SEPTEMBER 2023 Monthly Running Challenge

TheMrWobbly

I love the way you sound out your discussion on whether to do 20 or 27 miles @7lenny7 . I have a habit of asking people questions and then saying the answer before they have a chance to even think about it.

I understand the point on mileage @AlphaHowls and when I checked my year to date miles and then saw you August monthly miles I do seem to come up a little light. Here's the thing, never worry about hiding your achievements. You are awesome and those that cannot see that have the problem not you. Will I ever do that mileage - no, do I love seeing the runs you do and is it a bit inspiring, abso-blimin-lutely!

How do you find the energy @tarun_yadavA ?!

Fingers crossed for the weather tomorrow @Laurz9191

Worth getting another run in when you pick up the car @chris_in_cal ?

Start the month with a 7 mile walk yesterday and parkrun today. I try not to be competitive, I try! There is a lady who is, lets say, not young who passes me every week and disappears into the distance. This week, passes me, doesn't disappear... I may have wound up the pace a little for the last 1/4 mile to take that place back. I know she doesn't give a monkeys about it but I still had to do it.

5k pace was 31:27, slow and steady improvement.

polskagirl01

@AlphaHowls I love the picture! Thanks for sharing!

martaindale wrote: »

Those of you who are on Strava probably saw this already but my watch bricked yesterday. I've had it for 4 years and wear it all the time so I feel like it had a good life. I have ordered a forerunner 625s and it's on the way! I might try out the adaptive Garmin plans for fall training this year. Mix it up a bit.

Sorry about your watch. My now-dead watch lasted 4 years of daily use as well.

Yesterday we wanted to do something fun as a family, so drove down to see some WWII bunkers in Czech. We never actually got to see the inside... waited for the next tour only to find out we needed Czech cash, drove to a nearby town for an ATM and had lunch while we were there, and when we drove back to the bunkers, people were coming out and tours appeared to be over. The guy was saying something about the sign, but even the English and Polish translations weren't making sense of why he was closing at 2:35pm on a Friday. Polish and Czech languages are similar, but not close enough in this instance. Oh well.

So we drove on and saw more tanks and bunkers from the outside, then went to a spot with a view and an "open-air museum of the black oak" which turned out to be a single sign next to a dead tree 🤔. We continued on and saw a zip-line park (next to a truck stop in the middle of nowhere) so stopped and I stayed in the car the whole time while the kids did the "hard" course. It looked really difficult and at one point one child was way up in the air sobbing and trying to figure out how to get across what looked like log swings (only sideways and just far enough apart that you had almost no way to balance yourself between one to the next) but they both overcame their fears and somehow finished the entire thing. Everyone else who attempted it while we were there, quit before the third obstacle and moved down to the easier course. By the time we got home, I was beat and just went to bed. I still feel like I've got some sort of sinus/cold thing going on.

Squash Army is under attack by slugs. I gave them the coffee treatment (took the grounds and added water, spread it all around) and they clearly didn't like that. So I'll repeat that regularly and maybe if I have energy, will go get some gloves and gather the disgusting little offenders by hand. But then what do I do with them?

Oh, running goals. Nope, I don't have any. I'll be cheering the rest of you on, engaging in food discussions, and giving updates on the squash and cold-water tub in my garden. 😁

quilteryoyo

Amazing @7lenny7 ! I'm not 66 yet (getting there soon enough), but can't imagine trying to run 50 miles. But, it is something she does, so that's great. I love that she and her daughter do them together. Also, congrats to you for finishing that race. Amazing!

@shanaber I hope it is cool and you and Hobbes enjoy a nice long walk this morning. Prayers from good news from the PET scan.

Welcome back @Zaxa2021 .

@chris_in_cal That is definitely an interesting start to Sept. Glad you had your phone and good reception so you could get home.

I totally understand your "competitiveness" @TheMrWobbly ! I did the same thing to an older lady that ran the same races I did. My goal was to pass her at the end. She was very sweet and told me she quit running marathons when she turned 80. She had run several, but I don't recall how many. Your 5K pace is great and excellent improvement.

