Marjy Friedrichs ran the Run for the Hills 5k and finished this distance in the time of 22:16.
Not a PR but my best of 2023! Second overall, and 79.2% age graded.
This was a nice local 5K raising awareness for breast cancer. I was kind of hoping for a PR, but half of the race turned out to be on a very curvy trail full of roots. So my 2nd mile and much of the third was slower than I was hoping for. But I didn’t fall on the steep downhill pebble trails! It didn’t hurt that I beat my local rival too! 😊
Joe Allen ran the Barkcamp 10K and finished this race in the time of 1:05:23.
This is my third week coming off a hamstring/glute injury. Wasn’t sure how they would hold out on this very hilly course but they did. As the race progressed, I got more confidence that my injured leg could hold out and wound up running a good pace. I’m happy with the result and finished 7th overall. This is a very tough course so it was a good test of my recovery.
Sarah Leonard ran the Chicago Marathon and finished with a time of 4:22:00. This was a personal record by 1 minute!
It was my second major marathon ever ran.
Jim Schulte ran the Chicago Marathon and completed this race event in the time of 3:15:42. This was a PR by 60 seconds!
Really pleased with the 60 secs PR outcome after the injury and mediocre ‘22 NY! Didn’t run the negative split I had planned but really had fun running fast. Solid through 22/23. Gave back a lot 24 to the end but knew right where I was to get the PR. The Garmin Pace Pro with navigation worked awesome adjusting all the way through the periodic spotty GPS signal. The only disappointment was not being able to catch Kiptum! 😉 He was only 50 yards in front of me at the beginning but with the head start he got, I never had a chance. 😂
James Bailey ran the St. George Marathon with a finishing time of 3:52:33.
The weather was near perfect. There was a strong tail wind in the first mile or two, afterward little or no wind. There was great scenery throughout the race with lots of people cheering us on at several points in the race. The first mile or two there were so many people that it was hard to get to the pace I wanted. During the first few miles it was a struggle to hold back to keep a pace that I knew would be sustainable. Miles 8 – 12 had some serious uphill, especially mile 8. I felt good though, since I was able to keep running even on the steepest part of the biggest hill. After mile 13 I was able to increase the pace with as the course turned downhill. With all of the downhill I had no issues with quads this time! All those lunges with dumbbells really paid off! I was amazed once again that I did not “hit the wall” at mile 20 or after. In fact the fastest mile was mile 26! My finish time was to the minute the target that Ruairi gave me.
Catherine Doyle ran the Perth Half Marathon and finished in a time of 1:58:00.
Hot humid day. Still struggling with knee pain. Had to run walk a bit from 18km aid station. Happy to have finished.
Mike Corker ran the Royal Parks Half Marathon and finished with a time of 1:55:45, which was a PR!
Race: An abnormally hot day for October. Feeling weak and warm after a bad stomach night. Had decided to target 5:20 pace in view of last couple of weeks. I set out a bit fast but kept pulling myself back. The first 7k went well but as the air temperature rose I got abnormally hot and spent the last 10k trying to hold my stomach together and just trying to make sure I didn’t record a DNF..
Splits from race time company: 1st 5k 5:12, 2nd 5k 5:29, 3rd 5k 5:31, remainder 5:43. From splits of finishers around me I didn’t appear to fade any worse than most.
Results:4500 of 15957 runners. 4th of 40 in MV70 category.
Lessons: Perhaps I shouldn’t have run this as I don’t think I was as recovered as I thought I was but at least I completed my first HM.
Positives: Training Peaks increased my LT heart rate from 149 to 154bpm. This is the second increase in three months making a total improvement of 143 to 154. This coincides with the increase in training volume over the last several months so the training is working but I need to be well enough to demonstrate it. Looking forward to a big PB next month in Yarmouth 10k!
Zach Jalteco ran the H Half Marathon and finished this race in the time of 1:20:48, which was a PR!
Felt like I executed the race perfectly, and it was amazing to be able to apply everything I’d learned in the training block when it mattered. Conservative start, ran majority of it based on feel, negative split, and competed for place. Super proud of this result, and excited to enjoy some time off to reflect on the entire build as a whole.
Top 3 finish and ran the NYC Marathon Qualifying Time! Loved every minute of my first HM ever! Thank you to all the Runnersconnect coaches that helped get me to the start line, and gave me all the tools I needed to get the absolute best out of myself on race day!
