Running through the Tulips - April

[Selkie]

7 - If you keep it up, I bet you'll be able to do your upcoming events. Even if you have to walk part of the running legs of them, you'll more than make up for it on the bike.

Sorry I'll miss you at the Pikes Peek! Not sure if the 7:50 starting time is a blessing or a curse, since we'll be schlepping over from Arlington. Weather is still iffy---I wouldn't mind rain if it were going to be warmer, but the early morning temps will probably be in the mid-to-high 40s. They promise that it's a completely downhill course, so bombs away!

[OakLeaf]

Met my goal for the Illinois Marathon. Took all I had. Report in a couple of days...

[yellow]

Met my goal for the Illinois Marathon. Took all I had. Report in a couple of days...

YAY! Congratulations!

[Catrin]

Met my goal for the Illinois Marathon. Took all I had. Report in a couple of days...

Wooot! Looking forward to reading all about it!

[indysteel]

Congrats, Oak!!! I'm looking forward to your full report.

[redrhodie]

Me too! Glad it worked out.

[emily_in_nc]

Congrats, oak!

I have not run in awhile. First, it just got TOO freakin' hot, and I couldn't make myself go. Then I took a minor tumble on my beach bike and hit the bone on the inside of my ankle (the pointy one that sticks out) hard on a rock, probably bruising my bone, so I had to take a few more days off. Then we traveled the past few days. Yesterday I did an intense 90-minute yoga class and today we took a long bike ride. Tomorrow I am scheduled for another run. It's really hot, so I pray I can make myself go!

[Bike Chick]

Met my goal for the Illinois Marathon. Took all I had. Report in a couple of days...

Great job, Oak! Can't wait to read the report.

[7rider]

Great job, Oak! Can't wait to read the report.

Me too!!

Selkie - how'd the 10k go?

[Selkie]

That's great news, Oak.

Seven, the race was fun, overall. It was chilly, but luckily, the pavement was pretty much dry by the time we started. As advertised, it was mostly downhill, which was great, and the section before the finish in front of White Flint Mall was steep enough that you could let gravity help you along.

The logistics were a bit of a challenge. We started at the Shady Grove Metro Station and as mentioned, ended at White Flint. Had to schlep up to the metro stop to get back to the car. Sunday schedule for Metro, so we ended up waiting 14 minutes for a train. Everyone was sweaty and getting cold, but Marylanders aren't whiners. The train wasn't crowded, which meant that anyone who wanted a seat got one.

MCRRs put on a good race. The after race food offerings were great and varied (healthy choices to fried food). In addition to the fleece top that was in my race bag, one of the volunteers gave me a gorgeous race t-shirt. They started the race in waves, so there was none of that stop/start/walk stuff and overcrowding at the beginning of the race. Well organized, great support, encouragement from the volunteers all along the route, etc. We ran down two lanes of the northbound part of 355---impressive amount of support from MCPD.

I ran a good race---went at a fast clip for most of it. This was my longest race in years, so I was surprised that I didn't run out of gas. Physically, felt fine.

My results: pace 8:25; finished 26th of 163 in my age group; finished 281 of 1,445 women.

Brian had a great race, too, and enjoyed it. We're planning on doing it again in 2013 (hope to see you there!)

[rubysoho]

Peeking into this thread. I've picked up a bit of running again to supplement the days I can't get on my bike. The last week and a half they've all been treadmill runs because I've been experimenting with new shoes. I love my VFFs and they've done really well over the past year but I love them more on dirt trails than I do on concrete/asphalt. I was hoping to find a shoe that could give me that trail/dirt feel without too much padding. I think I've settled on Adizeros for now. They felt the best out of all the "minimalist" shoes ... which imo aren't really all that minimal but that could be another thread.

Anyway, I'm excited to be running again. So far my max distance has been the occasional 5k. I signed myself up for a 10k in August, a Sprint Tri in September and my friend wants me to do a 10 mile run in October. This time last year I was barely running a mile so even if I only complete the 10k I will still be very happy.

[Crankin]

I haven't run in 10 days or so... too much cycling fun.
This morning I ran 2.25 miles continuously. It was 36 degrees out at 6 AM , but I really like running in the cold. In fact, I was on the edge of feeling a bit warm, but I took my head band off and that solved most of it.
Felt kind of slow and this run involved uphill in the last half, since I didn't have time to drive to a flatter place. Total pace, including warm up was 11:30, so I am thinking my run average was around 10:30, which is OK, but not what I want. I sort of have it figured out, in that I can do my runs by tacking on a neighborhood that is off of my neighborhood and my run will stop either right where the 10% grade starts, or about half way through. Today was the latter. This way, my cool down is a bit longer that the C25K plan has you do, but hey, at my age, the more warm up and cool down, the better.

[7rider]

I ran a good race---went at a fast clip for most of it. This was my longest race in years, so I was surprised that I didn't run out of gas. Physically, felt fine.

My results: pace 8:25; finished 26th of 163 in my age group; finished 281 of 1,445 women.

Congrats to both you and Brian. I looked up your time. Great job!

[OakLeaf]

Nice job, Selkie!

7 and Crankin, looking good - hope you can both continue to run pain free.

Solo, yikes that is steep.

Emily, hope it stays cool enough for you to run and/or that you get acclimated to the heat sooner than later.

Ruby, did you try on Leming (fka Stem) shoes? They claim a 2 mm sole, but that's the part in between the lugs, so what they actually have is the flexibility of the 2 mm between the lugs, plus maybe another 2-3 mm of protection in the lugs themselves, no cushion to speak of. I don't know how minimal you're looking for - I can't run minimal (yet) myself, but I just adore mine for walking in, and people do run in them.

Yellow, hope you're regrouping well. Smackdowns s*ck, hope you can make yours a learning experience.

Anyone I missed while I was otherwise occupied mentally ... hope your running is going well! Working on my race report.