The Running Thread - 2018

[Bree]

ATTQOTD: For those of us who are not USA citizens and thus have no voting to do, today is Nachos Day so enjoy!

Which reminded me of this......

 

[KevM]

ATTQOTD: Went and voted at lunch today (~11:30). There were only 3 people in front of me and I was #610 for the day. However, the township I’m in only has roughly 17,000 people total and 10 polling locations and I think mine is one of the smaller ones.

 

[PrincessV]

ATTQOTD: Sent in my mail-in ballot a couple weeks ago, and printed my "I Voted by Mail!" sticker to wear today

 

[KevM]

Which reminded me of this......

View attachment 363652

Well, we know per Demolition Man that Taco Bell eventually wins the Restaurant Wars. This is simply their first step towards that win.

 

[PrincessV]

QOTD: Will the time change have any impacts on your running schedule?

ATTQOTD: Thanks for the reminder! I need to start wearing my headlamp on after-work runs, too. Sadly, the time change also means having to get up earlier for long runs, as it's summer again here in the Sunshine State. ~sigh~

 

[roxymama]

You know, I want to agree with this too. But my feels are different. My first marathon, after putting in all that training and work, just to have my boyfriend jump into the middle of it and propose? Like what? This was MY thing and you made me stop FOR YOU? Plus, a finish line picture would have looked WAY BETTER. Just sayin'.... I would have of course said yes and been happy, but when I would re-tell the story there would be resentment in my voice.

Just ask my husband about how I hate that he didn't get down on one knee when he proposed to me because I guess I like to point that out a lot too. /shruuuug

Fair point!
How about holding up a sign that says "Keep running if you want to marry me"

 

[jennamfeo]

I went and voted this morning. I was disappointed that 75% of the voters were white males. Nothing against you in that group, but no wonder most of our politicians are also that demographic when that's who is voting. I'm really hoping it was just bad timing on my part and the voter demographics will be a better representation of my community once all is said and done.

I saw someone on Twitter talking about how their polling station was "full of Millennials and looked like a line for avocado toast". Suuuuper annoyed by that. The girl leaving the polls behind me this afternoon had a high school shirt on and it filled my heart with so much joy.

Fair point!
How about holding up a sign that says "Keep running if you want to marry me"

HA! That would be way cute and pretty motivational. Could you imagine how distracted you would be thinking about that?? Miles would tick on by.

 

[cavepig]

I voted during my run, I figured might as well tie it into my route & there was really no line

 

[roxymama]

I voted during my run, I figured might as well tie it into my route & there was really no line

But did you jog in place while voting?

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

I went back to vote and had to wait about 30 minutes. It would have been less, but 1 of 3 voting machines was down.

2:30 seemed to be the sweet spot. After lunch, school pickup about to happen, but too early to leave work.

I voted during my run, I figured might as well tie it into my route & there was really no line

I thought about this, as our polling place is only about 1/4 mile off my regular route

 

[cavepig]

I went back to vote and had to wait about 30 minutes. It would have been less, but 1 of 3 voting machines was down.

2:30 seemed to be the sweet spot. After lunch, school pickup about to happen, but too early to leave work.



I thought about this, as our polling place is only about 1/4 mile off my regular route

Our old polling place was 4.5+ miles away (which I do run past as part of long runs sometimes), but they moved it closer this year and it's only 1.5 away now. I had other errands to 'run' in town so just added voting on as well. I lost my I voted sticker on the way back home apparently.

 

[sourire]

ATTQOTD: Flew back from WDW this AM and voted this afternoon!

Catching up a little! October miles: 73
Ran the Wine & Dine 10k with my mom, and happy to report that she got a PR! She was getting a little frustrated with the crowding on course, but we managed! I think I did an okay job of pacing her. The PR was only by about 15 seconds, but hey, she finished 4th in her age group, so yay for her!