Scott6255

Welcome back @Zaxa2021
That would have freaked me out @chris_in_cal I was locked out. Way to keep a clam head and Uber out of there 😀
@TheMrWobbly we have the same mindset! I could SO see myself doing that!

Did a HM this morning. Felt a lot better than I thought it would. Didn't feel like I needed to walk once 😀

chris_in_cal

polskagirl01 wrote: »

..will go get some gloves and gather the disgusting little offenders by hand. But then what do I do with them?

Feed them to the ducks.

kgirlhart

September Goal: 130 Miles

9/1: 3.30 miles
9/2: 1.51 miles

4.81/130 miles completed for September

I ran 1.5 miles this morning for my streak. I got some new glasses yesterday. I wear contacts almost exclusively, but they have been less comfortable than they used to be. Plus, this is the time of year that the ragweed just kills me. I thought I would see how it was with the glasses. It was ok. I still prefer contacts, but I think I could run in the glasses if I need to. I was mostly concerned about running in them because they are progressive lenses. Getting old sucks. My eyesight has never been good and now I have to add presbyopia to my nearsightedness. I'm still planning to wear my contacts for my long run tomorrow, but it is good to know that the glasses will work if needed.

7lenny7

Thanks for the article, @shanaber very good read. Well she didn't set a new course record (which she set 2 years ago) but Courtney did win the UTMB. Last I checked second place hadn't crossed the finish yet but it looks like Courtney will finish 40 minutes ahead of second place

7lenny7

I got up early for a lovely, relatively cool, 11 mile run. Along the lake, through the countryside, then back along the lake, with a stop at the convenience store for a breakfast sandwich and hash browns. Washed down with a shower beer. Now a bit of relaxing before sailing. There's a sailing race this afternoon and I'm crewing on a friend's boat

Zaxa2021

September goal: 100 miles

9/1: 4 miles (41:44)
9/2: 4 miles (40:48)

Total: 8/100 miles completed

shanaber

@chris_in_cal - so glad you were not locked in to the park, just your car was! I suppose the police could likely have gotten you out though if you were.
@TheMrWobbly - I too have picked off other runners to at least keep up with if not pass. It is really sobering though to have someone 20-30 years older zoom by you and out of sight! But then on the other hand we may be zooming by someone much younger than us who is just starting out and is still slow 😊
@polskagirl01 - it would be interesting to tour those bunkers now that you know what you need to have to do it. Is it a far drive? How did your kids feel after completing the hard zipline course? I hope they felt like they had really accomplished something because that is pretty cool even if they were frightened at times because they overcame it!
@7lenny7 - beautiful pictures! looks so serene and peaceful!
So happy Courtney won the UTMB! She is amazing! 3 100 mile races in what, not even 3 months - WOW! I mean even just finishing the 3 would be an incredible accomplishment, let alone winning all 3.

Once again our weather is confused. Yesterday afternoon and evening we had rain. Not just a bit of drizzle but real pouring rain. Then overnight and this morning more rain. The good news is it is nice out - low 70s and not supposed to get any warmer. I have waited a bit so it isn't quite so wet out but Hobbes and I are heading out for a neighborhood walk.

polskagirl01

@TheMrWobbly I like the competition in races, and you can usually find someone to challenge you at any ability level.

@chris_in_cal ducks would be great! I need to find some. Hedgehogs also eat them, but they're really good at hiding.

I finished my painting and am not super happy with it. Not dissatisfied enough to try to fix it though. It kinda looks like it was done by a little kid 🤣

My inspiration was this picture I took last Fall.

polskagirl01

shanaber wrote: »

@polskagirl01 - it would be interesting to tour those bunkers now that you know what you need to have to do it. Is it a far drive? How did your kids feel after completing the hard zipline course? I hope they felt like they had really accomplished something because that is pretty cool even if they were frightened at times because they overcame it!

