April 2023 Monthly Running Challenge

TheMrWobbly

Loving you guys that are getting out there and nailing what I can only dream of, and feeling the pain for those that haven't been able to run.

This seems so petty and small in comparision, yet I am stiff going to saying. Oh my word - the chafing!

Really minor I know. At least my John Wayne impression is improving!

Love you all- you are so supportive. Feel a fool for not being here for so long x

chris_in_cal

I passed my monthly distance goal. Looks like I am on track for my number of runs "12." Of course staying injury-free is the prime objective as i get back into the groove.

April Running Goal: 12 runs, 25 miles

1. April 2 - 2.49 miles
2. April 4 - 3.58 miles
3. April 6 - 3.68 miles
4. April 9 - 2.76 miles
5. April 11- 2.92 miles
6. April 14- 2.55 miles
7. April 16- 3.31 miles
8. April 18- 3.13 miles
9. April 20- 2.71 miles

Current: 9 runs, 27.13 miles

chris_in_cal

Mari33a wrote: »

I have somehow lost the charging cable for my watch, I searched for 2-3 hours yesterday morning and then ordered a new one. Its really frustrating me because it is always in the same spot and no use to anyone else.

D'oh. I find the secret to finding my lost charging cable is to click "Confirm" on buying a new one, then old one drops from the sky and lands in my lap.

Scott6255

Good luck to you ladies on your races this weekend @eleanorhawkins @Laurz9191 @kgirlhart 🤞💪👍

Another 6 TM miles after work. Should be nice for tomorrow morning's run.

quilteryoyo

It's been a few days and three pages since I checked in here. Just been an interesting week. I'll try to catch up with everyone this morning and post about my week after I run later, hopefully.

@spl8 I'm so sorry that your knee isn't getting better. I hope I read later that the ortho had some good news. Also hugs for you and your kid.

@eleanorhawkins Hot flashes are no joke. You just feel like you are boiling from the inside out, all over. I'm glad mine have lessened a lot, but still have a few. You are going to do great on your race tomorrow. I hope you are able to rest a bit better and get a good night's sleep. Good luck with the lottery. I'm sure you may feel like never running again after tomorrow, but, knowing you, you'll sign up for your next marathon on Monday.

Thanks for the kuddos @shanaber . This has been one of those weeks where I had to adjust the amount of exercise I did due to other obligations. Some weeks are just like that. You are doing great.

Good luck with your race tomorrow @Laurz9191 . You can do it. We would love to hear your race report. I hope you are able to meet all of your goals for the race.

@polskagirl01 The soup looks really good, if I didn't know it had pickles in it. I just can't imagine. You are doing great and working so hard to get better. I'm glad to here that you are doing some better. Hang in there and hopefully you will start to see faster progress soon.

@tarun_yadavA I'm so sorry to see that you have an injury! Enjoy watching the marathon. I hope your sister has some good news.

Welcome @Itadakimasu7 . This is a very supportive group, regardless of your mileage or speed. Feel free to jump right in on the discussions.

@Mari33a I am the world's record holder for losing things, so I know how you feel. When I was subbing in the local schools, I once lost a lesson plan that was left for me when I was sitting at her desk, looking through the books to make sure I understood everything. I hadn't moved from the desk and it was no where to be found. They had to have the teacher e-mail it to me. LOL Craziness. Of course, I have also been looking for my phone when I was talking on it. I hope you found the cord and/or get the new one soon.

@TheMrWobbly Sorry about the chaffing. It can be really painful, so no apologies necessary. I'm glad you came back to us.

Good luck on your race tomorrow @kgirlhart .

AlphaHowls

4/1 15.27 miles, The wind is a bully!
4/2 15.56 miles, I am so cold! 37°F
4/3 15.29 miles 57°F and still lose fine motor skills/cold
4/4 15.3 miles, 1800 days on the run, 982 days HM+ Streak
4/5 15.48 miles, 74°F, humid, south winds! SWEET!
4/6 15.47 miles Crazy Laps! Cold rain = nope
4/7 15.22 miles Crazy Laps!
4/8 17.61 miles 50 days meat free Running Partner E+1(17 weeks)
4/9 15.42 miles, 1805 days on the run, 987 days HM+ Streak Crazy Laps!
4/10 15.28 miles
4/11 15.69 miles Running Partner A! so happy she is home
4/12 15.43 miles 4 hours sleep, run of the dead!
4/13 15.32 miles Running Partner A! Bear Attack!
4/14 15.2 miles, 1810 days on the run, 992 days HM+ Streak, 2 dogs cirlcing me
4/15 17.51 miles Running Partner A
4/16 15.58 miles 8.7 OTR, rest Crazy Laps!
4/17 15.28 miles Crazy Laps!
4/18 15.56 miles Running Partner A
4/19 15.15 miles, 1815 days on the run, 997 days HM+ Streak
4/20 15.26 miles Running Partner A
4/21 15.41 miles, 7.7 OTR, Crazy Laps! as rain came. Goal Weight reached 125, I have been working on a cut for three months.
4/22 15.27 miles 1000 days HM+Streak! 1818 days On The Run! 2845 MFP, Running Partner E+1 (19wks)

Because they make me smile!

