March 2016 Running Challenge

Ahh crap! I think I accidentally deleted my original post! I don't have time to rewrite it so I'll be brief.

March is off to a great start. I had my Winter Warrior group run last night. 7.23 miles. I had difficultly slowing down to easy pace so I decided to go with my (hoped for) marathon pace of 9:00 and my Mile 2-7 splits were: 8:49, 9:05, 8:56, 9:03, 8:52 8:57. I'm very pleased with that consistency.

I haven't tallied up my plan miles for March but for now I'll just say 140 miles is my goal. I've also created a goal of 1500 miles for 2016.

@MNLittleFinn - It's good to see another Minnesotan in these challenges! I think that makes three of us now.



Apparently trail running will be a focus this year. 7 of the 9 races I've registered for are trail races.

04/16/2016 - Trail Mix 25K - Lake Rebecca Park
05/14/2016 - Lake Wobegon Marathon - Holdingford, MN
05/25/2016 - Endless Summer Trail Race Series - Lebanon Hills Regional Park 10K
06/15/2016 - Endless Summer Trail Race Series - French Regional Park 5K
06/25/2016 - Circle of Life Half Marathon - Lake City, MN (Tentative)
07/04/2016 - Red Wing July 4th 10K - Red Wing, MN (Tentative)
07/13/2016 - Endless Summer Trail Race Series - Lebanon Hills Regional Park 7Mi (Tent.)
07/20/2016 - Torchlight 5K - Minneapolis, MN
08/10/2016 - Endless Summer Trail Race Series - Hyland Regional Park 7 Mi (Tent.)
08/12/2016 - Ragnar Great River 200+ Relay (Looking for a team)
08/31/2016 - Salomon Autumn Trail Series (4 Mi) - Bloomington, MN
09/12/2016 - Watermelon Days 5K - Kellogg, MN (Tentative)
09/14/2016 - Salomon Autumn Trail Series (4 Mi) - Bloomington, MN
09/24/2016 - Surly Loppet HM - Minneapolis, MN (Tentative)
09/28/2016 - Salomon Autumn Trail Series (5.5k) - Bloomington, MN
10/12/2016 - Salomon Autumn Trail Series (5.5k) - Bloomington, MN
10/22/2016 - Surf the Murph 25k, 50k, 50Mi - Savage, MN (Tentative)

4leighbee wrote: »

I'm very excited and would like to shout this from the rooftops. I believe this is a group who will understand the hopeful anticipation I feel because, I think, running has pulled some/many/lots of us out of dark places ...

I am in a family of athletic people - we workout daily because we genuinely love it. My boys are into sports and then workout before school. It borders on compulsion, but I digress. My 13 YO daughter has zero interest in competitive anything, much less athletics. We tried CC thinking she could kind of do her own thing, but she's overweight and it truly made her feel worse. It was the only time I've ever let my children quit anything. She is self-conscious and has never felt comfortable at a gym because there are so many people. She perked up when she heard us talking about just having joined this new 24-hour gym right across the street from our house. It's almost always empty. She may find a way to work out on her own terms with her own goals without being overly self-conscious. Well ... to our delight, they have just made an exception to their rule of signing up kids 14 and over. She's in!!!

If she has a positive experience here, I believe she may turn to exercise for the rest of her life. So hopeful for this ... but I've got to act all chill and stuff or the kid will get suspicious that I'm going to set her goals and push her. Nope ... all hers!

I think this is truly awesome! Good luck to you all, and I hope your daughter comes into her own sooner rather than later. I was super self-conscious around that age, and it took me several years to be comfortable with myself. While never overweight, I was picked on for my awkwardness, which I think contributed to self esteem issue.

03/02 3.47 mi
TOTAL 3.47 mi
GOAL 55.00 mi

2016 Races:
02/21 – Disney Princess Half Marathon – 2:38:29 (included 16 stops to either take photos of something or have my photo taken with something)
04/02 – Philadelphia Hot Chocolate 15K
04/09 – Yuengling Light Lager Jogger 5K
04/16 – River Horse 6K
05/01 – Blue Cross Broad Street Run (10 miles)
09/18 – Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon

MNLittleFinn wrote: »

@7lenny7 What are the distances like on the Ragnar Relay? Right now I'm topping out at 5 miles, but am pushing it out for the Half Marathon in Ely in Sept, so I might, in theory be able to do the Ragnar on a team.

@MNLittleFinn, the Great River Ragnar is just over 200 miles. You can run with 6 or 12 people on your team. On a 12 person team, each person will run three legs. The legs range from 3.2 miles to 10.6 miles and the total mile a person would run ranges from 11.9 miles to 20.3 miles. You can find more detail about the legs in the link above.

I've never done a Ragnar, or any relay race, but I think it'd be a lot of fun.

