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Ran a 10k - Official Thread (6 Viewers)

Seems like things never quite went right for you this cycle so the goofball weather is just the cherry on top. Still, you put in the work and you have a huge aerobic base to lean on. Your plan seems reasonable to me. Best of luck to you tomorrow - all of the goons here will be rooting for you from the cyber.
Rooting for sure! I hope it goes well. For those final miles, don't be shy about finding some big dude and shadow running behind him as he blocks some of the wind.
 
1:19:00 through 11.
In at 1:36:41

Looking through the other finishers, even most of the leaders had pretty big positive splits. Rough conditions for sure.
 
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Holy carp, no one in this thread has a VO2 max under 50? That’s like 95th percentile for 50+ year olds.

For most, time spent running/exercising is also well into the 95th percentile. No coincidence, of course.
I suspect I exercise in that range as well (90+ minutes daily), though it isn’t high intensity cardiovascular training.

I need to get with the program, but running is too unkind on the joints imo. Always tricky threading the needle between athletic performance and injury with age.
On cue, after racing a dude up the last 20 yards of this hike, followed by tennis, climbing, pickleball, and hill walking over the ensuing two days, I’ve injured my hip. I think it’s a hip flexor strain.

On the plus side, my vO2 max increased by 1!
 
Do you have your goal/plan worked out @xulf ?

No


It will be 62 at the start and 67 at finish. Wind will be 13-15mph (better than expected). Looks like no rain, but overcast.

Wind will be from the south tomorrow, which is abnormal here. Based on the course layout, I'm going to positive split (it's inevitable, so may as well go with it).


First 1.5 miles will be into the wind.
1.5-7 will be with the wind
7-8 crosswind
8-finish right in my face.

Probably will go for ~6:40 for the first 7, then hold on the best I can with <7:00 for the remainder. That should put me in position for 1:30.

Surprisingly, this race doesnt have a 1:30 pacer, or that would have been my plan.

Another sub 1:30 would be great, but if I come up short, I come up short. These conditions aren't ideal and after I got sick early in training, I wasn't expecting a PR or even a 1:30. But, may as well go for it and adapt as needed.

Bib #3770. Gun at 8:00 eastern.

Positive split? Nailed it :coffee:
 
Positive split? Nailed it :coffee:
I should have mentioned that you shouldn’t copy the “go out fast and blow up” half marathon strategy I’ve used the last two times. Also, if you’re trying to see who can make their HR go the highest in a race, I think I’ve got you there.

Hope you’re no worse for the race wear.
 
Not much to say.

It ended up being sunny for 10 of the 13 miles.

The "help" I expected from the wind on the first half of the race wasn't as much as I'd hoped.

Around 4.5 miles I knew I was screwed. I felt good, but there wasn't another 8.5 in me and it was just getting hotter. Since the course is essentially an out and back, I thought about walking off then instead of pushing another 3-4 and then possibly fully blowing up (requiring a 6 mile walk of shame to finish or back to the car). Ultimately just kept backing off the pace to finish.
 
Flew out to CA for a trail race this morning. Wasn't taking it too seriously (really just want the UTMB stones). Only thing to report is that when I was passing everybody at the beginning like a #BMF -- running uphill -- my watch chimes-in and gives me a "-3".

Yeah, **** you, Garmin.
 
Pretty certain that the best you’ll get in the way of tracking is that they might report times at the 10k mat, but at any rate my race tomorrow is St Luke’s Half Marathon. Planet of the Ape’s fake doctor is Bib 1014.

Gun time is 8:10. First mile is -75 elevation, so plan is to run that at ~6:40 then settle in to 6:57 give or take a few seconds depending on how hard it feels. That should hopefully allow me to either back off and nip a PR or finish strong and push for 1:31 or better. Forecast kept getting better but now is trending towards maybe sun coming out right away. Should be low 50s at gun, hopefully staying out of the 60s but we’ll see. Wearing my thinnest shirt and shorts and hoping for the best.
 
New experience for me today... I was biking a multi use path that has Forest on both sides. Not very crowded. I was approaching a small hill so started revving up. About 5 feet ahead of me I see a deer is going full blast on perpendicular collision course with me. Fortunately the deer saw me and did a 180 right at path edge that would impress any scout at a combine. I had zero time to react and would have been screwed if the deer didn't reverse. Since it all happened in less than a second, I never had a chance to get nervous or soil myself.
 
Pretty certain that the best you’ll get in the way of tracking is that they might report times at the 10k mat, but at any rate my race tomorrow is St Luke’s Half Marathon. Planet of the Ape’s fake doctor is Bib 1014.

Gun time is 8:10. First mile is -75 elevation, so plan is to run that at ~6:40 then settle in to 6:57 give or take a few seconds depending on how hard it feels. That should hopefully allow me to either back off and nip a PR or finish strong and push for 1:31 or better. Forecast kept getting better but now is trending towards maybe sun coming out right away. Should be low 50s at gun, hopefully staying out of the 60s but we’ll see. Wearing my thinnest shirt and shorts and hoping for the best.

