Vicki Badura ran the Idaho Springs Pack Burro Race 5 Mile and finished with a time of 1:41:16, which was a PR!
Pack Burro racing has a long tradition in Colorado – the donkey carries a pack and you run along with it, you’re not riding the animal. Burros have a mind of their own so it can make things interesting. My donkey JD was no exception.
We did OK for the first mile, but after that he got really excited and he wanted to take off. Once we got off a dirt road and onto a small trail through the forest I was able to get better control and keep him behind me, and he eventually calmed down. I know I could have had a faster time, but it wasn’t meant to be because JD lost his mind a little bit for part of the race.
Still, I was very proud of our accomplishment. I was first in women aged 55-59 (only one in my age group), 26/30 for all women, and 64/69 overall. I met all of my goals:
1. Run the Idaho Springs Pack Burro Race
2. Stay upright
3. Finish the race
4. Not come in lastThe course was very challenging (1000’+ elevation gain), but I got it done and I feel like I’ve come a long way in the past eight months! Thank you RC for your coaching and support!
Shanthi Lackey ran the Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon with a finishing time of 1:47:21.
It wasn’t a PR but expected due to injury’s that hindered my training. My first mile was the slowest and last my the fastest:). It was a fun destination race and vacation. The weather was perfect for running.
John Bakalar ran the Herrin Festa 10K and finished this distance in the time of 44:27.
It felt pretty solid, I love this race because it’s local. It’s also sponsored by the local running club, and I enjoy the group. I believe I went out a little too fast on the race today, I probably should have kept it a little slower at first. But I’m glad to have it done.
David Gehr ran the Sugar Rush 5k Fundraiser and finished this race in the time of 22:49, which was a PR by 1:16.
I was running for TeamV cancer research so it was my motivation to run happy and finish strong. Personal goal was to break 23 minute mark so I am happy I was able to do this on this special day.
Cindy Lee ran the Mountain 2 Beach Marathon and finished with a time of 3:54:08. This was a huge personal record by 29:36.
Ojai is a beautiful town and the weather was absolutely optimum, cloudy, 56-58. My husband rode his bike the whole course, handing me gels and water. It is his dream and mine to go to Boston in April, so this qualifier was very emotional for us. We both cried at the finish line. I didn’t want to let him down, so we are super excited that I have a 10:52 buffer from the 4:05 cutoff. My A. Goal was to achieve a 4:00 or even 3:58. My B. Goal was a 4:05. C Goal was to enjoy and not acquire an injury. I think running near a pacer in this race helped. All the nutrition/fluid during the race helped and then equally if not more….the coaching and challenging training schedule. I managed the last 3 miles, “baby” neg. splits, which is a miracle bc of the uphill at the end. I highly recommend RC to those around me. Thanks for all the encouragement!!!
Terry Whelan ran the Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon and finished in a time of 1:35:51, which was a PR by 15 seconds!
This was an ‘accidental PR’. The purpose of this race was to set paces for the next training cycle. My thought has been that if I can train consistently throughout the year then a 1:36 1/2 might be possible in October, followed by a realistic BQ attempt in December.
The weather today was perfect about 57F and overcast. Did not need to take water or calories, just kept on running. This is a fast course with about 400ft net down hill. The only major difficulty is about 80ft of uphills from miles 10-12. Need to keep the pace in check in the early miles to have energy for the hill. My strategy worked near perfection, losing only about 20seconds off my average pace on the hill.
Alexandre Fagundes ran the Cosan Seven Run SP Half Marathon with a finishing time of 1:34:36. This was a new personal record by 0:04:21.
1:34:36 that is a PR by 4min and 21sec! Thanks for the coaches on guiding me here and for the whole supporting community of RC Runners! This is a very flat race, except from the huge Estaiada Bridge, that the course made us cross on all 4 segments (around 23 meters high each), so, some 100 meters elevation.
I´ve been preparing for this pushing the easy runs longer than prescribed during the base period, than, when we entered the specific race workouts, I followed the schedule otherwise I would be too tired to do them properly. Seems like the strategy payed out! Well prepared by RC coaches, I worked on my sleep during the week, specially in the last two days. I also worked on my nutrition, the whole week adding more carbs.
The idea was to run at 310W, but the start was a bit chaotic, after 1k I realized I was too fast, so I slowed down a bit. At the km 2 we started ascending the bridge, I slowed down to keep the power and not feel my legs burning, some people were passing me by. I passed all of them back when descending. This happened more 3 times since the course made us cross all the segments of the bridge, but I felt in control all the time. After the bridge, I passed a lot of people along the way. Took a gel at 40 min of race and another at 1 hour and drank water every 20 minutes.
