Races in 2009?

Hi fellow runners! 

I'm interested to know what races everyone is running this year.  I'll be doing the Indianapolis Mini Marathon in May, and the Marine Corps Marathon in November if all goes well. 

I am in Nepal and yesterday we walked the last 8 kms of the marathon route to check it out.   WOW, we could all barely WALK some of the hills, we were all puffing like we were sprinting.  We are at about 12,000 feet right now, I can not imagine how it will be running at 18,000.  We still have about 8 days of trekking to get to the start line at Everest Base Camp.  We have to go slow to acclimatize to the altitude.  The marathon is on May 29th - I expect it to take me about 10 hours (my normal marathon time is about 4:15).  Only the Nepalese and Indians will be able to finish it around 4 hours.    Wish me luck!

I have not been able to count any calories or stand on a scale since May 9th - that has been scary, but I am trying my best to eat mindfully.

embrac~ you are amazing, I live in the flatest part of the states and couldn't amagine running in those altitudes.....good luck to you and try to enjoy the view and senory along your journey.

Way to go embracing!  You must be having the experience of your life right now.  Soak in every minute of it and best of luck with everything.  Don't forget to post and let us know how it all goes!

I just moved back to the Philly area and did the Broad St 10 miler with my dad, sister and her fiance a few weeks ago.  Sad to say they all beat be.  It was raining and I started getting blisters mile 4. 

I am running a nice trail run in August in Reading, PA.  Grings Mill run?  anybody?  5 miler?  My dad and I might run the Philly Distance run 1/2 marathon.  He's getting older and 1/2 marathon might be his limit these days.

Good to have the support on here though.  Thanks everyone.

Namaste!

I completed the Everest Marathon in 8 hours and 38 minutes.  I know that sounds like a very bad time BUT...... if you knew the conditions, it was actually a good time.  I crossed the finish line holding hands with a girl from the USA and we were the First Foreign Women to complete the marathon!  The Nepalese were much faster so they are considered in a different class then Foreigners.

Today I found a weigh scale and it "appears" I have lost 5 pounds since leaving home on May 8th.  The two week trek up to the start line was quite taxing and even though we would eat rice, pasta and potatoes every night for supper (yes, all three in the same meal) we all lost weight.  Trekking in Nepal is a great weight loss program!

Congrats Embracing50 on a job well done!  You should be soooo proud of yourself and what an experience!  I'm a bit jealous :)

Embracing, how wonderful!! You should be so immensely proud of yourself and a job well done! What an achievement!! :) Enjoy every minute you are there. I bet it is breathtaking.

I'm impressed with all the marathon stories!  Especially running on Mount Everest.  I hear it's just a feat to breathe without getting HAPE, let alone running a foot race!  Congratulations.

I've run a few races already, this year, from 5 - 15 Km in distance, and am training for a half marathon in October, and hoping to PR my 10K in September.  Then no more races (over 5K) until 2010 - when there's a race series of eight, with a build up to a half marathon, then tapering back to 5Km, every 2 weeks, from January through April.  I did five of the races this year, and loved it.  My field (masters, women) is deep and fast, so I don't rank very high, but I'm faster and stronger for running with them.  

All you racers are a big inspiration to people like me, who started late, but love to race train.

WAHOO!!! Ran the Firecracker 5K on Saturday and finished in 26:40 feeling awesome (PR). :) YAY for knee rehabilitation and moving on towards my half in November.

P.S. I officially mailed in the entry and check for the Space Coast Marathon last week so my first half marathon is a big looming reality in a few months. :) Feeling really good about it, though.

Great job! Congratulations. 

embracing50

Hurray!!!!  Congratulations to you in completing your Everest Marathon...I'm a bit late but I haven't been in CC for the past few weeks (busy at work). 

It must have felt good to accomplish such challenge.  I salute you for being so brave in taking this challenge and it even looks like you had a added bonus in finishing it (losing 5 lbs).  Good for you - you're inspiring me.

Dot-dot-dot

Anybody from the Bay Area (California) running the Nike Women's Marathon in October?  Or anybody participating the Nike Run Club SF training?  If so, let me know because I am participating the Nike Run Club SF training every Saturday in SF and maybe a few Sundays in Danville. 

It would be nice to meet a fellow CC'ers there.

Dot-dot-dot

I signed up for my first marathon in October - ING Hartford Marathon.  I'm so psyched to it :)  Ran my first half Marathon a couple of weeks ago and was very happy to finish in ~2:04.  Felt great throughout the entire race so I had to go ahead and sign up for the full.

rasmom,

What a great time, you are definitely faster than me  - I too finished my half marathon last April, I was aiming for 2:.40 or better but end up getting a 2:44 because I hurt my left knee on one of the steep downhill (mile 4) - I guess I ran too fast going down - then my left knee started to hurt by mile 9 so I struggled on the last 4 miles (stop to stretch and go).  I was still happy with the time because I was only 4 minutes late on my goal time considering I injured my knee.

