The Running Thread - 2019

Completely off topic:

Today is my anniversary!

I lured her in with chocolate and it still works today. Back then it was bite-size candy bars; now it's Dove dark chocolate.

It was the second trip down the aisle for both of us so we didn't make a big production of it. We got married in the backyard of our first house with about 20 friends and family attending. The reception was a jug of wine and cold-cut trays on the back deck.

I ran a 10K that morning before the ceremony. (There, now it's ON topic!) A perfect way for a nervous groom to burn off some energy.

Somehow we've been married exactly half my life. The amazing thing is: if I could go back in time, I would do it all over again exactly the same way without changing a single solitary moment of our life together.

YoungFastGoofyGuy and the newly-minted DW:

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And things cleared up suddenly. Accuweather is saying no rain in the next two hours. Go fig.

I know! It was really coming down this morning with lighting and thunder, but all of a sudden clear until at least noon. Have fun and post pictures of your crazy outfit!

Meanwhile, I was going to bag the local school fundraiser 5k today because of the weather but mostly because the baby is sick. But my oldest really wants to run the kids run so I’m calling an audible and doing the kids run with him. I’m so excited to see him excited!
 


I know! It was really coming down this morning with lighting and thunder, but all of a sudden clear until at least noon. Have fun and post pictures of your crazy outfit!

No crazy outfit. Just a running shirt with an octopus playing a guitar.
 
I ran!

First time in 3 months - I have been working through an ankle issue, when it flared up in January I reduced training but that didn't help, so had a complete break from running. Which was not nice! I have been walking and introducing some running intervals in there and was feeling OK, so decided to see how it would feel going for a full run. 5km later, the ankle felt fine (not great, just fine) and this morning it is feeling good, no aches or anything. I'm going to (try to) take it easy but boy it was nice to be running again!
 
Completely off topic:

Today is my anniversary!

I lured her in with chocolate and it still works today. Back then it was bite-size candy bars; now it's Dove dark chocolate.

It was the second trip down the aisle for both of us so we didn't make a big production of it. We got married in the backyard of our first house with about 20 friends and family attending. The reception was a jug of wine and cold-cut trays on the back deck.

I ran a 10K that morning before the ceremony. (There, now it's ON topic!) A perfect way for a nervous groom to burn off some energy.

Somehow we've been married exactly half my life. The amazing thing is: if I could go back in time, I would do it all over again exactly the same way without changing a single solitary moment of our life together.

YoungFastGoofyGuy and the newly-minted DW:

View attachment 401535

It's my anniversary too!! Celebrated 17 years today with a steak dinner. And I too love Dove dark chocolate!

It's gonna be like asking this thread whether they like bananas.....or cilantro.

:rotfl2:
 
Bay to Breakers 12k recap:

San Francisco doesn't usually get much rain in May. This year, however, we went from winter to summer and now back to spring, and we had rain come in this weekend. My daughter and I got rained on pretty heavily yesterday when we went up to the expo for packet pickup. They were predicting thunderstorms this morning when I got up at 5:30am.

Caltrain, the heavy-rail commute trains on the SF Peninsula, runs special trains for Bay to Breakers. My wife dropped my daughter and I off at the Sunnyvale station at about 5:55 for a 6:03 train. It was chilly and lightly raining, so we huddled with the other runners in the shelter.

The train was boisterous. Caltrain normally allows alcohol, but allegedly did not on these special morning runs. Allegedly. Some people near us brought a 12-pack of Stella Artois with them. I don't think they were saving it for when they got to the city.

By the time we got to the city, the rain had stopped, and the forecast was now saying clear for 2 hours. We got a few random drops but no serious rain for the entire race.

Another quick tram ride over to the corrals, and we found Corral E. E felt very empty compared to B, next to us - notably, since there is no POT required for any corral lower than the 'seeded' runners, it felt like a lot of people chose B as a starting corral regardless of their actual planned pace.

IMG_20190519_082233.jpg

As we waited, tortillas got flung around. Because that's what you do at Bay to Breakers.

Corral A got off on time, but B took extra time, apparently just to get all the people through the starting line. We ended up launching about 10 minutes late, at 8:50am.