When I did the first 10k, and the bridge was over, I entered another 5k segment, super flat, I kept going at 4:31, 4:32, but in the last 1k of this segment, decided to push harder, was feeling good, so ended up at 4:30. Next segment was only 4k, I wasn’t even looking at my watch anymore. In the last 200m a guy passed me by and I thought, oh, no, you are not going to do that, so I sprinted and passed him as if he was standing still! to finish super strong! This last segment pace was 4:15!
What I am most happy about is how controlled I felt the whole time, climbing the bridge, people passing me, and I knew I was doing my race, I also knew exactly when I could dial in more that I had enough to finish it strong, this happened 7km before the end! and I also knew I had more in me for the last 2k!
Steffen Lang ran the Stadtlauf Neustadt 5k and completed this distance in the time of 17:04.
First race since aborted marathon and did not expect a miracle hoped to break 17. This did not quite happen with 17:04 on a very curvy course, but got away with the win against some young gun, won a shopping voucher and a great experience. More to follow ??
Erin Wood ran the Ogden Half Marathon and finished with a time of 1:40:11.
I love this course! Most of it run down through a beautiful mountain canyon. It rained the entire race but it really didn’t bother me too much. I stayed warm in my jacket and gloves and felt really good! I arrived to the start too late to wait in the porta potty line so made a quick stop at the first one during the race. It probably cost me 20 seconds or so but I’m still happy with my time. Not a PR but my goal in this race was to run strong and feel good (especially since I felt so not good during Boston). Hopefully I’ll be back next year and maybe have this as my goal race and try to PR. This is definitely a course where it could happen!
James Pitchford ran the Pier to Pier 2019 10k, finishing this distance in the time of 0:47:32.
This was advertised as 7 miles and I was told on the start line it was 7.5 but ended up being 6.8. Race started on South Shields beach for just under a mile, before rising onto the cliff paths until the final mile or so on the promenades and beach just below a Roker Pier in Sunderland. Lovely sunny day, excellent goody bag and happy with my time. Finished 95th out of 1280ish so was pleased with that. Next race on 1st June in Grasmere so a few more hills to deal with.
George Christie ran the National Senior Games 5k and completed this race event in the time of 0:27:58.
1st in age group.
Bob Muehring ran the Medina Half Marathon with a finishing time of 1:44:53.
Spring races are usually not my best as I don’t have a long training period coming out of winter, but I’ll take today’s results. This was a personal course best by 3:21 and my 2nd best masters time. Pretty satisfied that I broke 1:45.
Carmen Lopez-Acevedo ran the Carrera por la Esclerosis Multiple 2019 10k and finished in a time of 51:20.
Charity Race in aid of Multiple Sclerosis which I do every year. It is a tough course, with big hills in km 2 and 3 and rolling hills for the rest. I didn´t plan to race it as I just did a 10km 6 days ago, so I ran as a hard tempo. My average power was 186W (CP is 195W). It was a beautiful sunny day, a little hot in the full sun but lovely in the shaded areas woodland parts of the course. I came away with a 1 minute course PR so very happy with the effort.
Chris Rose ran the Bill Snyder Highway Half Marathon and finished with a time of 2:06.
Finished in the stadium this year!
Jim Knowlton ran the Portland Half Marathon with a finishing time of 3:03:41.
Did my half marathon….survived! I realized I wasn’t necessarily in good race shape, so just decided to take it very easy and see how fit I am. My plan was to do a 4/3 run/walk ratio. The race ended up breaking down to three parts:
– Miles 1-4: Did my plan, and felt great. So far so good.
– Miles 5-9: Lots of difficult hills, which I didn’t expect. My run/walk plan pretty much broke down here, but I tried to do at least 3 minutes run/3 minutes walk
– Miles 10 – finish: Back was bothering me, so I ran as much as I could, but walked quite a bit.Overall, it was something of a struggle, but that’s OK! Considering the workouts I’ve been doing (really haven’t gone over 4 miles), I think I did great. I’ll use this as a baseline to measure how I do this summer/year.
Jeremy Burnham ran the Bermuda Day Half Marathon and finished this race in the time of 1:47:16.
My strategy was to start super slow, get through the big hill at miles 8 and 10, and then throw everything I had at the final three miles, on roads I run virtually every day. Goal # 1 was to beat 1:42:29. Goal # 2 was to not walk on the mile 10 hill, which is what I did last time.