Good luck, go get some :boxing:
 
New experience for me today... I was biking a multi use path that has Forest on both sides. Not very crowded. I was approaching a small hill so started revving up. About 5 feet ahead of me I see a deer is going full blast on perpendicular collision course with me. Fortunately the deer saw me and did a 180 right at path edge that would impress any scout at a combine. I had zero time to react and would have been screwed if the deer didn't reverse. Since it all happened in less than a second, I never had a chance to get nervous or soil myself.
Scary. I’ve had a similar experience trail running, when a family of wild boars darted right in front of me. And I skied within 5 feet of a moose.

Since trails aren’t littered with bodies, I’m guessing collisions are pretty uncommon.
 
New experience for me today... I was biking a multi use path that has Forest on both sides. Not very crowded. I was approaching a small hill so started revving up. About 5 feet ahead of me I see a deer is going full blast on perpendicular collision course with me. Fortunately the deer saw me and did a 180 right at path edge that would impress any scout at a combine. I had zero time to react and would have been screwed if the deer didn't reverse. Since it all happened in less than a second, I never had a chance to get nervous or soil myself.
Scary. I’ve had a similar experience trail running, when a family of wild boars darted right in front of me. And I skied within 5 feet of a moose.

Since trails aren’t littered with bodies, I’m guessing collisions are pretty uncommon.

Or they are dragged into the woods and eaten.
 
St. Luke’s Half Marathon

Warning that this is a bit long. Folks hit the nail on the head about how tough races make the successful ones sweeter. I ran my first HM on this course in 2015, running a respectable time on relatively limited mileage. I PR’d it again in 2017 and 2019 with some more serious training. I was training for the 2020 version when Covid hit, so I had to content myself with the FBG races. I ran high mileage for me in the pandemic years, but both 2021 and 2022 HM were rough races where I tried to go out at 7:00 pace and had to brutally slog through the second halves.

2022 particularly stuck in my craw because I put in a lot of [apparently ineffective] training. I felt like my leg strength was holding me back and was also discouraged, so I didn’t sign up for anything other than my yearly 5Ks for 2023. I resolved to do more strength training and try to up the power in my stride. I also wasn’t going to squeeze in runs if they were affecting the balance of other things.

Funnily enough, even though my mileage was down in 2023 the pace of my typical runs trended faster, and I went into the end of year 5Ks feeling optimistic. I PR’d a 5K New Year’s Day and decided to try my hand at the local half again. I’ve always done my own sort of plans based loosely on what I see in “real” plans, but I tried the Garmin Greg McMillan plan this time. When I told it I only wanted to run 4 days a week, it wouldn’t let me put anything better than 1:32 as a goal, but since that’d be a PR I figured that should work well enough.

I did all 59 workouts save one easy run that I couldn’t squeeze in due to travel, and in all but a few cases did the “optional” mileage since I figured I was light on that front. Some parts of the plan seemed weird, like how quickly it ramped me to 100 minute and longer runs. Also, there were some brutal faster than 5K tempos where I couldn’t hit the paces. But all in all it seemed reasonable, and it definitely forced me to run more quality than I have in the past. And other than some foot trouble in the first couple of weeks, while feeling a bit beat up I never felt like I was straddling the injury line the way I was in other half cycles where I was running 6 or 7 times a week.

I did a lot of traveling in the month leading up to the race, and between that and suddenly having to run in 70+ weather after an unusually cool spring, I had some confidence-shaking workouts the last couple of weeks, but I tried to remember some really great runs I had in mid-March to keep optimistic. Also the encouragement from folks in here helped on that front.

Race day was low 50s to start and overcast. Almost no wind so only potentially real whammy was how early the sun would peek out, as forecasted high in the afternoon was 79. Course is downhill and then flat on streets for first 10k, followed by about 4.5 miles through the big city park which has some smallish hills and light loose gravel paths, then back slightly uphill through streets and finish with 3/4 of a lap in the high school stadium.

Tried to start off strong but controlled to use the hill. Watched the 1:30 pacer take off like a rocket, but I wasn’t planning on running with him anyway. During mile 2 I decided to engage the woman that had been running alongside of me since the first minutes of the race. She had come up from the Philly area with her mom and some friends to do the race. Very nice lady. We chatted intermittently for the first 7 miles, which was nice as a distraction although maybe caused me to lose track of my pacing a bit. I did consciously back off after I saw the mile 3 split, but other than that pretty much was just on cruise control. First 6 miles were 6:48, 7:01, 6:45, 6:55, 6:57, 7:04. When we got into the parkway for miles 7 and 8 we started coming across people fading, so I passed a string of people, yielding 6:50 and 6:38 splits. Probably got a bit carried away here, and Lindsay did drop off behind me during the mile 8. I was feeling tired by this point, but the realization that a PR was assured barring a collapse kept my spirits up. Miles 9 and 10 were 7:01 and 6:55. Mile 10 ends with a short steep hill which took a lot of the remaining pop out of my legs. Did the math that I would need a sub 21:00 final 5K to break 90, which seemed possible but unlikely. Sun also finally came out here.

