Run It Fast®

Here is the finisher’s medal from the Western Pacific Half Marathon that took place on May 5, 2012 in Fremont, California.

This is a beautiful, strong, and powerful medal. You almost feel as if that locomotive is going to run straight off the medal to victory.

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

[Submitted by RIF #140 Dennis Arriaga. Follow him on Twitter @dennarr]

Here is the finisher’s medal from the Provo City Marathon that took place May 5, 2012 in Provo, Utah.

Big fan of this medal. It’s simple yet powerful in many ways.

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

[Submitted by Jason Howard. Follow him on Twitter @Jasonrunsutah]

Here is the finisher’s medal from the 34th Annual Whiskey Row Marathon that took place on May 5, 2012 in Prescott, Arizona.

Complimentary cap-gun and holsters were not included with the medal.

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

[Submitted by RIF #66 Robert Boluyt. Follow him on Twitter @Bateluer]

This is the medal for the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, the largest half marathon in the United States, held yearly in Indianapolis.  Runners are treated to a full loop on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which amounts to over 2.5 miles of the 13.1-mile race.

This year’s men’s race was won by George Towett in 1:05:08 and Lilian Mariita won the women’s race in 1:15:23.

It’s a pretty good medal.  Nothing spectacular about it, but it hits the right notes: colorful, detailed engraving of a racecar and a checkered ribbon.

Here’s a picture of the special medal given to the first 500 finishers:

For a full recap, please visit Dan’s Marathon.

Here is the finisher’s medal from the Savage Gulf Trail Marathon that took place on March 18, 2012 in Savage Gulf State Park near Dunlap, Tennessee.

It was a first year event and the park rangers that put on the race did almost everything right. The race/park was stunningly beautiful, and the marathon was extremely challenging with climbs over big boulders. It took finisher’s on average 2-3 hours longer than usual.

Bling you say? Well as you can see there was no official bling. Something I’m sure will be rectified next year.

However, there was a swag table full of giveaways. So I saw the Skull Candy headphones and headed for the food tent.

[submitted by Joshua Holmes. Follow him on Twitter @bayou]

The Strolling Jim 40 Mile run was memorable, to say the least. The thunderstorms early on, which has happened in the past, preceded extreme heat, sun, and pretty high humidity. We all heard that this heat and humidity would happen and prepared for it somewhat, but when you wake up in the morning race day and it’s foggy and getting ready to rain, it’s hard to imagine how hot it will really get in the later hours of the race.

LIke most others, even on the flatter sections of the latter part of the race, it was difficult to run and taking walk breaks or shuffling was imperative. No matter how much I wanted to push myself into a 8:30 pace, 10-11 minute pace was all that I could muster up. At the time, I thought that I was the only one who felt this drained by the heat-especially when I saw Chris Estes.

Even though Chris was taking walk breaks, he was still feeling strong and said the heat wasn’t bothering him that much. Over by the “manure” section, where huge stretch of land was being plowed with manure, I was having a difficult time running and smelling that stench. Chris made a point to ask me a few times if I was okay. I replied, “No but yes I’m fine”. If you are an ultra runner, you know what that means.

The final stretch of the 41.2 mile race is on a highway with fairly large shoulders to run on. The road is marked “Only 2 miles left” and “Only 1 mile left”. Around the time that I saw that I only had one mile left to go, I saw something that could have been a hullucination. I saw Chris jump over the metal highway railing down a significantly steep grassy slope. I was still about 1/4 mile away so I wasn’t sure exactly what I saw.

Honestly, I was thinking that maybe Chris suddenly wasn’t feeling well and needed to use the bathroom. What else was I supposed to think?

Shortly after, I saw cars stopping and people moving around quickly. What was going on? The closer I got,  it suddenly occured to me that Chris was needing help.

I stopped and saw Chris about 10 feet down the slope and asked him if he was okay. I got a little closer just as he was telling me that a runner was down and unconscious and I saw another man on the other side of the unconscious runner and they both looked worried. I also saw a local family of three dealing with the situation by calling 911 and responding to the situation.

The only thing that I did to help was close the door of the pick-up truck, in fear that the door would be hit by an oncoming car. I knew that the situation was being dealt with but it was hard to leave. It was hard to see my friend down there dealing with it after running 40 miles in the heat and humidity. But, at that moment, I was honored to know him.

