The Running Thread—2023

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Holy cow, you guys! I just did my second magic mile of this training plan and I knocked almost a minute off from the first one—from 11:18 down to 10:21!! My previous fastest ever mile was 11:07

Stay on it!

 

[dobball23]

My last run this week before taking a week off for my first cruise. This is over 50 seconds a mile faster than I was running a couple of months ago. I am totally pumped about this and it is giving me inspiration to stay on it and see how well I can do this fall. My goal now is a marathon under five hours.
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You know they have treadmills (and depending the the ship, walking/running decks) on cruises, right?

Have fun on the cruise!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

You know they have treadmills (and depending the the ship, walking/running decks) on cruises, right?

Have fun on the cruise!

I plan to be busy visiting Isaac on the Lido deck in between talking to Julie and Gopher…

 

[Herding_Cats]

ATTQOTD:
Last summer I did a training run where my September half marathon was going to be held. It was a 10mi run, and it was the middle of the day, and it was hot, but I felt SO GOOD (until the last mile or so when I needed more hydration but was out.)

 

[azrivest]

ATTQOTD: When I finished my 3x2mile goal pace run at the beginning of the month. I finally felt confident that I could hit my race goal. It's the first time I've finished running feeling giddy.

 

[azrivest]

Yes, that is the sensible thing to do. I am trying to justify the 2k in my mind. More like what would be a fun objective for that race… I agree that speed is probably not a good answer to that question in the circumstances. It just feel silly to run around the block with no purpose whatsoever. Now if it was Epcot during Springtime Surprise, the night atmosphere and the topiaries would suffice.

ETA: In other words, why race a 2k if not for speed?
ETA2: I thought about running with a pineapple on my head but that has already been done
ETA3: Found my answer, I will use the 2k to test the sunglasses I bought at the Expo!

Hate to break it to you @flav but you got beat by an old lady (not true, she finished in 51:09.01 which is still amazing at that age!)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawan-96-world-record-5k-1.6856140

Congrats on your three races so far and enjoy the marathon today

 

[jmasgat]

Alert for SW flyers who are Costco members.....

Costco has $500 gift cards for $430, limit 2. They normally sell them for $450, which is a great deal in and of itself. The extra $20 sale ends today.

 

[GreatLakes]

ARQOD: I've got 2. The fist is my first ever race. The feeling I had when I crossed that finish line I've never felt again and I knew immediately I was going to be a runner.

The second was when I finally qualified for Bost at MW 2022. It took a long time to get my time down and it felt validating.

 

[PrincessV]

ATTQOTD: I think it has to be the time I PR’d my marathon doing Dopey. I had no plan to do that, and I wasn’t running for time at all - basically, I was FREEZING for 3/4 of the race and was just moving with minimal stops to create some kind of warmth. I still swear not having any feeling in my extremities until the halfway mark made the whole thing feel easy: it was like starting a marathon at mile 13 lol! I also am terrible at math in general and especially on the run, so I had no clue until about mile 24.5 that I was running 20 minutes ahead of my previous marathon time. And then I stopped to get a beer at mile 25+ anyway. Still walked away with a 20+ min PR and felt amazing.

Fast forward to the present, and I’m battling a herniated disc and a pretty epic case of associated sciatica - that first walk last week with a few little bursts of running after my chiropractor got the worst of the sciatic pain under control was pretty amazing. I sure hop it continues!

 

[garneska]

Since I talked to many of you about this trip at MW and @The Expert critiqued my itinerary, I wanted to do a brief trip report from Yellowstone NP and Grand Tetons NP. I have a more detailed trip report on the camping community forum.

We spent a week out west. Being from the Midwest (growing up) and most of my adult life on the East Coast, wow the West is different. If you have never been you should try and go. It was amazing. We spent 4 days in Yellowstone. We saw a lot of things. My favorites were Artist Point, Lamar Valley, and Grand Prasmatic Spring. I enjoyed staying at Old Faithful Inn.