Sarah Davies ran the Chicago Marathon with a finishing time of 3:27:38.
Having not run a race for 4 years and turned 50 in the meantime wasn’t really sure how this was going to go. In training things hadn’t seemed too far off previous training cycles but in the end this result was quite some way off times from 4 years ago. First 10km felt pretty good but the pace turned out to be unsustainable. Was happy I gave it a go though and maintained a time under 3:30, still a very respectable time for my age!
Amogu Ukairo ran the Chicago Marathon and finished this race event in the time of 3:27:00.
Six weeks to race day, doctor asked I stop running for 4 weeks to give my left leg a chance to heal. In that period, I spent hours on the elliptical machine, basically simulating the same cardio effort and time I would have put in if I were running. So the two 20 mile long runs were basically me spending upwards of 2.5 hrs on the machine. So two weeks to race day, started getting into running again and I am happy with how well everything went at Chicago, time of 3:27. Legs still not good, that will take a longer break but I am going to run all the October races and then take a looooong rest. The big lesson here for me is that I can supplement running with elliptical.
Jason Lakes ran the Chicago Marathon and finished with a time of 3:18:04.
On Sunday, I got to race Chicago and loved every second of it. Ultimately, if I am being honest, I am disappointed with my time as I thought my fitness was at a faster pace. Having said that, I really enjoyed the race, felt great, and was able to take in the sights of Chicago which was all enjoyable. And, if I am looking for a win, for the first time ever, I negative split the race – only by 33 seconds, but that felt like a win as well – it only took 8 marathons to negative split it… As with all my reports, I will start out with the negative and finish with the positive.
Everything lined up to be a PR day – temps were perfect, a very light breeze, partly cloudy – it was a dream marathon day and I felt great going into the race. And, while I was about 5 to ten seconds slow, I ran the first half just about how I wanted – almost all negative splits each 5K. And, I felt great at halfway – honestly I felt better at half than I did at the start. For some reason, I feel like I got mentally weak between 30-40K and did not go deep enough into the pain cave – that shows on my splits. I am really disappointed in myself I did not push harder for that 10K.
Secondly, I did a poor job of navigating at the Gatorade and water stations – I was always finding myself in the middle of road and having to weave to one side or the other. I typically run with a hydration pack, but that was not allowed in Chicago, so my inexperience and not studying the hydration stops well enough before the race.
On the positive front, as I mentioned, I negative split the marathon for the first time ever. From a strategy/execution standpoint, I actually ran a better race than my PR as I positive split my PR race by almost 2 minutes and was running on fumes with my slowest split from 40K to the finish. This was the absolute opposite – I ran a 33 second negative split and my fastest split was from 40K to the end. I absolutely hammered the last mile and felt great – honestly too great. It was fun to finish a race passing people by the tens and feeling strong.
When I saw 40K and then 25 miles, I told myself one mile to go as I would see the finish line for the last .2 miles. However, when I saw the 1 mile to go sign, something just clicked mentally and I felt amazing and was absolutely hammering – that mile feels like a blur in retrospect. I finished with a 6:44 mile – I felt amazing, strong, good, and honestly did not want to stop running when I hit the finish line – I was ready to keep going.
And the last positive is, while it probably will not get me in, I did run a BQ for my AG – the third BQ so maybe I can convince myself it was not a fluke on the first two. Ultimately, if I run a BQ, I cannot complain, so I should be happier.
The race splits shaped up like this:
5K – 23:50 7:40
10K – 23:37 7:37
15K – 23:23 7:32
20K 23:15 7:30
Half 5:13 7:40
25K 18:06 7:28
30K 23:20 7:31
35K 23:34 7:36
40K 23:37 7:36
Finish 10:09 7:27The whole weekend was also a great time as I had a chance to meet some other RC runners @kumar and @juliocastillo for a great dinner on Friday and then a nice group shakeout run on Saturday. On Sunday I was grateful for the simple opportunity to race. For me, its like a time warp as I spent 6 months thinking about the race and then its over in a flash. So, overall, it was an absolute great time.
Caryn Loehr ran the Chicago Marathon with a finishing time of 3:56:01. This was a new personal record by 8 minutes!
It was my first major marathon!
Bruce Bergeson ran the Saint George Marathon and finished this race event in the time of 3:54:51.