This was Chris’s first Strolling Jim 40 Miler. He is a Boston qualifying runner and loves ultras. He wanted that “sub7 red shirt” that so many of us want. Chris was a few minutes ahead of me before jumping over that railing to save another runner. The truth is that Chris just happened to see the runner’s hat and saw him down the slope off the highway. The runner had been sitting on the railing and fell backwards after passing out. If Chris hadn’t seen his hat, he never would have spotted the runner, or anyone else would have spotted him, for that matter. The runner could have died.

I finished the race in 6:33. Chris was at least a few minutes ahead of me so he would gotten his 6:30 shirt. Instead he finished in 7:10, as a result of saving that runner’s life. The race director, Mike Melton, did give Chris a sub7 red shirt. What Chris did on this day was far more important than receiving the “red shirt”. Even though he was exhausted and getting ready to finish a 41.2 mile race under brutal conditions, he reacted to an extremely difficult situation and to me, proved how special ultra runners are as a whole.

We are not just out there for ourselves: to beat others, to get something out of this in a selfish way. We not only love running and running far, but we also love the community of runners and will do anything for them, expecting nothing in return. On this day, Chris was the perfect example of that.

Huntsville’s Blake Thompson won the 34th Strolling Jim 40 Miler on May 6, 2012 with a winning time of 5:17:29 for the 41.2 mile course.

Thompson’s time was the slowest winning time in race history according to Race Director Mike Melton.  This was due in large part to the high temperatures and humidity that took a toll on all of the runners throughout the grueling hills of Wartrace, Tennessee.

Second place went to Strolling Jim veteran Dink Taylor (5:29:01) who has run 24+ Jims.  Third place went to ‘Bruce’ Sung Ho Choi (5:33:21) of Jacksonville, Florida.

Top overall female went to Huntsville native Kathy Youngren with a time of 6:04:35.

Second place female was Beth McCurdy (6:33:01) with third place female going to Kim Nosenchuk-Brooks (6:46:57).

Top 34th Strolling Jim Finishers

1. Blake Thompson – 5:17:29
2. Dink Taylor – 5:29:01
3. ‘Bruce’ Sung Ho Choi – 5:33:21
4. David Jones – 5:36:22
5. Tom Dolan – 5:48:59
6. Andy Bruner – 5:56:33
7. Kathy Youngren – 6:04:35 (F)
8. Christopher Cadotte – 6:10:11
9. Timothy Pitts – 6:11:19
10. Dwayne Satterfield – 6:14:00
11. Robert Youngren – 6:14:50
12. Carl Laniak – 6:25:40
13. Robby Callahan – 6:27:17
14. Evan Dare – 6:31:34
15. Beth McCurdy – 6:33:01 (F)
16. Gary Dawkins – 6:35:39
17. Hal McClure – 6:38:23
18. Orlando Baez – 6:45:20
19. Kim Nosenchuk-Brooks – 6:46:57 (F)
20. George Menyhert – 6:46:58
21. William Arnold – 6:51:34
22. Dana MacCorquodale – 6:58:37

One of the scarier and heroic moments of the race happened during the last mile when Chris Estes, who was on a 6:30ish finishing pace, jumped over a guardrail to help save a fellow runner who had fallen over the guardrail (full story).

[photo via Dink: Kathy Youngren, Blake Thompson, Dink Taylor]

Welcome to the Run It Fast – The Club Extreme Racer Contest for 2014!

Here’s how it works:

-Each month, RIF Club members will enter their race stats in our database.

-You will be awarded 1 point for each mile you raced during the month. For example, if you raced a 5K this month, you would get 3.1 points for the month.

-The database will calculate the number of “race miles” you ran for the month and keep track of them for you  and us.

-We will post the standings each month so you can see where you are in the standings.

-At the end of the year, we’ll crown a male and a female Extreme Runner (with possible age group awards/recognition as well).

So how do you enter your race information? We’ve created a form for you to enter your data into. You can find the form here for now:

Run It Fast – Club Extreme Runner Entry Form

We’ll be adding a link to it on the Run It Fast – The Club page for future access. Let’s look at an example of how RIF #5 filled out the form for January – April:

When you fill out the form, you’ll be entering data for one month at a time but I wanted to give you an idea of how the data will look with various examples. As you can see, RIF #5 ran one race in March that wasn’t a “normal” distance so that race was counted in the Other Races for that month and RIF #5 entered the number of miles for that race. (yes, that means you’ll have to calculate your “Other Races” miles for us – so thank you!).

