong throughout after holding back somewhat in 2nd half of the first mile. I was 19 sec/mi faster than I was at Tuesday’s cross country race and I had expected to be 20 seconds faster so my effort on Tuesday was not a fluke. My recent 15 to 20 lb weight loss seems to be having an effect.
Yoi Ohsako ran the New Milford Fire Dept 5k and finished this race event in the time of 20:35.
I had 2 goals in mind: My “A” goal was to do the following splits: 6:45, 6:40, 6:35, and sub 6 min pace for the last 0.1. My “B” goal was to do the following splits: 6:40, 6:35, 6:30, and sub 6 min pace for the last 0.1
My actual splits were 6:31, 6:31, 6:37, 6:33 for the last 0.1. At first I was a little nervous by going way faster than intended for the first 2 times then I realized that it was not as bad as I thought so I tried for a sub 6:30 pace on the 3rd mile but just ran out of steam at mile 2.5 so I just hung on and pushed as hard as I can. I missed an overall PR by just 5 seconds but I managed to run 35 seconds faster than the last time I did this race in 2016.
Jacob Huckins ran the Cornfield Cornfield 10k with a finishing time of 48:04.
Super muggy (96% humidity) . Not sure if this was the only factor slowing me down, but I felt really sluggish by mile 3.
Andrea Hudson Baldwin ran the Frisco Trail Race 15k and finished with a time of 1:30:04.
Improved over February’s time by over 3 minutes. Felt more trail happy, surefooted and also did not fall. Started with the right pace group, maybe a little too fast, versus too slow last time. Passed a few runners, 1 passed me in the first 2 miles, then it was pretty solitary, passed one more towards the end and one female runner passed me, ?but then this dude chanting military chants or something like that behind me and I kicked it up a good notch. Strong finish, felt pretty good after the race ????♀️
Chris Deery ran the Gridiron Gallop 5k and completed this distance in the time of 19:20.
A bit disappointed as this was the slowest 5k I have run in many years. I gave it everything and tried to run at a slower pace but couldn’t hold that and was just hanging in there. On a funny note I haven’t won a race in many years so it was great that my kids got to see me do that. Onwards and upwards?.
Erin Plati ran the Ryan McElroy Children’s Cancer Foundation 5K and finished in 25:15. This was a PR by 2 minutes, 17 seconds!
I placed 5th overall, was the 3rd female to finish and got 1st place in my age group. BUT this was a VERY small local race so I kinda have to laugh and just pretend that I was fast 🙂 That being said, I had I the back of my head that I wanted to run this around 25 minutes, but wasn’t sure that it was possible as I didn’t get my runs in this week and have been feeling heavy and tired. Negative splits again so I keep building good racing strategies as I gain more experience. The last time I ran one was in 2013 and finished in 27:33 so I’m definitely getting faster. Also forgot how much I DON’T like this distance. Feels like it’s over before it has started. Still fun to place.
Carmen Lopez-Acevedo ran a 10k race and finished this distance in the time of 0:48:37.
Very happy with this! Beat my sub 50 goal, and only 19 seconds off my all time PR on a much easier course. The weather was a tad warm but nice, and I was aiming to just finish in 49 minutes. Unfortunately my shoe lace came untied at km 5 so lost a few seconds there retying, so probably would have PRd. I ran by power but once I was confident I was under 49 minutes I decided to not push too hard in last 2km as I have my triathlon in 2 weeks. I saw a lot of my run club friends and had a great day!
Jo Bourke ran the Lugano Scenic Trail – 55km and finished with a time of 9:12:30.
Amazingly beautiful trail but oh so tough! There was almost 4000m of elevation gain over the 55km course and I don’t think there was more than about a 15 minute stretch during the entire race that wasn’t either very steep uphill or super technical, slippery downhill. I had an amazing day out and went through many highs and lows. We were incredibly lucky with the weather as it was stormy right before and afterwards but while we were running it was dry (albeit very humid). It’s quite intense having to focus and concentrate on every footstep for such a long period of time but there’s also something liberating about not worrying about the clock the way we tend to during a road race. The feeling of camaraderie on the trail is also very different – I stopped for a while to help a woman who fell and sprained her ankle just in front of me and also saw lots of others helping people in difficulty. Even though I’m very sore and tired today I’m really proud of sticking it out and finishing my longest run ever!
Catherine Petrosino ran the Coney Island Classic 5k with a finishing time of 32:56.
