Hadn't posted any of these results.

City of Oaks Marathon (Raleigh, NC) on November 2, 2014: New PR of 4:41:55. It was cold, dry and windy and I second guessed myself about what I should wear for the conditions. Let my legs get too cold with shorts and my upper body get too warm (light jacket). Was roughly 12 minutes off my anticipated pace but nearly 29 minutes faster than last year on the same course. My fueling plan felt good. Recovered very quickly after the race.

Hilton Head 2nd-annual Marathon on February 7, 2015. Another cold race (hey, it's the beach in winter practically in Georgia) with the temperature of 32°F at the race start, but a relatively flat course). It warmed up nicely as the raceA bright sunny day compared to the cold rain of last year and a slightly different course from last year. My legs stayed warm with running tights, but I had to shed my lightweight jacket at about mile 12.

Was cruising along at a 4:30:00 pace when I got ambitious after the mile 20 marker. Left a lot of people behind and passed a number of people over the next 3 miles and then found "the wall" just beyond mile 23. Didn't have any doubts about finishing, I just didn't have much left in the tank to run the last three miles. Left just enough so I could run into the finish area and through the finish line and still looking good. Finished in 4:50:23 (still under five hours and bettered my time from last year by 22:32). This was the most "expended" I ever felt after a race. The bad news....

I was running another marathon just seven days later.

The Myrtle Beach Marathon on Valentines Day. Even colder. Temperature at the start was 25°F with a wind chill of 19°F before we even started running. We would run the first six miles into a slight headwind, the next ten with a tailwind and crosswind, and the most of the remainder of the race from mile 17 to the end running into the headwind that got progressive stronger as the morning drew towards the afternoon. By mile 23 I was running into a constant 25 mph headwind with gusts to 35 mph and was totally exposed to the wind.

I took it much more slowly in the first two miles than the week before and then picked up the pace to a very even pace until the turn back into the wind. At the halfway point I was running a 4:33:00 finish pace. Even at the last timing point (18.3 miles) my time was projecting a finish of 4:33:19, but right after that almost all of the remainder of the course would be run directly into the wind. Got to mile 20 and felt just a bit more tired than the week previous. Stuck with the plan to try to maintain pace but the headwinds were challenging and I ended up maintaining effort as measured by my heart rate. Finally, at mile 23, I punched up the pace for the last 3 miles and dropped to less than 10:00/mile and got progressively faster with each remaining mile. The exhausted feeling in my legs during those last three miles felt just like they did running those interval runs and fast finish runs and I knew I could sustain that for a few minutes more.

I don't remember how many people I overtook in the 385 yard chute at the end. There was one person I didn't think I could catch with about 150 yards to go, but I just decided to go for it and did catch and pass her. She finished one second behind me. Set a new PR of 4:33:59/4:34:00 (depending upon which result you are looking at on the website). Didn't feel anywhere near as exhausted as I did the previous week. Fueling plan worked great. Probably a great course to try the BQ when I'm finally ready to go for it.

Valentine's dinner was incredible with no race to run the next day or next week.

My focus is on training for my 1st Marathon in 7 weeks but do my local parkrun every weekend. Felt good today so pushed it and took 23s off my PB (now 24:11). Hopefully won't pay for it too much in tomorrow's 20 miler!

1:26:40 half!!! 3 min PR!

SonicDeathMonkey80 wrote: »

Heart Mini Half Marathon - 1:28:42

Awesome run yesterday Doug. I can attest that the course was from hell. It's usually a nice event, but with the Ohio river flooding, they had to make some last minute adjustments to the half marathon course. The race itself is a HM that starts in tandem with a 15K. Typically, the HM course splits off from the out and back 15K at about mile 9 (at the crest of a pretty tough hill) and then goes down and across the river and back. This year, at about mile 6 , the HM course doubled back on itself again to make up for the lost miles of not crossing the river. This led to turning around right into slow traffic (for me, that was casual walkers, oblivious to the fact that there were runners trying to get around them). It also made it so that the dreaded hill was now at mile 12 instead of 8. There were plenty of people from the 15K walking that portion of the hill as well. Having done this HM twice before and the 15K about 5 times, I was not at all prepared for this. I was pretty happy with my 1:45:17 in spite of everything, but Doug just flat out killed it!