I was cruising through the first 10 miles, happy with splits, everything working, running by effort and telling myself to slow down where necessary. Goal # 2 achieved with relative ease. Hit the top of the hill at mile 10, knew I’d hit all my targets, possibly a minute down on time, but couldn’t wait to get stuck into the last 3 miles. From experience, I knew I had load left in the tank.
A soon as I opened the throttle, my right calf cramped, and I knew that was it. My splits for the final 3 miles were much as they had been for the previous 10, except that I had been holding back. Huge, huge crowds all the way around, and I crossed the finishing line with loads of energy left, but unfortunately, a whole 5 minutes slower. My training tended to be on what we call the railway trail, an old railway which tends to be flat. I believe my lack of training on hills, for such a hilly race, was a huge contributing factor.
Janie Pelletier ran the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend 2019 10k and finished this race in the time of 0:57:02.
I was running with my daughter who just got a baby in January. My time was better than same race last year (00:57:40) but not my best 10 km. Before the race started, I was not even sure I would make it below 1 hour so I’ m happy I made it. It was raining the last 5 km.
Kevin Daniel ran the High Drive Challenge 10 mile and finished this race event in the time of 1:38:19, which was a PR!
This is probably the hardest race I’ve run in recent memory. The race is basically 5 miles up a beautiful mountain road and then back down. Total elevation gain was just over 2,000 feet. I had to power hike up several times before the mid point, but then on the way down, holy smokes! Best mile time yet, and felt like I was flying! Until, the last mile had three big hills and my legs were toast. I pushed through til the end, but I had nothing left in my legs. Definitely need to work on my hills for the July Pikes Peak 30k.
On another totally strange note, my hamstring, which has been bugging me for awhile felt great the entire race. Go figure, maybe the extended warm-up helped. Anyway, great race in the end.
Mihael Lorbeg ran the Night run Celje 10k, finishing this distance in the time of 0:43:55.
Hot and humid. I ran this race all alone so I think I could do it even better if I had company. The track was flat and sadly not so interesting as previous ones. Nevertheless I’m feeling quite good and strong.
Yoi Ohsako ran the Wineglass 8k and finished with a time of 0:34:34.
My goal was to do 7:00, 6:55, 6:50, 6:45 and 6:40 to finish at 6:50 pace on my Garmin which will hopefully be enough to finish at a sub 7 min pace officially. I gave myself a 5 min/sec range for each mile. Mile 1 was 6:55-7:00 pace, mile 2 was 6:50-6:55 pace, etc…
As the race started, no matter how easy it felt to go faster, I stuck to the plan. My splits were 6:57, 6:53, 6:43, 6:47, 6:42. I got a little aggressive at mile 3 but then I just decided to hold pace. I started feeling it at mile 4 but this is when I told myself mind over matter. This is what separates the men from the boys. So I pushed through the last 2 miles with my body wanting to mentally quit and only missed my cut down splits by 2 sec/mile on mile 4 and 5. I ended up passing a guy at mile 4.4 who started out too fast.
I ended up getting 1st place in my age group (Male 40-44) out of 26 runners with 2nd place being 3-4 minutes slower. I also placed 17th overall out of 698 runners. It helps to have a smaller field. I still need to dial in on nutrition and sleep to get fitter but my legs were not even sore. The maintenance routines and the gym workouts are definitely helping.
Mark Bunkowske ran the Stillwater 10k and completed this distance in the time of 40:59.
I’ll never PR in the 10k again but it is a recent record (best time in 10 years). It’s my first age group win and first overall ‘podium’ (3rd) in an ‘open’ road race even if the race was small with a different race as the main event. Certainly a confidence builder after laying an egg at Boston. I needed it.
Nathan Rauh-Bieri ran the Bayshore Half Marathon and finished in a time of 1:20:26.
Bayshore has been on my wish list a few years. Yesterday I got the chance. I went in aiming for a solid sub-80, but today was not my day. Followed the race plan generator and take the first few easier (also accounting for steep uphill in the first mile), then go sub-6s from there. Tried to dial down the middle miles but utlimately couldn’t hold the pace. The fitness today wasn’t quite where I’d hoped. I feel good about the effort: I pushed hard, took a chance on a hotter pace and adjusted back, ran a negative split, and only moved up in the field the second half. A race to learn from and build on heading into the rest of the summer. But I do want another go at a half this calendar year!
Dave Miller ran the Scotiabank Calgary Marathon with a finishing time of 3:41:36. This was a massive personal record by 17 minutes!
This was a huge race for me. Achieving a PB is always exciting but to be able to crush it by 17 minutes is amazing. The team at runners connect have been awesome in helping to get me to this goal. The schedules and flexibility make training feel less like training and more like setting individual goals each day. I’m looking forward to a few days of rest and recovery but then I’ll be excited to get back at it for my next marathon challenge in August.
