Run It Fast®

These are the medals for the New Years Double races that took place on December 31, 2012 and January 1, 2013 in Allen, Texas.

The New Years Double features a marathon, half marathon, and a 5K on both the 31st and the 1st. When you run a race on either day you get the appropriate medal for the day (the smaller ovals in the photo above). If you run a race on both days (any combination), then you get the larger plate as well to hold the other two medals making one BIG Challenge medal (5 1/2 inches).

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[Medal photo submitted by JessicaRuns. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaRuns]

Jonathan Harrison won the inaugural Trail of Fears: The Day After the End of the World Elimination Race late Saturday night after outdueling Illinois native Travis Redden in one of the most exciting race finishes of 2012.

Runners started with 60 minutes to finish the 4.3 mile trail loop. If runners didn’t make it back to the start/finish in that time then they were eliminated. The race restarted every hour. If runners tapped out or didn’t make it back to the start for the restart then they were eliminated as well.

After four hours, a minute was subtracted from the clock per hour until stabilizing at 55 min/loop. It remained at 55 min until lap 14 when it was reduced to 53 minutes then 51 minutes for lap 15 and 50 minutes for lap 16.

Third place went to Mississippi native Rob Philip after he was eliminated after 13 loops as he barely missed making it back to complete his 14th loop.

That left just Harrison and Redden for loop 15. Redden smoked the loop as he had done the last handful of loops coming in with 3:43 remaining on the 51-minute clock.  Harrison, perhaps the most cerebral runner of the day came in with just 40 seconds remaining.

It was then announced for lap 16 that the clock would be reduced by 1-minute down to just 50 minutes. As both runners headed back to the start line, Redden stated that he thought he was done and was going to call it after 15 amazing loops.  Since Travis had beat Jonathan on the prior lap then this meant that Jonathan had to complete the 16th loop in less than 50 minutes for the win while Travis waited at race headquarters along with everyone else.  If Jonathan failed to do it in less than 50 minutes then Travis would be the winner of the race and the coveted Mayan Calendar belt buckle.

So the clock started and Jonathan took off into the dark wilderness to try to win his first race of any distance ever. His personal long coming into the Trail of Fears was 40.5 miles a month before. If he finished loop 16 then he’d have run 68.8 miles for the day.

So everyone waited and made guesses on the outcome of the race as Jonathan ran with more adrenaline than he could probably harness. He controlled his own fate and the outcome of a very exciting day.

As you already know from the headline and intro, Jonathan Harrison dug deep and came across the finish line for the 16th time on the day with about 65 seconds remaning and the win.

His wife Leah and friend Nathan Judd were there to hug and congratulate him on his amazing day, personal long, and win.

Last Woman Standing went to Julie Montgomery with 8 loops (34.3 miles) which was a new personal long for her as well. Second place female was Jennifer Whitley (6 loops) and third place went to Alicia Eno (4 loops).

*= runners that completed 1 additional loop (4.3 miles) but not before the clock ran out, eliminating them from the race.

More info, photos, updates from the race can be found on the Trail Of Fears: The Day After the End of the World Facebook Page

Nashville resident Robbie Bruce is organizing an impromptu marathon, half marathon, 10K and 30K this weekend simply called the 26for26 Run.

Twenty-six being the number of victims from the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newton, Connecticut. The #26 also being the number of miles in a marathon (26.2).

Money raised through the marathon, scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Saturday in front of the Nashville Running Company Store, 1105 Woodland Street, will go to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund, organizers said.

Runners can choose to go either 6.5, 13, 19.5 or 26 miles and are asked to donate at least $1 per mile run.

To make a donation, visit the X3 Endurance website.

Over 350 runners have committed to run one of the distances according to the Facebook Invite Page. Will more or less than that number actually show up? Hopefully hundreds will show up to help raise a bit of money for the families devastated by the lone gunman.

26.4.26 Run for Sandy Hook Facebook Page

You can help spread the word of this race by hitting the LIKE button on this post to share on your Facebook wall or by Tweeting it to your followers.

This is the medal for the Jacksonville Bank Marathon that was held on December 16, 2012 in Jacksonville, Florida.

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[Medal photo submitted by E. B.  Follow him on Twitter @theycallmebum]

This is the medal for the Pisa Marathon that was held on December 16, 2012 in Pisa, Italy.

