November 2022 Monthly Running Challenge

SummerSkier

Saturday update
11/1 5.01 Cum 5.01
11/2 4.15 Cum 9.16
11/3 2.01 Cum 11.17
11/4 8.01 Cum 19.18
11/5 5.00 Cum 24.18
Goal:120 for the month. Need to avg 3.608 per day to make my 1500 for the year. Currently at 1298 total

It was really great for running compared to yesterday. 49 deg f with little humidity and light north wind. Scott should have perfect weather for his 20 miler.
@polskagirl01 I am glad your strength training is progressing and sorry that your mojo and running is so sucky at the moment. Would be sad to see you leave but I totally get why you might not want to post or read much.
@eleanorhawkins your recovery sounds about right on track. WOOHOO to signing up for a marathon. Not ever gonna happen for me but yall do inspire me a lot!

Today I felt a lot better. The storm hit right after sunset (photos of really COOL stuff in the spoiler) and cleared out the humidity and my headache. I know tomorrow might be the DOMs from the 8 miler yesterday so took advantage of still having legs to do 5 miles run and 1 mile walk after this morning. My goal was to try to keep my HR as low as possible so my pace was slower but I was happy that compared to Monday's run where I had to do 13 min miles to keep it low, I was able to keep the same HR today (weather helped!) and be under a 12 min pace. The only thing that was bothering me yesterday from the run were my big toes. ug. I ran in different shoes today so no issue. I think I need to keep the pair from yesterday for shorter runs as the toe box is a little smaller.

those rays are in the east and the optical illusion is they are emanating from there when in fact they are shadows all the way across the sky from the setting sun in the wet. You can see the tiny moon in the right hand side also.

Scott6255

All the planets lined up this morning. All the conditions were perfect for a 20 miler. 48F, 5mph wind, went to a new(ish) place to run, I fueled up the week leading up to this run, and had a 1/2 Gel every 3 miles. Never felt like I wasn't going to make it. Nothing hurt, and I just stayed consistent and comfortable the whole time. The last 4 miles I was able to push it a little at sub 9 pace. Ended up averaging 1 sec below race pace for the entire run. Now feeling pretty good about race day.

yirara

01.11 Tue 12°C 4.0km 33min 8:09/km
02.11 Wed 10°C 6.4km 51min 8:00/km
04.11 Fri 10°C 5.5km 45min 8:13/km
05.11 Sat 7°C 7.5km 65min 8:40/km

total: 23.34/80.5km (9.8km ahead)

Not fun. I think today some kind of low blood pressure thingy kicked in: hr remained very low, but running was super tough, like wading through custard. Still got a longer run in, so no complaints.

eleanorhawkins

@Scott6255 whoohoo, we knew you could do it!
@Fit2btied2016 lol um yeah, I'm probably the world's worst and slowest runner, but I'm addicted to races and I seem to have moved from cute little road 5ks to ugly, painful slogs over mountains. Probably because you're allowed to walk up the hills and there are mindblowing amounts of food involved. My race a couple of weeks ago had chocolate cake and candy at the aid station on the way up the longest hill. I suspect if I survive this relatively easy marathon there will be uglier ones in my future and probably an accidental ultra at some point in the next few years.
And yeah... that last race was (only) 21 miles, and the 20 mile long run (or runs) is a staple of the most marathon training. We take crazy as a compliment lololol.
@SummerSkier very cool pics! I love everyone's photos, either my cameras suck or I'm a terrible photographer. This morning, for example, it was really clear and you could see Gibraltar and the mountains on the African coast over the Straits (Atlas, I think) but when I tried to take a photo they didn't show.

AlphaHowls

11/1 16.58 miles, Running Partner A
11/2 15.42 miles
11/3 15.56 miles, Running Partner A
11/4 15.59 miles
11/5 16.6 miles, 1650 days on the run, 832 days HM+ Streak

Been up since 2 AM, had to get the brother to the airport an hour away, get back and get my run in before the rain. Worked in the yard after rain subsided, herding elephants...

Busy schedule and poor sleep times, no end in sight until 11/11/22
Monday will be the hardest, have to be up @ 1 AM, get my run completed and on the road by 6 AM for an all day conference an hour away.

@eleanorhawkins wrote: »

We take crazy as a compliment lololol.

