Karina Christiansen ran the NYC Marathon and finished with a time of 3:22, which was a massive PR by 30 minutes!
The NYC Marathon is an incredible day, no matter what happens. I live here and run here, and every part of the course has a special meaning to me in some part of my life. I had run two marathons before, NYC in 2014 (3:52:01) and Copenhagen in 2015 (4:00:07). NYC in 2014 was magical, I think I cried 3 times on the course seeing family and friends and learning that I could in fact run a marathon! My second I discovered the wall and my goodness that race was hard to finish, but I was proud I did. This time, I wanted to be in control of my race and not have it control me! I signed up with Runner’s Connect for extra help, I got the miles in week in and week out (mostly!!!), I learned how to run commute and how amazing it is, I ran tempos and progression runs.
And I executed my plan. I was hoping to run 3:25, felt strongly I could go under 3:30. I finished at 3:22:14, with a negative split! 1:41:26 first half, 1:40:48 second. I am so happy with my time, but even more proud of the negative split on a course with a really hard back half. Miles 17-22 were my fastest (7:26, 7:10, 7:17, 7:26, 7:27, 7:27). I made a decision on 1st Avenue to go for it, and to my delight, even though it hurt, I kept my pace and didn’t fall off.
I gutted it out through 5th Avenue and once I got into Central Park, I was cramping and tired, but I kept moving. I tried not to worry about the clock , and just believe I could hold my effort and keep pushing until the end. Honestly, this was probably the race of my life! It was a special day and I am so very thankful to be part of this running community, on the streets and online. It is so positive and reminds us of the accountability we have to one another, to work hard, to be kind, to hope for the best, to help one another. THANK YOU!!!!
Jerry Burnham ran the NY Marathon and finished with a time of 3:43:03.
What a day that was! Total snafu with the organized tour bus. Race itself was awesome. I was running with 3 Irish lads, their 1st NY, so I was the seasoned pro. Two of them bolted out of the gate at the start and disappeared up the hill on the bridge, the other held back with me before creeping ahead. My injured foot was already aching, so I ran well within myself to make sure I finished. As the race progressed, I got stronger and stronger, passed the first of the Irish around mile 9, and was constantly telling myself to slow down. Very difficult when you have hundreds of people shouting your name – best thing ever to put it on your shirt.
Coming onto 1st Ave once again I was crying, gets me every time. Stayed steady and started increasing the tempo around mile 18. By mile 21, I was getting a little worried that I hadn’t seen the other two Irish yet – they were planning on running 4 hours. I threw it all in around mile 22, and was storming past everyone else, everyone except, that is, the Irish. Came home in a very decent 3h43mins, 3 mins off a PB, but considering the injury and the fact I hadn’t run for 4 weeks, delighted with my discipline to actually get to the finish.
Caught up with the rest later and congratulated the Irish on what must have been a run of a lifetime. Turns out I’d actually passed them on the Verrazano bridge and they both ran over 4 hours. Great to see some of the RC crew on the Saturday morning!
Rafael Carlos ran the NYC Marathon and finished this distance in the time of 3:29.
First half of the race was as planned, but I could tell it was a bit hard on my body. 2nd half was very tiring. Moving forward I think I definitely need more race specific trainings.
Bob Walters ran the 2017 NYC Marathon and finished with a time of 5:22:42, which was a PR by 30 minutes!
AGE 70!!!!
Autumn Paine ran the NYC Marathon and finished in a time of 5:41, which was a PR!
First marathon! It was awesome, the people of NY were awesome, and my mind and body did so much better than I expected. All in all an amazing experience.
Michelle Hall ran the NYC marathon with a finishing time of 3:48:51.
What made this race special is that it was harder than hell at the end…and for the first time in 20 years of running, my husband found me among all the runners and got a picture! But, here are the other details…..Could of had a PR if I had only run 26 miles…Oh, la, life is full of should have and could have moments, especially in this particular marathon. I trained for an 8:30 pace and had read multiple times the RC blog on the NY marathon, so I felt I had a good sense of what to expect. The warnings that this course is deceptively hard are all very true. The last three bridges can feel like you are climbing a mountain. I started the race with a sore hamstring and it stayed sore the whole race. I started a bit fast, I wanted to run an 8:15 pace. I held that for a long time but by mile 15 the hamstring was tiring and I had to stop and do squats every few miles. By mile 21 I was stiff in my hips and changed my gait a number of times to try and loosen things up. From 21 on it was tough rolling. I could not wait for that finish line. The weather was better than I expected. We had a mist most of the day and a good breeze. But, by mile 22 I was pretty overheated. When I crossed the finish line, I was really over heated and it took a long time to get my breathing steady. The NYC marathon is like no other I have run. The crowd support is amazing. There are so many people out cheering, that I was rather numb to them by mile 15. I am not sure how I got to 27.39 miles. I finished in 3:48:51, 9564 out of 50643 runners, 36th out of 970 in my age group, and a 3:01 age graded time.