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[Medal photo submitted by Daniele Pagni.  Follow him on Twitter @pag666]

This is the medal for the ZombieRunner Bay Trail Run Marathon that was held on December 15, 2012 in Palo Alto, California.

Congratulations to RIF #140 Dennis who completed his 1st marathon there!

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[Medal photo submitted by RIF #140 Dennis Arriaga.  Follow him on Twitter @dennarr]

Flagstaff’s Gary Krugger had his best marathon on December 9th at the Tucson Marathon where he set a PR in 2:32:02 while winning the race.

He dug deep, puking as he was crossing the finish line, to catch then leader Derek Delancey in the last 1/2 mile to garner the win by 12 seconds. Delancey went on to claim a close second in 2:32:14.  Third place male went to John Artley in 2:39:22.

Krugger, RIF #206 of Run It Fast – The Club, had thought his days of PRing by such a huge amount (6 minutes at Tucson) were over

“I thought my days of dropping a 5+min PR were over once I cracked the 3hr mark with one, but my last few have been huge. From 2:48:34, to 2:43:08, 2:38:02, now 2:32:02.”

He is now eying a sub 2:30 time next year, “Yeah, Tucson is such a fast course though. It’s hard to judge what it equates to, but I’m plenty close enough that I can make it happen next year”

Gary went on to describe the Tucson course as, “fast and painful!”

Top 5 Tucson Marathon Male Finishers

The winning female was Englewood, Colorado native Heather Utrata with a very impressive 2:41:36.

She easily beat out Julie Brekke who finished under 3-hours in 2:57:34. Third place female went to Mesa’s Amy Sessions with a time of 3:01:40.

Top 5 Tucson Marathon Female Finishers

View Full List of 2012 Tucson Marathon Finisher Results

Congrats to Gary and Heather on their victories and to everyone that took part and completed the 2012 Tucson Marathon and Half Marathon.

Registration for the Tupelo Marathon & 14.2 Miler has opened as of today.  The race will be on September 1, 2013 in Tupelo, Mississippi.

The race is a Southern favorite with it’s early 5am race start in the dark (to help avoid heat) and killer Skull ‘n Crossbones finisher’s medal and long-sleeved tie-dyed shirt.

This race always sells out and is capped around 800 entrants.

Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis Presley and it’s a very quick trip just minutes away from where the race takes place.

You can register and read more about the race on the Tupelo Marathon & 14.2 Miler Website (HERE).

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon & Half Marathon that usually takes place on the first Sunday in December has been moved up two weeks to November 17, 2013.

The race this year was on December 2, 2012.

The night time race that takes place on the Vegas strip for the majority usually attracts over 40,000 runners.

If you sign up today 12/12/12 you can save $20 on it and other races from Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon/Half Marathon Website

Indiana native Justin Gillete won the St. Jude Memphis Marathon on December 1, 2012 in Memphis, Tennessee with a time of 2:35:13.

Justin is member RIF #153 of Run It Fast – The Club, and we had a chance to ask him about his preparation leading up to and victory in Memphis:

“Memphis has always been on my list of races that I would like to experience winning because the race is for a great cause. Since I am a more popular runner than some, I always feel that winning a race that is for such a good cause gives that race a little more publicity.

I entered the marathon several months ago, and briefly considered withdrawing as I had to miss 11 days running in the 3 weeks prior to the marathon due to poison ivy and an injury while cutting wood.

Overall I didnt run as fast as normal but that doesnt diminish the value of winning such a great event.

Prior to the race starting I was not allowed into the elite athlete pre race suite, I used that as motivation during the race.”

It was the 55th marathon win in Justin’s running career. Truly an amazing accomplishment.

Gillette was able to hold off Cookeville’s (TN) Brian Shelton who finished close behind in 2:37:43.  Third place went to Greg Lemmon, from Cincinnati, with a time of 2:39:16. It should be noted that Matthew Thomas, from Alexandria, Virginia, was a very close 4th place in 2:39:24.

What an exciting and close field of runners that finished atop the field down in Memphis.

On the women’s side the win went to Angie Zinkus, from Eads, Tennessee, who finished with a time of 2:55:39. Her finish was fast enough to be 16th overall.

Second place female went to Laura Blaylock, from New Orleans, in 3:02:21 with third place female going to Floridian Carrie Pustilnik (3:08:15).

Full List of 2012 St. Jude Memphis Marathon Results

You can follow Justin Gillette on Twitter @gilletterunning

[image by Cindy Rickert via Justin Gillette]