The form also asks you for your Total Monthly Miles (it should include both “race” and normal training miles for the month) but this number is NOT part of the contest. Total Monthly Miles is just for fun and to see how much everyone is running. Nothing is filled out in Notes above but we hope you’ll share any accomplishments you had for the month with us. We would love to know about new PRs, new race distances completed, age group awards, wins, etc.

This is a sample of what the form looks like:

You just enter your data for the month and click Submit. It’s that easy! But make sure you don’t submit your stats until the month is over. Once again, here is the link to the data entry form:

Run It Fast – Club Extreme Runner Entry Form

Good luck and Run It Fast!

2017 Extreme Racer Winner – Ila Brandli (Results)
2016 Extreme Racer Winner – Karen Vollan (Results)
2015 Extreme Racer Winner – John Leighton (Results)
2014 Extreme Racer Winner – Ed Ettinghausen (Results)
2013 Extreme Racer Winner – David Wingard (Results)
2012 Extreme Racer Winner – Steve Hughes (Results)

Just a reminder…this contest is for Run It Fast – The Club members only so if you aren’t a part of Run It Fast – The Club and want to join in on the fun, click this link:

Run It Fast – The Club

We asked on Twitter (@runitfast) where you were running this weekend and 88 of you responded!

Good luck to you all this weekend and Run It Fast!

Joshua Holmes – The Strolling Jim 40 Miler (41.2 miles) – The greatest and oldest ultramarathon in the south. #runitfast

Marcia Larsen – Pittsburgh 1/2 Marathon on 5/6. How can you pass up being named a Runner of Steel!

Lisa Gonzales – I’m running the Safari Park Half Marathon in San Diego on Sunday. #AnimalRacing

Kim Yates – Running @CapCityHalf in Columbus, Ohio w/ my friend@MLSwinehart #go us

Nicole Segalini – In a half marathon on Sunday in Providence RI@coxrhoderaces

Michelle – Lake Lowell Marathon in Nampa, ID!

don morris – Flying Pig Marathon, Cincinnati! My first full!

Tanjie K – Run for the Roses 10k in Madison, AL

Larry Medina – #njhalfmarathon this Sunday. Looking for a PR.#runlarryrun

Corey Barton – Pacing the kzoo half on Sunday!

K7Lee – I am running Lincoln half marathon in good ole Nebraska. Yeah praying for no rain. No rain dancing at the moment.

Lexie Stempihar – Swamp Rabbit 5k Friday night in Travelers Rest, SC

smithcincinnati – flying pig marathon!! Squeal!

christopher russo – Broad St 10 miler in Philly

Erin Manzo – Expedition Everest Challenge!

Perry Ligon – The North Face Endurance Challenge 50k Bear Mountain NY Saturday 🙂

tracie-lyn – just running in my neighborhood!

Alex Flores – I will be running the Whiskey Row marathon on Prescott, AZ.

Raezzelle – Oak Hall Run 5k for St. Jude !!!

Wade Anderson – Strolling Jim Wartrace , TN

Robert Boluyt – Whiskey Row Marathon, Prescott AZ

Ryan J. Copico – Cotton Classic 10k Greenville, MS

Kristi Puls – Lincoln half marathon this Sunday.

737 Guy – pandoras Box of Rox trail marathon in Burnet Texas on Sat.

Ike ¦) – I’m racing a 10k at Mt. Hood community college tomorrow @runitfast#ready #pumped #allornothing

Serg Aloma – OC Marathon

Anne Burke – Lincoln, NE! National Guard Marathon 🙂

Nayeli – Flying Pig Marathon @RunFlyingPig in Cincinnati, OH this Sunday! My first full!

Bob and Trish Evans – we will be joggling (running + juggling) in Vancouver, BC 😉

Nick Kane – Jersey marathon baby 26.2 #6

Rachel Zides – Providence RI half marathon

Steven Thorstenson – ONE AMERICA 500 FESTIVAL MINI MARATHON Indianapolis.

Azifikare – #TorontoMarathon this Sunday. Just another long run..

Amy Hanavan – Wallis Sands half-marathon Rye, New Hampshire!

Nicholas L. Norfolk – No races. I’ll be at @BealeStMusicFes this weekend. Long runs still on deck though. As @MarathonJunkie would say#RUNMORE

Stephen G – the @HoustonDynamo Go for Goal 5K

Paul Sargent – Pittsburgh! I’m trying to become a #RunnerofSteel. My first marathon!

Trey Pittman – New Balance Uptown 5K in Shreveport, LA!

David W – Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon.