Tom Van Ongeval ran the NYC Marathon and finished with a time of 02:42:17. This was a personal record by 5 minutes 30 seconds!
Let me first say – what an unbelievable event and organisation! Thank you NY. At the start I was on the third row of green wave 1, so I could start without issues. I took it really relaxed in first km when climbing Verrazano bridge not to spend too much energy and gained some time back in the descent. The first 10k I didn’t feel too good but I was on my marathon pace of 03:50/km and although runners were passing me I could more or less keep my position. As of km10 I started to feel better and keeping the effort was now becoming more easy. Half way marathon in Queens I was still right on track (1:20:50) for a 2:41 or 2:42. Then on km25 on Queensboro bridge I held slightly back during the climb and some runners passed me again. On 1st Ave I picked up the pace again and I still felt great. As of now just because I could maintain the pace I started to pick up runners and only very few passed me. After the short passage through the Bronx I was now all concentrated on the climb on 5th Ave. In the last 500m before entering Central Parc I started to feel the fatigue. Just at that moment I was just behind a Columbian runner and that saved me. He had the same pace as me and I decided to stick with him. At that time I realized I was already in mile 24 and I visualized a 4km that I had run so many times in tempo run and thought it was only 16 minutes to keep the pace now. In the mean time the Colombian runner did speed up but I could close the gap and with 1 mile to go I decided to speed up myself on one of the little hills in Central parc. We were now in the last two hills before the finish line. In the last 250m I did an all or nothing effort and I finished just 2 seconds before him. By competing we had kept the pace high and finished in 02:42:17. My so hardly fought victory was sweet but only for a short time because he had started 10 sec behind me so his net time was better, so I ended 7th and not 6th in my age group. I was 170th overall (of 50643 finishers). It was the best run I could have done with the means I have today. The public is great and I recommend the race to everyone. I left NY happy and satisfied after a small celebration with burger and wine. I understand now why runners want to come back.
April Palmer ran the NYC Marathon and completed this race event in the time of 5:12:27.
Not a personal best for me by a long shot. I was running on less sleep than usual for marathon day and got sick the day before with an upper respiratory infection so I think some of my energy was zapped or maybe the course was harder than I planned. Had I been feeling better the course may have seemed easier. Overall, still a great experience and I am glad I got to run the marathon.
Tom Van Ongeval ran the NYC 5k Dash to the Finish Line and finished this distance in the time of 20:03.
This was intended as a warm-up and last check-up run before the NYC marathon the next day. However due to my mix-up between pace in miles vs km in predicted time, I ended up in the coral AA first row behind elite. I wanted to run 5 min/km but organisation put me in 5 min/mile. I had also put on long trousers and training as I was not supposed to run hard. You can image I was the only one in that corral. Long story short, I was on the front row and saw all the stars just in front of me. Then as for my race, I had to run a bit harder not to make a complete fool out of myself, but I didn’t push it. Given I hadn’t run for three days and had just an 8h flight behind me, it wasn’t that bad to shake the legs up. I finished in Central parc in 20.03 (6:28 p/mile instead of 5:00/mile 😉 ). 329 of 10863. It was a good general repetition. Afterwards I found the RunnersConnect runners and we did a good shake-out and cool down.
Rob H.von Pflug ran the HK Cross-Country Championships and finished this race in the time of 0:50:49.7.
The official distance was 3 laps of 3K, total distance about 9K. This was my first race after march HK marathon and sustaining High Hamstring tendinopathy injury since last year. And now the build up race on the way to a half marathon in Dec 2017. My race plan was to run the first 3K in 5:45 pacing and then getting faster for the 2nd and 3rd 3K lap. Actually I was too fast for the first 1 and 2 K of the 1st 3K lap, then slowed right down when I realized it. So I ran
1st 3K in 5:36 pacing
2nd 3K in 5:40 pacing
3rd 3K in 5:40 pacingOverall pacing 5:39 with 22m elevations up and down throughout the course, slight rainfall, so had to be a bit careful about slippery grass slopes downhill with curves.