Yes, yes we do!
*dew claws up*

quilteryoyo

I thought I was going to completely catch up with everyone today. The comments below I wrote this morning and saved, thinking I would finish later. Obviously, that didn't happen. Maybe tomorrow. For now, it is what it is. I hope all that had hard runs and races today did well. Look forward to reading about them tomorrow.

@Fit2B2016 Sounds like you are doing great. If I can run in the morning, I prefer that, but I'm NOT a morning person. It's nice to have that part of your day over and done with instead of having it "hanging over your head" all day. I think a majority of the people here do run in the mornings. I hope your husband is feeling better and glad your neighbor's are supportive of your running, now that they know what you are doing. Sorry to hear that your husband was so generous with his germs. I hope you are both feeling better!

@tarun_yadavA What a beautiful place to run. Glad you enjoyed it. To me, that is not an "out of shape" run pace...you are doing great to get runs in while you are on vacation.

@scott6255 Sorry your run was sneasy. Those happen sometimes. You did great to push through. Good luck on your 20 miler today. I'm pulling for you.

Nice job getting the Great Pumpkin 5K run in @Teresa502 . Glad the footsteps you heard was another running, but you are right, he's lucky you didn't pull out your spray. Enjoy Hilton Head. I miss all of those you mentioned too!

You are doing great @yirara . I love fartleks. Sometimes I find it harder to run slow too...well, slow for me. I think I bounce more when I'm trying to slow down, so it makes it harder. I guess I need to concentrate more on form.

@SummerSkier I hope your tiredness was just from tennis and you aren't coming down with anything. You can meet your year goal, even taking rest days when you need. You have so many days that you run more than 3.7 miles. You did great with your rainy run yesterday, esp. with a headache. I hope you are feeling better today.

@AlphaHowls Your neighbor isn't wrong. You are an absolute machine! Lovely early morning pictures.

Sounds like your recovery is going well @eleanorhawkins . I hope your run with your friend goes well today.

You are doing great @martaindale !

tarun_yadavA

quilteryoyo wrote: »

I thought I was going to completely catch up with everyone today. The comments below I wrote this morning and saved, thinking I would finish later. Obviously, that didn't happen. Maybe tomorrow. For now, it is what it is. I hope all that had hard runs and races today did well. Look forward to reading about them tomorrow.

@Fit2B2016 Sounds like you are doing great. If I can run in the morning, I prefer that, but I'm NOT a morning person. It's nice to have that part of your day over and done with instead of having it "hanging over your head" all day. I think a majority of the people here do run in the mornings. I hope your husband is feeling better and glad your neighbor's are supportive of your running, now that they know what you are doing. Sorry to hear that your husband was so generous with his germs. I hope you are both feeling better!

@tarun_yadavA What a beautiful place to run. Glad you enjoyed it. To me, that is not an "out of shape" run pace...you are doing great to get runs in while you are on vacation.

@quilteryoyo thank you! 😊
It was so scenic and beautiful

tarun_yadavA

Good morning all...
From Sunny South Africa to "it always rains in London". Got in early, home, unpacked... And thought 'what the hell'. 9am. May as well get back into routine!

Got in a 4 in the rain!

Teresa502

In my quest to slowly pick my way across South Carolina, I hit the road yesterday morning, went through a Chik-Fil-A drive-thru for breakfast about an hour into my drive and then stopped in Spartanburg, SC at Croft State Park. It was cloudy and sprinkled rain on me at one point but it was well worth the detour. I stopped again in Columbia SC to make a return and shop at the REI store and get 2 cupcakes at a nearby bakery (lunch) before arriving in Hilton Head around 4:30. Went for a glorious 6 mile walk on the beach this morning.

I parked near the stables and had to go visit the horses before I left.

View out the back deck of the condo.

Thanks @summerskier – I did have my pepper blaster with me on the run. It was cloudy, humid and sprinkling rain so there were not very many people on the trails. It was a nice break from the interstate driving! I have no doubt you will meet your 1500 mileage goal this year – keep on keeping on! (Love the photos of the sky!)

@Polskagirl01 I understand how hard it is to read about others running when you are unable to at the moment. Hope you will stick around and post with us, but totally understandable if you don’t.

@eleanorhawkins – I think marathon training equals mostly time moving on your feet. If you can get some long hikes in on your vacation, I think that would be just as beneficial.

Welcome @4dksjtbmxb!

@Scott6255 – awesome 20-miler! Just rinse and repeat for race day!

@Alphahowls – I hope your back spasms have subsided especially with everything you have going on!

