I ran my first half marathon in Missoula MT on Sunday! I alternate between walking and running and finished in 3 hours...15 minutes faster than I was hoping. Loved it! Amazing atmosphere and beautiful scenery along the route...even if I had to be up at 3 am to get ready. Also did their 3 mile beer run Friday night and their 5K, in the rain, on Saturday. It was an awesome weekend.

I ran a 15k this past weekend, the Utica (NY) Boilermaker. It was hot, too crowded and kind of miserable. I expected to be faster but I guess everyone has off days. I want to redeem myself next year though!

Mine was a beautiful run. The Pear Fair 5-miler, in the small town of Courtland, CA.
Courtland is located down along the Sacramento River. Population 355.
The race had no starting gun and no strip you cross to activate your chip. The school principal (or somebody official) simply said: On your mark, get set, GO!
And a cheer rose up from the small knot of spectators (a small voice): "Go poppa!"
It's all pear trees everywhere you look. We ran along a dirt road through the orchards. They warned us about bees before the race. Fortunately, no one got stung -- not that I know of.
It was warm and swallows swirled overhead and the air smelled of the country.
Afterwards, pear pie, pear fritters, pear pancakes, etc., were had by all.
Mighta been the best race I have ever been to.

@Wendy98 Even if it was a tiny race, 19:11 5K is awesome! Way to go!!

Thames Path Challenge, 100km. 15:02. Couple of injuries around 70km and 85km made it a painful finish but I am so happy with the achievement.
Didn't hit "the wall" at any point and also managed to somehow avoid any of the mental "I was to stop now" problems.
Just looking forward to having a week of relaxing.

Suwanee Fest 5K and 10K this weekend. Not a highly competitive race set, but I like doing the back-to-back and it fits my training for an end of October half marathon.

5K was mildly intentionally slow (24:00/7:45) 22nd overall, 2nd in my age group.

10K wasn't as fast as I would have liked (47:12/7:36) 6th overall, won my age group. Only part of the race that makes me mad ... if I had just run the 10K and hit it at my Peachtree Road Race pace (43:16).......I would have won it.

Forgot to post. Ventura Marathon in California. Didn't reach my primary goal of under 3 hours but still PR'd with a 3:03:32! I will keep chipping away at it.

Clarendon HM today, trail run that's the latter half of a Marathon between Salisbury and Winchester (the originals).

Hard going with some cheeky elevation but I managed a 2:13, slightly slower than I'd hoped for but my training has been off form for a couple of months due to changes in my working pattern.

I ran the Runner's Flat 50K. Consisted of two loops with a water crossing by canoe. I felt really strong and was easing my way up to the front and had the master's division clinched and felt strongly that I could have gotten into 3rd overall if not 2nd. Then I came up to the canoe crossing a third time! I don't know how I missed the turn and then reentered the trail behind myself but I did. Backtracked too far and still missed the turn, had to walk and figure out where I was at before I found myself. Ended up adding a couple of miles and losing my podium finish. 9th overall, 3rd in masters. Outside of getting lost, I had a wonderful race and after race festivities. Stayed to the end and congratulated the last runner across the finish line (a woman who came all the way from Australia, not sure if she came for the race or just happened to be here in the states) She gave me a big hug after crossing.

I ran the polar opposite of Chicago this weekend!



(This was the only real flat stretch--for a race with very little *numerical* elevation change, the whole thing was baby rollers.)

I (well aware that this was not a good idea) went out too fast and of course started dancing with the wall around mile 21, but more or less hung in there til the end. I was so, so relieved to see the "finish" banner up ahead...and so, so NOT to see the SHARP UPHILL RIGHT IN FRONT OF IT WTH.

3:28 is a *massive* PR for me, nearly an hour--and an age group BQ with room to spare. Neon shoes really do make you faster!

Ran the Baltimore HM today! No BQ like @cheshirecatastrophe or AG award like @MobyCarp, but I managed a 1:44 on a challenging course after some dumb mistakes on my part this week because I was pretty flippant about running "just" a HM. Oops. But my secondary goal besides wanting to do 1:40 or faster (which I missed, obviously) was to be in the top 10% of finishers. I placed 552/7394 overall, 127/4354 women, and 40/586 women 20-24. So definitely hit that goal! Had I gotten the time I wanted though (1:39-and-change), I'd have been top 10 in my AG! Something to aim for, I guess!

Ran a local 10k this weekend, took it slow as I'm coming back from injury but couldn't resist speeding up for the last mile, probably not the best idea as my hamstring is hurting again today. It felt great to be in a race again, just hope I haven't done myself any long term damage by speeding up towards the end. I enjoyed myself so much I've booked another 10k for 2 weeks time and a half for February 2016

Ran my first mid-distance race on 10/18 since my hip flexor injury in early April. Ran the half-marathon at a modest and restrained pace to protect what I've recovered (though I did have a right ankle injury issue from a missed step on a transit bus a few weeks ago). It was cold and on a somewhat hilly course I ran a modest 2:04:45 but came away feeling very good about the effort, the relative ease of my running and the state of my recovery. There is more speed to be had.

I ran a 4K trail race yesterday on 10/24 (the trail is just across the road from where I live and I use it all the time for my shorter weekday runs and as a starter and ending to my longer weekend runs). It has a monster of a hill and three shorter climbs (two at the beginning and one at the very end). I know this trail well enough that I can (and do) run it in the dark (with and without lights, though it is always advisable to have some lighting on you to avoid getting run over in the dark by some cyclist).

My goal was to run it in 20:00 or better. Completed it in 19:33.52 and won the 60-69 male age group. Could have run it faster but I conserved enough on the hills, including the big one to feel good through the entire distance. Most fun was the person who was trying to run me down in the last 100-150 meters and didn't expect me to have such a kick at the end. I could hear their foot falls behind me and to my right as I and they initially accelerated through the final section and the last turn. But they never caught me and in the last 25 meters I was pulling away. Those strides, 400m and 800m repeats were good for something because when I called for power, it was there in a big way.

@MobyCarp Congrats on the AG award! That's an excellent time!

@STrooper Congrats on your AG award as well! Glad those strides and repeats served you well!

@sarahz5 Congrats on the PR! That's a great pace for a 10 miler! You'll crush your A-race in Philly!

So many great races run this weekend! Great job, all!