Tried to grind, but legs only had so much left and I felt like I was riding the red line and didn't want to send myself over. When I realized in the last mile I would be between 1:30-1:31 I mentally forced myself to try to claim every second for my PR and not just settle for 1:30: xx. Last 5K was 6:48, 6:58, 6:53, maybe 6:15 (although gps looks wonky on track so who knows). Accidentally stopped my watch quite late, but when trying to crop later it wasn’t clear where the right spot was so it’s just staying in Strava as-is. 1:30:36 is the official time, technically 4th in AG but bumped up to 2nd due to Master’s awards. 2:09 PR, finally after a few years of frustration.

Walked up the stadium steps to get refreshments and relax with family. Walked back down 30 minutes later to grab my AG thermos. Ran into Lindsay again who was excitedly collecting her own AG award. She thanked me again and said she would never have run so fast if I hadn’t been there, which was probably not true but still put a smile on my face. It was a good day.
 
Still nursing my left leg - pirfimis, since the MT sprint. Tried to run 1.5 after last night’s ride but it definitely felt off. So instead I’ll continue to swim.

April's total run mileage is less than many of your weekly totals at 50. Despite that, I dropped 3.5 lbs and 2.3% body fat (12.4% now). I’ve been keeping up the hard ##, although I cheated one evening when we went with two other couples to a local rum distillery. And I haven’t been taking all the pictures but I wasn’t planning on doing that anyway. At this point I think this will just be a way of life. I’ll drink some at the pool on weekends but dropping the 2-3 drinks each day makes a difference.
 
St. Luke’s Half Marathon

Warning that this is a bit long. Folks hit the nail on the head about how tough races make the successful ones sweeter. I ran my first HM on this course in 2015, running a respectable time on relatively limited mileage. I PR’d it again in 2017 and 2019 with some more serious training. I was training for the 2020 version when Covid hit, so I had to content myself with the FBG races. I ran high mileage for me in the pandemic years, but both 2021 and 2022 HM were rough races where I tried to go out at 7:00 pace and had to brutally slog through the second halves.

2022 particularly stuck in my craw because I put in a lot of [apparently ineffective] training. I felt like my leg strength was holding me back and was also discouraged, so I didn’t sign up for anything other than my yearly 5Ks for 2023. I resolved to do more strength training and try to up the power in my stride. I also wasn’t going to squeeze in runs if they were affecting the balance of other things.

Funnily enough, even though my mileage was down in 2023 the pace of my typical runs trended faster, and I went into the end of year 5Ks feeling optimistic. I PR’d a 5K New Year’s Day and decided to try my hand at the local half again. I’ve always done my own sort of plans based loosely on what I see in “real” plans, but I tried the Garmin Greg McMillan plan this time. When I told it I only wanted to run 4 days a week, it wouldn’t let me put anything better than 1:32 as a goal, but since that’d be a PR I figured that should work well enough.

I did all 59 workouts save one easy run that I couldn’t squeeze in due to travel, and in all but a few cases did the “optional” mileage since I figured I was light on that front. Some parts of the plan seemed weird, like how quickly it ramped me to 100 minute and longer runs. Also, there were some brutal faster than 5K tempos where I couldn’t hit the paces. But all in all it seemed reasonable, and it definitely forced me to run more quality than I have in the past. And other than some foot trouble in the first couple of weeks, while feeling a bit beat up I never felt like I was straddling the injury line the way I was in other half cycles where I was running 6 or 7 times a week.

I did a lot of traveling in the month leading up to the race, and between that and suddenly having to run in 70+ weather after an unusually cool spring, I had some confidence-shaking workouts the last couple of weeks, but I tried to remember some really great runs I had in mid-March to keep optimistic. Also the encouragement from folks in here helped on that front.

Race day was low 50s to start and overcast. Almost no wind so only potentially real whammy was how early the sun would peek out, as forecasted high in the afternoon was 79. Course is downhill and then flat on streets for first 10k, followed by about 4.5 miles through the big city park which has some smallish hills and light loose gravel paths, then back slightly uphill through streets and finish with 3/4 of a lap in the high school stadium.

Tried to start off strong but controlled to use the hill. Watched the 1:30 pacer take off like a rocket, but I wasn’t planning on running with him anyway. During mile 2 I decided to engage the woman that had been running alongside of me since the first minutes of the race. She had come up from the Philly area with her mom and some friends to do the race. Very nice lady. We chatted intermittently for the first 7 miles, which was nice as a distraction although maybe caused me to lose track of my pacing a bit. I did consciously back off after I saw the mile 3 split, but other than that pretty much was just on cruise control. First 6 miles were 6:48, 7:01, 6:45, 6:55, 6:57, 7:04. When we got into the parkway for miles 7 and 8 we started coming across people fading, so I passed a string of people, yielding 6:50 and 6:38 splits. Probably got a bit carried away here, and Lindsay did drop off behind me during the mile 8. I was feeling tired by this point, but the realization that a PR was assured barring a collapse kept my spirits up. Miles 9 and 10 were 7:01 and 6:55. Mile 10 ends with a short steep hill which took a lot of the remaining pop out of my legs. Did the math that I would need a sub 21:00 final 5K to break 90, which seemed possible but unlikely. Sun also finally came out here.