IMG_20190519_084325.jpg

Daughter and I decided not to stick together. I started on 8m/2m, pushing too fast at first. After about 4 minutes, I told her I was dropping back to not push too early. (I was at about a 10 minute pace, well faster than the 12:00 I was planning to try for.) I ended up running about 9 minutes because I wasn't watching the time closely enough.

I was doing okay at 8m/2m until about 2.3 miles in, at Hayes St. Hill. I ended a run at 28m at the bottom of the hill, and decided to walk. And keep walking. About half a mile later, I had gone up 170 feet and was glad I'd walked. I was still not able to push much, so I shortened my run segments for the flat part, and then lengthened them a bit as we started back downhill.

IMG_20190519_091517.jpg

Bay to Breakers isn't so much a race as an experience. There are a lot of costumes - the photos here aren't doing it justice. Some wouldn't have been out of place at RunDisney (albeit before they cracked down on costumes) - there was a couple running as Han and Leia. She had the slave bikini (over a flesh-colored tank top), and he had a grey pool float with a face opening and a carbonite-encased body painted on the front. Some...well, I saw about a dozen people running nude, mostly male. And everything in between. Lots of superheroes, lots of video game characters, lots of just...other. Lots of people advertising weed. (...welcome to San Francisco.)

The city comes out to celebrate as well. We ran past houses where the residents were blasting music for us. Some bars were open, offering drinks for runners. It was totally a blast.

After the hill, the run goes through Golden Gate Park. It's a gorgeous run, and fun. I enjoyed the downhill part quite a bit.

I opted not to go with the 3k extension, so I finished the 12k in 1:36:26, 392 of 717 in my age bracket. My official time on the Hayes St. Hill was 9:16.49, 446th among my age bracket.

IMG_20190519_105301.jpg

My daughter twinged her ankle a bit going up the hill, and ended up walking the rest of it, coming in almost an hour behind me. (I apparently passed her on or just after the hill without noticing.)

Final splits from Strava:

Mile 1: 11:31/mi
Mile 2: 12:34/mi
Mile 3: 14:47/mi
Mile 4: 13:03/mi
Mile 5: 12:33/mi
Mile 6: 12:37/mi
Mile 7: 12:42/mi
Remaining 0.59 miles: 11:40/mi
Overall Strava pace: 12:42/mi

After that, we caught a tram back over to the Caltrain station, stopped at Starbucks to fortify for the ride home, and got to the train just as they were boarding. The ride home was a lot calmer, with a lot of people resting or even sleeping.

Overall - it was a really great race. I'll probably try it again next year.
 
It's my anniversary too!! Celebrated 17 years today...

Congrats! Fessing up (in vino veritas): 29 for us. I was 29 in the picture. Lots of thoughts, but the one that sticks out is when you're 29, it's hard to imagine 2 x 29. (Insert your favorite 'Circle of Life' lyrics here.)

You ran on your wedding day, did you run on your anniversary too?
Nope, even 29 years apart you can only push these things so far!
 
ATTQOTD (Friday): I loved catching up on everyone's pictures this morning!

Best: 2018 Princess Half finish. Somehow I ended up alone at the finish and Princess Minnie was still out so I got the best high five ever. Most of my race photo smiles are fake, but this was a real one. I love it so much.
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Worst: 2018 Wine and Dine Half finish. It had been raining off and on the entire race and I was terrified of slipping and falling at the finish. I sacrificed a good finish line photo to ensure I stayed upright. LOL
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Fargo 5/18 Race recap:

Conditions: Rain, Wind 20mph, and UV Index 1
Start T+D: 45°F + 44°F
End T+D: 46°F + 43°F
Sleep 6:18, RHR 36, and VO2Max 67

What a day! I came up here on a mission, and I knew exactly what I needed to do. I’m tired... but I’m still elated! I’m elated because I nailed my goal despite all the obstacles. I’m elated because my legs took over down the stretch despite some negative thoughts. I’m elated because I felt how fit I am, and yet I still have a lot of meat on the bone for future improvement. Today was a good day!

As for the race it’s self, it was an event lol. Due to some nerves I decided to carb load the night before, rather than 2 days prior like originally planned. I will not do that again. Although after writing this I’m 99% sure it was a lack of water pre race that ultimately did me in. The early gel put too much carb in system with not enough water.