Then we went to the Tetons. They did not seem real. I was amazed. We wanted to hike cascade canyon trail but it was snow packed in so we went with a hike around Jenny Lake. It was amazing.

We did the scenic route back to Salt Lake City and saw a cattle drive. The elevation was real. We had to buy lip balm. I did not run for 11 days. I went for my first run this afternoon.


Our favorite spot, Artist Point at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.


We saw a lot of bison. This would not be the last time Bison held us up on the road.


Old Faithful Inn.


Grand Prasmatic Spring


Hike around Jenny Lake.


Taken at Jackson Lake Lodge.

 

[RuntheMouse]

Then we went to the Tetons. They did not seem real. I was amazed. We wanted to hike cascade canyon trail but it was snow packed in so we went with a hike around Jenny Lake. It was amazing.

Love love love GTNP! I love your pic from Jackson Lake Lodge, we have the same one

 

[LorrieAnn5]

I woke up with neck/shoulder pain on my left side so I won't run today, and I'm too busy on Wednesday which means I'm done running for the month of May...here are my stats:
May 2023: Activities: 8 Distance: 30.74 mi Time: 6:18:21 (includes a 15k and two 5ks)
Successful 300,000 monthly step goal with about a week to spare. I also earned the Star Wars Disney 100 special Garmin badge. Yay!
This month included the stomach bug (booo!!!) so I missed two planned runs and had 13 days off in a row from running.
I also decided to take yoga off of my plate for May (& thru the summer.) I'm still stretching at least every other day, but 30 mins of yoga multiple times a week was getting to be too stressful to fit into my schedule.

This month I had this new to me workout on my training calendar....it was 6-7 minutes of running focusing on cadence or foot turn-over, followed by 3 minutes where I would lengthen/open up my stride for speed, followed by a 2-3 minute walk break and then would repeat those segments 3-4 times. I ran this workout twice in May and I felt so great each time.

Looking ahead to June: My goals are to run a 15k and a handful of other training runs. I will do strength workouts 5 times a week, I plan to take two weeks off from running and one of those weeks off completely from strength too while we are in Disneyland Paris!!!

Hope everyone has a great month!

 

[The Expert]

Since I talked to many of you about this trip at MW and @The Expert critiqued my itinerary, I wanted to do a brief trip report from Yellowstone NP and Grand Tetons NP. I have a more detailed trip report on the camping community forum.

Fabulous photos and I'm thrilled to hear you fell in love with it all -- just as I suspected! You and @RuntheMouse may be interested to see the new tattoo I got a few months ago...

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Since I talked to many of you about this trip at MW and @The Expert critiqued my itinerary, I wanted to do a brief trip report from Yellowstone NP and Grand Tetons NP. I have a more detailed trip report on the camping community forum.

We spent a week out west. Being from the Midwest (growing up) and most of my adult life on the East Coast, wow the West is different. If you have never been you should try and go. It was amazing. We spent 4 days in Yellowstone. We saw a lot of things. My favorites were Artist Point, Lamar Valley, and Grand Prasmatic Spring. I enjoyed staying at Old Faithful Inn.

Then we went to the Tetons. They did not seem real. I was amazed. We wanted to hike cascade canyon trail but it was snow packed in so we went with a hike around Jenny Lake. It was amazing.

We did the scenic route back to Salt Lake City and saw a cattle drive. The elevation was real. We had to buy lip balm. I did not run for 11 days. I went for my first run this afternoon.

View attachment 763973
Our favorite spot, Artist Point at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

View attachment 763974
We saw a lot of bison. This would not be the last time Bison held us up on the road.

View attachment 763977
Old Faithful Inn.

View attachment 763975
Grand Prasmatic Spring

View attachment 763978
Hike around Jenny Lake.

View attachment 763979
Taken at Jackson Lake Lodge.