 

[cburnett11]

NYC Marathon Race Report

I flew back late last night after spending Friday through Monday in NYC. The short summary... the NYC marathon was a spectacular event, but I got my butt kicked a little bit! The longer and probably boring story follows…

Some quick background. I ran Chicago 4 weeks ago and PR'd. It wasn't my intention to do both this year, but I was extremely fortunate in the drawings so what's a guy to do? I registered for Chicago last year when a number of people on here were planning to do that as a bit of a race meet. I was successful and got in. Then earlier this year, I told my wife that I'd love to run NYC at some point in my life. AND so I better start applying for it so that I can go ahead and get several rejections before finally getting selected. Welp... beginners luck I guess. I got my notification that I'd be doing NYC too. I was extremely excited and decided that Chicago would be my "A" race (unless something terrible happened with the weather) and NYC would be the fun race. Leading up to Chicago I had a tad of hip pain on my last long runs and it resurfaced again (more-so) after getting back from Chicago. So most of the time between Chicago and NY was spent in PT (learning to stretch and do some simple strength exercises which I hope to continue/increase moving forward) with much less running than normal. I just wanted to make sure that I felt good enough to do another marathon that quickly and that I wouldn’t do anything to cause a longer-term injury. Anyways, my hip was a non-issue my last 2-3 runs and felt perfect the entire marathon. So maybe stretching, strengthening, and stuff like that is a good thing... lol.

My wife and I landed pretty early on Friday and got to our hotel at 57th and Lexington around 9:15. After we dropped off our luggage, we decided we'd just start walking towards the Expo and decide whether we wanted to catch an Uber or other mode of transportation. It was a nice day so we ended up walking. Getting my bib was pretty easy and the expo was good. We took our time there but did not buy anything. I had already ordered a jacket but would not allow myself to wear it until Sunday after the race. At noon we took a bus tour that covered the course. It was pretty good, but with all the traffic the tour was really slow in some parts and I was ready for it to end when it did. Our bus started at the expo, but it did have to drive all the way to Staten Island to properly start. There was an NYRR guide on our bus that told us about different points of the course and provided some tips. I mostly chose to do this because I'd never been anywhere but midtown/lower Manhattan so it was good for me to see other areas, PLUS it was nice for my wife to get to see where all I'd be running. We were able to get off the bus at the finish line and chose to do that instead of riding back to the expo. Then we grabbed an early dinner and decided to check out the Parade of Nations Opening Ceremony at the finish line. Runners marched down a small stretch of the finish area with their flags, costumes, music, etc. At the end, there were fireworks. It was fun, and I'd recommend anyone doing the marathon to consider watching this. It really made me feel like I was part of something huge. The forecasted rain held off, and it was a nice way to kick-off the weekend.

Late Saturday morning, my wife and I went out to see where she could EASILY get to watch me on Sunday. We figured out she could get to the hairpin turn off of the Queensboro Bridge (~mile 16) and then again when I exited Central Park (5th & 59th) in the final mile. Afterwards we both did a little run in Central Park. Wow! What an amazing place to run. The energy on Saturday morning with so many people there doing shakeouts was fantastic. My wife (hoping to do her first marathon in January at WDW) commented that she felt like she could run forever there.

After eating a late breakfast, we decided to do some exploring. It probably wasn’t the best use of my legs, but I was in NY for the experience too. We walked down to the Empire State building checking out Grand Central along the way. We walked back up through Times Square and eventually made it our early dinner at Patsy’s for some pasta. I think we ended up hanging out a bit more in Central Park and probably stayed out later than normal looking at things, but with the late race time of NYC and the “fall back” time change I kept telling myself that I was still going to be off my feet plenty of hours before the gun… lol.

Slept like a baby Saturday night and then did a little jog/walk to the buses (I was 6am) at the Library that take the midtown runners to the start. The bus ride was long, but warm and relaxing. The staging area at Fort Wadsworth was pretty well organized and they had free water, Gatorade, coffee, bagels, Dunkin Donut beanies, etc. It was a fairly comfortable morning to wait around in that area. I was in Wave 2 so my start time was some time around 10:15.