Zinan Chen ran the Mountains2Beach Marathon and finished this race in the time of 3:21:28. This was a new personal record by 0:04:36.
It was perfect condition – cool cloudy and light drizzle from time to time. PR by 4’36” – finished at 3:21:28. I want to thank coaches, especially Claire and Hayley for their detailed training plan, timely feedback and thoughtful guidance.
Pebble Williams ran the Boston Run to Remember Half Marathon and finished in a time of 2:57:08.
I knew it would be my best, but I hung on til the end to prove to myself I am not done with the half marathon distance! It was extraordinarily hot and sunny after mile 3. Hips and feet hurt, so I walked some which I have never done before. Looking forward to a redo!
Sophia Chen ran the Mountains2Beach Marathon and finished this race in the time of 2:57:02.
Took 2 minutes and 34 seconds off a PR that was almost 15 years old ? The run itself went really smoothly with the exception of face planting at mile 21 where the course was on an uneven trail path. Was nervous at the start about how this race would play out since I barely slept the night before. Luckily, despite the sleep deprivation and face plant, all went well. I did feel the need to go to the bathroom starting at mile 20, and for the first time in years was able to hold off until after finishing the race. That in and of itself felt like a huge bonus. I sincerely appreciate all the support I’ve gotten here on RC, I don’t think I could have pulled this off without you.
Anna Squicciarini ran the Buffalo Marathon with a finishing time of 3:34:30, which was a PR by 8 seconds!
Almost two years since my last race, a baby who still keeps me up at night and a full time career. It has been tough to train but it was worth it. When everything else made no sense, running always did. The race was good. I thought for a moment I could get closer to 3:33, but at mile 23 my legs let go a little. I finished off strong, and celebrated the rest of the day!
Oleg Kyrylko ran the 27th Run under Chestnuts 5k and completed this race event in the time of 23:36. This was a personal record by 6:16.
I ran my tuning race 5km and I have a new PR. But I have a double impression of the result. When I caught my breath after the finish, I realized that I still had a lot of strength and I was hardly tired. I could run in the second half of the race faster, but the fear that I could not keep up the pace, did not allow to accelerate. I started to accelerate late and did it too carefully. The result could be better. But I`m happy.
Ruslan Renatovich Fazlyev ran the Ul Run Half Marathon with a finishing time of 1:47:13.
This was the first ever Half Marathon race in my hometown of Ulyanovsk, Russia. The start was downhill so I ran 4:40min/km on a target race pace of 4:55-5:00. The track was flat overall, but I hit a fairly high heart rate of 180 early in the race, before I was half way through. Did not feel hard, but I decided to pace myself and ended up with 5:09 min/km. Had a lot of kick left and really sprinted the finish life.
Ken Kenna ran the Sulphur Springs 10k and completed this distance in the time of 47:57, which was a PR by 3 minutes!
I haven’t run this race for several years so I wasn’t sure how it would go and was satisfied with a new PB by 3 minutes. This race was special because not only was it a personal best in some pretty severe conditions but it was a race I ran without looking at my watch just running on effort and was happy with the result 15th overall (out of 359) and first in the 50 and over category.
Ed Hubbard ran the Ridgewood, NJ Fred D’Elia Run 5k and finished in 0:24:40.
While not a PB for the 5K, this was a PB for this particular race by 30 seconds. It comes after seriously backing off on my training in the past two weeks to manage an incipient case of runner’s knee. I certainly felt “”fit”” in today’s race and finished strong, but I didn’t feel “”sharp”” in terms of pushing my pace. Everything considered, however, this was a fun and fulfilling race.
Sarah Kuo ran a 10k race and finished this distance in the time of 0:44:54. This was a PR by 2 minutes and 59 seconds!
Was really nervous/excited to race this one especially since it’s been over a year since I last tried to race a 10K. Was really hoping to PR, but wasn’t sure if I could given that my last speed workout in the heat didn’t go so well. Even though I wasn’t able to negative split it like I wanted to because of the inclines in the latter half of the race, I’m still really happy with this one. To my shock and awe, I even placed 4th overall female and 1st in my age group! Never thought I’d ever be able to place that high in any race, so was really ecstatic how this race turned out!
Carin Marrs ran the Reach for the Stars 5k and finished with a time of 20:47.
It was special that my family came out and that my 6 year old kid ran the mile race without stopping (9:31!). It was not the time I was hoping for but I think I ran right at my fitness level. More races to come.
