CEF, welcome!! I am an expert on impatience. Look over the training plans online for race lengths like 10k or half marathon and see how the experts advise you to do it. Pick one you can live with and STICK TO IT!! (shouty because that's the hard part).

GUESS WHO JUST GOT A BIB FOR THE AF HM THIS SATURDAY!!!?????  I did I did I did   Doing my happy dance before this **** gets serious.

BTW, I passed the guy before crossing the finish line. Bet he hated getting "chicked" by an OLD HEN! LOL

Welcome! GREAT RACE!!! Well organized, good site, friendly crowd, and great swag!

Will write later but did 13.2 in 3:10 and could have come in under 3 if not for hammy. Great day so far!!

Marie-great job on the finish. I was thinking the same thing about Mr 318!  I hate those finish line cameras.  I always look like I'm about to keel over!

Steve-good luck in the Fox Valley race; you had me thinking you were on the wrong date, then I saw the city. The 'Fox Cities' marathon and HM are next Sunday in Appleton, WI. 

Mary Kay- way to tough it out.  Hope the hammy can fully recover now...

Tony-great job on the 26 miler!  Best of luck in Chicago.

I finished the WO-ZHA-WA HM today in 2:37:45 by my timer (no chip), just over 12m/mi.  I copied your idea Tony, doing 60/30 for first 3 miles, then 2:1 most of the rest of the way.   I'm sure you're right, Tony, 26.2 is a lot further than 13.1!  I have one more chance for a long run in 2 weeks to decide if I'm signing up for HM or FM on 10/21.  We will see.

Way to keep working it gang.  Run strong and safe!

Marie, I loved the pic of you racing because he looks so pathetic and it's a great metaphor for life. We all run our own races, finishing ahead or behind our past records. This guy had no reason to focus his finish on whether you passed him; he's clearly gassed out and lucky to be standing.  Men get a little physical advantage in running too so comparing his race to yours makes things only worse for him. You look fresh and are running with power. You obviously ran well and deserved an earlier finish.

Tony, you are such an inspiration! 26 mi training run is awesome!! You will have a fantastic race!! enjoy the rest and store that strength.

Ray, Great Job!! That's the first time I've heard of someone running a HM to train for a 10k. You and your wife are pretty darn fast!!

Good race to you next weekend, Steve!!

My race was good. My friend, Scott found me and had pre-race jitters so I was conscious that I didn't. I just felt unbelievably happy and lucky to be running. I wasn't going to be able to push because I didn't intend to risk a post-race injury and give my naysayers fodder. Friday Dr. B (obese and over 50) said, "Do you really think it's wise to be running at your age?" So time didn't matter, and I knew if I was hurting, I could walk and still finish. I started with 1:1 run walk and felt strong until m.4 when the top of my hamstring, the part in your butt, started shouting but it was just annoying. By 9 the pain was screaming and the whole leg felt alien so I switched to 30:30. That worked for awhile but around 11 it seemed my walking was faster than running and I think I was limping so I reluctantly walked the rest. If I had been able to do the last half of the race as I did the first half, I could have finished in under 3 hrs. so I was disappointed about that but I did get a PR out of it; finished in 3:10. Knowing my record for getting lost, Scott showed me the finish line as we came into the race area. Such a good idea!! Once again the course looped around before the end but this time I was prepared. YAY! Before finishing we could hear them calling everyone's name as they finished and telling facts about them like "This is Mike's first full marathon" or "Bob just ran a personal best" as they crossed and I was worried because I was a 39 yr old named Jeffrey, a modern medical miracle, but the announcer just ignored me. Whew. Even though I napped, I didn't feel like partying last night and today have some stiffness and ache but was able to do a very short trail run so feeling optimistic that I can finish the trail HM in two weeks. Fingers crossed.

