Trails for Tails 50k,
Washington Crossing, NJ By Macdiver
This is a race report that I posted in my online fitness journal. I ran this Saturday in my Xero Genesis sandals. It is a little wordy.
At 3 am, my dog woke me frightened of the rain. Normally he only gets scared of thunderstorms or heavy winds but this time it was raining hard enough he was scared. My first thought was I hope it doesn't rain the whole race. Second thought was it is going to be muddy.
I got to the park around 7:30 to pick up my race packet. After getting my packet, I went back to my car to get my backpack and take off the nice warm clothes. It wasn't too cold. Per my car it was 52 degrees when I got to the park. As I walked back to the registration area it began to drizzle. It continued drizzling while we received the pre-race instructions. The following is a description of the course which was essientially what the pre-race...
Mankato Marathon: Not Every Finish is Guaranteed By Trevize1138
Yesterday was my second year doing the Mankato, MN Marathon. Just like last year I did it unshod. My primary goal was just to beat last year's time of 4:28, which was also my first completed marathon. Prior to that I'd attempted to finish the Maah Daah Hey Trail Run marathon distance and DNF'd at mile 20. My secondary goal was to break 4:00. I failed both.
It was a shame because I had a PB for the first 1/2 at 1:59 so I can at least finally say I've run a sub-2hr 1/2. I really want to race a 1/2 again sometime to see just how fast I can do that when I'm not pacing myself to do a 2nd one right after it.
This was also the 3rd marathon+ distance I'd done since July 7 when...
Earlier this year I decided I was brave enough to enter my first half marathon which took place this last weekend on Sunday 14th Oct. -The Perkins Great Eastern Run.
It's a flat course around the city and streets of Peterborough in the UK.
My partner has run it in previous years (shod) and I've always had that 'itchy feet' feeling that I'd like to run it, but until I started running barefoot I know I would have struggled badly with knee pain. Having steadily increased my BF distance however I decided it was time to take the plunge!
I trained reasonably consistently during the 3-4 months prior to the race, basically running every other day, with weekend sessions being the longest run and the mid-week sessions being shorter. Prior to race day my furthest distance was 18km. So I knew that the final 3km of the 21km half marathon on race day would be unchartered territory...
I recently posted about my long 5-day hike in the Adirondacks, but that was not the only hike there I did this summer. I was on vacation and visited the area again in September with my parents on a short camping trip, and couldn't wait to get back to the mountains! Mom and I decided to go for a day-hike one of the days we were there. We settled on a hike of Sawteeth Mountain, a good long dayhike and rumored to be very scenic with many outlooks along the trail. It did not disappoint!
The forecast for the day was one of the hottest days this summer. The nearby village of Keene Valley had a forecasted high of 93F with a heat index of 98. I didn't even know it ever got that hot in the mountains! But we were pretty stuck with the day we had chosen. And the hike we chose was not necessarily a modest one, though it was just one mountain it was still a long...