Glad you are feeling better @fit2btied 2016 but what scary weather!

Welcome home @Tarun_yadavA! We want to hear all about South Africa!

eleanorhawkins

@Teresa502 oh yeah, there will be a lot of time on feet. Like 5 or 6 hours a day for 5 or 6 days. We're doing the Camino de Santiago from Ferrol to Santiago de Compostela. With my mother. So slow and steady. My vague thought atm is to do a 20 miler about 10 days before that so my legs have a while to recover from that before the holiday, but that means it would be almost 6 weeks out from race day, which is a lot. So I wonder whether I should do another one the weekend after we get home, but that would only be 2 weeks out from race day. I guess I'll just have to see how things go as they go and do what feels right at the time.

yirara

01.11 Tue 12°C 4.0km 33min 8:09/km
02.11 Wed 10°C 6.4km 51min 8:00/km
04.11 Fri 10°C 5.5km 45min 8:13/km
05.11 Sat 7°C 7.5km 65min 8:40/km
06.11 Sun 10°C 3.7km 30min 8:06/km

total: 27.02/80.5km (10.8km ahead)

Running 3 days in a row is not good. But I did it as I might not be able tomorrow as I'm traveling. So got that one in. Was better than yesterday, though I did feel the three days in my legs.

martaindale

@eleanorhawkins I have the Camino de Santiago on my bucket list. It is one of the few through hikes I have been able to talk my husband into as it involves no tent camping. We probably won’t get around to it until our kid graduates from high school though.

@Scott6255 Yay!! So glad to hear your 20 miler went so well. The weather was really nice for a long run yesterday! I hope training continues to go well for you.

@Teresa502 I love the idea of stopping off to run on a road trip. But if I am honest with myself, I doubt I would do it. One a road trip, I am all destination, no journey. I think I get this from my dad. Every trip we did as kids involved barely any stops, and now when I am driving somewhere, it basically has to be a bathroom or gas emergency to get me to pull off.

shanaber

Hello all! I don't think I have posted since @martaindale set up November (thank you again!). I did post an update to finish out October with some pictures from our spur of the moment road trip.

I have read thru and caught up on all the goings on but won't go back and comment on all.
I will say we were expecting lots of kids for Halloween and wanted to be home for it. We have so many new families and kids in our neighborhood. So, I was pretty disappointed when we got none, 0! ☹️
I also grew up in a rural area and we would go downtown to Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF (anyone else remember that? @SummerSkier, @quilteryoyo?) Then we would go home to Trick-or-Treat on our little street with 5-6 houses. Everyone would make something - hot cider, popcorn balls, cookies, etc. My mom always made fresh donuts. The man at the end of our street owned the toy store in town and always had small toys for us, balsa airplanes, marbles, jax and the like.

@scott6255 - I definitely think you are marathon ready!
@teresa502 - I love running in new places and love the park you stopped to run in. I typically have Hobbes with me and have never run anywhere that I felt fearful. I have gone the wrong way a few times (case in point last June in the heat) and gotten worried mostly about Hobbes and not having water with me.
@polskagirl01 - I totally get finding it difficult to read about everyone's running adventures when you can't. Most important is to take care of you. Did the new doctor have any suggestions about getting back to it or is it just going day by day and how you feel?
@Tarun_yadava - love, love, love where you got to run in Capetown! Like I told @teresa502 I love running in new and different places especially when they are beautiful like that!
@eleanorhawkins - I have several friends who have walked the Camino. It is a lot of walking and time on your feet. Not the same as running but stressful still. If you can get a couple of runs in while there and then do a longer run shortly after you get home, would that be enough recovery time before your race?

I have been struggling a bit with running and life (they are the same thing right?) since before we got home on the 30th. My autoimmune has come back with a fierceness and just about anything/everything hurts. I am hoping being back to a normal schedule and eating better will get it back on track. It does seem to be improving little by little. I have noticed interestingly that my HR has also been elevated during this time, even when I am sleeping. Since I normally have a very low HR and have the pacemaker to boost it it seems really strange. Either my watch is all of a sudden way off or it is all related. For example... I went for a run yesterday that ended up being mostly a walk. My HR was around 86 for the first mile (running) then jumped to the 130's and stayed there almost the entire rest of the time (another mile of running/walking and 2 miles walking). It didn't come down until I stopped at the trail head at which point it dropped into the 70's for the rest of the walk home. Note - 130 is about where my HR is typically when I am running and I rarely get over 145 unless it is hot. Pacemaker tech has never seen it hit 150 in the 2 years I have had it (it stores the data).

