Forums >General Running>The Great Run Thread
Thanks for starting this thread. It's exactly what I was looking for tonight after my fantastic run. It's raining in Maryland, and has been all night. I thought about not running tonight because it was so wet, but decided to suck it up. I wore the right clothes, most importantly a baseball cap to keep the rain out of my eyes. It was a pretty light rain so it didn't bother me getting started, and pretty soon I didn't even notice it. About three miles into my run it started raining a lot harder, on the verge of pouring. It felt great; I felt great. I started yelling and laughing from the great feeling. It rained that hard for another two miles, letting up to just a light rain again a little bit after I hit the half way point and turned back.
I think my mp3 player might have a moisture sensor, because right around the time it was raining hardest, it played a Lyle Lovett song that mentions rain, Eminem's Rain Man, and Kingdom of Rain by The The (w/ Sinead O'Connor).
I started my run and finished it at the karate studio I go to, where DW teaches and DD and I attend. I have a couple hours between DW's first class and my class, so I get to run. Tonight I got back with 20 minutes to spare, had my hand on the door to go in, and decided to enjoy the light rain for a few more minutes. Right on queue, Macy Gray's A Moment to Myself started playing in the headphones. When I eventually did go in, there were plenty of people there to look at me and think I was nuts. I thought about telling them what a great run it was, but decided that they wouldn't get it. Instead, I thought that maybe there's a Great Run Thread on RA I could post this to in order to make the experience complete. So, again, thanks for starting it, Josh.
Gig
veggies on the runMartial Artist Runners
Not necessarily a GREAT run today, but it was good. One thing was pretty awesome, though. I ran along the B&A trail near BWI airport, and a huge plane passed right over my head. It felt like it was maybe just 100 feet up. (Probably 10 times that--hard to estimate--but so what. It was cool.)
I had a 2 hour, meandering, leisurely run from the upper west side of manhattan to brooklyn. All along the west side of the island, around the southern part and across the brooklyn bridge. So awesome! I lived in ny for years but have been gone for a while. Never was in that kind of shape to run long like that when I lived here. It made me feel like I was experiencing the city in such a new exciting way!
Interval Junkie --Nobby
Wow, just reading that made me want to move back to NY.
2021 Goals: 50mpw 'cause there's nothing else to do
Just got done with a fantastic run! Today is day one of my taper for my first Half marathon. It's sunny, 45 a little windy, but beautiful blue skies. I started out just feeling great! Kept going for my full route and was shocked at my time. Felt easy! Didn't run by the watch, just by effort. Felt awesome! Loving this feeling!
Oh roo roooo!
Ran the Trailbreaker Marathon on Saturday with no particular goal in mind besides running comfortably, enjoying the scenery and not feeling like death at the end. Weather was perfect for my taste, upper 30s-low 40s, cloudy skies, no major wind, air just a little damp. I had the Garmin set to go off every half mile, planning to walk 1/10 and then run till the next alarm on the paved bike path portion and let the terrain dictate run/walk on the Ice Age Trail portion. Started out near the very back of the pack, leapfrogging w/a gal run/walking too. She gradually gained on me till we didn't overlap any more, but a guy up ahead started walking and I caught up to him. Turned out he was using the marathon as a long training run for a 50-miler, just wanted to cover the ground somewhere around 12-13 minute pace and had started walking b/c he had gone out way too fast for that goal. We kind of naturally fell into step together. He was willing to go along w/my run/walk plan, so we just enjoyed the green spring world and chatted as the miles ticked away.
Between 10 and 11 miles the course left the paved path and crossed the road onto the Ice Age Trail. We talked less here due to somewhat challenging single track plus all the runners coming back at us after the turnaround at the tower at Lapham Peak, but of course there was all the standard "good job, nice work" type of exchange w/runners going past on the return leg. I knew a handful of folks and it was nice to see how good everyone looked. We got to the turnaround, climbed the tower as required, then headed back. When we got on the paved path again, we simply couldn't believe we were almost 17 miles into the run, as we both felt great!
Pressing on, we joked with the aid station volunteers and told big scary running stories to each other. Before long, we were catching up w/folks who had been bitten in the ass by the dreaded "going out too fast" bug (which generally bites me too, so I felt for them struggling along....) and once again remarked how we really couldn't believe we were that many miles out as we still felt so good. When we finally crossed the finish line in Frame Park, our legs were tired but otherwise we were fine, and our time put us at just over 12 minutes per mile, so we fell right into the pace range my running partner was looking for. We went inside for a beer and someone handed me a certificate for age group 2nd, which made us laugh as there were only two people in that age group anyway!
It was just a perfect day--nice cool weather, nice spring scenery, I had worn exactly the right clothes and shoes and everything was perfectly comfortable. On top of that, by sheer chance, I met up with excellent company for a long run and we ran a comfortable pace that happened to be exactly where he wanted to be. Can't remember the last time I've felt so happy during a run and so satisfied afterwards!
congrats Honeypig! Sounds like a perfect run!
That sounds great. Thanks for sharing, it made me smile.
The weather was cool enough this morning for me to take both my dogs on an easy trail run. My oldest is 11 and I don't always take him because he can't handle the heat or too many miles. He looked like a puppy today leaping and bounding along the trail. It reminded me why I love running and I smiled the entire way.
LIKE x a million!
That is awesome! That would be so fun!
running is somewhat like playing golf to me. crappy shots all day long, ready to give it up & wondering why I'm trying so hard just to get this stupid little ball into a stupid little hole but then out of the blue comes a monster drive (again monster for me anyway) or a long putt that actually gets into the cup. bingo! that one shot keeps me going for the rest of day no matter how crappy I continue to play & gets me back out again on another day. strange.
running is somewhat like playing golf to me. crappy shots all day long, ready to give it up & wondering why I'm trying so hard just to get this stupid little ball into a stupid little hole but then out of the blue comes a monster drive or a long putt that actually gets into the cup. bingo! that one shot keeps me going for the rest of day no matter how crappy I continue to play & gets me back out again on another day. strange. -- skyedog
Just got back from a fantastic run! I ran my first half a week ago and have been taking it easy since. I have only went out twice for easy runs.. Today I was feeling the need for speed and decided to open it up and see what I could do. I ran a whole minute faster than my normal pace for a little over 3 miles! It felt so good to just go. I did a training program and stuck to it like glue so it felt good to just run as far and fast as I felt like today! Loved it!
I was in DC for an all-day meeting. Afterward, I had the option of a free dinner, but chose to stick to my plan of running. Ran by the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR, and MLK memorials, and East Potomac Park, taking my time to take in some of the memorials. http://www.runningahead.com/logs/62818fa5380a47cd9189ffa588487fab/workouts/04b8882a453b4f46920e61b45e25eb3a/map
Cool! I am always thankful that I'm a runner when I go on vacations. You get to see such cool things and experience the town in ways most people don't!