And no, I still have not had meat, 64 days

quilteryoyo

@AlphaHowls Congrats on reaching your goal weight! That's awesome. Cows watching me run always make me smile too. I wonder what they are thinking.

chris_in_cal

AlphaHowls wrote: »

4/21 ... Goal Weight reached 125, I have been working on a cut for three months

So much amazing stuff. Reaching goal weight is a really good one. Congrats on your efforts.

spl8

So ortho says I just have a bad bruise behind my knee cap; the bones and ligaments are fine. And as a bonus, he noted that my 59 y.o. post-ACL surgery (nearly ten years ago) knee looks great -- no sign of arthritis or major cartilage loss. I need to rest it for another week or two, take the anti-inflammatory med he prescribed, and I should be fine.

That said, I'm continuing to walk knowing I won't meet my movement goal for the month, but hopefully I'll be back on track for May.

I'll continue to drop by for inspiration.

quilteryoyo

That's great news @spl8 !

Well, it looks like the last time I posted about my exercise was on Tues. I'll try to be brief and catch up.

Wed I played tennis in the morning and then did a treadmill session. I walked one mile and ran 2. I did a run/walk of 10/1/10/1/4:18 min. The runs were at 4.5 and 5.0 mph. The average pace was 13:09 min/mile with an avg HR of 130 and max of 151 bpm.

Thurs my mom, neighbor, and I spent the day at Cades Cove, a part of Smokey Mountain National Park system about a 2 hour drive from my house. We visited all of the old homesteads and churches along the loop. One was a half mile round trip and another was a mile round trip. Mom did great on all of them. We hiked at least 2 miles while there. We saw turkeys, tame horses, butterflies, a crow (I think), and five black bear. There are a few pictures under the spoiler. When I got home, at about 7 pm, I did a 2 mile walk on the treadmill.

The mountains are so pretty from across the cove.


My favorite setting for a cabin. There's a small creek behind it. Just looked so peaceful.


One of the three old churches on the loop.


Our picnic lunch buddy.


Wild turkey. He was walking straight towards us on the trail and then veered off into the woods.


Well house. If you look closely, there is a water raceway made of bark that carries water into a trough inside and then out the other. It is my understanding that the water is cold enough that they would put milk and eggs in the trough to keep them fresh.


Mom sitting on a porch. We were almost to the end and she was getting tired.


The biggest bear we saw.

Yesterday, I took mom for a follow up doctor's appointment in the morning and ran a few errands. After we got home, I changed and ate, and then went down to help my neighbor mow my mom's lawn. I did the riding part and just a little pushing. W weed eat and pushed mowed some, and mom pushed mowed some. For those of you who are new, I'm not being "mean" by riding and "making" mom push mow. She has never driven and would be dangerous on a riding mower and she insists on helping and doing what she can. As long as she can, I'm okay with that. When we finished, W talked us into going to town for Mexican for dinner. So, I came home and did a quick mile doing driveway laps, got ready, and had a nice, not so healthy meal, for dinner.

Today, I did a long treadmill run late morning. I walked a mile total for warm up and cool down and did a run/walk for the run. I tried to keep my HR under 130, but gave up because I would have had to walk way too much. For the first 30 min I did a run/walk of 5/1 minutes. The runs were varying times at 5.0, 4.5, 4.3, and 4.2 mph. After that, I did a run/walk of 3/2 minutes with the runs being one minute each at 5.0, 4.5, 4.3 mph. It wasn't horrible. Total distance for the run was 5.0 miles in 1h9m11s. My avg HR was 131, with a max of 147 bpm. This is the longest I've run since March 4th.

kgirlhart

April Goal: 110 Miles

4/2: 11.03 miles
4/4: 6.02 miles
4/5: 5.25 miles
4/6: 5.51 miles
4/9: 11.02 miles
4/11: 5.25 miles
4/12: 5.26 miles
4/13: 6.02 miles
4/16: 11.01 miles
4/18: 5.5 miles
4/19: 5.26 miles
4/20: 5.10 miles
4/22: 0.58 miles (warm-up)
4/22; 6.26 miles- Run For The Children 10K

88.07/110 miles completed for April

I ran my 10K race today. It held in a neighboring tiwn that is 30 miles away, so I had to get up a little early,  but not too early. The weather was perfect for racing. It was 50°F with 3 mph winds.  The sun was out but clouds moved in towards the end. My goals for today were: 1. Finish under one hour, 2. Beat last year's time of 57.47 and 3. Beat my PR of 55.50. This is a pretty small race, so I felt pretty confident that I could win my age group. There was also a 5K. We started at 7:45. I went out kind of fast. I know that most recommend not going out too fast. But it is so hard not to. I was running with another woman for about 1.5 miles but after I pulled ahead of her was mostly by myself.  There was a young man ahead of me that I could sometimes see. The course is really nice and it was well marked and there are lots of volunteers along the way.  I was really pushing as hard as I could. The two courses start the same and end the same so I ended up passing about 6 people who were doing the 5K. They were all walking,  but it still made me feel good. I felt like I was starting to drag so I really focused on picking up my pace.