It was about 40 minutes away, and they definitely seem to be open on weekends this season.
The kids seemed proud of themselves. Once my daughter figured out she could do it, she got determined to finish.

Scott6255

@polskagirl01 your painting is very good! Don't be so hard on yourself 😉

AlphaHowls

9/1 17.18 miles, 1950 days on the run, 1132 days HM+ Streak
9/2 18.31 miles, Running Partner A, County Line to Red Barn and back

What 1000+ miles look like. I retired them today.

Took a little time and got my next shoes ready

Saucony Cohesion 14 Black
Saucony Grid Cohesion 10 Red

martaindale

Sept total: 8/100 miles

9/2: 8 miles

I went to the Greenway trail today. I had decent morning temps today. My legs were tired after a hard Pilates class yesterday evening. It reminded me of when I was marathon training, I used a plan that focused on cumulative fatigue. So your long runs were always on tired legs, to simulate the last miles of the race rather than the first. These 8 miles definitely felt more like the last 8 of something than the first 8!

Also, I got home last night and my watch magically had turned back on after almost 2 days. I used it today and the GPS map looked better than it has in months. It's like it totally reset. So weird. Anyway. My new watch was delivered this afternoon. My birthday is Monday so we are saying this is my husband's gift to me. I was planning on asking for one for Christmas anyway.

quilteryoyo

Great job on the HM @Scott6255 !

@polskagirl01 I'm glad that your family had a fun outing, even if you didn't get to see inside the bunkers. I hope you can get the slugs under control. If you have egg shells, break them up and spread them around your squash. They shouldn't crawl over the sharp things. We appreciate you being in our cheerleading section. I like your painting. I don't think it looks like a kid painted it at all! You are very talented.

@kgirlhart I'm glad your glasses worked out. I got progressive lenses once and HATED them. So, now I have glasses just for distance and look underneath or take them off to read. LOL

Great run @7lenny7 ! I hope the race went well. Love the pictures!

@shanaber Glad you got some rain and it stopped in time for you and Hobbes to get in a nice walk.

@AlphaHowls I must say that those shoes don't look like they have 1000 miles on them. Mine look a lot worse than that and I am no where close to 1000 miles - not sure how many I have put on them, because I haven't kept track, but I'm pretty sure it isn't than many...even though now that I think about it, I have worn them a lot for probably 2 years. I'll try to take a picture and post later. I'm trying to phase them out, but still wear them when I'm walking with no plan to run at all....or just run a little. Love the look of the new shoes.

@martaindale Sorry your run was tough. Glad your old watch magically started working again and that you got a new one for your birthday. Now you have a backup, if needed. Happy Early birthday, in case I forget before Monday.

quilteryoyo

September 1: Walk 2.50 miles - treadmill wun
September 2: Walk 2.00 miles - treadmill - weed eat for almost 2 hours

4.50/80 mile goal

Today my mom and I decided to surprise my neighbor that helps mow her lawn by weed eating the bank in front of his mom's house (where he stays when he's in town). He has been making sure that mom's and his elderly uncle's lawns are done before his and with all the rain, he just hasn't been able to do it for over a month. It was looking pretty bad. He wasn't getting back from Nashville (his official residence) until this afternoon, so we went out about 11:30 and worked until 2. I weed eat and mom raked the grass up and put it in his hayfield across the road. It was hard work and I'm not sure I'll be able to move my arms tomorrow, but it was worth it. He was really surprise and very appreciative when he got home about an hour after we finished. I came home and did a 2 mile walk on the treadmill. I just didn't have the energy for a run today.

tarun_yadavA

Morning all

Got in a 6K today (09"55)... forgot to post here yday 🙈 (did a 6K too yday but a bit quicker!)

@TheMrWobbly - cheers mate!

Happy Sunday.

polskagirl01

@AlphaHowls nice shoes!

@martaindale what a nice surprise with your watch!

@quilteryoyo 2 hours of weed-eating sounds like a workout all by itself! Good job!

Squash Army Update! We are at war!

