I just discovered an awesome charity event that I am going to have to take part in next year called One More Mile…
The event begins on November 1st, where all participants are required to run at least 1 mile. On November 2nd they are required to run at least 2 miles. Every day after that, they must run at least 1 more mile. So today, the 2 remaining participants are going to have to run at least 26 miles in order to continue on into the competition.
It cost each runner $20 to enter, with 50% of the entry fees going to the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the other 50% going towards the charity of the runner’s choice. If anybody makes it all the way to the end of the month, then the race organizer, Mike, is going to double the money donated to each organization.
Right now, there are 2 runners still vying for the One More Mile championship title, Ted Niemanm from Ohio and Erik Barr from Texas. So far, they have run 351 miles this month (well, Erik is 7 miles shy of that as of when I’m writing this, but he’ll probably be there by the end of the day.)
I am definitely going to follow this challenge through the weekend to see who wins or if both make it, and next year I am going to plan on taking part. Hopefully next year the site will boast a color scheme that’s a little easier on the eyes.
Her training had been going really well, she was just entering her taper, and she really didn’t want to quit running a mere week before her marathon. I told her that they’ll make another marathon and that she was better off listening to her doctor in this instance. She had a specific problem that running was going to exacerbate and the best way to get rid of the problem was rest.
She decided to follow my advice and skipped not only the Boston Marathon but also the Vermont City Marathon, which she had considered trying to jump into a month later. In fact, she took 8 full weeks away from running. What was the result? Well, I’ll let her tell you herself (emphasis mine):
Hi,
Just thought I’d give you an update, and thank you once again for all your advice this past spring. Instead of pushing it, I ended up taking 8 weeks off from running to allow the foot to start healing. I then set my sights on a fall marathon, and ran Philadelphia this past weekend. I ended up with a PR, 3:55 (first time I ever broke 4 hours) and qualified for Boston with 20 minutes to spare!
So thank you again for your advice about Boston, I’m glad I took it – even though I didn’t like it at the time! But it did pay off!
Thank you!
I have no problem with you doing a follow up or using my comments, especially if it can help someone else see that taking time off is not the end of the world, and in the long run can actually help. I read on RA all the time about people dealing with PF for months, and even years. My doctor had warned me it could be up to year especially if I kept trying to run thru the pain.
Instead, I dealt with the problem, then came back stronger then ever. After 2 months off, I was only able to get 5 months of training in before the marathon, but still PR’d by 7 minutes.
Great race, very well run. Little cold at the start, 26 degrees! This was my 13th marathon, and my favorite course. I was running with my training partner, and friend. She ran this course 2 years ago, so she knew where the historic sites were and pointed them out as we went along. It was flat enough to be a fast course, but with enough hills thrown in to give your legs a little break. I also enjoyed the out and back so that you could watch the front runners. Of course the crowds weren’t as large as in Boston, but they certainly were enthusiastic.
I did take the first mile a little fast, then settled down to a good pace, and never fluctuated more then 6 seconds each mile. Even though it was cold, I made sure to hydrate at each water stop, plus with all the ice on the road from the thrown cups, you really did have to slow down as you went thru each stop. I’ve never felt better during a marathon, I even picked it up for the last half mile passing quite a few runners.
I was surprised when I checked the results today and found out I placed 4th in my age group! The finisher pictures in front of an American flag at the end were a nice touch, and the hot chicken broth really hit the spot! It was a painful 1.2 mile walk back to the hotel, but 2 days later I feel fine and ready to run again!
– Jane
Congratulations on a great race in Philadelphia, Jane, and I’m glad that you were able to rest up from your over training and use that as a base to start a new (injury free) season.
Sometimes we push our bodies so hard and for so long that the best thing that we can do is to just step away for a little while and let some recovery happen, and then to allow ourselves enough time to build our base back up while we train for our next goal event.
I’m glad that it worked out well for Jane and that she ran such a great time in Philly, and I hope that if you ever get a serious injury that you can also have such great success.
If you have any stories about your own injuries and how you overcame them (or they overcame you) then I’d love to hear them, either in the comments below or in an email.
For all of you treadmill runners that just can’t stand the monotony and stuffiness of running inside, there is now a new solution for you! No longer do you have to brave the lack of elements in order to avoid pounding the asphalt. Instead, you can get right outside with your treadmill and hit the roads!
I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry that somebody would even think about creating something like this. I don’t know if it is real or if it’s just a prototype hoax, but it is good for a laugh, either way.
I do have one thought, though. How well would that thing handle in the snow or on ice?
For those looking to get a run in on Monday or Tuesday this week, you’ll need to find a new route if you planned on running the Back Cove. There will be some repair work being done on the Eastern end of the trail near Tukey’s Bridge to fix some damage caused by rain. Work is expected to be completed by 5:00 on Tuesday, but the trail will be blocked off while work is going on.
Have you ever worried about slowing down as you get older, or being more susceptible to injuries? How about how to maintain your focus during a race or motivate yourself to get out the door and train?
The answers to those (and other) questions is available on a new CD that I am offering that is all about how to maintain that competitive edge as you age. The CD features a coaching session with myself and Tom Ryan, one of the top senior cross country runners in the country, and comes along with 2 special reports and a downloadable mp3 of the CD.
I am giving away the entire initial run of 50 CDs for Free, but over half of them have been claimed. As of the last count, there were 20 CDs left, so if you want one then you will need to go to competitiveaging.com and claim yours now!
