Archive for the ‘Running’ Category
2009 Grandfather Mountain Marathon
I last ran Grandfather Mountain Marathon in 2007 as a training run, and figured it would again be good for hill training. This time DJ joined PM and me, and a great time was had by all.
In 2007 I went out conservatively for the first ten miles, then ran a hard effort to finish [...]
Miles For Marines trail 15K
Tino, Hochberg, Janie and I drove down to SC last Friday for the first annual Miles For Marines 15K trail run. Intended as a fundraiser for injured U.S. Marines, the run is not formally a race, with no race numbers or formal timing. The course was through Westminster Park, private land owned by a [...]
Myers Park Summer Track, final week
Last night was the final night of CTTC Myers Park Summer Track Series, featuring championship races for the top qualifiers from the month, and a 5000 meter race instead of the 2 mile. This was only my second visit, but I’ll definitely be at more of them next year.
I did reasonably well with a [...]
Myers Park Summer Track
I’m late to the party, but Summer Track Series is every Tuesday evening in June at Charlotte’s Myers Park High School. Lots of fun, tons of events for both kids and adults, 50m all the way up to 2 miles.
I haven’t run on a track since late last summer, and was happy to run a [...]
China Grove Main Street Challenge 5K
On the reliable recommendations of a few past participants, I made the trek up to China Grove last Friday for the Main Street Challenge 5K. Plenty of local support (around 400 runners), and the late 9PM start time is novel. I convinced a couple of Hochbergs to join me, and the afternoon drive [...]
Newton Gravity shoe review
Quick summary: An efficient, neutral-gaited runner’s dream trainer. The upper is perfect (very breathable; you can see toes through the mesh), and the midfoot cushioning suits me perfectly. Most comfortable shoe I’ve ever run a marathon in. Cons? Too expensive ($175), but I’ll make sacrifices.
2009 Gravity: I’m a fan of the red
Pocono Mountains Run for the Red Marathon
It is not accurate to call the Pocono Mountains Run for the Red Marathon an easy marathon. It is a very fast marathon, but the descents are as quad-trashingly brutal as you will encounter. I can usually jog a day or so after a marathon, and I comfortably run a week afterward. [...]
Back to speed, even if slowly
Some months ago, I tweaked a hip flexor during an impromptu trail race. I didn’t give the injury proper respect, instead drawing out my recovery much longer than it should have taken. Furthermore, adjustments in my stride resulted in development of a very annoying plantar fascia cyst.
Now, as I’m training my way back [...]
Davidson Half-marathon
All out at the Davidson half-marathon finish
(thanks to Jeri for picture)
Fun race last weekend in Davidson. Most of Crazy Legs showed up and we even got a few age group awards. I was 13th overall with a 1:25:35, good for an age-group second in my first race in the 35-39 group (congrats to [...]
Blue Ridge Relay 2008
Last weekend was the Blue Ridge Relay, which is 209 miles and 24+ hours of sick quad- and hamstring-bashing. Our Crazy Legs team showed up with a full twelve-person roster, and pulled out an impressive seventh-place (out of 75+ teams) in 26:45.
The view from “Goat Hill”, somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains
I ran position [...]
McMullen tempo, speedwork, shoes
Started out the new running week (running weeks start in Saturday) with McMullen Creek from 51 all the way to Rea (including the steeplechase construction portion at Johnston). PM was up for a 6:30am start, which was a good thing since the lot was already starting to get busy. DJ showed up and [...]
Boston 2008
I’m not sure exactly why I’ve waited a month to write about Boston. Perhaps it was my almost complete lack of photo-taking. More likely, it’s the feeling that I had finally completed a major undertaking, which leaves me exhausted and satisfied for about a week, then the elation turns into nervousness as I [...]
Scraping together Boston training
I have my first Boston Marathon on April 21, and I’m not even remotely ready. I take some comfort in knowing Boston is more a reward than another proving ground, but I still want to give it a tough effort and I’m simply not ready. I ran my marathon PR almost completely solo [...]
Upcoming races
I don’t have major running plans solidified for the rest of this year, other than the obvious highlight that is my first Boston Marathon on April 21. I am looking forward to running a number of half marathons this year, and was expecting to run the Corporate Cup again but will miss it due [...]
Crowders fun (and a record bonk)
Late last week Mike Smith pointed me toward a Sunday morning Crowders Mountain meet-up on the Native Trail Gods list, organized by Tim Long. I’m always a sucker for runs at Crowders, and the thought of a group run on my favorite local trail was too much to resist. Nevermind the soreness I [...]
Myrtle Beach 2008
We had a nice crew going to Myrtle Beach this year. The two Pauls were shooting to push Dougherty below his 3:16 needed for Boston, Susi was pacing Jeri in her first race back from her ankle injury, and I was finally trying to break 3 hours.
Jeri and Susi ran a comfortable half, Jeri’s [...]
Uwharrie 2008
I had a wonderful time at the Uwharrie Mountain Run last weekend. The race is very well organized, with good coordination at the start and finish and great support along the course. Very highly recommended.
Showing off 20-miler finisher pottery
I ran the 20 miler as my final long run before a fast attempt at [...]
Regarding my running log
One of my intentions for 2008 was to keep a more diligent log of my exercise. So far, I’m succeeding, and it’s already helping. I suspect most readers of this don’t much care about the daily details of training, so I’ve moved the updates to pages that won’t spill over into the blog. [...]
Running progress
Readers of this may find it hard to believe, but before this morning I had not run since last Sunday. This was mostly due to a sore ankle I was allowing to heal, but later in the week laziness simply got the best of me. I paid for this activity on the 22 [...]
Marathons
Congrats to Larry for running his first marathon! What’s next for Larry?
Charlotte’s Thunder Road marathon was on Saturday, and despite feeling a bit low in the tank I decided to go out hard and try to hang on. I was right on pace with a 1:27 half, but the second half of the [...]