Do you guys bring I-pods to listen to on your longer races?

No, I just listen to the music in my head. :D

(Seriously, though, I don't run with music, but most of the runners I know do, and IPods are fairly common).

I always run to music or a podcast if I'm alone or in a race. When I used to run in groups then I was fine with conversation, but if I'm on my own and without something to keep my mind occupied I go bonkers.

Ever since I started running, I've always run with music from my iPhone except on a few races and I can name the four: my first ever race (10K), my first trail race last year and the following 10K two weeks later and this year's trail race just last Monday (which makes me realize I never posted any kind of race report ;) ).

I'm now thinking about running more and more without music as I realized last Monday that I kinda liked listening to my own breathing while I run. I ran once without music this week and will try to do my first marathon without music...

FM

On easy runs, long runs, etc I will listen to music or podcasts or books or whatever to pass the time.

On speed runs or tempo runs or runs where I need to pay closer attention to pace, he, etc I will not.

During races I never have headphones with me. Like 75% of my enjoyment in races is being with others. I will listen to their conversations or I will find people to talk to which is fun, or I will interact with the spectators, whatever it's a blast for me. In my last marathon, I met a random girl from Boston and we ran together from miles 12 to like 16 or so just chatting about all kinds of fun things.

Sugarloaf Marathon Race Recap:

I finally got back home yesterday from my marathon followed by business trip for the week, I just wanted to thank everyone for the kind words following my marathon.

TLDR version for those who do not want to read the entire thing:
Beautiful scenery, a more technical course than previous marathons, got warmer than I was used to in middle. In the end, the marathon is a very solid reminder that you can not cram running fitness. Your fitness is what it is, and is something that is improved slowly over time, not quickly over a matter of weeks.

----------------------------------------------------

Now on to the race report:

The marathon was a point to point course, the first time that I have ever run one in any race length. The start line was 11 miles north of Sugarloaf mountain, and finish line was 15 miles south of the mountain resort. Since the race started at 7:00am, the buses to the start line began leaving at 5:00am from the resort. For me, there are two necessities before running a marathon: 1) I have to eat some food, I can't run a marathon on an empty stomach 2) My stomach is very touchy after eating any food (even easily digestible stuff), and I have to give myself at least 2-3 hours before running to make sure that I can use the bathroom before I run or I will have serious issues on the course.

Those two points meant that I set my alarm at 2:00am to wake up and eat breakfast. The early rise also meant that I had started adjusting my schedule a few days prior to going to sleep by 7pm or so and waking up even easier than normal. That part actually went pretty ok. I woke up feeling rested, I ate and then pretty much just facebook surfed and played ipad games to pass the next two hours while the family slept.

I took the 5:30am bus to the start line and got there about 6:00am which gave me time to just hang around for about an hour before the start. It was a beautiful site, part of a state forest, huge trees by a pretty lake. It was also pretty wet/foggy and chilly to just stand around at about 43 degrees F with everything covered in dew. I have read many times for a marathon, handling pre-race is different than half-marathons in that you want to conserve as much of your energy as possible and some suggest not even warming up (Unless you are an faster than speeds that would let you finish in under 3 hours). I tried to find somewhere dry to sit, but there was absolutely nothing so I just stood around shivering for the hour. I was wearing a throw away hoodie, but it was just pretty cold.

Finally it was close to 7am and they have us lineup for the start. There was very little prelude, just a warning that in 2 minutes we would be going. Right at 7am, they start us off by firing a shotgun!! I laughed as I saw part of a tree branch fall from under the guy who fired the shot gun. I guess they killed a tree branch in the process.... Anyhows, we were off!

The first four miles of the race was almost as flat as you can get. A nice run through the small town near the start and then just mountain scenery. My family was there at the start to see me off, so I tossed them my hoodie at the beginning and then headed out with the crowd. My goal during these four miles was to ease into my pace, keep my HR in the comfortable zone and most importantly not take it too fast even though I was feeling great. The weather had warmed up to about 51 degrees by the time we had started with the sun finally coming out over the mountain ridge, so it was starting to become a very comfortable and nice running condition. I felt really good at this part and was trying to keep my pace around 9:45 min/mi which was my goal end pace for the marathon. (More on that decision later in the race report summary). I ended up running them closer to 9:30-9:35 pace instead, so still a bit quicker than I wanted, but nowhere as bad as the start in my last two marathons.

Miles 5-7 were still fairly flat, but we started to get a little bit of an incline, including a few rolling hills. The goal here was to try to keep the effort the same, so slowing down slightly on the inclines and remember my race wasn't to the top of the hill, but instead 20+ miles down the road. Not much to say about the scenery in this part, it was still pretty much mountains and trees all around us. Somewhat of a nice change from the previous races through cities or neighborhoods. I hit 9:43, 9:55 and 9:58 through this part. It was a pretty good job of keeping my effort the same, but still probably 10-15 seconds per mile faster than I should be doing it most likely.

Miles 8-10 is where the suffering starts on this course. Mile 8 starts off with a few series of smaller hills and very little decline. The entire climb between miles 8-10 is roughly 325 ft with a fairly constant climb. The important part here for me was to try to continue running by feel/effort and not worry too much about my time in this one stretch. Mile 8 which had roughly 40ft in total climb, was not too bad other than one or two hills and I did it in 10:10 which kept it pretty much perfectly in line with my effort up to that point. Mile 9 which had the steepest climbs and about 200ft of ascending I did in 10:38, which was probably my first mile in the race that I did really way too fast. I started that mile with my HR at 160 and ended at 171, but averaged 168 for the entire mile and peaked at one point with a 177 during the steepest part of the climb. This was obviously too high for this early in the race. Mile 10 was a little bit more of the same. It was a continuation of the climb, around 100ft in total for this mile and I finished it in 10:11 which probably was not horrible, but still about 10-15 seconds too fast (just like the first four miles). The bigger problem here was that it did not really let my HR recover much. I started with a 171 bpm, ended with 169 bpm and pretty much averaged around there the entire time.

Mile 11 kind of stands out in the race as its own as it was perhaps the most unique part of the entire race. You actually decline in this mile around 110 ft, but the first half of a mile or .6 is still actually a climb of another 30 ft or so. It is difficult to look at individual splits for this mile to see how I did, but my HR maxed out at about 173 bpm during this mile, so it is likely that I ran this one similar to the previous mile, just a little too quick. The second half or .4 of mile 11 is the actual severe drop of about 150 ft in less than half a mile. This part is very steep and the experts all warn everyone beforehand to not run this part too fast or you will trash your upper leg muscles and have a very painful ending of the race. I honestly feel that I did this part fine. I did not have any issue with muscle soreness during the race or muscle cramping, and even the days after the marathon I felt totally fine. I ended up running mile 11 in 9:39, which meant that including the climb up, I probably did run the downhill fairly fast but likely not too quick. So this mile likely was a success I think.