The course and crowd support were fantastic. Btw, @Keels I wish I would’ve known where you’d be so I could’ve at least waved. Anyways as part of the Orange group, I got to run on the the upper level of the Verrazano Bridge and on the left side going across… so I had amazing views of NYC. In fact, I veered over and basically ran along the rail so that I could have unobstructed views even though there was a healthy crosswind on the bridge. I just couldn’t resist. The crowds in Brooklyn were great. Since I was in the Orange group, I was on the west side of fourth street, so I was running in the sun. I’m guessing a large number on the east side of the street (running in the shadows of the buildings in Bayridge, etc. wished they’d been in the sun too. However, I really like running “cold” so even though it was a beautiful 50F, I would’ve preferred to be on that side. It probably sucked a bit of energy out of me, but it was hard to slow down and the vibe was just great in Brooklyn. Signs, cheering spectators, musicians, etc. It was awesome.

Finally, we got to the point where all 3 groups converged, and it did get a bit tight. I recall one water stop in an area of maybe only 2 lanes and it was pretty bad. Basically, everyone stopped running, except for a handful of people who just charged through everyone knocking people. That’s really the only place it was unbearable for me crowd-wise. The water/Gatorade stops were frequent (every mile from 3 to finish), but they weren’t nearly as large or organized as Chicago. Chicago’s tables seem to run forever. New York’s varied in size and sometimes they seemed a bit too small. That’s really my only small criticism of the race. Otherwise the event is magical.

You don’t spend much time in Queens and then it was the very long Queensboro Bridge over to Manhattan. I think @Wendy98 commented that his bridge went on forever and I’d agree. It was also the place my GPS went the most wonky. By this time, I’d already determined that I’d have to start feeling better quickly if I was going to run under 4 hours. I went through the halfway point in under 2, but I knew my effort was more than I liked so I started to slow some to see if I could get to feeling stronger. Oh… and it was during this stretch that I gave up on trying to pair my earbuds. Even though this race had tons of support, I like to have them on and occasionally get some music going to zone in. I needed to on Sunday (especially through Queens and over that Bridge) to see if I could settle in to comfortable pace, but later realized I accidentally brought an older pair of the same model that no longer worked. Makes sense now why they didn’t pair and gives me one more thing to check closer before my next race. I saw my wife coming off the bridge and then tossed her the ear buds and my Spibelt that I no longer wanted.

From this point on I did my best to keep feeling as good as possible. It became apparent to me somewhere on First Avenue that breaking 4 wasn’t going to happen. I think after mile 18, I started to walk at water stops. I really wish I had paced better early on because I could’ve enjoyed miles 16-24 much more. First and Fifth Avenues were really loud. I wanted to enjoy it more, but my head was probably hanging a bit. Just another reminder for me about how important pacing is.

Anyways, the short walk breaks felt pretty good, so I took an even longer walk across the bridge into the Bronx. This allowed me to recover a bit for Fifth Avenue. By this time, I decided that I’d like to 1) not walk any in Central Park, and 2) finish under 4:10. So I took my last little walk before the park and then I knew I just needed to power through the rest of the way. I had heard a lot about the rolling hills there late in the race (in the park too), but I honestly felt like there was more downhill than up late in the race. Maybe it was just me being a bit refreshed, determined, and overwhelmed by all the spectators encouraging everyone.

I got to see my wife again right when I exited the park and I knew I had much less than a mile to go so I started surging as much as I could. Finishing felt great. The finish line is a big production and it felt awesome to be a part of such an event. I came across in 4:07:53 and I was thrilled.