Dennis Arriaga – Western Pacific Half Marathon in Fremont, CA

Daniel – Long Island Half Marathon!

Kate Runner – 17 miles- nature preserve and suburban streets (8 miles out, then “run home”)

Stephanie Mary – broad street run in Philadelphia on Sunday! #10miles#runitfast

lindsay – 10-miler in beautiful Ann Arbor! Hoping this rain quits.

Sarah – Brazen Western Pacific 5K in Fremont!

Christie Jester – doing my first half in Kenosha, WI on Saturday!!

KFun – Oak Hall for St Jude on Sunday in Memphis!

Meredith – Diva 1/2 Marathon in San Francisco!

Mands! – @PGHMarathon !!! Doing the half!!!!

Mike McCoy – OC marathon in SoCal this weekend to support autism and @TACAfoundation .

Gregory Wilson – The Western Pacific 10k Saturday at Quarry Lakes Regional Park in Fremont, CA.

Lea Boyd  – Flying from Toronto to Philadelphia to run my first race ever: the Blue Cross Broad Street Run 10 miler.

PerOla Axelsson – half marathon “Kungsholmen runt”

Amber Goetz – the Flying Pig Marathon (1/2 Mary for me) in Cincinnati OH on Sunday! 😀

Lena Tamplin – Tricities 3rd Annual 10k Run and 5k Run/Walk, Sat. at 8 am.

Elle – Toronto Marathon this weekend!

Alvin Lee – Pittsburgh Marathon…Here’s to becoming a Runner of Steel!

Skip Keltner – running the One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon Saturday with 35,000 runners. #Indy

Laura Raeder – The Flying Pig Marathon cincinnati Ohio!

Robin – Pocono half marathon.

Amber Meranda – The entire @JonniesGoodguys team is running@500Festival #MiniMarathon Saturday in Indianapolis. Give us a follow!!

Robin Robbins – a little trail running and road running near home this weekend in Milan, TN

Courtney – Broad Street Run, Philadelphia!

Allie – Cincinnati Flying Pig, my first marathon and 26th birthday!

Adele Read – Toronto Half Marathon. Whoot Whoot!!

Jaclyn Janicky – NJ Marathon in Long Branch !!!

Kelsey Stevens – I’ll be running at my local park to train for my first 5 mile race in three weeks in Boston!

Nathan Kreeger – Hoping 4 a night training run for the ‘supermoon’ Sat. night. 30 miles for my 30th b-day with a 30% brighter moon to light my way

Kelley – I’m running the #Blend5k on the East Coast!

Jenn DeSimone – Frederick Running Festival, Frederick, MD. Half Marathon! 🙂

Joseph Raymond Ruiz – 2012 South Padre Island Jail Break 5/5/12

Colleen Hood – running in beautiful ann arbor – training for upcoming#annarbormarathon

Mark Sikkila – Kalamazoo Marathon for #RIF108 Damn worried about the heat, but first official run with the RIF shirt.

Terri Preast – Strolling Jim, Wartrace, Tennessee!

Meredith Marciano – New Jersey Marathon this Sunday. On the train now to the EXPO to pick up bib.

Brooke F – SMARM 5K (Sevierville, TN)

SKORA Running – Bloomsday 12k!

Jeff Courvoisier – Running the half at @OCMarathon on Sunday w/@mindfuljogger and I’ve got 100+ students running #KidsRuntheOCtomorrow! #KROC

California Footwear – the longest party in California, also known as The Relay. 🙂

Mary Jane Schriver – Pittsburgh 1/2 marathon. Runner of Steel!

Bill Ebersohl – Doing the #Greenland50K tomorrow between Colorado Springs and Denver.

Cordell Lewis – Track Conference at IWU tonight! 800m for me#wonderhowthatwillgodown

Frank S – I’ll be racing in the @BMOVanMarathon this Sunday, May 6th in #Vancouver

Kiki – I am running in the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini Marathon in Indianapolis, IN. Largest half marathon in the country!

Kristopher Gauson – racing at Hayward field this weekend for the twilight meet. Hoping for a fast 1500/800 combo. Place of my current 800 PR

Domenick P. Addesi – @IBXRun10 Blue Cross 10-Mile Broadstreet Run in Philadelphia!! #cantwait

Scott Gorski – 8 mile run around Wind Lake.

Colleen F. – Here! View from packet pickup at the #DoorCounty Half Marathon.http://bit.ly/IJrhSd

Kelly Webb – the Mississauga Half Marathon.