This past Sunday was the first Blackstrap Hell Trail Challenge, which turned out to be 6 miles of slick, muddy, wet single track and bush whacking. The course was great; just to get to the starting line you had to walk through 6 inches of water. Of course, that stream wound up being very convenient later for washing mud off, although it was rather chilly…
The race packet consisted of a laminated card with a trail map. It wasn’t as confusing as the course map for the (now defunct) Mystic Places Marathon, but it came close. I especially loved the part of the map where the trail stopped. After some pre-race instructions, everybody went up to the starting line where they were started in reverse seeded order. Rather than having everybody starting at once and jockeying for position on the single track and then standing around cold and shivering after the race, the goal was for everybody to finish together. Since it took 28 minutes to start everybody and we all came in within about 10 or 15 minutes of one another, it worked pretty well.
There were numerous stream crossings, and the ascent per mile on the course was the same as at the Bradbury Mountain Breaker earlier this Summer. Many of the climbs involved going up trails that provided a natural place for the water to go from high place to low, although we didn’t have to run down the actual waterfall on the course. We just got to run alongside it for a quarter mile. There was one section where you had to scramble on all fours up a rock face, which was fun (and doubly interesting given that I only had one hand available.)
I didn’t really race; instead, I carried my video camera and shot footage of the runners as they went. I’ll post a link to the video once it is edited and available online. Scattered throughout this report are screen captures from the videos. I finished dead last, behind the injured folks who just gritted their teeth like true trail runners and got themselves back to the line.
There were even a few canine competitors. I saw Maurie run by me early in the race as he tried to catch up to Django, who had started earlier. Maurie’s owner, James, was calling for him as he came up to me, but there was no way that James was going to catch his dog. Not that that should be surprising; last Winter Maurie always had to run with whoever was in front. Even after he caught up to Django, he decided to keep moving up to the faster folks. Once he was done running, he did head back up the trail to find James and run him in to the finish.
After everyone was back, we broke camp and the majority of us headed to Jeff Walker’s house, who was the driving force behind the race and put almost everything together. Cacky must have a lot of patience to put up with so many runners, although most of us had thankfully changed into dry clothes ahead of time. There was plenty of pasta salads, bagels, moose meat chili, home made bread, and beer to finish things off while Jeff figured out the awards.
At least half of the people who came to the after party got to win something. There were some good prizes; a Run for your Life DVD, Moeben sleeves (I need to try those out some time before my 50 miler – if I’d known they’d be up for grabs as a prize I’d have raced!), a book on ultramarathoning (I didn’t catch the title) and plenty of water bottles and shirts from the Bradbury races.
Here are some relevant links about the race for those interested:
This is just a quick note so I can get some sleep, but the sample tracks for the coaching session with Tom Ryan are now available! If you had previously signed up for the interview, you should have a link waiting in your email box. If you haven’t signed up yet, then you can do so here:
The site isn’t pretty right now, but it’s functional in terms of getting the sample tracks out there so that you can listen to them. The new site will get put together this weekend, and the CDs will be available on Monday. I am planning on giving the first 50 CDs away, so sign up now to make sure you get the info for when they are available!
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know But Were Afraid To Ask…about me!
Well, maybe not everything, and you may not have been afraid, but Amy over at Runner’s Lounge took the time to ask me a dozen questions about my running so if you are interested in taking a peek, you can do so here: RunnersLounge.com
The interview covers some running history, gets some of my favorite tips out of me, and lets me get on a pulpit and remind people to volunteer at races.
I just discovered an awesome charity event that I am going to have to take part in next year called One More Mile…
You may or may not remember last April, when Judy was trying to decide whether or not 
This past Sunday was the first Blackstrap Hell Trail Challenge, which turned out to be 6 miles of slick, muddy, wet single track and bush whacking. The course was great; just to get to the starting line you had to walk through 6 inches of water. Of course, that stream wound up being very convenient later for washing mud off, although it was rather chilly…
There were numerous stream crossings, and the ascent per mile on the course was the same as at the Bradbury Mountain Breaker earlier this Summer. Many of the climbs involved going up trails that provided a natural place for the water to go from high place to low, although we didn’t have to run down the actual waterfall on the course. We just got to run alongside it for a quarter mile. There was one section where you had to scramble on all fours up a rock face, which was fun (and doubly interesting given that I only had one hand available.)
I didn’t really race; instead, I carried my video camera and shot footage of the runners as they went. I’ll post a link to the video once it is edited and available online. Scattered throughout this report are screen captures from the videos. I finished dead last, behind the injured folks who just gritted their teeth like true trail runners and got themselves back to the line.
There were even a few canine competitors. I saw Maurie run by me early in the race as he tried to catch up to Django, who had started earlier. Maurie’s owner, James, was calling for him as he came up to me, but there was no way that James was going to catch his dog. Not that that should be surprising; last Winter Maurie always had to run with whoever was in front. Even after he caught up to Django, he decided to keep moving up to the faster folks. Once he was done running, he did head back up the trail to find James and run him in to the finish.
After everyone was back, we broke camp and the majority of us headed to Jeff Walker’s house, who was the driving force behind the race and put almost everything together. Cacky must have a lot of patience to put up with so many runners, although most of us had thankfully changed into dry clothes ahead of time. There was plenty of pasta salads, bagels, moose meat chili, home made bread, and beer to finish things off while Jeff figured out the awards.
At least half of the people who came to the after party got to win something. There were some good prizes; a 
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know But Were Afraid To Ask…about me!