After the long march to receive my medal, nice heavy bag of snacks/recovery stuff, and post-race poncho, I finally met up with my wife and we made the trek back to the hotel. I quickly cleaned up and was able to hit a nearby pool to help my muscles recover a bit. Then we grabbed a quick early dinner and decided to head back to the finish line to watch the celebration for the final finishers. We stayed at least 2 hours. Apparently, the organizers make it a point to stick around at the finish line to let all the finishers get the hoopla they’ve earned. So even though the course is no longer “closed”, if you can find your way to the finish line you’ll be greeted with fans, announcers, a DJ, and plenty of festivities. It was very emotional and inspirational to watch the celebration of others crossing the finish line. Several elites had come to be a part of it too and I got to meet Meb. It was an awesome way to end the day for us. Between the Parade of Nations, my own race experience, and watching others crossing the line Sunday night, the NYC marathon was just an overall awesome experience. I highly recommend it to everyone.

 

[huskies90]

QOTD: So its not so much a question today but a reminder. Go vote today!

Check. Voted after work.

 

[flav]

NYC Marathon Race Report

I flew back late last night after spending Friday through Monday in NYC. The short summary... the NYC marathon was a spectacular event, but I got my butt kicked a little bit! The longer and probably boring story follows…

Some quick background. I ran Chicago 4 weeks ago and PR'd. It wasn't my intention to do both this year, but I was extremely fortunate in the drawings so what's a guy to do? I registered for Chicago last year when a number of people on here were planning to do that as a bit of a race meet. I was successful and got in. Then earlier this year, I told my wife that I'd love to run NYC at some point in my life. AND so I better start applying for it so that I can go ahead and get several rejections before finally getting selected. Welp... beginners luck I guess. I got my notification that I'd be doing NYC too. I was extremely excited and decided that Chicago would be my "A" race (unless something terrible happened with the weather) and NYC would be the fun race. Leading up to Chicago I had a tad of hip pain on my last long runs and it resurfaced again (more-so) after getting back from Chicago. So most of the time between Chicago and NY was spent in PT (learning to stretch and do some simple strength exercises which I hope to continue/increase moving forward) with much less running than normal. I just wanted to make sure that I felt good enough to do another marathon that quickly and that I wouldn’t do anything to cause a longer-term injury. Anyways, my hip was a non-issue my last 2-3 runs and felt perfect the entire marathon. So maybe stretching, strengthening, and stuff like that is a good thing... lol.

My wife and I landed pretty early on Friday and got to our hotel at 57th and Lexington around 9:15. After we dropped off our luggage, we decided we'd just start walking towards the Expo and decide whether we wanted to catch an Uber or other mode of transportation. It was a nice day so we ended up walking. Getting my bib was pretty easy and the expo was good. We took our time there but did not buy anything. I had already ordered a jacket but would not allow myself to wear it until Sunday after the race. At noon we took a bus tour that covered the course. It was pretty good, but with all the traffic the tour was really slow in some parts and I was ready for it to end when it did. Our bus started at the expo, but it did have to drive all the way to Staten Island to properly start. There was an NYRR guide on our bus that told us about different points of the course and provided some tips. I mostly chose to do this because I'd never been anywhere but midtown/lower Manhattan so it was good for me to see other areas, PLUS it was nice for my wife to get to see where all I'd be running. We were able to get off the bus at the finish line and chose to do that instead of riding back to the expo. Then we grabbed an early dinner and decided to check out the Parade of Nations Opening Ceremony at the finish line. Runners marched down a small stretch of the finish area with their flags, costumes, music, etc. At the end, there were fireworks. It was fun, and I'd recommend anyone doing the marathon to consider watching this. It really made me feel like I was part of something huge. The forecasted rain held off, and it was a nice way to kick-off the weekend.

Late Saturday morning, my wife and I went out to see where she could EASILY get to watch me on Sunday. We figured out she could get to the hairpin turn off of the Queensboro Bridge (~mile 16) and then again when I exited Central Park (5th & 59th) in the final mile. Afterwards we both did a little run in Central Park. Wow! What an amazing place to run. The energy on Saturday morning with so many people there doing shakeouts was fantastic. My wife (hoping to do her first marathon in January at WDW) commented that she felt like she could run forever there.