I took the coffee grounds after church to spread around my Squash Army. I'd previously put out coffee grounds (before we had all this rain) and a perimeter of crushed egg shells as well. I spent about 5 minutes gathering a bunch of the yucky invaders up in a little bucket. The bucket sat out in the sun while I tried to decide what to do with them, and then I finally held my breath and dumped them all into the "bio" trash can, which is really gross (mostly rotting food scraps and a fruit fly colony, only gets collected twice a month and it's been hot out). I also made a trap, as recommended by a friend, by putting the bottom of a plastic bottle into a hole and filling it with beer. Later when I checked on it, I was amazed to see how quickly slugs were coming out of the squash plant and straight to the trap, where they'd stick their head in and start drinking or whatever, and then they'd just fall in. Ok, so "quickly" is relative, but it was top-slug-speed and they were coming out of the shade into full sunlight to get to it. I may have sat there for half an hour just watching it like it was a football game or something. Now that I see it works, I've read about it and have some ideas on how to improve on my design.

Don't click if a bucket of slugs will gross you out.

Definitely butternut squash.

Casualties include some smaller squash and lots of flowers, vines and leaves.

yirara

01.09 Fri 23°C 5.0km 47min 9:20/km
03.09 Sun 23°C 3.0km 26min 8:46/km

8.01km/80.5km

In my holiday home for the next two weeks now, in Croatia. A village some 7.5km from the sea. Yeah, on a hill. I ran the road in front of my holiday home down and up twice, which gave me 3km. I guess this is the least sloping road in the whole area, but still far too steep for me. I ran down twice without walking and up I managed about 150-300m and then had to walk again. But hey, maybe I will get a bit better in due time. Oh, and I forgot my compression socks again and blood pooling did happen again. Sigh. Maybe I think of them next time.

Laurz9191

Hi everyone!

Yesterday‘s race day was really fun but also very busy. I ran the first race which was the family edition with my two oldest, which was a little shy of 3km. I gave permission to my 8 year old to go full speed out of the gate and he finished 4th in our heat - not that we were even timed but he thought it was really cool! My 6 year old daughter spent the first 2 km telling me I never should have signed her up and the last km thanking me for signing her up for the race . She also asked some interesting questions before entering the first water section of the race: a. Should she take her shoes and socks off? And b. Is the water heated? She did great and it was a fun activity to do together.

My 12 km race also went really well, but I have to admit that I am really very sore today - and not from the running. All the monkey bars, carrying heavy objects (like people) and climbing over walls really used all the muscles I don’t need while running . The only thing that I wished hadn’t happened was that I put my hand right into some animal (probably dog) you-know-what when I was crawling under one of the obstacles. I wiped it off in the grass, but it was still so disgusting! We had transponders on and I way 9th place out of 120 for all the women in the 12km. It’s not really a race where time is important- it’s more about managing to overcome all the obstacles successfully, but I still think it’s cool .

Starting the maybe-I-will-run-a-marathon-on-the-17th taper tomorrow;). So far for September I have 23.3km.

AlphaHowls

9/1 17.18 miles, 1950 days on the run, 1132 days HM+ Streak
9/2 18.31 miles, Running Partner A, County Line to Red Barn and back
9/3 17.33 miles, County Line and back

I was picking up sticks with my mom and got a giggle. She wanted to know what I found funny.
Warning! If you are easily offended, do not look!

Me: Hahahahha! We have a boy tree!
Mom: a what?
Me: Come here, we have a boy tree!
Mom: well, he certainly isn't getting any.

yirara

LOL! A boy tree! Wonderful. Exactly my childish kind of humour
Btw, how do you manage to run this much!

Oh, and that reminds me: I found an interesting fossil here in Croatia, on a church wall nonetheless and of course had to take a photo of it. Not sure I use the right code for spoiler, mind. edit: it's the right code.

[\spoiler]

Scott6255

@Laurz9191 fantastic race(s)!! Hope you have a great taper!

