Run It Fast®

Flower Garden in Riverside Park

Sierra Cub members doing grunt work on New York’s Riverside Park. For free. That’s what it was. But one of them was a runner. He took off to Central Park, looking for a magic place.

Lee and Willard, two of my roommates at the hostel, know I’m going. They’ll hardly raise a panic if I don’t return, none of their worry.

“Screw it! He’s a grown man, he knew what he was doing,” they’ll say.

Willard is an educated bubba from Arkansas. He despises Republicans and defies anybody bossing him around. “Let me see your supervisor’s licenses,” he demands.

Read the full story by Dallas Smith by clicking HERE

Photo by Albino Jimenez

Esto es para mi amigo Albino, even though I let you down in Nájera. I stood and watched you run alone across the bridge over Rio Najerilla and into the singeing heat toward Belorado. I could have changed my mind. I could have slung on my bottle pack and caught up. There was time – I hadn’t yet bought the bus ticket. But I didn’t. The the previous day’s heat had wrung all the juice out of me. My heart was not hard so much as weak.

Oddly, when I write about the cold day in Seville, described in the following story, my thoughts fly back to the swelter of Nájera, and my failure there.

But they were not all failures.

Read the full story by Dallas Smith by clicking HERE

Fredison Carneiro won the 2011 Walt Disney World Marathon with a time of 2:21:14.  The first woman to cross the line was Leah Throvilson with a time of 2:42:10.

Here is a look at the top finishers from the 2011 Walt Disney World Marathon in Orlando, Florida.

Walt Disney World Marathon Men

1. Fredison Carneiro – 2:21:14
2. Michael Wardian – 2:27:39
3. Paul Nielson – 2:31:44
4. Timothy Chichester – 2:32:15
5. Mike Hensley – 2:32:28

Walt Disney World Marathon Women

1. Leah Thorvilson – 2:42:10
2. Karen Simmonds-Brady – 2:51:14
3. Jessica Crate – 2:51:53
4. Christa Stephens – 2:54:02
5. Jennifer Hanley-Pinto – 2:55:14

View Complete Results of All Runners from the 2011 Walt Disney World Marathon

(and Disney Half Marathon)

Ultra marathon legend Scott Jurek discusses how he became interested in running, ultra marathons, and how he gets through such extreme races and distances with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Scott has won Badwater, Western States several times, and almost every other endurance running race in the United States.

Follow Scott Jurek on Twitter

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On Fridays I would take Momma out for supper. One Friday we ate at Pizza Hut where I could have spaghetti. She wondered why. It was because my first race, a 10K which I’d kept a secret, was the next morning.

Four days after her death, I had surgery, and, following recovery, trained for eight weeks and ran my first marathon. Running began a new life for me. For her, life itself was a hard run. By coincidence, it ended as my new one was beginning. Endurance had threaded her days. She left it with me.

Read Dallas Smith’s full story by clicking Here

Be patient and let the running come to you.

… as long as it is “aged with tender loving care.”

I am often approached by beginner runners with questions on how to get faster, how to run longer, what to wear during runs or races, what to eat, etc.  The main questions are usually on the topics of how to run faster and how to run for longer distances.  The answer is, there are no tricks or shortcuts. It takes time to develop speed and endurance.  To improve speed one does have to fine tune speed work sessions into the mix, and with endurance one does have to consistently incorporate long runs into a running regime.  But all this requires time, consistency and patience. It won’t happen over night. Not even close, in most cases.

In the Beginning
I started running after I graduated from Purdue University in May 2000.  I can’t recall exactly why, but I think it was out of boredom.  I had always been very active, but never a runner.  So one day, in early summer 2000, I thought I’d start running.  I ran for about two minutes, and walked for about five minutes or so.  I’m not sure because I didn’t buy a running watch for another six years.

So I kept up this attempt at running for longer periods of time.  I remember, vividly, how difficult at first the  breathing was for me.  I realized very quickly that I had to build up my lung capacity to sustain this ‘running thing’ for longer periods of time.  I kept at it.

Racing Here and There
I ran a few 5ks, and actually finished my first one in just under 25 minutes.  I kept running.  Still no running watch, and I can’t even remember what shoes I had or how often I changed them, or how many miles I ran at a time or at what pace. I just kept running.

In October 2004 I registered for my first half marathon.  I didn’t know anything about half marathons and the farthest distance I had ever run was somewhere between 7-9 miles, I guessed. I joined two other girls who were training for the New York City Marathon on one of their long runs.  It was a few weeks before the Asheville Half Marathon, the half that I registered for, and I ran 16 miles with the two girls.  It was hard, very hard, but I felt good.

I ran my first half marathon, an extremely hilly Asheville Half Marathon, in 1:53:55.  The race organizers didn’t give out finishers medals then, but I didn’t even think about that fact until years later.  And, really, it didn’t matter.

I waited almost a year before I ran my next race (not for any particular reason, I just did), which was the Fireball Moonlite Classic 5k on July 3, 2005, which I finished in 22:10.  After that I ran a few races here and there, but mostly I just ran.  And ran.  And ran.  Oh, and I finally bought a running watch in 2006.