After eating a late breakfast, we decided to do some exploring. It probably wasn’t the best use of my legs, but I was in NY for the experience too. We walked down to the Empire State building checking out Grand Central along the way. We walked back up through Times Square and eventually made it our early dinner at Patsy’s for some pasta. I think we ended up hanging out a bit more in Central Park and probably stayed out later than normal looking at things, but with the late race time of NYC and the “fall back” time change I kept telling myself that I was still going to be off my feet plenty of hours before the gun… lol.

Slept like a baby Saturday night and then did a little jog/walk to the buses (I was 6am) at the Library that take the midtown runners to the start. The bus ride was long, but warm and relaxing. The staging area at Fort Wadsworth was pretty well organized and they had free water, Gatorade, coffee, bagels, Dunkin Donut beanies, etc. It was a fairly comfortable morning to wait around in that area. I was in Wave 2 so my start time was some time around 10:15.

The course and crowd support were fantastic. Btw, @Keels I wish I would’ve known where you’d be so I could’ve at least waved. Anyways as part of the Orange group, I got to run on the the upper level of the Verrazano Bridge and on the left side going across… so I had amazing views of NYC. In fact, I veered over and basically ran along the rail so that I could have unobstructed views even though there was a healthy crosswind on the bridge. I just couldn’t resist. The crowds in Brooklyn were great. Since I was in the Orange group, I was on the west side of fourth street, so I was running in the sun. I’m guessing a large number on the east side of the street (running in the shadows of the buildings in Bayridge, etc. wished they’d been in the sun too. However, I really like running “cold” so even though it was a beautiful 50F, I would’ve preferred to be on that side. It probably sucked a bit of energy out of me, but it was hard to slow down and the vibe was just great in Brooklyn. Signs, cheering spectators, musicians, etc. It was awesome.

Finally, we got to the point where all 3 groups converged, and it did get a bit tight. I recall one water stop in an area of maybe only 2 lanes and it was pretty bad. Basically, everyone stopped running, except for a handful of people who just charged through everyone knocking people. That’s really the only place it was unbearable for me crowd-wise. The water/Gatorade stops were frequent (every mile from 3 to finish), but they weren’t nearly as large or organized as Chicago. Chicago’s tables seem to run forever. New York’s varied in size and sometimes they seemed a bit too small. That’s really my only small criticism of the race. Otherwise the event is magical.

You don’t spend much time in Queens and then it was the very long Queensboro Bridge over to Manhattan. I think @Wendy98 commented that his bridge went on forever and I’d agree. It was also the place my GPS went the most wonky. By this time, I’d already determined that I’d have to start feeling better quickly if I was going to run under 4 hours. I went through the halfway point in under 2, but I knew my effort was more than I liked so I started to slow some to see if I could get to feeling stronger. Oh… and it was during this stretch that I gave up on trying to pair my earbuds. Even though this race had tons of support, I like to have them on and occasionally get some music going to zone in. I needed to on Sunday (especially through Queens and over that Bridge) to see if I could settle in to comfortable pace, but later realized I accidentally brought an older pair of the same model that no longer worked. Makes sense now why they didn’t pair and gives me one more thing to check closer before my next race. I saw my wife coming off the bridge and then tossed her the ear buds and my Spibelt that I no longer wanted.

From this point on I did my best to keep feeling as good as possible. It became apparent to me somewhere on First Avenue that breaking 4 wasn’t going to happen. I think after mile 18, I started to walk at water stops. I really wish I had paced better early on because I could’ve enjoyed miles 16-24 much more. First and Fifth Avenues were really loud. I wanted to enjoy it more, but my head was probably hanging a bit. Just another reminder for me about how important pacing is.