Thank you for the photos. I took my boys to Yellowstone, and we spent a week there, and it still was not enough time. We also drove down to the Tetons, and they did not look real in person, and they *still* don’t look real in the photographs I took.
I tell anyone who will listen that they need to go to Yellowstone at least once in their life. An absolutely remarkable place, unlike any other.
I can’t wait to return.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Some months ago, I took my Garman off and managed to drop it, and it landed facedown on a tile floor. I was afraid that it might no longer be watertight, but it did OK in the rain and even in the shower. So I wore it to go swimming in the ocean yesterday. Apparently it was/is no longer watertight….
Just dang. I knew that this might be the case, but was hoping it wasn’t. And now I have some number of days without my usual step count, and heart rate, and other biometric data. Again, just dang.

 

[flav]

Hate to break it to you @flav but you got beat by an old lady (not true, she finished in 51:09.01 which is still amazing at that age!)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawan-96-world-record-5k-1.6856140

Congrats on your three races so far and enjoy the marathon today

That is what about running, we all succeed together to give the best and achieve our individual goals

 

[RuntheMouse]

Had to go dig this up. Thanks for bringing up memories @garneska & @The Expert !

 

[avondale]

Since I talked to many of you about this trip at MW and @The Expert critiqued my itinerary, I wanted to do a brief trip report from Yellowstone NP and Grand Tetons NP. I have a more detailed trip report on the camping community forum.

We spent a week out west. Being from the Midwest (growing up) and most of my adult life on the East Coast, wow the West is different. If you have never been you should try and go. It was amazing. We spent 4 days in Yellowstone. We saw a lot of things. My favorites were Artist Point, Lamar Valley, and Grand Prasmatic Spring. I enjoyed staying at Old Faithful Inn.

Then we went to the Tetons. They did not seem real. I was amazed. We wanted to hike cascade canyon trail but it was snow packed in so we went with a hike around Jenny Lake. It was amazing.

We did the scenic route back to Salt Lake City and saw a cattle drive. The elevation was real. We had to buy lip balm. I did not run for 11 days. I went for my first run this afternoon.

View attachment 763973
Our favorite spot, Artist Point at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

View attachment 763974
We saw a lot of bison. This would not be the last time Bison held us up on the road.

View attachment 763977
Old Faithful Inn.

View attachment 763975
Grand Prasmatic Spring

View attachment 763978
Hike around Jenny Lake.

View attachment 763979
Taken at Jackson Lake Lodge.

I will second the Grand Tetons being amazing! My husband and I were there for ~10 days in August 2017 to view the total solar eclipse from just outside the Jackson Hole airport. (We had to fly home immediately after.) Too bad it was still so snowy for you with the Cascade Canyon hike - it was gorgeous in August. I agree that Jenny Lake is also amazingly beautiful. Somehow we managed to score a lakeside log to sit on for lunch with no one else around, and it may have been one of the most idyllic places I've ever been.

We popped over to part of Yellowstone for a day, but we need to go there for a full trip. Right now, giving it some recovery time after the historic flooding (was it last year?). But you got around ok?

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

I will second the Grand Tetons being amazing! My husband and I were there for ~10 days in August 2017 to view the total solar eclipse from just outside the Jackson Hole airport. (We had to fly home immediately after.) Too bad it was still so snowy for you with the Cascade Canyon hike - it was gorgeous in August. I agree that Jenny Lake is also amazingly beautiful. Somehow we managed to score a lakeside log to sit on for lunch with no one else around, and it may have been one of the most idyllic places I've ever been.

We popped over to part of Yellowstone for a day, but we need to go there for a full trip. Right now, giving it some recovery time after the historic flooding (was it last year?). But you got around ok?

From our trip.
The geyser is Beehive, I think. We stood right next to it when it went off (close enough that we got wet).

 

[gosalyn_mallard]

I echo all the love for Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. They were our first post-covid vacation and made us start visiting as many national parks as we can.

Vacation Races holds a 5k and half near both parks every June. They are a week apart and they have a special challenge medal if you do all 4 races!
Photo while running the half...