Wonderful!!! It was a light rain coming down on a cool but not cold day, which made for great running weather. I ran with a group of high school kids which was great since I normally run alone. It was my first time running with a group and it allowed me to push myself. Originally I was told by the route creator that we'd be running 9 miles, in preparation for the Broad Street Run which is 10 miles on May 1st. I'd never run more than 7.5 miles before and was very anxious to say the least.  In the end the route was actually 10.88 miles (someone miss-calculated) and I was able to finish in 1:53:27.  I expected to run an 11 minute mile pace or more so I was very pleased when I did better. My plan has been to finish Broad Street in 90 minutes or better and that run proved to me that it’s possible. I’ll do some light running today & Thursday and on Sunday I’ll run the race that first peek my interest in running.  

Thanks JT, I'm excited to finally get to take part in the BSR. I think I'll do well I can't wait to see how it feels running with such a large amount of people, crowd included.

Yesterday's run was a tough one for me. I struggled through 9.35 miles. Not sure if  it was the heat or just not my day. I didn't feel very strong going  into the run, however, I made it through. There are some bad days and yesterday was definitely one of those for me.

Where are you, Lucy?  I hope all is well.

Hello All!!

     Had a great time at the Let's Move Festival!!! Half Marathon Time was:  1:42:16   min/mile 7:49.

This was the first annual marathon for Mt. Clemons Michigan so it had a couple course glitches but overall was awsome!!!

Had some friends that joined me and they also did great!

As always, Great job everone

My last run was my first race EVER!  Ran in the 5K before the Eugene Marathon.  It was a beautiful day, and the course was not too hilly.  My running buddy and I finished in 31:51, which is faster than we've run that distance before.  Just about 12 1/2 weeks ago, I had never run more than a mile, as a requirement for gym class.  25+ years later, I can't wait until my next run!  Thanks to everyone in this forum for being such an inspiration.  Now we're ready to start working toward our 10K in September.  It's a tough one, but the goal is just to finish.

Before I took off for my race, my son hugged me and said, "I hope you finish in the top 100%, Mom!"  That was exactly my goal.

  Welcome back Lucie . I'm glad to hear your knee's feeling better, and yes, I have missed you . It's occurred to me that a lot of us are probably guilty of over training for our first big races . I know I am . I trained way too hard for my Half Marathon . I gained endurance but my skeleton suffered .

  I've been visiting family in Florida since Thursday and haven't run since Tuesday . I did however do my longest ever bike ride, 72 miles . I hope to have time to run in the morning .

  I haven't signed up yet, but it looks like my next two events will be The White Lake International Distance Triathlon in September and the Beach to Battleship Half Iron Distance Triathlon in late October . I need to do some swim training badly !

  Bald Guy, Nice race !

                                                                                  Marc

Good to see you back, Lucy, and I hope your knee keeps getting better.  Easy, easy, easy getting accustomed to VFF's.  I don't want to be accused of pushing an ideological point, but if you integrate a bit of barefoot running, even just a little in the warmup phase of your workouts, you will get an even better feel for the form you're striving for.  It's not "barefoot" that matters, it's the "barefoot form."  Short strides, quick light landings, high cadence, ond did I say light landings?  You will do very well if you focus on a little at a time and light, light, light.  It's diffecult to do, but you can try to integrate the BF form into your shod running.  It's just very tricky to maintain the lightness and the mid- to forefoot strike.

I ran my first Half Marathon yesterday in Allentown, PA.  It was a magnificent morning for a run with sunshine, no wind, and a temp of about 45 to start with a warmup by the end of the race to almost 60.  I finished in 1:54:59 (8:50 / mile) according to my chip, and had a lovely time for the most part.  The last 3 miles felt like they were all uphill, but that was just because I really hadn't run enough milage yet this year to be able to keep up my early pace through the whole 13.1 miles.  It would have been a PR for me at the 10 mile point, which I passed at under 84 minutes.  I stopped to stretch my calves at mile 11 or so, and walked for maybe 10 seconds through a couple of the last water stops.  Still, I feel fine today, the day after, though I'll hold off running again until tomorrow.

Lucy, I ran it in VFF Bikilas, which are my go to backups for when I'm anticipating rough road/ trail surfaces.  About 5 miles of this course had crushed stone trails, which eat my bare feet.

Good running all!