It was nice to see and talk to Paul (theyappear66) at the Beach Blast 5k in Albemarle yesterday (05/10/14). That's really a great race... It was the RRCA State Championship 5k this year.
So what's everybody doing? Is everybody hurt or retired from running or what? I still race every week, of course. I got all into the excitement surrounding Boston this year and decided to try and qualify so I'm training for my first marathon in four years. You may remember that I swore I'd never run another one. My goal is to build up to 70 miles per week so stand by and watch me implode somewhere between 50 and 60.
Richard Hefner Past Race Results (Athlinks)
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Which marathon are you looking at? I am thinking about either Savannah or here, depending on my work schedule for the fall (I will know by June 1). I would like to run a few marathons this year as I turn 60 in June.
Nolite te bastardes carborundum.
Savannah and Thunder Road are both too late for qualifying for Boston in 2015, and I won't be ready to run a marathon until about September so the only options I could find were the Lehigh Valley Marathon on September 7th and the Erie Marathon on September 14th. I'm already registered for both races but I'll only run one of them, and I might not decide which one until a week or two before the race.
They haven't announced yet when registration opens for next year's Boston Marathon but last year I think it was the very same day as the Erie Marathon. It might be different this year and Erie might be too late.
Lehigh Valley: http://www.viamarathon.org/index.php
Erie: http://eriemarathon.org/home
Richard, Erie marathon is really really flat one, I ran it two years ago, the only uphill is a small bridge over a small inlet (my old drive way is steeper and longer), it is 2 loop race, cheap and size is not big. the pasta party before the night before is great.
I planned to run Erie this year again, but I later on I picked the last chance BQ marathon, probably on the same day, 40 minutes drive from Chicago.
Scheduled Races:
Tokyo Marathon (March 2020)
Boston Marathon (April 2020)
Richard, I haven't been racing much lately. I plan on running a 50 mile trail run next month in Wyoming. The Big Horn Wild and Scenic Trail Run. Should be fun. It's more about finishing than time. It'll be real interesting to see how I handle 5,000 to 9,000 feet in altitude.
Glad to see you're running well and stepping up again to the marathon distance.
nanxin... Thanks for the info on Erie... I've heard it's nice and flat. Since I'm registered already for that one and Lehigh Valley the preceding week I'm just going to wait and see when registration opens for Boston (they still haven't announced it) and see how I feel around that time. Good luck on the one you're doing!
Lpadg... I remember you saying a while back you were training for that ultra out West. Good luck on that! That elevation should make things interesting! I had some friends who ran a half marathon at the Grand Canyon this past weekend at an elevation of 6,600 feet. I haven't gotten the details but I think they had a pretty rough time for some reason.
On a personal note, I ran my best ever half marathon this past Saturday... 1:32:13 at the Brooklyn Half Marathon! It was my highest age-graded percentage ever -- 80.89% -- for an age-graded equivalent time of 1:13:13. It was about 16 seconds slower than my all-time half marathon PR, but that was 3 years ago when I was just a young whippersnapper of 59.
Richard 80% AG is National class time isn't it? Congratulation. You sure have talent, having known a couple of others who have achieved that AG time, you make it look easy. I just cannot come to grips that you were not really a life long runner, and only picked up this sport 5-6 years ago and achieving those impressive times.
Thanks Happyfeet... All of the old-timers keep telling me I've got "fresh legs!"
Maybe so...
All of the old-timers keep telling me I've got "fresh legs!" Maybe so...
All of the old-timers keep telling me I've got "fresh legs!"
If that's their excuse what's mine? we've got similar lifetime mileage, even if I may have started running a year or two before you did.
Congrats Richard. That's a great time!