Brooklyn Greenway Half Marathon

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Brooklyn Waterfront
19 October 2014
2:13:43 – PR

It was the best of races, it was the worst of races.

I had run pretty fast—for me—at the Run for the Rings Half Marathon a week prior to this race, but I never expected in a million years to PR by a full 6:00. That’s almost unheard of. I chalk it up to finally getting my food/fluids right*, good weather, new course distraction, and running by feel without obsessively checking my Garmin.

Now, I never thought I’d be complaining about a race I PRed at, but I have some complaints. Read More

Running at the Back of the Pack

Yesterday, I happened upon a Facebook post made by the folks at Runner’s World Magazine:

 

I was curious, so I followed the link to the blog post they were talking about, written by Heather Gannoe at her blog:  http://relentlessforwardcommotion.com/2014/06/the-reality-of-the-back-of-the-pack-heartbreak-hill-half-marathon/.

I read the post with a lot of interest because I am a slow runner. I have a first place age group award for a 2-mile race and a second place age group award for a 5k, both of which had a very small field. But those two races are exceptions for me; I am consistently 30% away from the back, no matter what the distance. Judging from the number of comments on both the FB post and the blog post, Heather’s experience struck a nerve. It certainly did for me. Read More

Run Buff 5k

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West Texas A&M University
13 April 2013
32:12 Finish

On vacation, I had the opportunity to run a 5k with my sister-in-law and her friend.  Both had run 5ks before, but not without stopping or walking, so they both had a goal to run the whole thing. I had a goal to have fun and get a good run in. The race was called the Run Buff 5k and was sponsored by the West Texas A&M University women’s cross country program to raise money for scholarships.

On race day, it was hot, windy, and stormy.  The race was delayed for about 30 minutes while we waited for a thunderstorm to blow over.  The wind, however, did not diminish.  We spent a full half of the race running headlong into 40+mph wind.   The course ran alongside the western perimeter of WT’s campus, then headed east for about a mile before winding back to the north and west—full sun, no shade.  Most of the run was on asphalt; the rest on concrete. Read More