Morgan Daulton ran the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon and finished in a time of 3:54:54. This was a new personal record by 8:07.
FINALLY! After 4 years, I finally got a marathon PR and broke 4 hours for the first time. YAY! So exciting. The conditions were ideal, as I’m sure everyone else who ran that race will tell you. 48 and cloudy. Plus, on the mental side, it’s the first marathon I haven’t walked in about 3 years. So that is huge for me. Now all of my PRs are in Indiana so I think I’ll have to go back.., haha.
Guillaume Babbi ran the 2017 TCS New York City Marathon and finished with a time of 4:19:08.
Felt strong until the end, no walls and no cramps !
Michal Jordan-Rozwadowski ran the New York Marathon with a finishing time of 3:39.29.
This was a very tough course! It was also the experience of a lifetime! I could not believe the amount of people, the enthusiasm and the volume!The race went pretty much according to plan, I thought. I kept it slow on the Verrazano Bridge. In Brooklyn (km 4-21), I held the pace steady pretty much right on my goal race pace (between 4:55 and 5). Pulaski Bridge, at the half marathon mark, worried me going into the race, but I handled it well. Running through Brooklyn was absolutely incredible and definitely the high point of the race.
Queensboro Bridge completely surprised me. I was not prepared for the long incline, and I think that was the turning point of the race for me. Nevertheless, first avenue was great. The crowds were deafening and energizing. The pace was starting to get harder to hold, though.
As I came into the Bronx around kilometre 32, I started to feel some cramping, but worked on holding my form and I was ok for the next 3 kilometres, but after that I could not hold it and I was in survival mode through to the finish. The race was the experience of a lifetime and I think I will cherish it. I want to run it again someday and relive the experience (and fix the last 5-6 km 🙂 ).
Anne Hardy ran the TCS NYC Marathon 2017 and finished this distance in the time of 3:52:24.
That was an epic race! 9 weeks after my elbow surgery, I was not sure how I would do yesterday. I slowly caught up with my training after September 10 but looking back it was quite brutal to train with a sling… Well, I am glad I did not give up while nobody thought I would do it. Anyway, today I don’t regret it and I am grateful that none of you at RC discouraged me from getting back to training.
No PR today (missed it by a few seconds according to Garmin and by 1:52 minutes according to the official NYC results but I did not know until I had finished, otherwise…). First marathon of my 6 marathons that I did not hit the wall at mile 20, but I felt I hit a small wall at each one of the bridges… I went too fast on mile 2 (1st mistake and yes I knew, but it was just too exciting…); I got too excited again when in Brooklyn I ran a few miles way too fast for my pace. The encouragements of the crowds tricked me. Then… Queens was really challenging because I caught up with Wave 2 people who were walking in the middle of the road and I struggled to find my way. Then as I had regained a good pace North of 1st Avenue, I had to climb on the bridge to Bronx where I slowed down quite a bit. Coming back into Manhattan I found a decent pace again and I was just passing people, until the loooong uphill on 5th Avenue where I wanted to close my eyes and just fly to the finish. Once the climb was over I knew the end was coming and I pushed as much as I could to finish fast… During the entire race I took 6 gels (every 4 mile), I drank a bit of water at every aid station. In any case it is a BQ 2019 (in case I want to run Boston 2019…): today my legs and feet need rest, rest and just rest.
Craig Spadt ran the D&L Half Marathon and finished in a time of 1:58:57. This was a personal record by 15:06.
This was my second half marathon. My personal goal was to break the 2 hour mark, but that was a reach. Training plan goals came in at 2:00:51 to 2:02:47. Having close family members there to cheer me on at various points through the race, then at the finish when I did break the 2 hour mark was pretty special.
Mary Lenzi ran the New York City Marathon and finished this distance in the time of 4:21:51.
I began the race at the recommended paces, but I began to slow down at mile 16 but then significantly at mile 22. At 24 miles I was stumbling. I enjoyed the training and felt strong, I watched my diet strictly for the entire training; Lost some weight, no alcohol, carb loaded last week etc. I feel there may not have been enough mileage to get me through this marathon at the pace I think I’m capable of running. I’m disappointed. I wanted to at least qualify for Boston, but in reality, I expected to do 25 minutes better. I’d really like to try again this year, maybe travel to Florida in February to try to qualify for Boston.