Miles 12-15 ends up being the "easy" part of the marathon. You start a fairly constant downhill grade at this point. The first part of mile 12 is still a continuation of the steep downhill from the end of mile 11. Dropping another 100ft or so in the first 1/3 of a mile, but then levels off a bit as you start arriving to the Sugarloaf Mountain resort area. Seeing the family all there cheering me on was great, and once again this is a really nice area to run through scenery wise. I ran miles 12-15 in 9:32, 9:43, 9:48, 9:25 which all is likely fine considering it is mostly downhill grade. (There are some small uphill/rolling hill type parts, but it is a net downhill through this part). I was starting to realize though that I had a serious problem starting at this point though. As we had reached the peak of the climb in mile 11, we also ended up finding the sun square upon us for the first time. Any clouds that had been out were no longer helping and it started getting really warm. The temperature in miles 12-15 alone climbed 7 degrees and was mid-60s. That by itself might not be horrible, but the humidity was still 90%+ This ended up giving a temp+Dew point of close to 130 which most science suggests should slow you down roughly another 2%-3%. During the run, I had no idea what the temperature was or dew point, I just knew I was sweating like a cow. The way this presented itself in my effort though was even with a downhill segment, that was supposed to be easy, and not running it super fast, my Heart rate continued to climb instead of drop. By mile 15, my Avg HR was 167, and I hit 172-173 a few times during this section. This HR range would be ok in a Half-marathon or 15k race, but was pushing my lactate threshold zone and would come back to haunt me later.

Miles 16-17 actually have another section of steeper decline. Nothing like mile 11 and 12, but still we lose about another 240 ft during these two miles. These parts were not steep enough to worry about muscle issues in my opinion though. I had actually picked up a stranger that I met somewhere around mile 14-15 or so and ran with her all the way through mile 18. So that made this part of the marathon go very quickly and was probably my favorite part of the race. She was from Boston and this was her first marathon. We talked about various running related stuff and it helped pass the time pretty nicely. I did these two miles in 9:32, 9:40 which based on effort was probably slower than what I had intended at the start of the race, but it did allow my HR recover slightly just a little bit, ending mile 17 at 164bpm.

Mile 18-19 is a more gradual downhill part, and takes you to the area where the start of Sugarloaf 15k race starts. My new running friend ended up having to stop for a potty break around this part so I wouldn't see her again and I was on my own once more. Finally after all of this time the humidity was starting to drop pretty rapidly, falling below 90%, which allowed the dew point to recover slightly, but the temperature continued to climb, getting closer to 70F. Temp + Dew point was still around 130, meaning the same effect on my effort and HR though. With a more gradual downhill, my pace didn't slow any from the previous two miles and any HR recovery I had made was lost at this point. By the end of mile 19, my Avg HR for the entire mile was in the 170s, and I was not even getting back into the 160s any more. I was running at this point the entire time beyond my Lactate Threshold and in hindsight, by this point I was doomed no matter what I did.

Mile 20- 26 is where the pain once again set in. Running on red for so many miles just did me in and my body started slowing. Due to running too high beyond my lactate threshold for so long, I pretty much ran out of the energy. Even with doing a good job with taking in nutrition in the form of gus during the race, there was no way to keep up with how much I was spending. Running above lactate threshold causes you to expend your energy way too inefficiently and just spent all of my resources. Mile 20 saw me start to fall to a 10:xx pace and by the end of mile 20 I was running closer to 12 or 13 minute miles. Miles 20-26 is a series of rolling hills with still a gradual down hill, but more ups than previous miles. I ended up getting to the point where I was walking almost every hill, walking at every water station, and at one point was desperately looking for my family in hopes to see them for an excuse to stop and take a break as well. (side note: the race being point to point had the road open though, so many of the spectators would drive a few miles and pull over to root on their runners and then hop back in the car and drive another few miles. We saw some doing this on bikes too, so this was pretty neat as it helped provide spectators for almost the entire course.) My final few miles were 10:39, 11:13, 12:17, 12:28, 13:32, 13:13, 13:44. The final 0.3 I just out of willpower picked things back up and finished that little stretch with a 10:17 pace. My Heart rate was not an issue in this part as all of the walk breaks helped keep it dropping. At this point though the HR no longer mattered, the damage had been done and the final 10k was about survival more than finishing in a specific time.

I finished the marathon in 4:36:06, my 5k splits ended up being:
29:49, 30:18, 31:49, 30:14, 29:59, 29:54, 34:17, 40:44. Pretty easy to see where the wheels fell off this wagon.

With my business trip, it allowed me a few days to review things and think about where they went wrong before posting this.

I think I can blame some on taking the hills a little too quick. I can blame some on the surprising heat that no one was ready for. (I have never been in a race where so many runners were taking off their shirts. This included the women, where there were more than a handful that decided to finish in just a sports bra).

The biggest blame though I think has to be on my expectations or goal setting at the start. I even posted on here a few days before the marathon what my current CTL (fitness) scores were. That I was pretty square between my first marathon (4:45 finish), and my second marathon (4:15 finish) in terms of fitness. I had also gained a good bit of weight during my down time for surgery. That weight gain alone is good for roughly 20 seconds per mile slower. As of writing this recap, I've lost about 15 pounds of the gained weight again, but as of race day I was closer to only 10-12 pounds lost, which meant I was about 12-13 pounds heavier than the previous race.

Perhaps I just figured I had gotten smarter about running, so I would be able to outsmart my weight and fitness? My biggest mistake probably was going into the race trying to run the same pace as my previous marathon where I was in both better fitness shape and lighter. I think just the small amount of pace each mile faster than I should have been going adds up over 26 miles and eventually took its toll on me. Sure the Heat and humidity did not help any, but if I had not already been so close to the red line already, I could have likely handled that extra issue better.

In the end, the marathon is a cruel reminder that it is not a test you can cram for. Your fitness improves over time, and just wishing your fitness was better does not make it so. You can perhaps will yourself through parts of a 5k race, but in a marathon, the body will just give out on you.