Kickin’ It Into High Gear
After giving birth to my son in March 2008, I was itching to get back in shape.  As soon as I got the much-anticipated ‘OK’ from my doctor, I started running again.  My first run 6 weeks after delivery lasted only 15 minutes, the next was around 28 minutes, and so on.  I ran the Providence Heart and Sole 5 Miler about two months after I gave birth, then the Lexington Medical Center Governor’s Cup 8k a few months later.  In March 2009, nine years after I started running and 5 years after my first half marathon, I ran my second half marathon, the Knoxville Half.

I started running more races, but it wasn’t until January 2010 that I started logging my weekly mileage.  I bought a Garmin in March, ran four more half marathons and started training for my first full marathon … this all occurred 10 years after I first started running.

Moral Of The Story
Be patient, but keep it up!  As a friend and running mentor once told me:  “Don’t force running.  Let the running come to you.”  It may not happen how and when you want it to, but be patient and stick to it.  Believe me, you will be pleasantly surprised and rewarded for your patience and hard work!

We went barreling into the roundabout too fast for the wet cobblestones. The car lurched into a sickening skid. Rafael jerked the wheel, and we swooped through the circle clean as a pin. The lucky fact that no other cars were about at that early hour helped.

My friend Albino was riding shotgun; his older brother, Rafael, was driving, and I was in the back. The brothers and I burst out laughing. We didn’t care. The danger seemed small compared to what we were rushing toward, the place where our minds already were.

Which was the XXI Maratón Ciudad de Sevilla. On this February day that had yet an hour to wait before dawning, we rushed along wet streets heading for a rendezvous with the brothers’ running club. From there, according to plan, we would all drive to the marathon at Olympic Stadium.

The Peugeot’s thermometer showed 4 degrees C and the wipers beat back the rain. A little colder and there wouldn’t be rain—which would be an improvement. As it was, we’d be both cold and wet. Staying warm enough would be a problem.

“This is as bad as it gets, unless there’s wind too,” I said.

Then the wind came…

To read the full story by Dallas Smith click HERE

Here is a photo of a young Lance Armstrong in high school at Plano East High School during a cross country meet.

Armstrong has run three marathons (NY twice, Boston once) during his first retirement from cycling.  His marathon PR is 2:46:43.  He has also competed in several triathlons as well during his athletic career.

I am not sure if Lance was a high school cross country champ but with his drive and genetic disposition it’s a pretty safe assumption.

And on yeah, this young lad, in the photo above, has won cycling’s prestigious Tour de France seven times.

With this post I broach a topic I’ve avoided ever since I started this blog: me.

So this is new. But it is not an enduring change. It is an exception, and I’ll soon shut up about the boring topic and return to my policy of staying quiet about the ever-indulgent “me.”

So, what brought this on? Why did I think anyone in the whole round world would want to read about what you will find below?

I had a pretty good year.

As a racer, that is. Maybe a remarkable year. My annual racing report summarizes it. I decided I’d put it up for whatever informational, instructional or inspirational value it may hold, and maybe it holds none. But if you are a racer also you may find it interesting. Or maybe not. Anyway, here it comes.

Beat it if you can.

Read the full story by Dallas Smith by clicking HERE (Race Results and State Records)

It's important to take some time for "relaxing" runs in between racing, or even as part of your training.

Racing, Racing, Racing!
It is so easy to get caught up in the world of time, racing, pace, speed, racing, mileage, racing … did I mention racing?

In all seriousness, I am guilty of being a “race addict” myself and ran well over 20 races in 2010. There is the initial goal-setting that keeps you training, the camaraderie that goes a long with training, having a common goal to share with others, keeping yourself accountable, the excitement leading up to the race with packet pick-up, pre-race night jitters and then the high of the race itself.

It can be kind of a “let down” for the race to be over, especially if it is a big one!

Just a Piece of the Running Puzzle
Everyone has their own experience in their running growth and development, and it’s important to remember that racing is just one part of the running picture. Racing puts quite a demand on one’s physical, mental and emotional energy. It can also open opportunities for injury and burn-out.

A Heavy Load
I had a heavy training and racing load in September and October 2010 (well, heavy for me but light compared to some). In September I ran my first 25k (Norris Dam Hard Trail Race) with a finish time of 2:41:39. I also ran the Blue Ridge Relay and was runner #2, with some of the hardest legs to run and the most mileage of the 208 miles. I had a few other small races  at the beginning of October that I used as training, then ran my first marathon, the Spinx RunFest Marathon, in Greenville on October 30 with a finish time of 3:32:10.

Relax and Enjoy
I also ran a half marathon three weeks after the Spinx Marathon (Secret City Half: finish time of 1:39:16) and it was during that race that I realized I needed to just take it easy. So I went “back to the basics” so to speak and decided to not worry about racing or training at least until January. I have been running, but I’ve added a lot of leisurely, relaxing runs into the mix and have, on occasion not even worn my Garmin. Crazy, I know!

Taking some time to just relax and enjoy running without the training or racing part of it has brought me back to reality in a way with regard to running. I love racing and training just as much as the next person, and can’t wait to get started again in a few weeks. But getting back to the basics and “keeping it real” is a good exercise that might remind you it’s not always about racing and training. When you get to the core of it, it’s about running.