Tried to grind, but legs only had so much left and I felt like I was riding the red line and didn't want to send myself over. When I realized in the last mile I would be between 1:30-1:31 I mentally forced myself to try to claim every second for my PR and not just settle for 1:30: xx. Last 5K was 6:48, 6:58, 6:53, maybe 6:15 (although gps looks wonky on track so who knows). Accidentally stopped my watch quite late, but when trying to crop later it wasn’t clear where the right spot was so it’s just staying in Strava as-is. 1:30:36 is the official time, technically 4th in AG but bumped up to 2nd due to Master’s awards. 2:09 PR, finally after a few years of frustration.

Walked up the stadium steps to get refreshments and relax with family. Walked back down 30 minutes later to grab my AG thermos. Ran into Lindsay again who was excitedly collecting her own AG award. She thanked me again and said she would never have run so fast if I hadn’t been there, which was probably not true but still put a smile on my face. It was a good day.
Congrats on the PR. You also did a great job with pacing.

I see a 1:29:xx in your future!
 
@pbm107 Kick *** 10-mile race! Share the deets!
Thanks not too much to report, I had to take more time off in April than expected due to knee pain. April was the first month in 7 years that I didn't get in at least 100 miles. I felt terribly out of shape upon returning and wasn't sure what I'd be capable of at Broad Street. I decided to pace my buddy Steve who had a PR 1:10:36 going into the race and was hoping to run sub 1:05. I felt that was aggressive for both of us, but I'm slowly learning to stop doubting Steve as always seems to outperform his training.

He crushed it with a 1:04:39 and I didn't have too much difficulty pacing him. If he can stay healthy in his Philly marathon training cycle he should comfortably BQ. Day drinking is always fun.
 
New experience for me today... I was biking a multi use path that has Forest on both sides. Not very crowded. I was approaching a small hill so started revving up. About 5 feet ahead of me I see a deer is going full blast on perpendicular collision course with me. Fortunately the deer saw me and did a 180 right at path edge that would impress any scout at a combine. I had zero time to react and would have been screwed if the deer didn't reverse. Since it all happened in less than a second, I never had a chance to get nervous or soil myself.
One of the guys I follow on Strava had a dog run out in front of him this weekend and bit it hard on pavement. Road rash in all the places. Gonna be a bit before he rides again. Musta been a full moon spooking the animals this weekend or something
 
Congrats on the PR. You also did a great job with pacing.
Thanks! Looking back it was less erratic than it felt at the time. We'll see about sub 1:30, but it's nice to feel it's actually on the table again rather than a lifetime goal forever unachieved.

On the pacing side, I hope the people you pace appreciate what a good service you provide at your races, because this race seems to struggle to get reliable pacers. Like I said, the 1:30 pacer really took off, and he was more than a minute ahead of me 3 miles into the race. Even with the unique elevation profile of the race I'm confident that was way too fast. To be fair, he had a very small group, so maybe it was a pivot and they were all on board. I did however catch up with a guy during mile 11 who was lamenting that 1:30 was off the table, and I was able to tell him that he was actually almost on pace for it still. He was going off of the pacer dusting him, but my wife confirmed said pacer came in ~1:27. I know they're volunteers and in a lot of ways it's a thankless job, but I do feel for the people who rely on them and fall victim to uneven pacing.
 
Ok so I am just under two weeks away from my run of the Brooklyn half marathon. It will be much slower then some of these blazing times I have seen you guys do on Strava but feel like my training is going well. Did my first 10 mile run (in my life) on Sunday and held it together pretty well until the end when my legs felt like ****. Also, did a 9.5 mile run the weekend before, which actually felt easier though I thik I actually did a bunch more hills on the 10 mile run.

At this point, I think I am done with such long prep runs and will likely do three runs this week each in the 5 to 6 mile range and then next week do one 5 to 6 mile run and a 5k type run.

Course map is something I know really well given I live about a 30 minute walk from the start line and my usual running routes includes a chunk of the course. Parts of I haven't run I have ridden my bike on many times. Beginning of the course has some hills with the one big hill being something that Strava has told me I have run over 40 times. After about 5 and a half miles the course is downhill/flat except for a short little hill to get up onto the boardwall at Coney Island. My planning is to make sure I don't get too amped up on the beginning hilly part as I should be able to cruise after the start.

Actually having a bunch of friends also running it. A few in my range and others going for sub 1:30 type times (including a 1:30 pacer). Really looking forward to doing this race as it is really like runnig a neighborhood type race for me.
 