RANDY LIERMAN ran the TCS New York City Marathon and finished with a time of 4:39:00, which was a PR by 5 minutes!
Tough day as it rained throughout the whole race, my Garmin watch did not work properly, and my hip was screaming pain through the whole race. Yet, I still had a PBR time! Thanks to all the coaches and the support ?.
Brian Bigelow ran the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon and finished this race in the time of 3:44:15. This was a PR by 1 minute 50 seconds!
I have always enjoyed the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon as I qualified for Boston last year and as a result of a new PR I qualified now for 2019 as well. This course is a very flat and fast course. Had a great nights sleep, breakfast went well and did some walking to get legs going. Was in the 2nd wave and the half/full were all together so fairly crowded. Knew I wanted to be sure and go out easy. With the crowd and all easy was too easy as I had a 9:06 first mile too slow. The 2nd got better at a 8:44 but then the 3rd got out of hand 7:52. From then on the miles were from a fast of 8:06 to a slow of 8:53. Around mile 20 there were 2 runners that passed me and my mind said try to stay with them. They were always 5-10 yards ahead and at times they were getting away and I said try to catch up and to my surprise I did. Mile 25 was what I felt was my breaking point as I ran a 9:07 and could hear Negative. At the same time the 3:45 pace group passed me. I was trying to stay in front of them the entire time. When they passed me my heart sank. It was then that I decided to pass them back and try to keep it up. So I kept trying to give me all. Another female runner said wow great kick as I went by. I said come on lets do this together and she said she was spent so I kept on. Well she caught up and said I helped her to dig deep and I said ok lets do and we did. She kept up the pace while I couldn’t stick with it but finished hard. My time of 3:44:15 was a PR and BQ for 2019. I was in top 10 for my age group out of 104 and ended up 1,279 out of 4,677. My ranking for 10k was 1,728; at the half rank was 1,683; 30k rank was 1,518; and last half rank was 1,072 so kept getting better and better. The 11th place finisher in my age group was 3:44:16 so giving it all made that difference. Will say I felt I gave my all but I know there was more to give. Am pleased with the result though and will now relax a bit and then get ready for Boston focus. Love the journey all, Thanks, gig, Brian
Travis Dowell ran the TCS NYC Marathon and finished in a time of 04:49:53. This was a massive personal record by 24:40.
I had only 8 weeks between these two races. Entered NYC, told I had only a 40% chance of getting in, so I entered Hamptons as a sure bet marathon, then I was accepted by NYC. So I decided to do both, even though at age 67 I had never run a marathon before. I could not have done it with RC coaching and the camaraderie of my local running club.
This is one of the great marathons of the world. It has horrible logistics, getting up at 4:50 am to catch a bus to Staten Island, then waiting for 2 hours to start, then getting home at 6:50 pm! But running with 50,000 runners across 5 boroughs of millions of cheering fans, celebrating with DJ music or live bands over much of the course, and a challenging course, especially at the end, makes this a marathon classic. It was a wet day and I did not do as well as I had hoped, but finishing better than the Hamptons was definitely part of what I wanted and achieved.
Vincent Hardy ran the New York City Marathon and finished this distance in the time of 3:02:31.
First, I ran with Anne and this is a blessing I am very aware of. I love that we share running and that it has become an important part of our life and a shared passion. Then, my sister came to encourage. It was fantastic having them cheering us on the course and then see them after the race. Finally, it was our first NYC marathon and the energy of the crowd is truly a unique experience.
P.S.: This is my first marathon coached by RunnersConnect. Thanks coaches for the plan, comment, feedback and advice. I do not think I would have done it without your help.
P.S.2: Until mid-race, I was hoping to PR and was on track to, but my finish (miles 20-26 was not at the level it needs to be to accomplish that, at least on that course).
Liz Lawson ran the South Shore Half Marathon and finished in 1:45:17, which was a PR by 4 minutes 30 seconds!
So excited about this PR!! I’ve run a 1:49:40~ish 3 times, so making this time was awesome! I loved seeing 1:45 on the clock at the finish line! Huge goal accomplished for me.
