Run It Fast®

Here is a look at where everyone is running this weekend. We had 51 responses this week. Good luck to everyone and Run It Fast!

To join Run It Fast – The Club then click HERE to read more details.

The Chicago Marathon has denied a request from 7-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong to run there in October.

The decision comes after a USADA ruling that stated Armstrong was guilty of using performance enhancing drugs for the past decade.

The USADA has stripped Armstrong of his seven Tour de France championships and banned him from all sports according to Runner’s World.

The road running community has been waiting to see if USA Track & Field, the national governing body for the sport, would enforce the ban on Armstrong. As a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency code, USATF is bound to enforce rulings by WADA and USADA.

The ban in other sports such as road running and triathlon has not been popular.

“It seems a little over the top to pursue him beyond the cycling arena to me,” said John Conley, whose company owns and operates the Livestrong Austin Marathon and Half Marathon.

Do you agree with the decision of the Chicago Marathon to keep Lance Armstrong out of their race?

Do you believe Armstrong used blood doping or performance enhancing drugs during the marathons he’s run over the past few years?

#27 Anthony Ohrey

This week’s Run It Fast – The Club member profile is #27 Anthony Ohrey! I bet you didn’t know Run It Fast – The Club had superheroes in it? Well, there are quite a few! And Anthony is just one of them. There’s even a picture for proof! So read on to meet this week’s superhero, Anthony:

INFO

Name: Anthony Ohrey
RIF #: 27
Facebook: Anthony Ohrey

STATS

Years Running: 2.5 years
Favorite Race Distance: Half marathon
Favorite PR: Lexington KY half marathon 2011  1:41:55  third in age group
Favorite Race: Mercedes Benz Half Marathon

Favorite Bling: St. Jude Country Music Marathon Nashville (1st full marathon)

Next Race: Southern Plunge half/full marathon
What Makes You FEEL Fast?: Having strangers on a course yelling encouraging words during any race!

FUN RUNNING QUESTIONS

What is the strangest/funniest thing you’ve ever seen while running?  I was running in the Mercedes Benz Half Marathon 2011 and it started to warm up to where runners were dropping coats and scarfs off.  A lady about ten feet in front of me had seen a guy drop a Northface  vest and stopped to pick it up.  She said “Oh look, it’s a Northface vest!”  put it on and started running with it.  I thought that it was a little tacky since the clothes left during a race were going to people in need.

Have you ever worn a costume during a race? What was it and for what race? If not, would you?  I went as Captain America to the Warrior Dash 2011 in Manchester TN.  I’m a really big comic geek and had seen the Captain America movie before and I decided to run as him.  I bought a mask and a plastic shield because I had seen pictures of people dressed in all sorts of outfits.  I fit right in!  It was a blast and I plan to break out the costume again (not sure when though).

What is your favorite go-to pre-race meal? I really love a Snickers bar and Monster before 5Ks and half marathons.  I have a blueberry muffin before a marathon.

What is the thing you splurge on after a race?  Chinese food.  I really love Chinese!!!!

Big races or small races? And why?  I really enjoy the small races that have more of that hometown feel like the Coca Cola 10K in Corinth, MS.  It has a very good turnout and all the people are very friendly.  The big races are cool but sometimes it feels like you get lost in all the people!

Anthony with RIF #35 Todd Shadburn

What is the one piece of running gear you can’t leave the house without?  MP3 player.  The music helps move me to the finish line.

What running moment are you most proud of?  I’m most proud of my first marathon in Nashville.  I started off great sticking to my plan of trying to pace myself.  About mile 14 or 15 my legs started to cramp.  By mile 18 I was cramping bad.  I would walk a little and stop, walk a little more and stop and stretch, then try and run some more but I could not go far.  I wanted to stop and just give up but I worked through it and with the help of another runner towards the end I was able to finish my first marathon.

If you can’t run, you’re ________? Prob working.

Finally, is there anything else you would like the rest of the club to know that we didn’t cover in the questions? I really enjoy being part of Run It Fast.  Everyone in the club is a valuable asset to ask questions, get information, and great people. I have met some of the most inspiring people through this club and they have given me helpful advice for my running. I think that I wouldn’t have tried any longer distances than half marathons if it wasn’t for RIF.  Its great to see everyone always encouraging each other and helping out where they are needed.  Thanks

RIFers at The Jackal

Anthony with RIF #4 Marj Mitchell

***

Having just run as Minnie Mouse at the Disneyland Half Marathon, I am so happy to see another RIF – Club member has also run in a costume. I was beginning to think no one else had. Kudos to Anthony for having fun as Captain America! The best part…he is his own hero. Not only did he not plan on ever running a marathon, but he finished one under tough circumstances. Just goes to prove: we can do more than we think we can…and that is what Run It Fast is all about.