ETA: I looked at the results from last year. Average overall pace ranged from 6:13 to 11:35.

MNLittleFinn wrote: »

Cool thanks. I'll be looking into that

Do a web search for Ragnar race reports to get a feel for what they're like. Just a warning though, reading those only made me want to do it even more. I haven't been active searching for a team. My plan at this point is to wait until July then look for a team which needs to replace a runner. A friend of mine has done the Ragnar and tells me this is a good way to get on. There's a Facebook page for the Great River Ragnar and already you see teams looking for runners (and runners looking for teams). I'd try to form my own team but I'd have trouble finding even a 6 person team, much less a 12.

Unless of course...some MFP Running Challenge folks were interested...

ceckhardt369 wrote: »

Elise4270 wrote: »

9voice9 wrote: »

Elise4270 wrote: »

Whew! Had to replace the first link- it got quite crude... This is G rated.
http://www.runnersworld.com/run-matters/are-you-addicted-to-running

WE WANT THE FIRST LINK! WE WANT THE FIRST LINK!

Ha-ha! It really was crass. Wanking, f- bombs, elephant dung, and meth addicted crows... Which is hilarious... But i thought the unsuspecting newbie might flip sht.. Google "running addiction" it's by AngryJogger.

OMG that first link was just what I needed to read this morning! And on a side note, I think I'm hoarding shiny medals like those meth addicted crows . I had add more cork board to my "wall of awesome" to fit this year's bibs and medals! My husband came into the room and saw what I had done, he just shook his head and walked back out.

Ha-ha! I started to staple mine in the recessed part of the ceiling. Then decided it wasn't worth irritating my spastic muscles. I'm still not sure what to do with the bibs. I've seen bib holders, like a hanging 3 ring binder. That may be an option.. Medals are hanging off my leaning book case

4leighbee wrote: »

So, NOW I've run 3 miles in March.





Interesting bit of unnecessary information: I ate a 6" Subway sub immediately before I ran this evening because I was ravenous. I don't know if I've ever done that before. I ran a tempo run up to 7.5 on the TM (pretty good for me). I might eat closer to my runs more often (but not fast food).

A related story: an old high school friend/CC buddy and I decided to re-connect over a mud run; we hadn't seen each other or really even talked in [insert great number] years. When she showed up at my house - at 9 a.m. - she had alcohol on her breath and hopped in my car with a huge, tall beer. We had to travel a ways for the race, so we stopped at 7-11 for water .......... for me. She bought another huge, tall beer and a 9" sub sandwich. She scarfed the whole thing down on the way to the race. I thought she'd be a mess, but she did it. I don't know how. I can say that I've never laughed so hard, stone sober of course, in a race in my life. Crazy.

Have you ever read "A Walk in the Woods"? Is she your Katz?

@maria1582 The hardest miles are the ones you should be most proud of - Good job!
@4leighbee I'm so excited for your daughter. I have an 11 year old with seasonal allergy induced asthma that has always avoided exercise but after a year of allergy shots she is feeling strong enough to join her school's "Girls on the Run" program! I understand your need to holler from the rooftops! Go girls, go!

ddmom0811 wrote: »

@5BeautifulDays - Sorry you are stuck at home. I don't know anything about treadmills, but I know when I run 5 miles my fitbit shows 10,000 steps. So it must be about 2000 steps per mile. If you have a fitbit or step tracker, if you run you could sort of estimate the count that way. I'm sure everyone gets different steps per mile, of course.
But, on the other hand, you deserve to just get a fancy new treadmill!

A statement I can get behind!

instantmartian wrote: »

Best of luck. I am definitely thinking of you. As far as a treadmill suggestion goes, I have nothing. I just use whatever my gym has. I don't currently have the space for a treadmill in my house.

To carry over our February conversation, I don't give a crap about medals or shirts, either (though ones that give out things like beer or plants or duffel bags or running sweatshirts are kind of nice). I most certainly do not run races to win them! I do races for a couple reasons - one, I'm a very competitive person...with myself, anyway. I have always tried to outdo myself in a variety of things over the course of my little life. Races seem like a great format to push myself harder, faster, and farther and give me an "official" time to strive to beat for next time. On the same note, I schedule myself for races to keep myself motivated based on the fact that I do not want to embarrass myself on race day, so I'm motivated to train. Otherwise, I would most sit on my butt all day, every day, and I like food way too much to do afford to do that.

I hear you about the food! The best race swag are the muffins and bags of trailmix! I'm not really competitive with the running just because I've never been fast enough to be anywhere close to a contender. Based on my performance in pinochle or Monopoly, however, if I was ever a contender I'd be ridiculous-competitive, lol! I am eager to beat my own 5K time now. I have managed a sub-30 on the treadmill, but never on the street, so that's a goal I'm working toward.