The 5k is a new distance for me and my goal is for it to keep me active with training and racing while not overburdening my time. This race was not a PR for me, but a performance improvement over my 5K this past December. In that race, I did a walking / running sequence but despite the perfect weather it felt very hard to complete! Today I ran in 72 degrees with 62 dewpoint and humidity, but I was 1) able to run from start to finish 2) it didn’t feel hard until I was pushing the pace in the last mile and 3) came off of two difficult weeks between work and my personal life which hampered my training. Overall, I think I did well and expect that I can improve going forward!
Greg Stern ran the Sprint to Flint 5k and completed this race event in the time of 0:20:44.
Ken Kenna ran the Waterloo Classic 10k and finished in a time of 45:33.
So I finished the race and was surprised that I was a lot slower than I thought I was. To top it off I felt like I still had some fuel in the tank so was kicking myself for letting a PB opportunity get away. But on the bright side I was really happy with mostly maintaining my race strategy and placing 2nd in my age category (out of 20). And to top it all off it was just a really fun race and I feel so confident that the next 10k my current PB is going down baby!
As always I want to thank the coaches and RC members who have given me great training, advice, and support. Although not faster today I feel like I am a better runner.
Christina Beliso ran the Father’s Day Rainbow Falls 5K with a finishing time of 30:09, which was a PR!
My first race ever! And it was on Father’s Day, so I ran it wearing a t-shirt honoring my late husband. My kids (ages 10, 8, and 4) all wore their daddy tees, too, and cheered me on. I also had two friends running it with me, which made it extra memorable.
Elizabeth Olacio ran the Queens 10k and finished this race event in the time of 1:12:56.
Did better than I thought I would.
Brad Batchelder ran the SARR Carrabba’s Half Marathon and finished this race in the time of 1:42:04.
Race was a 4 person half marathon relay or individual half marathon. I ran the individual half marathon and it went better than I expected considering the heat and humidity (81F and 85% humidity). The course was 4 loops and I tried to run a pretty even paced race based on how I felt rather than what my watch said. I was a little worried about hydration but it wasn’t an issue at all. Only problem I had was my right calf started to tighten up on the last loop. Overall I feel it was a well executed race and look forward to continuing my training towards my goal marathon in January 2020.
Shatchakarn Chaiear ran the Kao Pratub Chang Trail 2019 (HM) and finished this race in the time of 3:39:16.
Trail – I did better than last year by 1 hour!! 🙂 I did the same course last year at 4:50:32.
Robin Whitley ran the Queens 10k, finishing this distance in the time of 1:23:33.
It’s a good test for how I am doing (or not) – my legs felt decent but I knew the direct sun = slow down and adjust intervals. I know better and 2 min/ 30 sec was a bit much once I hit the direct sun. In 2018, the UK was warm, so the transition to NYC temps was easier (splits were way smoother, about a 1:45min difference). Hydration was mostly fine (carried my own bottle and nuun)
Dan Turner ran the Rabbit Run 12km Trail Run with a finishing time of 1:05.
I felt pretty good going into this one, I had done the race last year but it didn’t go too well for a variety of reasons. One thing I wanted to be careful of was the hard start which has a lot of uphill and boggy parts in the first 3km, last year I went too hard during this part and had to walk at points later in the race. This year I felt I paced myself well up until about 7km and then I started to push faster, I was feeling good and thinking I would fly for the next 5km, but then the race hits a boggy and uneven field which really slowed me down and sapped my speed/energy. Still, I thought I was doing good time and I was able to finish the last 300m with a flat out sprint!
Looking back at the race I’m struggling to find where I could have improved. I think I should have gone faster wherever there are flat parts during the race, rather than saving my energy in the first half. The other thing I struggled with was the late race time, it’s an evening run at 5:30. I just can’t seem to prepare well for these, I haven’t quite got the eating/drinking right. Anyway, I came through uninjured and without much aching in the following days, which is good, though I can’t help wonder if I could have pushed harder. I think the answer to this is I could have, lessons learned I guess and fuel for the next race 🙂
Danielle Nadeau ran the Banff Half Marathon and finished with a time of 2:08:58.
I was hoping to be under 2hrs, (my fastest half marathon race time is 1:59) however this would not really be a course for a PR expectation. Running in the mountains at higher elevation and with rolling hills throughout. I was a bit disappointed with my time. I had to stop and use the bathroom, which meant a short wait also just to get in(I rarely have this problem in training ?). The last 2 miles felt like torture, and I had difficulty pushing through the discomfort. However, felt decent up to mile 9-10. On the plus side, I recovered quickly after the race was over. Looking forward, this will be a good training run for my half marathon in August, hopeful for a better time then.