Howdy... no I don't run much these days but maybe again soon...

@gruecd - in the near future I'll be traveling to your neck of the woods on some semi-regular basis. My youngest is moving to Milwaukee this summer.
 
At this point, I think I am done with such long prep runs and will likely do three runs this week
There are people in this thread with way more experience than me, but yeah less than two weeks out you definitely don't want to be doing any more taxing long runs. While they might be good for race day nerves, you won't be recovered in time and thus they will end up slowing you down. "The hay is in the barn" is one of the sayings about this effect, meaning nothing you do now will improve your fitness in time for race day. In general the idea is at this point you should be tapering significantly off of the quantity of your miles. It doesn't have to be all slow, "junk" miles, but definitely no effort that is going to take you days to recover from. Some short runs with some time at goal pace can be helpful to get your mental clock in synch with your goals.
 
At this point, I think I am done with such long prep runs and will likely do three runs this week
There are people in this thread with way more experience than me, but yeah less than two weeks out you definitely don't want to be doing any more taxing long runs. While they might be good for race day nerves, you won't be recovered in time and thus they will end up slowing you down. "The hay is in the barn" is one of the sayings about this effect, meaning nothing you do now will improve your fitness in time for race day. In general the idea is at this point you should be tapering significantly off of the quantity of your miles. It doesn't have to be all slow, "junk" miles, but definitely no effort that is going to take you days to recover from. Some short runs with some time at goal pace can be helpful to get your mental clock in synch with your goals.
Thanks. Appreciate the insight.
 
At this point, I think I am done with such long prep runs and will likely do three runs this week
There are people in this thread with way more experience than me, but yeah less than two weeks out you definitely don't want to be doing any more taxing long runs. While they might be good for race day nerves, you won't be recovered in time and thus they will end up slowing you down. "The hay is in the barn" is one of the sayings about this effect, meaning nothing you do now will improve your fitness in time for race day. In general the idea is at this point you should be tapering significantly off of the quantity of your miles. It doesn't have to be all slow, "junk" miles, but definitely no effort that is going to take you days to recover from. Some short runs with some time at goal pace can be helpful to get your mental clock in synch with your goals.
Thanks. Appreciate the insight.
I would also start carb loading earlier in the week. I would usually start on Monday and load up all week. Proteins, carbs, some veg.

I would have my big pre race meal at lunch the day before my race. Then for dinner that night something not as heavy.

Less fruits and veggies a couple days before the race so I wasn’t a salad shooter on race day.
 
At this point, I think I am done with such long prep runs and will likely do three runs this week
There are people in this thread with way more experience than me, but yeah less than two weeks out you definitely don't want to be doing any more taxing long runs. While they might be good for race day nerves, you won't be recovered in time and thus they will end up slowing you down. "The hay is in the barn" is one of the sayings about this effect, meaning nothing you do now will improve your fitness in time for race day. In general the idea is at this point you should be tapering significantly off of the quantity of your miles. It doesn't have to be all slow, "junk" miles, but definitely no effort that is going to take you days to recover from. Some short runs with some time at goal pace can be helpful to get your mental clock in synch with your goals.
Thanks. Appreciate the insight.
I would also start carb loading earlier in the week. I would usually start on Monday and load up all week. Proteins, carbs, some veg.

I would have my big pre race meal at lunch the day before my race. Then for dinner that night something not as heavy.

Less fruits and veggies a couple days before the race so I wasn’t a salad shooter on race day.
So you are saying I can eat like a pig. That shouldn’t be a problem.
 
So a good sequence over the past week:
- had a successful colonoscopy last Tuesday (no polyps). My dad died of colon cancer when I was in college, so comforting to know I don't have any issues.

- on Friday night I formally accepted a new gig for next year as a full-time, visiting instructor at a new school (North Central College). The back story is that I was inexplicably denied tenure at my current school (where I worked for 27 years; last several at a FT faculty member) and knew I had to retire or move on. I had warmed up to the idea of retirement, but the new one-year commitment allows me to control when I phase out or retire. I'll probably continue on with some adjunct teaching after next year. I taught a course in fall, 2022, at NCC and had a great experience. I know their accounting faculty, and they were quite aggressive in pursuing me after learning of my free agent status. Win/win. Plus, it's just 15 minutes from home.

- on Sunday, I wrapped up my spring term at my current school, and I don't have any summer teaching for the first time in forever. Which is ideal because ...

- yesterday marks the start of a 20-week cycle until my fall marathon on Sept 22, the Fox Valley Marathon here in the Chicago suburbs (also not far from home). Expecting fall to be rather busy with the new job, I picked this familiar marathon instead of an October race up in Grand Rapids as I can taper starting in early September. One benefit of the Fox Valley course is that I'll be able to see if anyone has left a flower memorial at the spot where @Juxtatarot crashed into the wall. Beyond that, I should be able to comfortably qualify for Boston, 2026 and medal mong in my AG.
 