I did meet all of my goals today. I finished in 55.32. It was a small race so my age group win wasn't that big of an accomplishment, but I was proud  because I was 2nd out of the 7 females who ran. And I beat the two women from my town who are both 15-20 years younger than me.  Plus I got a medal and most of these smaller races only give medals to the top 3 in each age group so not everyone gets a medal.

Scott6255

Woohoo @kgirlhart 🎉🙌 Congrats on hitting ALL your race goals! That is very cool!
@spl8 good news on your knee! Just take it easy for a week or so and you can slowly start back running. That's exciting!
@quilteryoyo you are busy as always! Great pictures! I love seeing old houses and thinking how people lived at that time.

I got in 13.1 miles this morning. It was pretty warm at 78F. After I got home and ate I cut all my bushes, then edged and mowed. By the time I was done it had cooled down to the upper 50s. Felt so good!

Itadakimasu7

@quilteryoyo -- gosh those are lovely photos, the little church and dogwoods just got me. I am putting visiting Smokey Mt National Park on my bucket list right now.

I hope everyone enjoys good solid runs this weekend and do well in your races! Let's go!

quilteryoyo

Awesome race @kgirlhart ! Congrats on meeting all of your goals, the PR, and beating the two women from your home town who are so much younger than you! I know that had to feel great!

Thanks @Scott6255 . I used to think it would be so cool to have lived back then, until I realize there was no electricity or bathrooms (which I great up without and really don't want to again). You are doing great with your running! Not sure I would have been able to do all of that yard work after running a HM.

Thanks @Itadakimasu7 . Where do you live? Is visiting E. TN easy or will it take a lot of planning on your part to meet that bucket list item?

tarun_yadavA

Hi everyone, I have to lay off running for at least 1 month!

London Marathon 2023. Live on the route, between Miles 10 and 11.
Some pics

Love the costumes and energy... And sooo much money raised for good causes 🙌


God Bless you Sir 🙏


Doing well to be ahead of the 4"30 marker in that suit


There's an Ambulance Tent here right by my house. Hate seeing runners having to pull up in here 😞

tarun_yadavA

PS: @kgirlhart well done 🙌

Scott6255

Hugs @tarun_yadavA 😞 Just try to enjoy all the things you were missing while running. You'll be back before you know it!

tarun_yadavA

Scott6255 wrote: »

Hugs @tarun_yadavA 😞 Just try to enjoy all the things you were missing while running. You'll be back before you know it!

@Scott6255 thank you!

Laurz9191

@tarun_yadavA That sucks about having to take a month off! I hope you get through it ok and that everything heals up well!

I hope you enjoyed watching the London Marathon go by!

@kgirlhart Great job with your race and your PR!!!!

So I have expended all of my energy today!!! The race was really really fun (even though it wasn’t running). I met all my goals- came in under 4 hours, didn’t crash, wasn’t last place, didn’t get a flat tire (although even if I had, they had support vehicles helping people with bike issues), had fun, and enjoyed perfect biking weather conditions.

Things that bothered me - 1. my nose was running the whole 3 hours 50 minutes, which was pretty annoying. 2. @TheMrWobbly Chafing!!!! I even thought it might be an issue and supplied some run guard to my legs - unfortunately I applied it to the wrong spot! Next time I know where! The chafing was especially a problem when riding up the big climbs.

I started off quite slow (perhaps a bit too slow), but I was afraid of burning out. I mostly passed people on the climbs (thank you running!) and mostly got passed on the downhill (my maximum speed was 56.3km. I think that was plenty fast enough!). I didn’t ride in a peloton like I thought I would, so it was pretty relaxing because there were no cars, except the left driving support cars.

I ate 3 gels, a banana and about a third of a Cliff bar along the way. There was an aid station after 55km, so I refilled my water bottle with water mixed with apple juice. That was enough to fuel me throughout the race.

I probably will do the race again next year with some actual training focusing on leg strength. The atmosphere was great. The guys I met along the way (there weren’t that many women) were super nice. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, except during the climbs.

It was crazy though to see such a strong gender divide. In running it seems to me that there is much less of one. There were 1752 men who completed the 100k race but only 154 women. I was 124th place. I am ok with that result, as I achieved my goal time and had only 1 previous ride (last Thursday’s) on my bike in the past 6 months!

Pictures under the spoiler.

Race swag and my kit.


Everyone waiting to get started.


After the finish. I felt a lot worse than I look in the picture.

Itadakimasu7

Lovely London Marathon photos looks a little chilly out there, but can really tell spring is starting to spring in the UK!

@Laurz9191 Great job on the race! Nice racing bicycle you have, must be screaming fast.

Wishing everyone a happy rest day or long run day or race day