Thanks for sharing Anthony and I hope you share photos of your next race in a costume. Good luck at the Southern Plunge and Run It Fast!

If you’d like to join Run It Fast – The Club or would like more information about it, please click this link:

Run It Fast – The Club (JOIN TODAY)

[All photos submitted by Anthony Ohrey]

This is the medal for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon that was held on September 2, 2012 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

This is a little different than what I’ve come to expect from Rock ‘n’ Roll medals but I like it. It’s simple but the blue and yellow make it eye catching and the wave and the sun are perfect.

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

[medal photo submitted by Darius. Follow him on Twitter @dzoid11]

Blackburn Fork two years ago

When Josh Hite and I innocently turned down Blackburn Ford Road on our morning run of Friday, August 27, 2010, we didn’t know we were headed for the scene of water’s most forceful devastation we’d ever seen. That day we waded the river and scrambled through house-sized piles of tangled trees. Three of the four bridges crossing the river, along with their abutments and piers, had been scattered by the flood’s immense force. Judy Richardson, who lives in a house on ground barely high enough to survive the flood and overlooking one of the bridges swept away, said it looked like the Colorado River had coursed through that narrow valley.

What Josh and I saw that day astonished us. We rambled the length of the gorge in amazement. Several hours and twenty-two miles later we found ourselves in Gainesboro, hungry, dehydrated and exhausted from exploring and running through the August heat. His wife Martha drove from Cookeville to Gainesboro to pick us up. A year later my account of that run became Chapter 40 in the book Going Down Slow (2011).

Today, Josh and I made our second anniversary run down the river. The run has become an annual habit. Things have changed remarkably for the better there since last year, and certainly since two years ago. The road has been raised and rebuilt, the section at Judy Richardson’s house paved even. In places where the road comes close to the river, rip-rap has been placed on tall embankments which should resist future undercutting. The piles of trees have been mostly removed. The bridge at Zion Road has been replaced by a longer and higher bridge, remnants of the old collapsed bridge hauled away.

Read the full story by Dallas Smith by clicking HERE

This is the runDisney Coast to Coast Challenge Medal for 2012.

In order to earn this medal, runners must complete a half marathon or marathon on the east coast at Walt Disney World AND a half marathon on the west coast at Disneyland. You can run either coast first and you have options on each coast:

East Coast – Walt Disney World Half Marathon/Marathon, the Princess Half Marathon, and the Wine & Dine Half Marathon.

West Coast – Disneyland Half Marathon and the Tinkerbell Half Marathon.

Congratulations to Teal and Beth of @LifeisaRun who completed the Princess Half Marathon and the Disneyland Half Marathon this year to earn this awesome medal!

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

[medal photo submitted by Teal and Beth. Follow them on Twitter @LifeisaRun]

This is the medal for the Zombie Runner Vasona Lake Run Half Marathon that was held on Labor Day, September 3, 2012 in Los Gatos, California.

Fun medal! Congratulations to RIF #140 Dennis who took 3rd place in his age group! Way to Run It Fast!

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

[medal submitted by RIF #140 Dennis Arriaga – follow him on Twitter @dennarr]

This is the medal for the Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon that was held on September 2, 2012 in Willamette Valley, Oregon.

This is an awesome medal! It’s colorful and incorporates all the elements you would associate with this half marathon. And as an added bonus, it’s a stopper and a bottle opener as well!

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

[medal photo submitted by RIF #60 Christy Bowers. Follow her on Twitter @run2bake]

This is the medal for the Tupelo Marathon that was held on September 2, 2012 in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Wild medal! Kind of scary and the motto is hardcore but I would run a marathon for this medal!

Here are a few more photos of some of the RIF – The Club members that were there, the back of the marathon medal, and the medal for the half marathon (actually 14.2 miles):

Love that the half marathon medal for this is a broken half of the marathon medal! Fun stuff!

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

[medal and photo submitted by RIF #1 Joshua Holmes – follow him on Twitter @bayou and half marathon medal submitted by Leigh Eoff Marsh]

This is the medal for the Disneyland Half Marathon that took place on September 2, 2012 in Anaheim, California at the Happiest Place On Earth!

I love this medal! It’s so big and shiny. 🙂 And I love that it has Sleeping Beauty’s Castle on it since that and the Matterhorn are what I associate most with Disneyland here in California. Here’s another view of it:

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

[medal photo submitted by RIF #5 Lisa Gonzales – follow her on Twitter @runlikeacoyote and also by Reese – follow Reese on Twitter @runreeserun]