Author Topic: November Running Challenge  (Read 4434 times)

FiveSigmas

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November Running Challenge
« on: November 05, 2013, 11:43:52 PM »
Hey, folks. It's November, which means it's time to build up an appetite!

I've set up a new spreadsheet here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ag4s7HPcOY9hdDlxSV8yUTExaU1mcUNITE81ZUdFSFE#gid=0

I'm still down-for-the-count on my knee, but I'm with y'all in spirit.

jrs

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Re: November Running Challenge
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2013, 06:04:28 PM »
I hereby pledge to run more miles in November than I did in September (26.74).

JoshuaSpodek

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Re: November Running Challenge
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2013, 08:21:58 PM »
Excerpts from my sad blog post from the day after the New York City marathon -- http://joshuaspodek.com/2013-york-city-marathon-plagued

2013 New York City Marathon plagued by injury (for me)

I looked forward to reporting on running the marathon yesterday.

After at least 300 miles training without incident or injury, I hurt my foot last week — I don’t think anything permanent, but enough to make running impossible. I put off deciding as long as I could, but with a heavy heart and tears almost welling in my eyes on as beautiful a fall day as you could hope for, Friday I went to the Marathon registration at the Javitts Center and postponed my entry until next year. Getting into the marathon is hard, but canceling this year guarantees my entry next year.

Thank you to everyone who wished me well. The support helped. It sucks to have such a great training season and then find you can’t run during a little podunk five-mile run.

I still went yesterday with friends to cheer everyone on, fighting back secret wishes that thunder and lightning would cancel the race. It was a beautiful day for running. Cool and breezy, but sunny. The thousands of runners we saw in Central Park inspired my friends to train to run marathons themselves. It’s contagious. I hope they stick with it. Seeing all the other competitors in the race and recovering after filled me with envy.

The Philadelphia Marathon is in two weeks and has open spots. I ran my last marathon there, where I got my personal best. Either my foot will heal and I’ll put my training to use or it won’t and I’ll be gratified I chose to respect my injury and not run. Besides, running is its own reward, so all the training was worth it — it’s only that I got so skinny even my rings were falling off my fingers. Is that crazy or what?

300 miles, which put me slightly above 40 miles a week doesn’t qualify me as a serious runner, but I was feeling great toward the end of my training. Starting late as I did I didn’t expect to get that great a time, but by October I was enjoying running faster than before, recovering faster than I expected.

A few people asked how I’d change my beliefs to handle not getting to run. Mainly I remember that running is its own reward — it pushes you to learn more about yourself. Since mid-August I ran runs of 21 miles, 18 miles, 16 miles, 14.5 miles several times, and a bunch of 12 milers since that’s two times around Central Park. I didn’t get the millions of people cheering, but I got to run myself and the rewards that come with it.

FiveSigmas

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Re: November Running Challenge
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2013, 10:18:06 PM »
Ugh... That sucks, Joshua. Sorry to hear it. :-/

That's cool that they let you postpone your race entry until next year, though.

BTW: Be careful and make sure you let your body fully heal! (I for one am still trying to teach myself that a lifetime of good health is worth way, way more than one or two races).

FiveSigmas

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Re: November Running Challenge
« Reply #4 on: November 06, 2013, 10:19:15 PM »
I hereby pledge to run more miles in November than I did in September (26.74).

Sweet! Go for it!

acc7x3

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Re: November Running Challenge
« Reply #5 on: November 07, 2013, 09:33:02 AM »
I added an insightful question. And promise to listen to all insight full answers (minus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ).

Ironfist

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Re: November Running Challenge
« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2013, 01:00:23 PM »
Really need to get my butt out of bed in the morning and start running again.  Kind of burnt myself out after doing Tough Mudder this summer.

Bill76

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Re: November Running Challenge
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2013, 05:52:36 AM »
The hardest part of running in the morning is getting out of bed.  The alarm clock is not my friend at 5 AM.

I've been a little lighter on the miles this month.  The whole family got sick a couple of weeks ago, and then it was time to start tapering for the marathon.  I have an 8-miler scheduled for tomorrow, and then I'll do 3 or 4 on Monday.  We hit the road for Texas on Wednesday, but I'm going to try to find time for one more good run while we're traveling.  Marathon next Sunday!

FiveSigmas

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Re: November Running Challenge
« Reply #8 on: December 15, 2013, 08:20:09 PM »
Bill, how did the marathon go?

Bill76

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Re: November Running Challenge
« Reply #9 on: December 18, 2013, 02:00:15 PM »
We finished!  A little slower than planned and near the end of the overall standings, but the main goal was to finish within the official cutoff time, and we did that with room to spare.  I won't be running another full marathon anytime soon, but it's pretty cool to be able to say I did it.  I didn't have the big epiphany moment that a lot of people have after their first marathon... I was just amazed that I had actually finished the race, considering that just a year ago, I'd never run longer than 4 miles in my life.

It was absolutely frigid in Texas that weekend; it didn't get above 40 F for the entirety of the race.  The Dallas Marathon and St. Jude in Memphis were both canceled on the same day due to ice.  Thankfully, College Station was mostly just cold... not a lot of precipitation.  The race itself was awesome, especially the volunteers.  The whole town seemed to really get into it.  Crowd support was excellent for the 6 miles or so that are on the A&M campus, and there were a few spectators scattered around the rest of the course, mostly in residential areas.  It's apparently a pretty fast course, not that this matters to a slowpoke like me.  The race director shook everyone's hand at the finish line and went out to run the final half mile or so with the last person to finish (nearly an hour after the official cutoff time), which I thought was pretty awesome.

I would recommend this race to anyone, and it supports a really great charity, so it's a win all around.  www.bcsmarathon.com

They had super early bird registration for next year's race last week and had over 1000 people sign up in 3 days (compared to ~4000 total registrations in 2013), so I guess I wasn't the only one impressed by this year's event.

FiveSigmas

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Re: November Running Challenge
« Reply #10 on: December 22, 2013, 01:32:27 PM »
We finished!  A little slower than planned and near the end of the overall standings, but the main goal was to finish within the official cutoff time, and we did that with room to spare.  I won't be running another full marathon anytime soon, but it's pretty cool to be able to say I did it.  I didn't have the big epiphany moment that a lot of people have after their first marathon... I was just amazed that I had actually finished the race, considering that just a year ago, I'd never run longer than 4 miles in my life.

Rock on. Congratulations, Bill! Completing a full marathon is a hell of an achievement.

I hope you're planning to keep running (after a few week's break), even if you're not planning on a full 26.2?

Bill76

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Re: November Running Challenge
« Reply #11 on: December 23, 2013, 01:03:45 PM »
The next thing on the calendar is 5 half marathons in 5 days in March.  My wife is being double the badass, with five full marathons those same days.

Our 8 year old wants to get into the act, so we're going to let her try to do five 5k's while we do our longer runs.  We'll see if she actually wants to keep going after a couple of days. :)

FiveSigmas

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Re: November Running Challenge
« Reply #12 on: December 23, 2013, 03:10:37 PM »
The next thing on the calendar is 5 half marathons in 5 days in March.  My wife is being double the badass, with five full marathons those same days.

Our 8 year old wants to get into the act, so we're going to let her try to do five 5k's while we do our longer runs.  We'll see if she actually wants to keep going after a couple of days. :)

Holy cow. Your family is awesome! :-)

Bill76

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Re: November Running Challenge
« Reply #13 on: December 26, 2013, 06:13:25 AM »
Thanks!  We always need some kind of interesting project or goal to work on.  It keeps life from getting boring. :)