Marathon Update

[Captain Kidd]

My daughter and her friend successfully completed the Mill Race Marathon last Saturday. We drove up Friday and it was a pretty miserable trip - an hour longer than normal.

They ran in damp to misty, to light rain conditions. Not too bad at all. The finished in 5:17. That's a lot of running. A 12:08 pace.

Just a pic or two. I'll try to upload a video or two as well.

Arriving at the venue:

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mile 23 with her kids:

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just after the finish:

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Well, videos too big.

My FB page for anyone interested: https://www.facebook.com/robin.leffertskidd

[Frank B.]

Love it! Congratulations, they are in the club.....went to FB watched the videos, a wonderful experience.  However, I have to say they looked too good at the finish, I was always cramping and in severe pain, I can't even watch the videos of my finishes.  And, the worst pain comes the second day after, at least for me.

When I ran Boston I visited my son in Philly first and we rented a car to drive to Boston, then drove back the next day, I was limping up to my gate at the Philadelphia airport and was passed by the pilot of my plane. He said, you ran Boston didn't you? I said yes.  He said, been there, done that, will try to keep the ride home as smooth as possible.

[Captain Kidd]

Love it! Congratulations, they are in the club.....went to FB watched the videos, a wonderful experience.  However, I have to say they looked too good at the finish, I was always cramping and in severe pain, I can't even watch the videos of my finishes.  And, the worst pain comes the second day after, at least for me.

When I ran Boston I visited my son in Philly first and we rented a car to drive to Boston, then drove back the next day, I was limping up to my gate at the Philadelphia airport and was passed by the pilot of my plane. He said, you ran Boston didn't you? I said yes.  He said, been there, done that, will try to keep the ride home as smooth as possible.

Thanks for the comments. The girls truly were impressive. Of course, their pace was moderate but 5 hours nonstop? Come on!

We called our daughter yesterday. Guess what she was doing? Yep - running.

They did their prep. They put in the miles: did 18, 20, and 22 mile runs at appropriate intervals interspersed with short and intermediate runs including the intermediate goal of a half marathon back in May.

The two girls went home for a few hours and then went to church and played volleyball for a couple hours!!

They'll be prepping for the Disney marathon in January.

Edit: I'm sitting here with Tiffany right now. She's driven down to go with me for a sailing trip to Pensacola. She said their secret is proper fueling before and during the race: lots of carbs week before, gels, salt chews, alternating water and Gatorade Zero during . And no pain the days after!
"

[Frank B.]

I think it may have been age, there is something to be said for relative youth and enthusiasm. I was 60 when I ran my first marathon and it was the Tupelo Marathon run over labor day weekend. Mississippi is HOT at that time and I was trying to run a qualifying time but failed miserably. I qualified at 63 within the 18 month gap in San Antonio with a 4:01, then ran Boston at 65 in 2012.  That was the hottest Boston in history with the temps for my corral starting at high eighties and in the nineties for most of the race. I ended up walking the last five miles and I had company.  Time was 5:19. Now I did run when I turned onto Boylston for the last half mile, but that was for the cameras.

If they are considering pace improvement and I am not suggesting it, consider the Furman Institute 3+2 training plan.  The book is run less, run faster.  It is what I used for my qualifier.  The emphasis is on cross training, resting your legs appropriately, and getting you to the start line fresh and without nagging injuries. One day of intervals, one day of a tempo, and one long run per week.  two days of cross training with no leg pounding (I swam) and the other two days rest or weight work.  However, at this point running for fun and fitness seems to make a lot more sense.

[Captain Kidd]

4:01 sounds like a great time! Tiffany thinks she could do a 10 minute pace right now but stays back for her friend. She wants to do one for time at some point. This one was to finish. I gave her a book a few months ago about a training strategy and I think it was the run less run faster book. I'll check.

[Norm L.]

Great stories. I'm really impressed Frank.
My wife ran two marathons, one at about 4:20. She also reaped a few trophies in 5 and 10ks. I was running weekend 10 miles for a half marathon when I damaged a knee in a work-related incident. To avoid complications, I got into biking and bike camping and found it so much more fun to cover 100 miles of scenery than a painful 10 miles of streets, parks or circling tracks.
While visiting a longtime friend in Boston I ran Agony Hill. Being very close to his house I fitted it into a 3-mile run.       I could understand where agony would be in the last few miles of the marathon.

[Wayne Howard]

This was really nice to see people running marathons and finishing in good times. But it's not me. I'm more like:

"I started jogging today. I didn't want to but the ice cream truck wouldn't stop!"

[Riley Smith]

Congratulations to her! All this discussion reminded me of a clip I'd seen years ago with a novice and a marathon trained runner side by side. The difference was so striking. The marathon runner didn't have a hint of a wasted motion and the other guy was obviously going to be tired MUCH quicker. I'm in Wayne's camp though. If you see me running it might be a good idea to follow