Wow, that is an amazing medal!

lporter229 wrote: »

SonicDeathMonkey80 wrote: »

Heart Mini Half Marathon - 1:28:42

Awesome run yesterday Doug. I can attest that the course was from hell. It's usually a nice event, but with the Ohio river flooding, they had to make some last minute adjustments to the half marathon course. The race itself is a HM that starts in tandem with a 15K. Typically, the HM course splits off from the out and back 15K at about mile 9 (at the crest of a pretty tough hill) and then goes down and across the river and back. This year, at about mile 6 , the HM course doubled back on itself again to make up for the lost miles of not crossing the river. This led to turning around right into slow traffic (for me, that was casual walkers, oblivious to the fact that there were runners trying to get around them). It also made it so that the dreaded hill was now at mile 12 instead of 8. There were plenty of people from the 15K walking that portion of the hill as well. Having done this HM twice before and the 15K about 5 times, I was not at all prepared for this. I was pretty happy with my 1:45:17 in spite of everything, but Doug just flat out killed it!

Oh Lori ya made me blush I'm sure there were plenty of bruised scapulas to go around. It's just the way it goes when you're running 8-12MPH through a crowd of folks going 5MPH. Hopefully the weather cooperates next year because it is a great race if you can cross the Roebling and Purple People bridges. Oh well - we both kicked *kitten*

litsy3 wrote: »

12mph, Doug? Haha, that's how fast I cycle.

No Kidding!. But I don't think it was too far off the pace of the overall winner. I did not understand what was happening with the course, so imagine my confusion when I saw him running back towards us after the first turn around. He was running to the RIGHT of everyone going in the opposite direction, presumably to avoid having other runners step out in front of him as he maneuvered through the slower traffic. The whole thing was interesting, to say the least.

litsy3 wrote: »

Wow, that is an amazing medal!

I agree! Looks like it comes apart into 3 separate medals?

lporter229 wrote: »

litsy3 wrote: »

Wow, that is an amazing medal!

I agree! Looks like it comes apart into 3 separate medals?

Yes, three medals. After finishing on Saturday, I received the one on the left. After finishing on Sunday, received the right medal and the top. The bottom two have magnets, so they actually stick together. Was really impressed with the medals...I've run their other "series", the Texas Bridge Series (3 races a month apart each over bridges in the Houston area) and those medals also fit together (there is also a 4th bonus medal), though they didn't have magnets to hold them together.

This was a very cool event, well-organized, lots of fast runners, and for a good local charity. 104 people finished the Pelican Challenge (2 halfs). 49 people finished the tougher challenge, Trail Challenge...run the half on Saturday and a marathon on Sunday.

43:40.3 5mi with the last 1.1-ish mile INTO the wind and part of the stretch between mile 2 &3

it's a 3:17 PR

I just ran my first half marathon on Sunday: 2:07:43 It was a little hilly but not awful. I'm excited for my next one in June

Broke my half marathon PR by 19 minutes yesterday. WHAT???!!! 2:12:10. Do the math. My previous wasn't hard to beat, but I was shooting for 10 minutes tops, truly expecting at least 5. And the best part is how freaking great I felt throughout the race. And no walking this time, unless you count water stations, which I don't. Drinking while running is just ridiculous, imo. Relax an drink your f***ing water, then sprint for the next 1/10 of a mile.

I ran my last 2 Half Marathons in the same exact time of 1:35:22. The Dallas Rock and Roll & the Too Cold to Hold, also in Dallas. Both are a PR. I just wish that I was 1 second faster in one of the races to have a single PR instead of a shared PR.

Bunbury 3 Waters Half Marathon for me today, with an official time of 1:49:26. Not much elevation total, but what felt like constant rolling hills for atleast half of it. Horrendous headwind at times, including the last km. So bad I struggled to get into a 4:xx/km pace, even though I was runnin downhill. Everything else was good and if I hadn't sprinted the last 200m I think it would have felt like a training run at the end I it all. Overjoyed with a 5min PB too.

Gazelle Girl Half Marathon, 2:24:10, a 3 minute PR!