There are a few particulars. The elevation gain – 479ft, That’s a lot of hills, but the elevation loss – 560ft is a lot of down hill. It’s hard not to give credit to all the downhills for my PR because I was literally flying down them. There was a lot of uphill too and my fellow RC friend, Pebble, mentioned to use my arms and showed me how she leans into it and to also use the momentum on the downhill. She has read way more of the RC articles than I have. That advice literally was my lifesaver today! I’m so grateful, and found myself, not hating all the hills, and feeling more confident and stronger on them, which is night and day compared to my last HM just 3 weeks ago!
Also, another key advice that I turn to a lot was a podcast with Tina Muir about how she needed to shorten her stride. It was really helpful, and I’ve found an ease of running at times with a quicker shorter stride instead of trying to lengthening it.
Also, got to sprint this in with a fellow dude at the end and BEAT him! Super fun! I haven’t had that much to kick it in at the end of a HM in a long time if not ever! So, definitely a memorable race today! Such a fun race! Great achievement!
Gordon Lau ran the Revel Canyon City Marathon and finished in a time of 4:23:16.
Ran the Revel Canyon City marathon today as a tuneup race. My son talked me into running this with him and I used this as an opportunity for some father/son bonding time. I wasn’t sure how to pace this run since this marathon has about a 4000 ft drop in elevation in the first half and then has some rollers as it descends to the finish. In addition, my plan is currently in the build up phase toward more marathon specific work for my goal marathon in March so I wasn’t sure if I was fully prepared to cover the distance comfortably.
Based on my long runs, I decided to shoot for a finish between 4:20 and 4:25. For reference, my PR is around 4:12 which was 4 years ago. Since then, I’ve run about 5 marathons with finish times around +/-4:30. These marathons were painful affairs with cramping and major slowing down at the end. This stagnation in my finish times was one of the reasons why I joined RunnersConnect.
I decided to take advantage of the beginning downhills and then seeing what I had left for the second half after it levels out. Even so, I found myself going faster than I wanted to and had to make a conscious effort to slow down and stay relaxed. I reached the halfway point at around 2:07+. The latter part of a marathon is always hard, but I was surprised I was feeling ok. No cramps, no major fade. According to the final results, I passed about 100 people after the halfway point. Final time 4:23:16.
I wanted to use this opportunity the thank the RC coaching staff for their support and advice. The plan provided has improved my running. All those cutdown runs, tempo intervals, etc. has made a difference. I could feel the effects today. Also, reading everyone’s shared workouts has been a great source of information and inspiration! I look forward to continuing this journey towards my goal marathon in March. Thanks! As a postscript, my son finished his second marathon in 3:59! He hit his goal of sub 4. So proud of him!
Tineke De Groot ran the Turf loop 5k and finished this distance in the time of 00:22:17, which was a PR by 61 seconds!
Run 5k race as tempotraining, it is a lot different then a marathon or long distance. From the First km You must really race and go for it. Felt Great.
Melinda DeCosta ran the Fidelity 5K and finished this race in the time of 27:07, which was a PR by 44 seconds!
This is my first 5K since April and I made a goal for myself to hit sub 27 after my last marathon when I thought I should concentrate more on shorter distances. I gave this all I had. My previous 5K PR was 27:51 which I set Dec. 2015 and have hit that time a few times since so I’m really happy with the improvement.
I feel like I have become a better runner and have only had 2 weeks of running since the marathon and only started work out days of running this week. 🙂
Simon Ward ran the World Vegan Day 6-hour Challenge and finished with a time of 06:43:59, which was a PR!
This 6-hour challenge was made up of 3.75 mile out-and-backs on the coastal trail under the White Cliffs of Dover. My target was to keep a steady pace of 12:00 min/mile and see how far I could go. I ended up completing 30 miles! My moving time was 06:03:13 (12:07 min/mile) which I am really happy about especially considering there were very strong headwinds and some nasty climbs. My longest run until then was a 16 mile training run (which I only completed 3 weeks previously on my 45th birthday), I did not have a specific training plan for this 6-hour challenge, I was just following an RC “general fitness” plan and I only decided to enter this challenge 10 days before the event! I wanted to understand my needs for fuelling and pacing etc. over that distance so I wasn’t too concerned how long I stayed at the aid-station (although I did keep an eye on making sure to complete my last lap before the 6-hour time-limit expired…if I felt strong enough)
My feet are a little bit sore but my legs feel totally fine…at the moment! A big thank you to RC for the training, now I wonder what I can achieve if I actually train for something in particular!