I am proud of all of the hard work that I did over the tough winter to just get back my fitness after my surgery, and even though I can see plenty of mistakes that I made running this marathon, I am starting my summer training schedule in a better place fitness wise and know that I can continue to improve. With every race I get more experience and hopefully will one day run one of these marathons "smartly"

Marathons are tough. It seems like there are many ways to go astray. Still, your dedicated training inspires me to raise my effort levels. Next Sunday will be my first official half marathon. Hoping to chop some decent time off of my practice halfs (right around 2 hrs) and avoid crashing at the end. Should be fun. Keep on trucking, Alan. I hope we cross paths some day in a race.

Good luck on your half! I'm actually still debating what to do for the fall, but of my top two choices, both would put me at least one race in Connecticut.

Choice #1 would have me running a tune up half-marathon down in your neck of the woods September 19th: Gulf Beach Half-Marathon on the beaches in Milford, CT.

Choice #2 would have me actually doing the Hartford Marathon again in October.

Not sure which path I'm taking quite yet. Trying to work out fall plans with the wife on what she wants to run too.

I'll likely do the Hartford half.

Has anyone picked up the Garmin Fenix 3?

It looks so cool and I really want to buy but the reports about inaccurate GPS is scaring me off for now.

I was very tempted by it at some point, then the price kinda scared me away. Then I wanted (or the geek in me wanted) a 920XT but I settled for a 620 last week. Ordered it online and it shipped today, could get it before the weekend :)

A triathlete friend of mine (via Lose It but he uses it to make sure he eats enough ;) ) has one and he seems to like it enough, much more than the Fenix 2 which he said had way too many bugs...

FM

Been close a couple times to pulling the trigger on the 620. I suspect that will be the purchase if/when my current 210 gives up the ghost.

this mail rebatewas the final straw for me, 50$ on the 620 is bought between May 1st and 31st
http://garmin.blogs.com/promotions/2...rebate_Eng.pdf

FM

Hey Alan, I can see you have mixed feelings about how you did your marathon, but for me personally, I just think it's a terrific achievement no matter how you do. So way to go, man.

I'm still planning to run the LA next year. I keep remembering how I hit miles 9 and 10 in a half, totally gassed, and wondering how on Earth I can ever run 26.2.

I also wanted to comment on your race report Alan. I can understand how you must feel and it's oh so easy to tell you to be proud of yourself because you did it, you ran 26 freaking miles, but as I said, I understand being disappointed.

Thanks for sharing your thought process on the whole thing, they are immensely helpful as I embark on my own training for my first full. This distance scares the crap outta me. Did 13 miles as my long run last Sunday and for now, I'm not sure I can see myself doing any of the three 20 milers planned on my training plan let alone push it another 6 miles further than that. One foot in front of the other I guess...

FM

I just realized that Steve Prefontaine died the exact day that I was born. I guess I wasn't lucky enough to have his talent reincarnated :)

Saucony Running Shoes are on sale $49.99 on woot!

Saucony Men's Running Shoes - Woot

I just ordered a pair of Saucony Ride 7

Awesome. I love my Sauconys.

Getting a bit nervous about the 100km ride coming up on the 20th. The horrible here over the past couple of weeks has put a dent in my training. Gonna have to be careful and not over-train to try and "catch up".

Just do what you can, cartman. Like you said, don't overtrain and make yourself exhausted leading up to the race.

How are your legs? Do you feel fairly even now between them, strength-wise?

How hilly is it? Just wear good bike shorts and make sure to use chamois cream and you'll be fine. You could roll out of bed and ride 62 miles.

I can still tell a difference between the two legs. The quads are a lot better defined on the leg that wasn't operated on. I was having some quad pain in the good leg, but I'm almost certain now that was due to having my seat a bit too low.

As for the course, it is pretty flat. The map says it gains 1500 feet elevation over the 64 miles. I've done gains of half that just on small 15 mile rides in my neighborhood. I'm sure that I'll be able to complete 100km, I just want to do it in a decent time. I'm shooting for sub 5 hour, which is a very doable 12mph.

You'll crush that. I would be surprised if your moving time wasn't closer to 4 hours flat over that topography.

Great job on races last weekend FM and Kodos! Good luck coming up Cartman on your ride, I know it has been a long road back from your knee work. I'm rooting for you that you achieve your goals!!

Happy running day everyone!

So I think I have my race schedule figured out for the fall. I wanted to try to squeeze in the Quebec City Half-marathon, but my wife put the veto on that one due to all of our other traveling we are doing.. So I think what it looks like for me will be:

June 21st: Worcester Half-Marathon (Worcester, MA): will be just starting up with marathon training so not really in peak Half form. This race pretty much passes by where my wife works so just doing this as a local race. Will likely not PR on this one

July 19th: Narragansett Bay Half-Marathon (East Providence, RI): Got a good deal on this race so figured why not. :) No taper and a race in the middle of the summer means likely no PR time. Will treat it as a normal workout run on a course that has supplied hydration :)

August 29th: Cape Cod Canal 10k (Bourne, MA): My first tune-up race where I truly want to try for a PR type performance. I wanted a half-marathon this weekend, but the choices were limited so this was the best I could do.

September 12th: Surftown Half-Marathon (Westerly, RI): Going back to run what was my very first half-marathon that I ever did, and still one of my favorite courses ever. A pretty favorable course for a PR if my training goes well over the summer. Only a few decent hills in it with the majority being pretty nice flats along the beach.

September 26th: TBD - Want a shorter race, either 5 mile or 10k here. Have two local ones that I am looking at, and still haven't decided which to do.

October 10th: Hartford Marathon (Hartford, CT): Back to Hartford, which is my current PR for marathon distance. I feel with a strong summer, I can crush that time and perform well here. Plus it is a very easy race for my family to get to and cheer me on.

Hold on there buddy. You mean you were "this" close to come visiting me on my first marathon ever?!?!? Awwww man... That's okay though, I understand.

But we gotta make a deal for next Summer then. Here's something nobody other than my wife and my oldest son knows: we will be closing our dojo this Fall. Too much work and trouble for what little money it brings us. The first five years of the lease will be over on Octobre 30th and we will not be renewing. In fact, we'll probably be closing before my marathon happens on August 30th. This means that my Summer of 2016 will be dramaticaly different than all of my last 5 Summers. Going back to 2011, I have never been too far out of the Quebec area during Summer (or any other time of the year really) because the dojo was taking so much of my time. This move will also free up most (ALL) of my evenings to do some training as I don't plan on taking karate classes for now, and maybe for a while. I am kinda burned out at this point.