I am very excited and kind of freakin' out at the same time for my October Nike Women's Marathon but I am confident I can do it.  The Nike Run Club is such a great motivation to stay on track because I get to see and talk to everyone whose running the same marathon, some newbies like me and some repeats already.  I will be very very happy to finish the full marathon is less than 5 hours, the tiffany necklace they give the finishers at the finish line is a great motivation for me especially I heard it's being handed out by the San Francisco Firefighters in a tuxedo!  I'd do anything to reach that finish line even if I have to crawl it....LOL!!!

What is your goal time for your October marathon? 

The Nike Run Club is actually a free training offered by Nike whether your running the Nike Women's marathon or not...they even let us try their Nike running shoes and Nike Plus on a Ipod Nano for free with free coaching as well, so it's pretty cool.  There is actually a free marathon training plan in the Nike website...in case you're interested.  They give you an option to choose the level of training plan you want base on your experience.

http://inside.nike.com/blogs/nikerunning_even ts-en_US/2009/06/23/nike-womens-run-club-trai ning-plans

Let's keep each other motivated and share progress on our training since my marathon is the same month as yours.

Hmmmmmmmmm.....I'm feeling left out.  Exactly where and what date is the Nike Women's Marathon.  By October I will need an excuse to get out of the rain and head for somewhere sunny!  It would be kind of cool to meet some CC'ers.

I am trying to figure out what to do next.  I have the Death Race on August 1st/2nd but no big runs planned after that.  I need to have a goal to keep my motivation up.

Bev

Bev,

The Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco is October 18, 2009.  Unfortunately the registration for this race has been closed since March because they pick the runners through a lottery because of the overwhelming number of interested participants not just from all over the country but even outside the country.  I have a couple of online friends from Japan who are lucky enough to get picked so they are coming over here to run it.  I am looking forward to finally meeting them in person.

The only way to get in now is through TNT (Team In Training) but they will make you raise some money.  This Nike race is actually supporting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

However, there is a San Jose Rock & Roll Marathon I believe also in October - one to two weeks before the Nike Women's -  just don't know if they have full...I think this it's all half but we can confirm that on their website.

Bev, if you ever found a race to run here in the Bay Area, let me know - if I'm not running it, I can come out and cheer you on, maybe we can meet for a pre or post run dinner or something...if it's close by where I live.

Dorothy

Hi Dot,

Thanks for the Nike link -  I will definitely check it out.  I've been kind of following the Runner's World Marathon training plan but also like Claire Kowalchik's plan too so I kind of combine the two and do some cross training to make it work for me.  My goal time for my marathon in Oct. is 4.5 hours.  We'll see how it goes.  Training has been going well so far but honestly, this is the easy part.  I'm more worried about how it's going to go when my long runs need to be 20-22 miles long.  The longest run I've done so far was just shy of 18 miles, about 3 weeks before my half, and I was tired by the end of it.  But at the same time, I felt as if I was ready for a full marathon.  How's your training going?  Hopefully, no problems ;)

Happy running everyone!

Maureen

Hi Maureen (rasmom),

You're welcome.  Wow, you've done almost 18 miles already?  That's a great indication that you are so ready for a full marathon.  I did 13 miles during my half marathon training..but nothing further than that.  I ran with the Nike Run Club today for our training and since this weekend was the first official first day of training, my group ran 6 miles - it was just too hot too early today, I'm worried about the weather as we go further through out the summer...but the run today was great, I found another lady running the same as me so we decided that we'll run together every weekend, we'll support each other aside from the support we get from the entire group.  She's also a full marathon rookie and has done half before.

I have to be careful on my knees because I injured it during my half marathon.

Have a good one.

Dorothy

Dorothy - that's great that you found someone to run with.  I ran with someone for the first time this weekend and I loved it.  I was a bit nervous because I didn't know if her slow pace and my slow pace were the same but thankfully we were pretty in sync.  It was fantastic to run with someone - the time and distance went by so quickly. Now I want to run with someone on all of my long runs.    Unfortunately, the friend I ran with lives 2 hours away.  I'll have to work on recruiting someone local to run with.

Take it easy on your knees and happy running!

Maureen

WTG everyone in their races so far!!!

I had to miss the 10k I wanted to run on July 4th.  I sprained my ankle running so I decided it was smarter to not push it.  It's healing up, planing on running a 5k on this Wed.  and the rest of my summer races hopefully are on track *fingers crossed*  Keep training smart everyone!!!  Hopefully my ankle will hold up for my 17 mile long run on Sat, can't believe my full fall marathon is 12 weeks out, doesn't feel like my spring marathon was that long ago.