For those thinking of this race, I loved it for lots of reasons. It was really well organized. Wright Patterson AF base is huge but there were people everywhere telling you where to go and everything was well marked. The freeway had a lit sign, "For the AF Marathon, take exit...." Parking was in a field but was marked off with colored and numbered flags. Instructions said to be on base two hours before start and it was perfect timing to navigate the line of incoming cars (think high season Disney), the parking lot, the starting area, the bathroom lines, and see the flyovers (yess!) and opening ceremony (skydivers with flags to live music).  And the base was quite impressive with the museum and planes and memorial park and sheer size.  Other good things: 1) Inside bathrooms at the start and in two places along the course and plenty of porta pots; 2) Only runners, scenery and volunteers on the course; 3) One half mile (at 10) of public cheering; 4) Lots of water, gatorade, gels, bars, and sponges; 5) Lots of monitors on atvs, bikes and in vehicles who evicted people if they weren't authorized or if they violated rules (and cared for injured); 6) A really well-behaved crowd (any wonder?); and 7) A truly flat and fast HM course. The one downside was adjusting to taking everything you need in this plastic bag they give out at pickup because it's a long walk back to parking. I didn't get the picture so I was packing with morning brain as I left the car. I forgot my Motoactiv and earphones!! I have NEVER run without tunes!! It was thirty min before start when I realized I didn't have them and would have to miss the opening ceremony and maybe the start to rush back for them. I figured this was a great time to try enjoying the race atmosphere and I never missed them once. Come January, I will be registering to run this again and hope to make it a tradition.

Yesterday's Fox Valley HM was not as good as I had hoped, but still not bad.  The weather was excellent, starting with low 50s at the 7AM start and probably low 60s when we finished.  I wore shorts, a short-sleeved top and arm warmers that I pushed down to my wrists after a few miles.  Some people wore tights which I think they regretted fairly soon.  I also saw a collection of long-sleeved tops at the finish line that runners had discarded at various points and that the volunteers had picked up.  I hope these will might be washed and, if still decent, given to homeless shelters or similar organizations.  That's what they do at the Des Moines Marathon.

This race had three parts:  full and half marathons and a 20-miler for those who are doing the Chicago Marathon next month and want a final long tuneup run.  Total entrants were 2,900.  They have kept the total fairly small because of parking limitations in the downtown area.  We started in waves of 100, 30 seconds apart, which really lessened the starting line congestion and made it much easier to settle into a good early pace.  What I had not anticipated were some early short and steep hills that I struggled on even more than usual because I was not yet warmed up and into any kind of rhythm.  Many runners find their pace and rhythm early on, but it takes me a few miles, so those early hills were not my friends.  As a result, I lost touch with my pacer after only about four miles and could not catch up.

The course was good, starting in downtown and running on streets for the first few miles, then moving to the trail that runs along the Fox River.  There were several long stretches with few or no spectators, very quiet and scenic, which made for easy running.  We stayed on that trail for the most part until we got to about seven miles where we crossed the river and went back north.  The full marathoners and 20-milers continued south.  The last mile or so looped through a beautiful park next to the river, then we did the last short piece to the finish line.  There were plenty of water stops and medical tents along the route, so that I skipped a few and drank from the bottle I was carrying.  I had gels with me too.  I ran out of tissues at about halfway, so I stopped at one of the medical tents at eight or nine miles to restock.  Note to self:  carry more next time.

My finishing time was a disappointing 2:23, eight minutes behind my goal time and nine slower than my PR.  I think without those hills, I could have done two or three minutes faster.  However, my time was good enough for third in my AG (M65-69) out of seven.  As we all know, we old people have small age groups.  Overall I was not displeased with the day.  I set my PR at Grandma's Marathon in 2011, but that was a flat, point-to-point course with a tailwind, so any comparison is unfair.

My post-race meal after I got home was pizza and chocolate milk.  I was disappointed that there was no chocolate milk or something similar at the finish, but that's not my decision.  Also, there were thousands of plastic water bottles, but no separate bins marked for recycling.  I hope someone went through the trash cans to pull them out for reuse rather than sending them to a landfill.

I continue, as I think we all do, to be pleased that I (we) can still be out there training and competing.  I feel so blessed not to be saddled with the health problems that plague so many people our age and I look forward (again, as I think we all do) to being able to do this for a lot more years.  I have one more HM next month in Des Moines.  We will get to see our granddaughter again; she will be just shy of two months old and I know she will look a lot different that she did when we first saw her at 10 days old.  My son had planned to do the full marathon but he has dialed back to the half due to a lack of training.

Congratulations to all (Mary Kay, Dan and everyone else) who raced this past weekend.  Today is a rest day for me and probably a 30-mile bike ride with friends tomorrow.

I have to go to the store now:  I'm almost out of chocolate milk.

MKay,Steve GREAT  reading all those race reports.

Ray what's the secret? You and your wife ran that HM pretty darn fast. way To Go