I have been on mostly a week to week planning for pretty much those last 5 years, knowing that almost any weekend off had to be planned ahead of time and that I couldn't really take too many of those weekends off since I didn't have many backups and one of them is my son. I plan on trying some different things next Summer and that might, for now I'll settle on "might", include running out of town or even out of the country. Could even plan for a few days off if you'd ever contemplate driving up here for the half marathon or marathon in late August and we could run in my neck of the wood. In return, I would possibly look at some of the races you got down south that I could drive down to race with you. How's that for an early embryo of an idea? :D

Non committal of course, but let's both keep it in mind. ;)

oh and please keep the dojo thing out of FB for now. As I said, nobody knows about it and some of my customers are FB friends and I wouldn't want it known before we're ready to make an announce.

FM

I hate this aspect of road races - they are all biased for the early risers of the world. I do most of my running between 9-11pm. The prospect of getting up at 2am (aka my bedtime) for a run is complete madness.

That is the shoe I've been using for the last couple of months. Jealous of that price tag :)

I can work on it again for next year! I love destination races. I've also thought about doing the Montreal marathon at times since it is not too far from where my sister lives. My wife is pretty easy going about my running addiction, but sometimes I can only squeeze the stone so much :)


I find most of the races do early mornings not as much for the early risers but instead because it lets you beat the hot part of the day (and have better running performances). I know many of the winter races I've done have start times closer to 10am-1pm though which sound like it would be more up your ally.

So.. I don't think I will be able to finish this Strava climbing challenge :)

9 days left to climb 4200ft roughly. I only climbed 5000 ft for the entire month of April :)

Head to the Presidentials... :D

So I haven't had time for a race report on my first-ever half marathon, but the Reader's Digest version is that I went out too fast, it was hot, humid, and hilly, and I finished, but went very slowly over the last 5 miles. Both of my practice halves were faster than the real one. Still a good experience, but the last few miles were tough.

The on and off heat and humidity lately has made it tough when it hits at the wrong time for sure. I think you did a great job though in the Spring season, especially with a tough course. Hopefully I'll see you at Hartford in the fall!

Dealing with my first running injury. Had a sharp pain on the inside of my left knee when starting a run last Saturday afternoon. Bailed on that run quickly, gave it two days of rest, and had some mild discomfort again early on Monday. Two more days of rest, and was able to run a couple of miles on Tuesday with more of a dull feeling around the kneecap but no sharp pain or really any pain ... just a different sensation. But this morning about a mile into an easy run I returned to the sharp sensation inside the knee; basically a mini-fireworks feeling for about 3 seconds.

So, time to schedule a visit to the doctor and scrap plans for my 5k next Thursday night.

Hope it's nothing too serious hoops!

Maybe an MCL sprain, hoopsguy? That fireworks feeling doesn't sound good though so maybe a meniscus issue. Sounds like a visit to the doctor is a good idea.

I haven't left the house yet and it's already 83 degrees. I miss clouds.

Pretty neat. I just noticed that my first official half marathon came almost exactly 2 years after my first run (2013-06-01 and 2015-05-31).

Your pace is falling. You suck, Kodos! :D

I noticed that too! :D

Post-race shot from the Hartford Down & Dirty 3 miler this morning. I'm on the right, my brother is on the left. You can tell which one of us works out his upper body... :) I'll need to work on that.




Edit after results were posted:

Heh. I was feeling pretty good about my 14th out of 107 age-group finish. Then I saw my brother's result: He won his age group (1st out of 99), and beat second place by almost 7 minutes! :)


DOWN & DIRTY MUD RUN PRESENTED BY SUBARU
Hartford - Riverside Park
06/14/2015
3 Mile Results By Division
Male_45-49

Place Time Bib Name Team_name Age From
===== ======= ===== =================== ========================= === =====================
1 25:55 2855 Steven Pullen 46
2 32:44 1746 Michael Brakey The ShakeyBrakey Running 49 New Rochelle NY
3 34:12 2991 Brendan Shea 49 Amston CO
4 35:19 2294 Shawn Fogarty 46 Andover CT
5 35:34 2834 Jonathan Plucker 45 Glastonbury CT
6 35:36 2307 Bill Fredericks 46 Roxbury CT
7 35:38 1515 Scott Sweeney TEAM COBURN 46 Terryville CT
8 35:53 3335 Dave McAllister 48 Unionville CT
9 36:44 210 Stathis Manousos LAZ 49
10 36:53 132 Mauricio Escobar BK Spartans 46 CT



DOWN & DIRTY MUD RUN PRESENTED BY SUBARU
Hartford - Riverside Park
06/14/2015
3 Mile Results By Division
Male_40-44
Place Time Bib Name Team_name Age From
===== ======= ===== =================== ========================= === =====================
1 30:35 2687 Craig Mikolinski 40 Salem CO
2 30:56 2310 Tim French 43 Windsor CT
3 31:01 1135 Kenneth Reeves Mud N Dew 43 Terryville CT
4 31:46 2763 Kaluska Ohlund 40 Coventry CO
5 32:03 3120 Joe Vano 41 Trumbull CO
6 32:49 3292 Carmelo Cheverez 41 Waterbury CO
7 33:21 2564 David Lindstrom 43 Wolcott CO
8 33:25 674 John Brennan Chrome Drones 40 Wolcott CT
9 33:35 1595 Adam Smith Team Rugged Fitness 44 Wethersfield CT
10 33:51 3357 Mark Thibodeau 43 Middletown CT
11 34:17 1643 Greg Heacock The B-Team 43 Vernon CT
12 35:00 2752 David Noyes 43 Tolland CT
13 36:13 3254 Nathan Owens Running Dirty 42
14 36:17 2856 Chris Pullen 44
15 37:06 2074 Peter Chen 43 Manchester CT




Double edit: My brother finished 3rd overall out of 2078 finishers. He's not even a runner - he's a cyclist, for God's sake! :D I finished 132nd overall, which I feel good about. But now I feel like I could have pushed harder during the running parts.

DOWN & DIRTY MUD RUN PRESENTED BY SUBARU
Hartford - Riverside Park
06/14/2015
3 Mile Overall Results
Place Time Bib Name Age Sx From Div/Tot Division
===== ======= ===== =================== === == ===================== ======= ===============
1 24:40 2427 Jay Humphries 18 M Sherman CT 1/86 MALE_18-24
2 25:54 993 Victor Kolbin 18 M Westport CT 2/86 MALE_18-24
3 25:55 2855 Steven Pullen 46 M 1/99 MALE_45-49
4 26:19 1800 Kenneth Vaughan 52 M Middletown CT 1/56 MALE_50-54
.
.
.
130 36:13 131 Andrea Escobar 33 F CT 4/159 FEMALE_30-34
131 36:13 3254 Nathan Owens 42 M 13/107 MALE_40-44
132 36:17 2856 Chris Pullen 44 M 14/107 MALE_40-44
133 36:20 435 Mattew Cuomo 14 M North Haven CO 21/106 MALE_13-17
134 36:22 2425 Tyler Hull 18 M Vernon CT 23/86 MALE_18-24



Edit 3:
I should note these results were for the 3 mile race. I think probably the best runners all did the 6-mile version, thus watering down the results in the 3 mile a bit.