First 3-4 miles were great! I didn’t feel as strong as some other races, but I knew my legs would settle in just fine. I was chatting with several runners off and on and was chillin for a good stretch of the first 6-7 with a guy from Boston. For the first few miles I was completely blind, but he let me know around 4 I was cruising. I thought I was going to have a stupid good race, but after my first gel I knew there was some issues coming. It just didn’t hit right, maybe a little too early(Mile 4).Also during training my left hamstring was bothering me a little, and I knew it would prob get sore today. I was certainly a little rattled to feel it act up so early on. I kept my composure, and instead of getting up to pace, I just kept it easy. I ended up with 1:06:01 in zone 2 and kept a low HR throughout. Obviously, not ideal for max performance but absolutely proud of the adjustment I made because it saved me for the wind.

I lost Boston around 6-7, but around 8-9 I was joined by a guy from Quebec. We hung for a little bit and settled into a nice grove. We hit a turn about, but the course attendees weren’t paying attention and let us go the wrong way. Luckily it cost us less than 30 sec or so, but the French Canadian was not happy and let them know lol. Another group caught us due to that, and he latched on with them for good.

I should have stayed with them, but my stomach was really bad at this point, and my hands were too cold to unzip my pockets lmao. I really didn’t want the gel anyways, so I gave up. Finally around 14-15 I pulled over for a pit stop. Also unzipped my pocket and grabbed a gel. Runners brain got me, I didn’t open the gel until I was running again and I butchered the tear lol. I tossed the gel out of frustration and didn’t take my second gel until around 19. I decided to go with caffeine Sis instead because I needed a little pick up.

At this point I had been running alone for a bit, I was starting to get hit with blast of headwind with a steady breeze every time I turned east or north... plus my hamstring was singing and my butt was chaffed too... I was freaking cranky lmao. Luckily I started to rebound after getting some more water down. In hindsight, a lack of water was probably what caused the stomach issues. I was too worried about pit stops I barely had any water pre race with my carbs.

At around 21-22 I was grinding. I was hurting but I wasn’t laboring. My legs just kicked into autopilot. I just kept embracing the suck and grinding hard. I was able to get another gel in, and took a swish of Powerade around 23. I knew I was close to a BQ, but I wasn’t sure how close. I knew I hit around a 1:25 front half, but I didn’t feel like attempting math at that point. I settled on sub 7 would get me there. I hit my worse splits on 24 and 25, and I was annoyed because I knew I was being lazy. After a little pep talk and a grunt, my legs begrudgingly responded. I even threw a lil sumpin’ sumpin’ at the end with a sub 5 min pace on the final 200 m

I was tired but could have been worse, the kick at the end was the main reason lol. Still worth it, only I know what these legs had... so I have to live with my self when I loaf. Also, I may need to add more rest on my next taper... I just wasn’t 100% strong like I’ve felt on other races. Either way, I have plenty of time to analyze my results and improve, now is my time to celebrate!! Great day and great course!! So happy I made the trip and even more happy I BQed.... Boston 2020 here I come

Also special thanks to @DopeyBadger for helping me achieve a goal that I thought was crazy! Thanks to Billy I achieved a BQ in less than 4 years(pre 34!!!). Thanks Billy!!

Congrats!!!

Completely off topic:

Today is my anniversary!

I lured her in with chocolate and it still works today. Back then it was bite-size candy bars; now it's Dove dark chocolate.

It was the second trip down the aisle for both of us so we didn't make a big production of it. We got married in the backyard of our first house with about 20 friends and family attending. The reception was a jug of wine and cold-cut trays on the back deck.

I ran a 10K that morning before the ceremony. (There, now it's ON topic!) A perfect way for a nervous groom to burn off some energy.

Somehow we've been married exactly half my life. The amazing thing is: if I could go back in time, I would do it all over again exactly the same way without changing a single solitary moment of our life together.

YoungFastGoofyGuy and the newly-minted DW:

View attachment 401535

Happy anniversary!

Slightly off topic....good luck to all the GOT fans tonight. Hope it's a worthy ending for all.

I am one of those people that have not seen a single episode of this show, but I've heard the last episode was a bust.
 

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