So a good sequence over the past week:
- had a successful colonoscopy last Tuesday (no polyps). My dad died of colon cancer when I was in college, so comforting to know I don't have any issues.

- on Friday night I formally accepted a new gig for next year as a full-time, visiting instructor at a new school (North Central College). The back story is that I was inexplicably denied tenure at my current school (where I worked for 27 years; last several at a FT faculty member) and knew I had to retire or move on. I had warmed up to the idea of retirement, but the new one-year commitment allows me to control when I phase out or retire. I'll probably continue on with some adjunct teaching after next year. I taught a course in fall, 2022, at NCC and had a great experience. I know their accounting faculty, and they were quite aggressive in pursuing me after learning of my free agent status. Win/win. Plus, it's just 15 minutes from home.

- on Sunday, I wrapped up my spring term at my current school, and I don't have any summer teaching for the first time in forever. Which is ideal because ...

- yesterday marks the start of a 20-week cycle until my fall marathon on Sept 22, the Fox Valley Marathon here in the Chicago suburbs (also not far from home). Expecting fall to be rather busy with the new job, I picked this familiar marathon instead of an October race up in Grand Rapids as I can taper starting in early September. One benefit of the Fox Valley course is that I'll be able to see if anyone has left a flower memorial at the spot where @Juxtatarot crashed into the wall. Beyond that, I should be able to comfortably qualify for Boston, 2026 and medal mong in my AG.

Congrats on the new gig! Much better cross country team at the new school too!
 
So a good sequence over the past week:
- had a successful colonoscopy last Tuesday (no polyps). My dad died of colon cancer when I was in college, so comforting to know I don't have any issues.

- on Friday night I formally accepted a new gig for next year as a full-time, visiting instructor at a new school (North Central College). The back story is that I was inexplicably denied tenure at my current school (where I worked for 27 years; last several at a FT faculty member) and knew I had to retire or move on. I had warmed up to the idea of retirement, but the new one-year commitment allows me to control when I phase out or retire. I'll probably continue on with some adjunct teaching after next year. I taught a course in fall, 2022, at NCC and had a great experience. I know their accounting faculty, and they were quite aggressive in pursuing me after learning of my free agent status. Win/win. Plus, it's just 15 minutes from home.

- on Sunday, I wrapped up my spring term at my current school, and I don't have any summer teaching for the first time in forever. Which is ideal because ...

- yesterday marks the start of a 20-week cycle until my fall marathon on Sept 22, the Fox Valley Marathon here in the Chicago suburbs (also not far from home). Expecting fall to be rather busy with the new job, I picked this familiar marathon instead of an October race up in Grand Rapids as I can taper starting in early September. One benefit of the Fox Valley course is that I'll be able to see if anyone has left a flower memorial at the spot where @Juxtatarot crashed into the wall. Beyond that, I should be able to comfortably qualify for Boston, 2026 and medal mong in my AG.

Congrats on the new gig! Much better cross country team at the new school too!
Yeah, I'm sure he can find some new foxy co-ed to "mentor".
 
So a good sequence over the past week:
- had a successful colonoscopy last Tuesday (no polyps). My dad died of colon cancer when I was in college, so comforting to know I don't have any issues.

- on Friday night I formally accepted a new gig for next year as a full-time, visiting instructor at a new school (North Central College). The back story is that I was inexplicably denied tenure at my current school (where I worked for 27 years; last several at a FT faculty member) and knew I had to retire or move on. I had warmed up to the idea of retirement, but the new one-year commitment allows me to control when I phase out or retire. I'll probably continue on with some adjunct teaching after next year. I taught a course in fall, 2022, at NCC and had a great experience. I know their accounting faculty, and they were quite aggressive in pursuing me after learning of my free agent status. Win/win. Plus, it's just 15 minutes from home.

- on Sunday, I wrapped up my spring term at my current school, and I don't have any summer teaching for the first time in forever. Which is ideal because ...

- yesterday marks the start of a 20-week cycle until my fall marathon on Sept 22, the Fox Valley Marathon here in the Chicago suburbs (also not far from home). Expecting fall to be rather busy with the new job, I picked this familiar marathon instead of an October race up in Grand Rapids as I can taper starting in early September. One benefit of the Fox Valley course is that I'll be able to see if anyone has left a flower memorial at the spot where @Juxtatarot crashed into the wall. Beyond that, I should be able to comfortably qualify for Boston, 2026 and medal mong in my AG.

Congrats on the new gig! Much better cross country team at the new school too!
Yeah, I'm sure he can find some new foxy co-ed to "mentor".
I'm hoping for a massive outbreak of plantar fasciitis on the women's team, leading to a call for foot massage volunteers. Well, the men's team, too. History says I'm not choosy when it comes to workin' the feet ...
 