Great job Chris!

My oldest two daughters also did it.

My 10 year old did the 1 mile kid "adventure", finished in 19 minutes (18th out of 27 in her division)

My 14 year old did the 3 mile, finished in 1 hour and 6 minutes (74th out of 84 in her division)

Neither one really enjoy "cardio" type work though, but had fun with this

Way to go, Kodos! And congrats to Kang, too (and Alan, your daughters!).

So I have a half marathon coming up this Sunday, the Worcester Half-Marathon. I am not sure who's great idea it was to have a half marathon here in the summer, but it is a local race, I ran it last year and am doing it again this year :)

Last year, when I ran it the weather was pretty nice, 60-65F with about 75% humidity. This year, it is currently projecting to be 75 F or so and 100% humidity (with possible chances of not just showers but thunder showers). If it ends up being 75, I won't mind the rain at all, but can do without the lightning.

The course is not bad from a PR standpoint, one decent hill in mile 3 but the rest is fairly tame (various rolling hills), but I don't think I'll have it in me to quite PR yet.

Looking at my performance expectation graph, I'm actually ahead of where I was last June, but not quite at my best yet still.




I feel really good about my Fall training schedule though and am very optimistic for how Hartford will go in October, but for now, I'm getting faster again.. little by little.

One other good thing is that I've almost recovered all the weight gain that I picked up during the offtime. Only about 4-5 pounds more to go to be back to what the "top end" of where I want to be would be. I really would like to lose another 20 pounds though, so am working on that still.



So, my guess is that I won't PR on Sunday, especially with the heat even if I was in shape... but I'm hoping to get back under 2 hours for the Half again.

I hit a nice milestone this morning. Wanted to share.

Awesome! Way to go!

After convincing myself (wrongly as it turned out) that it was going to rain today, and given the fact I hate riding in the rain, went for a run instead of a ride.

Went out on a route that gave me an option to do 7.5 miles or 9.5 miles depending on how I felt after about 5.5 miles. Took it relatively easy and felt good, so took the long option...

Continued to feel good despite my speed increasing a bit, so worked out a couple of detours to beat my longest ever of 10.5 miles...

Still felt good... so the end result was I worked out a couple more detours and did my first ever half marathon distance!



Was mostly impressed that I managed to calculate my detours well enough that my door to door distance was 13.15 miles - not bad cognitive abilities given the circumstances!

A half marathon was something I wanted to do at some point, so really happy I've done it: I seem to have destroyed two toenails and my heel's a bit sore (low on the Achilles rather than high up where it tore 3 years ago) but seeing as I set out with a low end goal of 7.5 miles, I feel surprisingly good.

Yesterday was the Tour d'Italia. My dad participated in the ride with me. He'd been able to get a couple of events in already this spring (the two day MS bike ride in DFW one of them), and had been able to get some longer training rides in than I have. Our original plan was to ride the 100km route, but neither of us felt like that was going to be an option. There were also 30, 41 and 50 mile routes to choose from.

I drove up to Ft. Worth on Friday night, and we drove to Italy on Saturday morning. They had over 1,000 riders show up, so parking was a bit of a challenge. We got our packets and got started on the course a little after 8am. The first bit of the course was rolling, and you have to try and pace yourself, because it is easy to get excited and set too fast of a pace. We were sitting between 12 and 15 mph. As we rode along, we chatted about the distance we would ride, and said we'd decide at the rest stop that divides the 40 and 50 mile routes. I hit the first rest stop (at the 12 mile mark) a few minutes before my dad. We took off, and then a couple of miles past that he started having issues with his quads locking up on hills. We stopped and I helped him get them stretched out, and that seemed to help. At the 20 mile point was the second rest stop. We rested there for a bit, and stretched his legs some more. We headed down the 40 mile route, but his legs started rebelling again. So we decided to head back down the 30 mile route and get home. I finished about 15 minutes ahead of him. I likely could have done 40 miles on Saturday, but 50 would have been a struggle. I did the 30 miles in two and a half hours, which was about the pace I was shooting for if we did the 100km.

My dad recently got a new bike, and I'm pretty sure there is a problem with his riding position that was causing his leg issues. He'd been able to do longer rides with his previous bike without having any problems with his quads.

As for me, my repaired knee felt fine, no issues at all. I was very happy with that. I'm in New Mexico the first week in July, and we're planning to hike to the top of 12,500 ft. tall mountain. That will be my next test of the knee. I'm signed up for a couple of more bike rides in August, and am shooting to hit 100km in each of those.

Great job Alex and Cartman! Good news about the knee holding up well too.

For me, the half marathon I was going to do got postponed due to a lightning forecast, which evidently caused quite a stir in the local running community. A good mix of people supporting the decision to people begrudgingly supporting it to others just downright being rude about it.

As far as I know, the lightning never showed up though.. at least that I saw, but the decision was not a huge deal to me as I had not traveled to the race or anything. I went and ran 16 miles in one of the worst downpours I have ever ran in. (Perhaps second to the time I ran at the start of the tropical storm a few years ago).

They are trying to find a make up date for it, hopefully will not be while I am traveling next month so I can still fit it in somewhere.

Heh. I got caught in a pretty good downpour yesterday morning too.

Cartman-Glad to hear your knee is holding up so far.

Alex-Good job!

AlexB, heck of a first half! I remember the first time I transitioned from 10 miles to a half marathon distance and that 5k difference felt really sluggish. On top of that, it was nowhere near the speed you posted.

Saw a sports medicine doctor yesterday about my knee. No structural damage. Also had my best run in awhile on it this evening, which I'm sure was in part based on not being afraid of doing additional damage to the knee when I felt pain. Assuming I have more of the same over next week, I'll start gearing up for a couple of 5K runs next month.

I was OK until the last mile: at that point I had to go through an underpass to get across the main road, and the two flights of steps did me! They always hurt at the end of a run, but had few more miles in them this time, and was tough to get going again. Was surprised the pace hadn't dropped much as it felt like I was running in treacle!