Anyways, the short walk breaks felt pretty good, so I took an even longer walk across the bridge into the Bronx. This allowed me to recover a bit for Fifth Avenue. By this time, I decided that I’d like to 1) not walk any in Central Park, and 2) finish under 4:10. So I took my last little walk before the park and then I knew I just needed to power through the rest of the way. I had heard a lot about the rolling hills there late in the race (in the park too), but I honestly felt like there was more downhill than up late in the race. Maybe it was just me being a bit refreshed, determined, and overwhelmed by all the spectators encouraging everyone.

I got to see my wife again right when I exited the park and I knew I had much less than a mile to go so I started surging as much as I could. Finishing felt great. The finish line is a big production and it felt awesome to be a part of such an event. I came across in 4:07:53 and I was thrilled.

After the long march to receive my medal, nice heavy bag of snacks/recovery stuff, and post-race poncho, I finally met up with my wife and we made the trek back to the hotel. I quickly cleaned up and was able to hit a nearby pool to help my muscles recover a bit. Then we grabbed a quick early dinner and decided to head back to the finish line to watch the celebration for the final finishers. We stayed at least 2 hours. Apparently, the organizers make it a point to stick around at the finish line to let all the finishers get the hoopla they’ve earned. So even though the course is no longer “closed”, if you can find your way to the finish line you’ll be greeted with fans, announcers, a DJ, and plenty of festivities. It was very emotional and inspirational to watch the celebration of others crossing the finish line. Several elites had come to be a part of it too and I got to meet Meb. It was an awesome way to end the day for us. Between the Parade of Nations, my own race experience, and watching others crossing the line Sunday night, the NYC marathon was just an overall awesome experience. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Congratulations and thank you, I am adding this to my bucket list!

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

I lost my I voted sticker on the way back home apparently.

LOL. Fear of lost voter sticker is one of the things that made me not do it. And we didn't even have free booze/food for voting. Did I mention that I hate losing things?

Unrelated to anything except voting: our voting precincts are named after Revolutionary War Militia Districts. Ours is Poplar Springs. As far as I know, nothing (except the voting district) is named Poplar Springs.

 

[Slogger]

Congrats @cburnett11 on a great finish at NYC and sharing all the great details.
Sounds like a bucket list event.

 

[Slogger]

ATTQOTD: We voted after lunch today with good sized crowed but quick lines. Our daughter was home from College (fall break) and voted for the first time ever. The staff gave her a loud ovation which was kinda cool.

 

[SarahDisney]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the NYC Marathon, @cburnett11!! I was tracking you, but I didn't get to see you because you finished before I got to my spectating spot (I ended up on Central Park South right before the entrance to the park, but because it takes forever to get out of the finish area and my volunteer shift ended at 2, I didn't get there until almost 3).

Afterwards we both did a little run in Central Park. Wow! What an amazing place to run. The energy on Saturday morning with so many people there doing shakeouts was fantastic. My wife (hoping to do her first marathon in January at WDW) commented that she felt like she could run forever there.

But the hills!!!
(Says the girl who is planning to run in Central Park tomorrow morning)

Good news ... I'm in my apartment! Like for real (I was here Saturday night, but then back at the house Sunday after the marathon). Only 6 days after I originally planned to move. It's been a crazy week. But now that I'm here, I can stop worrying about the move and start focusing on marathon weekend.

Also, @LSUlakes, I think I forgot to mention my next race...
November 11 - SarahDisney - Rangerstown 5K (NG/NA)

I had a goal for this one, but after a panicked email to Coach this afternoon, we decided that I should skip the goal. We'll see what happens Sunday. All I can do is run and try to have a good time.

 

[tidefan]

ATTQOTD: We don't do early voting here in Alabama (that I am aware of and isn't a mail in ballot), so I will be going after work with the masses. Which will impact my running plans today, but I am going to be a good citizen.

Yep. No early voting in Alabama. I voted at 6:40pm, then came home and ran...