I am reaching out for shoe advice. I don't think the on clouds are the only problem, but between my age and increasing waistline I think I need something with more support to get back on the right track. The knee ailment that developed after several others issues I mentioned back in March persisted. I hoped a week off around Vegas would be the cure, but I only lasted ~10 days before it returned so I shut things down the last 3 weeks. Getting back out today was fine, but since it's now been 15 months since stringing more than 4-6 weeks in a row (what do ya know- that's when I turned 40 :lol: ) without something stunting progress I have no confidence I'll be saying the same thing come mid-June. Any suggestions? As 30something year old me said over and over again, I am NOT a shoe guy. I didn't need to be, I suppose father time is undefeated and it's past time to adjust.
 
I am reaching out for shoe advice. I don't think the on clouds are the only problem, but between my age and increasing waistline I think I need something with more support to get back on the right track. The knee ailment that developed after several others issues I mentioned back in March persisted. I hoped a week off around Vegas would be the cure, but I only lasted ~10 days before it returned so I shut things down the last 3 weeks. Getting back out today was fine, but since it's now been 15 months since stringing more than 4-6 weeks in a row (what do ya know- that's when I turned 40 :lol: ) without something stunting progress I have no confidence I'll be saying the same thing come mid-June. Any suggestions? As 30something year old me said over and over again, I am NOT a shoe guy. I didn't need to be, I suppose father time is undefeated and it's past time to adjust.

First 2 light, cushiony and plenty supportive shoes that come to mind are Saucony speed 3 and the Clifton 9s.
 
I am reaching out for shoe advice. I don't think the on clouds are the only problem, but between my age and increasing waistline I think I need something with more support to get back on the right track. The knee ailment that developed after several others issues I mentioned back in March persisted. I hoped a week off around Vegas would be the cure, but I only lasted ~10 days before it returned so I shut things down the last 3 weeks. Getting back out today was fine, but since it's now been 15 months since stringing more than 4-6 weeks in a row (what do ya know- that's when I turned 40 :lol: ) without something stunting progress I have no confidence I'll be saying the same thing come mid-June. Any suggestions? As 30something year old me said over and over again, I am NOT a shoe guy. I didn't need to be, I suppose father time is undefeated and it's past time to adjust.

First 2 light, cushiony and plenty supportive shoes that come to mind are Saucony speed 3 and the Clifton 9s.
My first thought was to check out the Hokas (Cliftons) as well.
 
I am reaching out for shoe advice. I don't think the on clouds are the only problem, but between my age and increasing waistline I think I need something with more support to get back on the right track. The knee ailment that developed after several others issues I mentioned back in March persisted. I hoped a week off around Vegas would be the cure, but I only lasted ~10 days before it returned so I shut things down the last 3 weeks. Getting back out today was fine, but since it's now been 15 months since stringing more than 4-6 weeks in a row (what do ya know- that's when I turned 40 :lol: ) without something stunting progress I have no confidence I'll be saying the same thing come mid-June. Any suggestions? As 30something year old me said over and over again, I am NOT a shoe guy. I didn't need to be, I suppose father time is undefeated and it's past time to adjust.

First 2 light, cushiony and plenty supportive shoes that come to mind are Saucony speed 3 and the Clifton 9s.
I know you and @gruecd are big fans of the Speed 3s. I just got a pair and, while they are good, I'm not sure I like them better than the 2.

And the Speed 2 can still be found much cheaper.
 
I am reaching out for shoe advice. I don't think the on clouds are the only problem, but between my age and increasing waistline I think I need something with more support to get back on the right track. The knee ailment that developed after several others issues I mentioned back in March persisted. I hoped a week off around Vegas would be the cure, but I only lasted ~10 days before it returned so I shut things down the last 3 weeks. Getting back out today was fine, but since it's now been 15 months since stringing more than 4-6 weeks in a row (what do ya know- that's when I turned 40 :lol: ) without something stunting progress I have no confidence I'll be saying the same thing come mid-June. Any suggestions? As 30something year old me said over and over again, I am NOT a shoe guy. I didn't need to be, I suppose father time is undefeated and it's past time to adjust.

First 2 light, cushiony and plenty supportive shoes that come to mind are Saucony speed 3 and the Clifton 9s.
I know you and @gruecd are big fans of the Speed 3s. I just got a pair and, while they are good, I'm not sure I like them better than the 2.

And the Speed 2 can still be found much cheaper.
Yeah, I like v3 significantly more than v2
 
I am reaching out for shoe advice. I don't think the on clouds are the only problem, but between my age and increasing waistline I think I need something with more support to get back on the right track. The knee ailment that developed after several others issues I mentioned back in March persisted. I hoped a week off around Vegas would be the cure, but I only lasted ~10 days before it returned so I shut things down the last 3 weeks. Getting back out today was fine, but since it's now been 15 months since stringing more than 4-6 weeks in a row (what do ya know- that's when I turned 40 :lol: ) without something stunting progress I have no confidence I'll be saying the same thing come mid-June. Any suggestions? As 30something year old me said over and over again, I am NOT a shoe guy. I didn't need to be, I suppose father time is undefeated and it's past time to adjust.