I think I'll try and do a proper half so that I can have some water/food on the way as I'm sure that will help.

Definitely would help, plus you get extra adrenaline from a race environment that also will help too.

+1

I had forgotten how much it adds having other people around when I did the bike ride last weekend. Most all of my training rides were solo, and I could tell a big difference.

Well, I gone and done it again. I signed up for the Star Wars Half Marathon at Disneyland in January 2016. Time to go out and restart my training!

May the Force be with you!

Could use some advice. I received both the Garmin Forerunner 225 as well as the Fitbit Surge as gifts. I'm leaning towards keeping the Garmin but was hoping that you guys might have some helpful input on the matter. Thanks!

I think it depends on what you are wanting to get from it.

DC Rainmaker's review on the Fitbit Surge is that he would not really recommend it for endurance athletes due to various shortcomings. My personal opinion is for endurance athletes (cyclists/runners/etc), the Garmin 225 that you have is far better for many many reasons.

If you are just wanting a fitness tracker, the Surge is reportedly fine with doing that (if not perhaps overkill in some areas).

So:
daily fitness tracker with perhaps occasional run thrown in = Fitbit Surge
Endurance tracking (Running/Cycling/etc) = Garmin Forerunner

Ok, I think I am just going to pretend last week never happened running-wise. I don't recall a single time in the past few years where I've completely bombed one run after another, after another like last week.

I'm not really concerned with daily fitness tracking, just getting back to running on a regular basis with a reliable GPS device. Thanks for the response.

I'm signed up for a pretty tough ride in September. It is out in Fort Davis, TX, and is a 76 mile ride on a scenic loop around a mountain out there. It goes past the McDonald Observatory. There is a total gain of over 4,000 feet in elevation. Then on Sunday there is a short, but brutal hill climb that goes to the big telescope domes at the Observatory. It averages around a 15% grade for the climb.

Here's the big ride profile:
http://www.mapmyride.com/us/alpine-t...oute-134799109

BUT... I'm afraid my un-operated on knee is going to lose that status in the not too distant future. It is starting to do some of the same stuff the other knee did before it got worked on. It isn't bad, but it does occasionally give me issues.

Ugh, for both Alan and cartman. Especially cartman.

This answers my main question. Given that, the Garmin is definitely your best pick. The 225 can also serve as a daily activity tracker...

FM

ugh, :( As I said, live to run another day or in your case, another week. Takes bad ones to enjoy the good ones.

meanwhile, I'm having maybe the best weeks I've had in forever. Put back to back runs of 10 and 20 miles (my first 20 miler ever, almost 3 hours on the road is a long time) on the weekend, sorta kinda giving me confidence over the whole surviving 26.2 miles at once...

30 miles in two days helped me get to 50 miles in the week for only the second time since I started running, and the first time this season. This week is a cutback/recovery week with 37.5 miles planned but next week will be another big one that will end with a 28K race in which we'll do a 7K loop. You can sign up for as many laps as you want and since I had a 20 miler (32 km) planned for that week, I decided to sign up for 4 laps. Just learned this morning that there's a pretty decent in on the loop, huh, ok. I will not race this one like crazy but instead plan to run it at marathon pace.

Then a couple weeks later I'll do another 10/20 weekend but the 10 will be done at marathon pace on Saturday. I'll then enter my taper for about 2.5 weeks or so...

FM

That was a great 20 miler, FM. You look to be on track for a great debut.

Alan, what is your stinky clothes strategy on your trip? I have some old beat up stuff set aside for our next trip. I've been holding back trashing them for the next couple runs on the road but I don't have enough.

After I shower, I then run all of my stinky clothes through the shower and rinse them completely. I then hang them up to dry in the shower/bathroom of the hotel. Once I'm ready to leave, all of the running clothes go in their own little plastic bag to travel back home. Then a full wash at home again.

(I have enough running shirts/shorts/ running boxers/socks/etc to make it a full week though)

Last Friday my kits (10 and 15) and I climbed the highest mountain in Northern Europe
Its “only” 2,469 m (8,100 ft.) and a very easy climb but it was more than enough for me as I don’t like heights.

Galdhøpiggen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From Drop Box

That is awesome!

Here is the hardest thing I have done this year. Basically death by a thousand paper cuts. :D

Looks fun....

It's like looking at an emotional child scribbling on coloring paper.

That's basically how I felt after mile 50.

Still trying to get back in shape this year, but while on vacation I had a chance to run in Denver and Rapid City, SD. The higher elevations at both places was a (fun) challenge, but the temperatures were so much better than what I'm accustomed to.

Well, I've come back to the racing scene. I've been sidelined from racing, and pretty much running in general, recently due to a bout with bronchitis. Couple that with a bum knee, it's diifficult getting in a couple of miles in a single training run.

Well, I just ran a 5k race last weekend, and as expected I ran my worst 5k outing since starting this whole racing thing two years ago. But no worries. At least I finished!

Next up is the Long Beach HM in October (I believe CR is currently training for this as well!). If my own training (read: my knee) goes well, I will run this. If not, I'll pass. Due to some system error in the 2014 race, I was double-entered into that race even though I paid once, so they deferred my second entry to this year. Free entry for 2015!! So I won't be missing out on anything if I do not run Long Beach.

Participated in the Blazin' Saddle ride in Granbury, TX on Saturday. I rode the 44 mile route. Finished in 3:45, for an average speed of 11.75mph. Was hoping to hit 12.5mph, but the climbs killed me. The repaired knee just doesn't seem to like grades higher than about 5%. About 75% of the uphill sections were above 5%, including a couple of long (~1 mile) climbs. So my average speed went way down on the climbs, which you can see in the Strava report. I bonked out on the last climb of the day, which also was the steepest. At least it was all down hill to the finish from there, and I hit a top speed of 43.4mph on the descent.

I hope I can do something to help my knee handle climbs better before my ride in September. That one will have about twice the elevation gain as the ride I just did, and will be another 30 miles longer. Otherwise it will be a long day in the saddle.

RunKeeper has fucked up in 3 of my last 5 runs or so. Maybe time to switch to a new running app...

A good weekend of racing for the FOFC crowd it seems

Pretty good weekend for me. Got my first half marathon race in the books, and finished just under 1:50. Was expecting to get 1:53, and if everything broke right then thought 1:50 was in reach.

Temperature cooperated - 64 at race start, very cloudy, although humidity was pretty high.

Health cooperated - no meaningful pain in my left knee, which slowed me down earlier in the summer.