Couple of other comments...
Anyone follow the NYC Marathon this morning? Des Linden went out really fast and I thought she might place. Was also following Keira D'Amato and she and Des came in about a minute apart but out of contention.
I also followed Abdi Abdirahman as it was to be his last 'competitive' marathon at 45yo. Around mile 22-24 his tracking was lost. He must have DNF'd but I can't find any information on him yet. ☹️

Those of you in the Run The World Challenge - we are over the Atlantic Ocean and brrrr it is cold. We need to pick up the pace as we are now over 100 miles behind 😳 and at risk of sinking before we get back to Europe to finish and party at @eleanorhawkins!

martaindale

November total: 31/200 miles

11/1: 5 miles
11/3: 10 miles
11/5: 16 miles

I had the same great weather that @Scott6255 had Saturday morning. It hovered around 60F and lots of cloud cover. This run marks a new distance PR for me. My legs were getting a bit tired with some aches that came and went on the back few miles, but nothing painful and I was able to fast finish the last couple of miles. I expect that is probably how my legs will feel towards the end of the marathon.
If you saw this run on strava, you probably saw it as 16.6 miles. Fake news! With all the cloud cover and being in the woods surrounded by tall trees, the GPS lost me around mile 4/5-ish. When I saw a 9:22 mile I knew it had no idea where I was. I found a mile marker and manual lapped my watch and pulled out my maps to try to figure out how off it was, settled on about 0.6 miles. From that point, the GPS seemed better as the miles were in the 10:30-11:00 range, which matched better with my perception of the pace. Between my estimated pace math and the map guesswork, I figured I should end up with 16.6 miles and time about 2:52. I hit those marks at almost the exact same time, so I feel pretty confident I ran the full 16 miles.
I have 2 more of these 16 milers on my plan. I should have done 8 miles the day before but didn’t due to life issues (in the spoiler if you care to read). So, my legs were probably fresher than they should have been. We’ll see how the next one goes with some miles on my legs the day before. I am really liking the way I feel on this plan so far.

Life *kitten*

My kid is struggling. Hard. They have ADHD (managed medically for years), depression, anxiety, and possibly a personality disorder they aren’t quite old enough to be diagnosed with just yet. They have been in therapy for years with variable success and have a psychiatrist that managed their meds. This past summer, they had a non-lethal suicide attempt and were hospitalized in an outpatient treatment center for a week. They have half-heartedly made threats 1 other time since then.
Thursday night they had a mega meltdown. They mistyped a password to get into their science fair project site twice and flipped out, saying that was it, they couldn’t do it, they weren’t doing it, this is stupid, etc, etc. My husband and I finally told them that they had a choice. Either do the science fair project or they weren’t going to their rock climbing comp they next day. The comp was out of town. We had a hotel booked and it was a big weekend trip. You don’t get to do the fun stuff if you don’t do your work. Welp, instead of taking that, processing it, and getting stuff done, they decided to run away.
They left the house without shoes on and disappeared. I figured they needed a minute to be pissed and would burn through that anger and come home. We gave them 45 mins or so then texted them to let them know there was still time to come back and get their work done. The damage wasn’t done yet. If you want to go to the comp, it’s time to come home. They ignored us. Another 45 mins or so later we started calling and texting telling them to come home. That’s enough. They screamed at us or just hung up on us, and ultimately turned off their phone. They refused to tell us where they were. We ended up driving to multiple friends houses and dealing with some of the most obnoxious parents I have ever met but finally found them after 10pm. They basically did not talk to us for the next 24 hours. They still refuse to accept any responsibility for their actions or that they made a choice. Every conversation glosses over that part and starts with us telling them they couldn’t go to the comp. What horrible, mean-spirited parents we are. Years of unresolved trauma at our hands. And on and on. It’s exhausting.
I do not need a single one of you to tell me about tracking my kid’s phone or giving me parenting advice. Unless you have a kid with severe mental illness my parenting experience is not your parenting experience. I just needed to vent the drama of the last couple of days out to a few people who kind of know me. A virtual hug will do.