@AlphaHowls boy tree 🤣😂

shanaber

@polskagirl01 - love your description of the slugs, especially the 'top-slug-speed' 😂
@yirara - If you keep running that hill it will get easier, even running down and running just a bit up, you will be able to run up more and more over time. Make sure on the up to keep your form and keep your eyes looking up just above level.
@Laurz9191 - that is gross about what was in the mud but glad you all had fun. I did read about a Tough Mudder in No California where somewhere around 300+ participants got terrible rashes/infection and ended up in the emergency room.
@AlphaHowls - that is hilarious and I love your mom's response! 😂

I got out for another neighborhood walk and this time we went up the overpass hill just to have a bit more of a challenge for my legs. It was so nice out - just barely 70F, overcast with a lovely breeze. Hobbes did some serious sniffing and has rediscovered his walk/run manners and now he is wiped out.

Teresa502

September 1 – 5.17 miles
September 2 – 8.03 miles

No running today. A friend is visiting from SC and he wanted to bike so three of us hit the road for a little over 30 miles.

Thanks for the NYT article on Courtney @shanaber. She is such an amazing yet humble athlete. I need to checkout the Salomon longer running shorts. Glad you and Hobbes have had some great walking weather.

I think the painting is good @polskagirl01! Especially like the mountains in the distance. Top slug speed? Sounds like me!

Way to go on your races @Laurz9191!

AlphaHowls

y@irara wrote: »

LOL! A boy tree! Wonderful. Exactly my childish kind of humour
Btw, how do you manage to run this much!

Slow pace, even, not a racer, and 8 years of slow building distance. My interest is in distance and endurance.

polskagirl01

More great photography, @AlphaHowls ! I'm referring to the barn picture... but for those who aren't highly offended, here's a route some of the guys in run club do frequently. It seems to be completely intentional, as they also frequently give their runs on this route "creative" titles.

So this counts as me posting something about running for once, right?

There's a lake around here with a similarly shaped path around it. I didn't realize it until after I ran it one time and it was so bad, I was embarrassed to post it to Strava 🤣 I was afraid they'd think I did it on purpose.

@yirara holiday home in Croatia sounds lovely!

Great race! @Laurz9191 So sorry about the poop though! Eww.

@shanaber Hobbes is so sweet 🥰

kgirlhart

September Goal: 130 Miles

9/1: 3.30 miles
9/2: 1.51 miles
9/3: 11.12 miles

15.93/130 miles completed for September

I stayed up too late last night and didn't want to get up this morning. It was almost 8:00 by the time I got out. It was 81°F. I did find some shade and there was some wind so that helped some. It was 90°F by the time I finished, but I managed to run 11 miles. The last half mile was tough because of the heat, but all in all it was a good run. I didn't run by the mean dog's house, but I did see several loose dogs. I spotted them from a distance though so I didn't have any problem adjusting my route.

@laurz9191 Sounds like you and the kiddos had a great race. And 9th of 120 in your race is awesome! Especially with dog poop on your hand!

@alphahowls I've never seen a boy tree before, but when I was growing up we had a "mother tree". That tree had the biggest rack you ever saw.

@shanaber Hobbes definitely looks like you had a great walk.

quilteryoyo

Thanks @polskagirl01 ! I love that the slug trap that you set is working so well. You're slugs are bit more gross looking than the ones we have around here. I hope the squash survives. Sometimes, I think I run at maybe top slug speed. LOL That totally counts as a running post.

Enjoy your holiday @yirara ! Hill running will make you faster once you get back to flat land.

@Laurz9191 Congratulations to you and your son on your excellent finishes. I'm glad your daughter enjoyed it once she got into it. Yuck on the dog poo!

@AlphaHowls I love that barn, as I have said before. I love the tree and your mom's comment. Sounds like something my mom would say. Also glad your mom felt like getting out and picking up limbs with you.

@yirara That is interesting.

Nice walking @shanaber . Hobbes is such a cute little feller.

Nice biking @Teresa502 !

Great running @kgirlhart ! Esp in that heat. I hope it starts cooling down for you a little soon.