Event cooperated - lots of runners helping set pace, enough room to maneuver on the course, plenty of water/Gatorade stations.

So, time for some new goals. I've got another half in two weeks, and if I get similar road conditions I think I can take another minute off the time. This upcoming course does not look as hilly, and I'm hoping that I can improve my fueling process a bit to avoid stalling out in the last 5k. I have no visions of negative splits, but would like the last quarter to be more consistent with the rest of my run.

After that, I'll likely start doing some thinking about what kind of runs I want to focus on. I've had fun working towards the half marathons, but I don't envision a full marathon in my future. So if that is the case, I may decide to focus on 5K/10K run performance with an occasional long run rather than continuing to nudge up the distance.

Wanted to point out that Subby is doing a really cool thing this month. He's committed to riding 1,000 miles in September to raise money for Alex's Lemonade Stand.

You can show him a little love by donating to his cause here.

yes, great weekend of racing for FOFC runners! your good 10K, hoopsguy's very good first half marathon and there was this little run of mine ;)

Levis-Quebec SSQ Marathon
Race report of my first marathon
On August 30, 2015, I became a marathoner. :)

Sunday was a beautiful day which brought the end to a long training sycle. I had told many of my runner friends I didn't really really nervous about this first marathon, rather feverish. I just could not wait. Even better, I was presenting myself to the start line in pretty good shape, no real big injury concerns...

I had run this marathon course before, but as two separate half marathon. The first 13.1 miles as a Spring half, twice, failing to finish once, and since I ran the half marathon as part of the same weekend a year ago, and the half shares second half of his course with the marathon, well I knew all about it.

I had run the first 5 miles of the course during a ssemi-long run and I knew what to expect. The rest was a bit more unknown. I remembered the hills that would come as we'd crosse the bridge over the St. Lawrence river from when I ran the half last year but back then, I had about 2 miles on me when I got to that point. This year, it would be after 15 miles or so that I would see them...

I started the race without really having a goal time in mind, no real objective but simply a guess as to what I thougth was possbile, if that makes any sense. My main goal for this first marathon was really to absorb most of the course, the energy of the crowd, really live the race. There are many spots of my first half marathon that I don't even remember, I didn't want this to happen this time.

I started my training cycle with a possible marathon pace at about 8:00/km for a race time of about 3:30. That pace evolved over time during the 17 weeks that my training plan lasted since my half marathon back in May. At one point, I was almost aiming at 7:35 or so. I ran a 28K race with good hills a couple weeks before my last 20 miler and ended up with an average pace at 7:40.

The first 10K of the course started with a slight uphill over about 1.5 miles, then all downhille for a long while. At the 10K mark, I was averaging 7:23 for pace, slightly fact yet I wasn't overworking myself.

From there to about the 22K mark, it was mostly more little downhills and flat running. I ran that 12K segment right at my latest marathon pace of about 7:35. I was feeling good, heart rate in check.

Two good hills after that and my pace had slowed down considerably. My heart rate has also peaked heavily, hitting 164 BPM at one point which for me is at the range of the end of a 10K race, not something I wanted to see in the middle of a marathon.

We then went over the bridge and there I kinda struggle hitting back my pace. Not really hitting a wall, but just staying a tade slower.

Past the bridge was a big downhill to the last long stretch on Champlain Boulevard. That stretch was VERY rough last year and I had only 10 km to do on a half marathon. What makes this section difficult is the fact that it can get very hot as soon as the sun comes out even just a little bit. Luckily for us, is was kind of cloudy this year, but I now had more than 30 km in me instead of only 11.

At about the 35K mark, I decided to run by heart rate and not by pace. It was getting tougher and tougher and I didn't want to relive what had happened in my first half marathon, which is end up at the ER.

It worked out ok for a little while but my pace kept slowing down. The last 8-9 km (about 5-5.5 miles) were the toughest I've run so far in my short career as a runner. Then we got to the last stretch, the crowd lifted me. I saw my wife and sons on the left, then crossed the finish line and heard my name on the left. My mother and sister were there. I didn't expect them to be there so that was a really nice surprise.

Official time: 3:28:29

I ran my first marathon, finished it, and all of that under 3:30!!! Absolutely ecstatic about it, really!

I'm turning 45 in November and with that, fall in the BQ age category of 45-49. My BQ is 3:25. I end up so close, but I don't beat myself over it. I realized in the week leading to the race that even if I were to make that time, I wouldn't feel ready to go race Boston at what would most probably be my second marathon ever...

Overall, I really enjoyed this race. Yeah, it was physically and mentally demanding but I never really felt like I was about to die. For about 3/4 of the race, up until it got much tougher, say around the 33rd km or so, I engaged with the crowd, telling them not to let us down, not to give up on us. Similar to a defensive football player, I often looked to the crowd with arms up, palms open asking them for some noise. I will remember this first marathon for a long time.

My son, my two sons and even my mother-in-law were volunteers at the 5K water station. I was just pumped to see them. Just as pumped as I was to see my oldest son's drum teacher in a band along the 35th km or so. I enjoyed the whole training cycle probably more so than my previous half marathon training cycle.

I know I have a faster time in my legs with a little bit more training over time, a little more technique, and running without my 6.5 lbs hydration backpack. Yeah, I decided to run with it. I had trained with it, it felt like my security blanket even though I knew there would be water station every 2 miles. Even though I wasn't stopping at water station, I took the time to thank volunteers for their time.

I finished 162th out of 1329 overall and 47th out of 308 in M40-49

Ran my first half in 1:38:40 and the second half in 1:49:50 so not really even split, but that's ok for my first shot at this thing. ;)

But even though I ran my second much slower than my first, I made gained positions. I was 172th overall at the half and 55th in M40-49.

Overall, I don't think I could have asked for a better first experience at the marathon distance. Just about perfect weather too.

I liked it so much that I signed up for marathon #2 that will happen on May 29th 2016 in Ottawa. They claim the Scotiabank Ottawa marathon is the largest marathon in Canada with 6000 runner. Every one of my friends who has run it say it is a must. I'm already looking forward to it. :)

For now, it rest time. I've been on a training plan or another for the last 29 weeks, going back to February 9th. Racing season is about over for me. Might sign up for one last one, but then maybe not. I will volunteer for a local half marathon in a week and a half though. That should be fun.

Here's the link to the Garmin activity if anyone is interested
Garmin Connect - Error

Here are some pictures! :)

Me and three runner friends decided we'd run the marathon in superhero shirts. I just HAD TO run as Flash ;)


Don't I look like I'm having almost too much fun?!? :)


Ok, a bit more serious, that was at the halfway point


Intense finish line face!


