an amazing likeness
Jan, Feb and March have all passed into the rear view mirror and as we head into the ending days of April in northern New England there are now some early buds on trees and we’ve gained 5 hours of daylight which is bringing out some green grass on south-facing lawns. Time to put away the snowblower and dig out the lawnmower.
We’re in the prime spring racing season and our calendar for the week is 3 HM and a 10-miler.
Docket_Rocket is pacing her DH; redleaf is nursing a bad hamstring – keep those strides short, short, short (think geisha); and I’ll guess that TaraC’s last-minute Boston entry have changed her plans. So, Barbs595 is our healthy racers for the weekend – looks like a great course in Newport Barb, enjoy the ocean views!
April 26, 2014
Docket_Rocket
RnR Country Music Half Marathon
13.1 miles
Nashville, TN
April 27, 2014
redleaf
Nike Women's Half Marathon
Washington, DC
TaraC
Earth Rock Run Half Marathon
North Andover, MA
Barbs595
Newport 10 Miler
10 miles
Newport, RI
Good luck to all our racers and trainers this weekend! Run strong, stay focused on your race plan and take a minute before the start to remember you’re one bad ass to be out there running all those training miles.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
Good luck everyone!
My mantra for the run "little steps, geisha steps, little steps, geisha steps"
Good luck to all.
First or last...it's the same finish line
HF #4362
Good luck everyone. Hope you all have great races.
I may be healthy, but slow..Going to enjoy it. I have never "raced" a 10 miler so not sure what to expect. Treating it like a half, but I will be done quicker
Run, Walk, Crawl, just Finish.
HF # 1189
Great racing to everyone this weekend.......
And yes - I am no longer racing this weekend. :-)
Ready, go.
I was pacing hubby. He did great. He was not looking for a PR but he almost PRd even though this course is hilly. We missed the PR because we stopped at the potty early in the race, ha. Very happy for him.
Good luck to all our racers today.
Damaris
As part of the 2024 London Marathon, I am fundraising for VICTA, a charity that helps blind and visually impaired children. My mentor while in law school, Jim K (a blind attorney), has been a huge inspiration and an example of courage and perseverance. Please consider donating.
Fundraising Page
I did the Newport 10 Miler on Sunday. All I can say is I was not expecting all the hills, although most of them were not huge, it just seemed like they were never ending. Race started out cloudy and cool at 8am. I think there were just over 2000 runners signed up. It began inside Fort Adams, and ran out along the ocean and up onto part of "12 mile drive" Beautiful mansions that are a big tourist spot, finishing up inside the Fort.
Once I started I realized we were mostly overdressed, so since we had to run out by the parkng lot, there was a lot of dropping off clothes, gloves,etc..me included. I don't think I have ever been in Newport when it was so quiet and peaceful. Of course true to form took off to fast, although I thought I was going pretty slow. The sun did come out and by mile 4 the first layer was coming off and I was wishing I had worn capris. We got donw around the water and it was just beautiful, very calm, no wind and no people other than racers.
I thought I had slowed down as people were passing me like crazy but evidently I had sped up. I did take some short walk breaks, mostly to get up the hills. I realized I was going to fast, but couldn't seem to keep a steady pace The clouds started to roll in and the temperature dropped at about mile 7 as we were going by the mansions. There was very little traffice until we started getting closer to the Fort and then it picked up. I am not a fan of running with traffic.
I knew it was going to ba an uphill climb into the Fort mile 9 and then flat after that. Oh my gosh the wind for the last 1/2 mile was incredible. Took your breath away and I almost gave up. Thank goodness my running partner pushed me a little and we finished running. My goal was under 2 hours and finished in 1:53:56. A little slower than I was on pace for bu very happy. I wish I could learn to start slow so I could stop blowing up the final 2 miles of a race. I know it is a head game and I am workig on it, but geesh.
There were water and porta potties every 2 miles. Biggest complaint was absolutely no crowd support anywhere. I know it is a very afluent community but did expect we would see some people. Even fellow runners offered no support along the route or finishing. As we were were finishing, the runners that already finished were leaving and I think maybe 3-5 of them actaully offered support.
Barb, congrats on exceeding your goal, sounds like a tuff race!
Congrats Barbs. You say you go out too fast, but you finished over 6 minutes faster than your goal. Strategy seems to work, doesn't it?
"little steps, geisha steps, little steps, geisha steps" - pretty easy mantra to put into practice when you're running with 15,000 other people. Crickey.
I finished with an official time of 2:54:05 which included a 13.MINUTE porta potty stop. 15,000 women. Only so many porta potties. I passed the first ones up but no way could I pass the second ones.
My PR is 2:41:00. Sigh. my hamstring sort of tightened up around the 5k/3mile point. Which was after the stop so I figured it's just loosen up again once I was running enough. nope. Stayed tight the whole way but didn't seem to impede my "little steps; geisha steps" running mantra.
I still have to download my garmin but the Nike website has this to say:
5k: 39:24
10k: 1:29:17 (or about 50 minutes for the 2nd 5k thanks to the porta potty stop - seriously after I saw the lines at the secon dbatch of porta potties I just laughed and thought "good thing the hamstring meant this was a "just finish" race')
15k: 2:07:22 (38 minutes for the third 5k)
20k: 2:45:55 (39 minutes for this 5k)
Finish: 2:54:05 (8 minutes for the last 1.1 km)
At the end of the day: too many people; too much stuff I have no interest in (i.e. there were makeovers and a fashion show at the expo) but I'm glad I did it. I signed up for the lottery with a group because a friend of mine really wanted to go. She forgot to sign up in time and our group got in. I figured what the hell I'll do it once. The necklace I got at the end is actually very nice and Toby had the great idea to put it on my charm bracelet - it's the perfect size.
Makes me a little nervous for the RnR in Vegas though (signed up with another friend who wants to go there) just in terms of size and all the "other" stuff. Although really it's 'cause I'm not a "girly" girl. If the expo had other not-necessarily running related stuff like whisky/bourbon and hockey related stuff I might have enjoyed it.
Here's me pre-race:
The t-shirt says: Commitment: staying loyal to what you said you were going to do, long after the mood you said it in has left you.
Congrats to you redleaf - given everything that you have been dealing with I hope you are pleased with the race.
Did you get the tiffany necklace - I saw a pic and absolutely want. Congrats!
Barb - Great run. I always start out too fast too - but you exceeded your goal :-) so something must have worked.! Congrats to you!
Great race red, looks like with the hammy issue and the long potty stop, you would have been real close to the PR time.
TaraC - yep:
it is quite lovely. AND I found out today that the race photos are free to download. There are about 5 or 6 of me and one really good one:
hog4life - yea, I think so. I can't wait to get it healed up and maybe lose another 30 or so pounds
Barb - that's great I think - sounds rough though. Can't wait until I get to run with you again!
That is great Redleaf. And it is a very good photo.