~140-150 for easy runs, in the heat it tends to naturally drift a little higher toward the end of the run. Generally stays pretty steady in cooler weather unless I'm pushing it for a progression or something.
Hit 2,000 miles since turning 30 today. Not bad for a slightly obese dude starting out. Ran my first marathon at 212, bounced up to 222 in the recovery month… now maintaining 183 amongst very good dieting rules and four lifting days a week as well. Putting it all together has been a long road (literally)… but I feel good. Time for a 90 minute massage. my kingdom for running clothes designed by a former fat person who knows what it’s like to run with your thighs always touching no matter how much compression you use though
Yesterday I did a double run - in the morning from the auto shop where I bring my car to my house, and then in the afternoon house to the auto shop to pick up my car. I learned that 8 am and 2:30 pm on a weekday are TERRIBLE times to run in my city due to school. I didn’t really think of that beforehand and while I didn’t have any issues or close calls, my head was much more on a swivel than usual and I could just feel a tension that most runs don’t have as there were cars and people all over the place. Another brief reminder of how nice it is to live on the edge of the city and not really have to ever deal with traffic and congestion.
This time next week I’ll be in Maine for a half marathon with my sister and BIL. Finally starting to feel real (even though we haven’t been signed up for it for a super long time or anything) and getting jazzed up for it. Gotta make sure to do my travel prep shopping tomorrow and get it out of the way.
*laughs in slow runner* I’m hoping to lottery into NYC in 2025. Think that’s my best chance at any of the big 6.
Tough cutoff this year; I missed it by 1:37. Looks like a spring marathon for me for a shot at '25, since I'm nowhere near marathon shape right now, let alone BQ. Congratulations though! I'm sure you'll kill it there, even just based on your ridiculous Strava runs, haha.
Oh man, sorry to hear that. The cutoff was brutal. After a couple years where they let everyone who applied in, I definitely didn't expect a 5+ minute cut beyond the qualifying standards.
I was actually kind of surprised at what the limits were for fundraising. While I don’t have it as a goal to run one of these major events, maybe later on in life I would get to via fundraising and since you can still get in if you just pay whatever difference there is in case you can’t raise enough, I’d probably go that route but in 20-30 years just to experience it.
A friend of mine fundraised to get into Chicago and he loved it. I did a St Jude marathon a few years ago and raised a smidge over $3k, so I feel bad doing that again for NYC, haha. I think the minimum was $2.5k last I looked.
I just did my first true “I’m hungover but I’ve gotta get these miles in” run and how is that the worst and best thing simultaneously? I am WIPED now, though.
My partner fundraised for Alzheimer’s Foundation to do Chicago this year: $1,750 I think was the requirement. Disappointingly it doesn’t seem like the organization has been really good at putting things together so she is utilizing all the resources of Chicago Area Runners Association for things like private bathroom on race day, post race event that you can bring guests to, etc.
Completed the half marathon in Portland, Maine this morning with my sister and BIL. I’ve always heard the horrors of getting older but goddamn, even just the differences from 31 to 35 are monumental. I definitely took it a bit easy on the training and didn’t stick to a plan. That will need to change, as well as my eating habits. Back when I was 31 I ran a marathon after only 3 months of training. Couldn’t imagine doing that now if I tried to recreate that - could barely do a half in almost that same amount of time lol. Getting old sucks. Positive - beautiful route, loved how much of the course was through neighborhoods and local businesses and so much great support by the locals. So many people in the driveways with families and signs. And goddamn! Portland, Maine is home to like the biggest dogs in the country lol. So many huge, fluffy dogs. Some of them we saw yesterday while wandering around almost look like small bears from a distance and I love them all. We were told we had to eat at Duck Fat and yeah, that’s my favorite restaurant, easily. Amazing meal and not an expensive richly rich place. That was an amazing meal last night and we had damn near everything on the menu (not a huge menu so it sounds like more than it probably was). Well known for their fries and milkshakes and yeah, thank god I don’t live here, I’d probably eat there everyday.
Learning that the Twin Cities marathon in Minneapolis was cancelled this morning just a few hours before it was supposed to begin and people are rightly furious. And while the weather is hot and not ideal, certainly not impossible weather and I think was is most surprising is that the race sent out an email just two days ago stating it would be a red flag hazard day and the weather has changed since then, it’s what they expected it to be and yet pulled the plug literally last minute. That sucks. That’s like 20K people and a lot of out of town/state people that spent a lot of money to get/stay there and literally have their event cancelled the morning of. Insane.
This is a terrible last minute time to ask lol but can you typically cross the race along marathon routes? I’m trying to see my partner at 3 points during Chicago tomorrow and it’ll involve having to cross at certain points
I’m certainly not an expert, but every event I’ve been at I’ve seen people crossing or the public crossing to get through the course (in foot and vehicle) and other miscellaneous things. HOWEVER, for a major event like the Chicago marathon I would guess it would be much more challenging or at least getting “caught” might be much more severe. Is there anything on the website that mentions viewing spots or certain areas where it’s better/easier for audiences to gather? And/or maybe something in a subReddit that might be useful? Either way, be careful lol
On foot is definitely possible. Driving is probably much more regulated. Especially for a Big Six marathon.
Kind of depends which part of the course. The closer to the city you are the higher likelihood of fencing there is.
The spectator info it gives is mostly just about intersections/public transit stops. I only found one subreddit thing on it and not enough to give decisive info.
I don’t remember exactly, but they might have some breaks at some of the intersections to get across. That might be enough into the neighborhoods where the fencing is less difficult.