Right after the finish line, before I even received my finisher's medal. Don't I look happy? ;)


Did I ever tell you that I kinda get emotional right after I finish a race? My wife (the little blonde in the black t-shirt) followed me via Garmin LiveTrack and she saw me slowing down over markedly over the last 5-6 km. She had just asked me how I felt, if everything was ok. She simply told me: "those last 5 were tough huh?" and I cracked... Tears not of sadness or pain, just kind of overwhelmed...


This pose almost launched my left hamstring in full cramp mode. I never have cramps but I was stupid here. With about a mile to go, I knew there would be some photographers around the bend in the road you can see in the back because up top was the Chateau Frontenac and they love taking pictures looking from down to up with the Chateau as the background. When I spotted him, sitting on the ground in the middle of the road, I knew I wanted to have a killer shot and as I ran past him, I struck the pose, hunching just a bit over. Bad idea, I limped/ran for maybe 250 yards before I felt that my hamstring was losening up a bit.


yaaaaaaa! :)

Congrats again Steve. That's was an amazing first marathon experience.

thanks Todd, still have not come down from the high it's given me to be honest. :)

Feels kinda weird not running on a training plan. Not that I don't feel like running, I do, and I will, but for now I'm ok with taking it easy...

FM

There are some pretty good post-marathon training plans out there to help safely get you through the post-marathon stage running and back to a general maintenance level if you are the type that works better with a plan to follow. (I personally am like that).

Most of the ones I have seen generally have 4-5 week training plans based on how much you were running prior to the marathon, and what your general base is.

Great writeup and great run, Steve! Congratulations!

thanks, I'll probably look some up but I know I'll be fine, it's just that the last week as been, well, weird. Had planned to take two to three days completely off, ended up being three. Ran easy on the fourth day, took a day off and planned to run back to back on the weekend but then there was this crazy hills challenge with my son's swim club, heh ;)

I will go back to my more regular schedule of 4-5 runs a week with a somewhat long run on Sunday. Just not this week, as I will be a volunteer for a local half marathon on Sunday. Actually kind of excited about it. I have started interacting with a couple running groups on FB and while I'm not ready to join a running club, the interaction on race day with runners I know on a first name basis, even though only from online, is nice. I will meet again with many of them on Sunday.

FM

Thanks Chris, it was a fun run, really. Marathon #2 will probably be tougher, as I will certainly go in with higher expectations and will want to push myself closer to my limits...

Having said that a few times already, I always find it interesting how we can describe a 26.2 miles run as "fun"... Crazy runner talk I guess ;)

FM

Getting psyched up for my ride out in Fort Davis this weekend. If the skies are clear, this is an example of the scenery:



However, they are currently forecasting 50-60% chance of thunderstorms. No clue on how that could impact the event.

I had my first gel injection in the repaired knee last Thursday, and I'll have a follow up injection this Thursday, with a final injection the Thursday after the ride. After the 3rd one, the doc will do an eval on my other knee.

Well, I wish I had a better report to post. I had the gel injection Thursday morning, then on Thursday afternoon made the 6 hour drive out to Fort Davis, TX. One of my uncles, and another aunt and uncle also traveled out there for the weekend to visit the area and cheer me on.

The ride started on Saturday morning at 8am. Weather was cloudy and cool, perfect for riding. The first few miles are downhill into Fort Davis. We rode right through the middle of town, and there were lots of people out watching and cheering. I noticed one we got into town, that the knee that had the gel injection was feeling tight. I was hoping it would loosen up. Unfortunately, it never did. I was still not feeling right by the first rest stop at mile 15. Around mile 20, it felt like I was trying to pedal through mud, even on slight downhills. I toughed it out to the 2nd rest stop at mile 30, but had to call it quits there.

When I woke up this morning, the knee was still not feeling right, so I didn't even try to attempt the 1.5 mile/1500 foot hill climb at the McDonald Observatory.

Sorry about your knee. Hopefully it is just a temporary set back.

Ugh. Sorry to hear that, Cartman.

Any Garmin Forerunner 225 owners out there? Are you also having Bluetooth connection issues with your phone? I'm running the latest firmware (2.40) and my phone is a Galaxy S6 edge plus. I keep losing connection and have been needing to reboot my watch only to see it lose connection after just a few minutes.

Also, does the accelerometer on the watch monitor cadence, or do I still need a footpod sensor?

This is the week where digamma does something dumb and signs up for a trail half marathon on a whim, even though he's undertrained by a wide margin. Tell you how it goes on Monday.

Best of luck!

I was underwhelmed by the "trail" elements of the half marathon I had earlier this month, so I'm looking at a 7 mile race this Sunday (in Kansas City, there for a ballgame Saturday night) to see if I can find something a little more interesting and fun. Just need to hold myself to it after a couple of days on the road, watching baseball with family ...

Congrats FrogMan -that's an amazing performance!

Cartman: hope the knee isn't too bad. My running in particular is on/off according to how my ankles flare up or not as the case may be - better safe than sorry for sure.

On the flip side, that's quite the committment Digamma!

Yeah, I have been super busy of late and haven't checked into this thread nearly as much as I should.

Steve, that's some great work man. Keep it up.

Greg, damn, that sucks. I know how much you have been going through to get your knees right. Hope it takes a turn for the better soon.

digamma, that's badass. One time, I signed up for a 3 mile mud run on a whim, the morning of, at the request of a friend. I actually did pretty good, but looking back, one of the weirder things for me to just decide to do. Hope you have fun.

Personal update: Long Beach half is two weeks from this Sunday. I haven't trained to the level I feel I should. But I do feel pretty good. I'm not sure I can beat my PR, but I'll give it a good shot.

The good news - nothing to worry about on the gel injection. I just tried to do too much too soon after getting it.

The bad news - getting an MRI schedule on my other knee. I have a feeling I know what I'm getting myself for Christmas again this year.

To answer my own question, yes the accelerometer on the Garmin FR 225 does track cadence. :)

Fun race. Ran 1:49:14 after putting in a pretty decent 50 minute first 6.5 miles. Two hills at miles 8 and 9 killed me on the back. Lots of covered single lane trails though. No super big climbs but a lot of medium ones.

Does anyone know if it is possible to load a race result into Strava based on the course map? I didn't carry my phone or watch.

I don't know of a way directly with straps to do it. I think I have heard of people creating their run with other tools and then uploading it to strava. I haven't messed with that type of thing too much though to be too helpful.

Strava not straps. Silly iPad.