Michelle Mitchell – Moscow International Half Marathon 6-May

Natalie Torres – I will be running around my neighborhood this weekend.

Naresh Kumar – RIF#2 will be at Strolling Jim 40 Mile

—-

In March, we brought you the amazing story of Amy Petty who not only survived being trapped in the rubble of the Federal building during the Oklahoma City bombings but who also lost 200 pounds to make life better for herself and her son. You can read the story here:

RELATED: OKC Bombing Survivor Amy Petty’s Inspirational Story

When we last talked with Amy, she was training for her first marathon – The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon which took place this past weekend on April 29, 2012. I thought I would check in with her and see how her first marathon went. As it turns out, fate threw her yet another curve!

 A couple of weeks before the marathon, Amy was riding in the Redbud Classic 50 Mile Ride when she was hit by a tandem bike. She was knocked unconcious and didn’t wake up until she was in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Luckily, she didn’t break anything but had major road rash and injured her knee. Her knee was giving her trouble after the accident and she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to run but when I talked to her a few days before the marathon she said was feeling great. Ever the positive spirit, she said “Ah the challenges…when I cross that finish line I will know for a fact that I can do anything I set my mind to despite the obstacles!!!” No way was she going to let a little bike accident stop her!

I’m happy to report that Amy completed her first marathon in 6 hours and 30 minutes and she is now a marathoner! Amy was kind enough to answer a few more questions for me about her experience that day.

RIF: How did you feel before the start?

Amy: I was excited and nervous at the start.  I lined up with 27,000 other friends that I didn’t know yet.  The energy was awesome.  And then….to hear 27,000 go completely silent when we have the 168 seconds of silence to honor the lives of the 168 people killed….eerie.  – I cried like a baby.

RIF: Did you ever feel like stopping or was it just one foot in front of the other?

Amy: I sailed along on a total runners high until mile 10.6.  Then my left knee, the one that hit the pavement the hardest in my cycling accident two weeks ago, started giving me trouble.  I began limping at a pace of 17 minutes a mile.  3 power walkers passed me up.  I was devastated.  I had spent months training and was on track for a 5:30 finish time.  I watched between mile 10.6 and mile 17 as it slipped away.  At mile 17 I stopped to pee.  Big mistake.  When I opened the porta-potty door there were two medics there.  Does that tell you how bad I looked?  They were waiting for me and started talking to me about pulling off the course.  I asked if there was a medic tent nearby where I could get my knee wrapped up.  They escorted me to the tent and they wrapped the knee and tried to talk me into pulling off the course.  I said I was going to finish if I had to crawl.  Then suddenly a cyclist friend of mine showed up beside me and made me start talking to her.  A stranger gave me what I hope was Advil and by mile 19 I was doing a 12ish minute pace which I held until the very end.

 It was so enlightening to me.  Here I thought I had it all planned out but things went differently.  Isn’t that life?  I thought my life was all planned out too but suddenly at age 45 I’m single.  Well guess what – when push comes to shove you find out what you are made of and you dig deep and somehow rally yourself to finish strong regardless of past regrets or failures.  

 When I turned the last corner I saw my coach Mark Bravo and he told me that Camille Herron (who is one of the coolest elite runners ever) had won and broken the female record in the state.  I had been rooting for her and was thrilled.  He said she was waiting at the finish line to see me!!!  Bless her heart!  She finished in like 2:40something and I looked at the clock ahead and realized I was going to finish in 6 ½ hours…..the same amount of time that I was buried alive on April 19, 1995.  Somehow it seemed fitting. The finish line couldn’t have been more special regardless of my pace!  But hey….I sure did set myself up for an easy PR for next year! 

Amy, Mark Bravo & Camille Herron

RIF: How did you celebrate after the marathon?

Amy: I got a little ripped off on the celebration part because my aging body revolted against me and I ended up sucking down Advil and taking it easy.  However, I was able to visit my nieces party for just a bit with some of the other runners and that made me feel like I was one of the “cool kids”!

Congratulations on your first marathon Amy! I hope you got that celebration & partied like a rock star!

I don’t know about you but I think Amy is definitely one of the “cool kids”. Amy pushed past her limits on Sunday and she pushed herself to not only finish but to Run It Fast in those last miles! Once again, she proved that a positive spirit, the will to succeed, a sense of humor, and determination can help you overcome incredible odds! I think that’s very cool.

Amy Petty Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon Finish

[photos and video provided by Amy Petty]