This was around a 15 minute improvement from last year! I was able to remain injury free during training this year. The temperature was higher than normal again which left me dehydrated. I had the conditioning to make a push, but cramps started with 5k to go. I only walked 10 yards near the end to loosen up my calf. I feel confident that another year of injury free training will get me back to my pre-COVID form.
Gillian Ross ran the Chicago Marathon and finished in a time of 3:41:30.
This was my most favorite marathon and definitely a top overall favorite race! I had such a great time and experience. I went into this race lowering my expectations due to the ongoing plantar fasciitis I’ve had this entire training cycle and all the way to the finish line. My goal of going under 3:40 I felt was over reaching given all that and since this is a BQ goal and they have once again, added 5.5 minutes to times, I decided to go into this race with no pressure. I had no idea what my pace was until mile 4 since GPS signal was not happening. Finally after entering Lincoln Park, GPS was working better and I could track my splits accurately until at least mile 11 and then when I hit mile 13 I kicked it up and felt great. I knew I had it in me to negative split the race and felt so strong the whole time. My fueling and hydration were perfectly executed and my only complaint is the PF which was constant throughout the race and quite painful at times. I ended up finishing only 4 seconds slower then my last marathon which had been a PR. I am so happy with this because despite the PF this was my “easiest” feeling marathon I have ever done! It makes me excited for what I can do in my next one when this PF is gone! Thank you RC coaches and all the runners I met at the shakeout! It was great!
Kumar Rao ran the Chicago Marathon and finished with a time of 3:53:45. This was a personal record by 5 Minutes!
This was the Abbott Age Group Championship Race, held as part of the Chicago Marathon. The race turned out to be quite enjoyable. I felt the effort to be almost easy for the most part and finished with a PR with over 5 minute improvement:
Official time 3:53:45, M 74-75 rank 23 of 157.
World Championship M 74-75 rank 21 of 41.
Age Graded Time (USATF): 2:43:40
BQ by over 41 minutes.I was pleasantly surprised with the way the race went off given the various injuries I had gone through during this training cycle, with the SI Joint issue over the last six weeks and the resulting sciatica type pain and the knee pain getting close to derailing my plans for the race.
Started near the end of Coral E in Wave 1, with a number of other Age Group Championship runners who appeared to be running at around the same pace I was. The run started feeling comfortable and fluid from the start with the first km as a warmup and then settling down to the planned pace. I had a pace band with 5K splits and had sent the lap to 5 Kms on the Garmin. I was using Stryd for measuring pace and distance and was quite confident about its accuracy as I had calibrated Stryd the previous Tuesday, by running 10 laps on a 400m track. I found that I was maintaining a fairly steady pace without looking at the watch.
Found the pace gradually increase every 5 Km to settle down at the planned marathon pace of 5:21 to 5:24 between Kms 10 through 35. Kms 10 to 20 had felt effortless but I had to put a little bit of focus to maintain the pace between Kms 20 to 35. The 5K paces and splits were almost precisely as per plan until Km 35, despite taking a very quick pit stop just after Km 10 and taking very short walk breaks at water stations. The paces and splits were just falling in place without my having to look at the watch more than two or three times each 5K lap.
Some mental strategies I used were to imagine my grandson crawling in front (he crawls really fast!) or running by my side, chanting some mantras again and again, dedicating Km 20 to 25 to my wife, taking energy from the crowds, and hitching myself to a runner and staying with them for a long duration. After Km 32, I was trying to ensure I stayed on pace over every 2 Kms. At some point after Km 35, I started picking off runners ahead and trying to cross them.
When I crossed the Km 35 mat at 3:12:04 as against planned 3:11:50, I knew I was going to PR. For the first time, I started feeling tired, and started taking slightly longer (35 sec instead of 15 to 20 sec) breaks at water stops and just lost the motivation to increase the pace, as my plan had called for. The pace dropped to 5:47/km over the last 4.2 Kms, while the first 38 Kms were at 5:25/km.
I had written down the Goal pace as 5:28/km, 186 Watts, expecting a 3:52:00 finish. The actual overall pace was 5:27/km, 188 Watts and finished in 3:53:45. Would have loved for it to have been 3:52:00, but then I ended up running 42.8 Kms, mainly because of trying to run at the middle of the road, alternating between the left and right side of the median, in order to avoid the camber.