I don’t have shoe advice but I was wondering how your calves are these days. I keep thinking about a post you made a few years ago about how excruciatingly painful foam rolling was. It made we wonder if tight calves were triggering other issues. I think I’ve had some of that personally.
 
I am reaching out for shoe advice. I don't think the on clouds are the only problem, but between my age and increasing waistline I think I need something with more support to get back on the right track. The knee ailment that developed after several others issues I mentioned back in March persisted. I hoped a week off around Vegas would be the cure, but I only lasted ~10 days before it returned so I shut things down the last 3 weeks. Getting back out today was fine, but since it's now been 15 months since stringing more than 4-6 weeks in a row (what do ya know- that's when I turned 40 :lol: ) without something stunting progress I have no confidence I'll be saying the same thing come mid-June. Any suggestions? As 30something year old me said over and over again, I am NOT a shoe guy. I didn't need to be, I suppose father time is undefeated and it's past time to adjust.

I don’t have shoe advice but I was wondering how your calves are these days. I keep thinking about a post you made a few years ago about how excruciatingly painful foam rolling was. It made we wonder if tight calves were triggering other issues. I think I’ve had some of that personally.
I may have mentioned it sometime this winter, but the source of my issues appears to be my hips. Do those issues bear themselves out in my legs (i.e. running) or my back (i.e. yard work) depends on the activity. That's my indirect way of saying I solved my calf problem, but it's still susceptible to returning without awareness and maintenance. I think I've developed a plan to manage them better as when it flares up it's much minor relative to the past (2 days off usually does it), but now this knee thing has thrown another curveball. As is, I don't know what triggered it, but I'm hoping tomorrow's scheduled massage and new shoes are the solution...or at least steers me towards better problem ID if it comes back again.

And I write all that understanding it could just be weight as I'm up ~20 lbs vs racing shape. I was up ~10-15, which is why I shifted focus back to running late winter, but did that accelerate the problem, putting me on the shelf, and adding even more weight! Hope this isn't a vicious cycle...I miss being young :lol:
 
I am reaching out for shoe advice. I don't think the on clouds are the only problem, but between my age and increasing waistline I think I need something with more support to get back on the right track. The knee ailment that developed after several others issues I mentioned back in March persisted. I hoped a week off around Vegas would be the cure, but I only lasted ~10 days before it returned so I shut things down the last 3 weeks. Getting back out today was fine, but since it's now been 15 months since stringing more than 4-6 weeks in a row (what do ya know- that's when I turned 40 :lol: ) without something stunting progress I have no confidence I'll be saying the same thing come mid-June. Any suggestions? As 30something year old me said over and over again, I am NOT a shoe guy. I didn't need to be, I suppose father time is undefeated and it's past time to adjust.

I don’t have shoe advice but I was wondering how your calves are these days. I keep thinking about a post you made a few years ago about how excruciatingly painful foam rolling was. It made we wonder if tight calves were triggering other issues. I think I’ve had some of that personally.
I may have mentioned it sometime this winter, but the source of my issues appears to be my hips. Do those issues bear themselves out in my legs (i.e. running) or my back (i.e. yard work) depends on the activity. That's my indirect way of saying I solved my calf problem, but it's still susceptible to returning without awareness and maintenance. I think I've developed a plan to manage them better as when it flares up it's much minor relative to the past (2 days off usually does it), but now this knee thing has thrown another curveball. As is, I don't know what triggered it, but I'm hoping tomorrow's scheduled massage and new shoes are the solution...or at least steers me towards better problem ID if it comes back again.

And I write all that understanding it could just be weight as I'm up ~20 lbs vs racing shape. I was up ~10-15, which is why I shifted focus back to running late winter, but did that accelerate the problem, putting me on the shelf, and adding even more weight! Hope this isn't a vicious cycle...I miss being young :lol:
Welcome to my world, tubby.
 
I am reaching out for shoe advice. I don't think the on clouds are the only problem, but between my age and increasing waistline I think I need something with more support to get back on the right track. The knee ailment that developed after several others issues I mentioned back in March persisted. I hoped a week off around Vegas would be the cure, but I only lasted ~10 days before it returned so I shut things down the last 3 weeks. Getting back out today was fine, but since it's now been 15 months since stringing more than 4-6 weeks in a row (what do ya know- that's when I turned 40 :lol: ) without something stunting progress I have no confidence I'll be saying the same thing come mid-June. Any suggestions? As 30something year old me said over and over again, I am NOT a shoe guy. I didn't need to be, I suppose father time is undefeated and it's past time to adjust.
I have the Brooks Glycerin 20s and just ordered a new set. They are onto version 21 now so discounts are available on 20 if they have your size in stock. They are definetly full cushion shoe and if you are looking for that I recomend them. If you want something in between with speedier focus they probably aren't the best for you.

My knees/ankles have been much improved since I upgraded to good running shoes so definately worth the investment.
 

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