eleanorhawkins

@martaindale omgoodness HUGE virtual hug. I won't offer any suggestions at all except to say hang in there, teenagers have always been pretty awful and I think this latest batch is probably the worst ever due to the way the world is now. The poor things have a lot of crazy/confusing stuff that just didn't exist in our day and we have been landed with the equally tough job of trying to keep them on track. I feel like in your shoes I would probably be beating myself up thinking of what I should have done differently or feeling at fault. Don't. We may not know each other in person, but everything we've ever talked about has made me know you're an excellent, loving, sensible and very reasonable mom.

eleanorhawkins

@yirara well done for getting it done. My legs refuse to accept 3 days running in a row if I ever have no choice but to do it I go in the mornings on days 1 and 2 and in the evening on day 3 so they at least get a day and a half between the last 2 runs.
@shanaber could you be coming down with a bug or something? That always makes my HR higher than usual, both resting and during the day.

@martaindale and @shanaber there is something very special about the Camino de Santiago, even if you're not a very religious person. While the purists carry their backpacks and stay at hostels, there are lots of options to make it more comfortable like hotels and luggage transport. We opted for those last time we went, with my mother and daughter, and will probably do the same next year as my mother is coming again. I will probably never have the chance, but I have a deep yearning to go on my own sometime and wouldn't bother with the extra comforts then. I also dream of hiking the Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome, but that's even less likely.
Regarding my training thing... if we're walking for 5/6 hours a day I don't suppose I'll want to run afterwards. Maybe I could just run ahead and leave my husband and mother to walk, but although they get on well that could cause some friction. Also not sure my legs will be keen on the idea of a long run right after all that hiking.

martaindale

eleanorhawkins wrote: »

While the purists carry their backpacks and stay at hostels, there are lots of options to make it more comfortable like hotels and luggage transport.

The hotels/luggage option is the only reason my husband won't consider it! 😆 The hike around Mont Blanc is also a town to town and you can have a luggage courier, so I think I have him convinced to do that too.

yirara

@eleanorhawkins
I have no idea how but I once did a whole month of running. Ok, quite a few were just 12min or 2km runs but I somehow managed.

quilteryoyo

@Fit2btied2016 You are doing great with your running. Glad you were feeling better yesterday. Hope your hubby is better today. We had a record high temp yesterday and today I wore a sleeveless dress to church, so I am not at all envious of your snow/rain mix and not ready for the forecasted colder here later in the week.

@yirara Congratulations. It's nice when you realize that your running has gotten faster. Enjoy your vacation! Great job on pushing through a tough run yesterday!

@polskagirl01 I'm so sorry that you may leave this group for a while. I understand that it can be hard to see others doing something you want to do, but can't right now. You know we understand and will be as encouraging as possible, with whatever you can do. (So, my vote is that you stick around.) But, if you feel you need a break, we also understand. Just please come back when you can and give us updates on your progress every once in a while. We are going to miss you! And, yes, I am one of those that know how to find you in other places, but I'll still miss you here.

You are doing great @eleanorhawkins . So funny that you accidently signed up for a marathon. I hate it when that happens.

Welcome @4dksjtvmxb !

@SummerSkier Nice running and love the post storm pictures!

WOW! That's an amazing run @Scott6255 ! You're going to kill your marathon.

@AlphaHowls I don't know how you do it all! I just couldn't force myself to get up at 1 am to run and then sit through an all day conference. I hope it is interesting! You are definitely a beast! Beautiful picture of your run.

@tarun_yadavA London just wanted to welcome you home in style! Great job on getting the run in. Glad you had such a nice trip.

@Teresa502 Glad to see that you made it to Hilton Head safely and that you also had a nice run in SC. Love the picture of you with the horse and the view from your condo.

@shanaber I do remember Trick-or-Treat for Unicef. Sounds like your Halloweens were basically like mine. Great memories of thinking that we fooled our neighbor's into not knowing who we were. Kids don't really get that these days. Cool that you got a toy. I didn't follow the NYC Marathon, but did watch a very little bit when I got home today. The paces those "guys" were running was amazing. I noticed that we were about 100 miles behind on run the world too. Hopefully we can catch up and not sink in the ocean.


@martaindale You are doing great with your running! BIG virtual HUGs regarding our child. Sounds very stressful, and you are welcome to vent here anytime you please!


Well, finally got caught up. I hope next week I have the time to comment every day.

As far as my exercise goes, I managed to walk 10.1 miles and run 2.3 miles so far this month. I truly am just doing what I have the time to do. I still haven't made my hotel reservations for my race in FL in 34 days! Guess I need to get onto that.