Run It Fast®

This is the awesome medal for the Martian Marathon that took place on April 13, 2013 in Dearborn, Michigan.

Perfect medal for this race. It’s going on my list. Here’s another view of the medal and the fun ribbon:

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[Medal submitted by RIF #108 Mark Sikkila – follow him on Twitter @MarkSikkila, and by Jeff Windham – follow him on Twitter @jwind911]

This is the medal the finishers of the Hoof It For Heifer 20K received on April 13, 2013 in Morrilton, Arkansas.

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[medal submitted by RIF #116 Nicholas Norfolk. Follow him on Twitter @absolut_zer0]

This is the fun finisher’s medal for the Hogeye Marathon that took place on April 14, 2013 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

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[medal submitted by RIF #116 Nicholas Norfolk. Follow him on Twitter @absolut_zer0]

Run It Fast Club members will be representing at the Boston Marathon this year! There will be quite a few members there from Tennessee, Mississippi, New York, Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, California, South Carolina, Oregon, and New Hampshire. They’ll all be going for the medal shown above, probably a PR too, and hopefully an Age Group win or two. Whatever their goals, we are so happy and proud that Run It Fast members will be running it fast from Hopkinton, up Heartbreak Hill, and across the finish line in Boston.

Check out our list of Run It Fast Club members who will be there and send them some good luck and well wishes:

RIF #159 Diane Bolton (Bib #26967) will be running her 4th Boston Marathon. Diane is a running machine and just recently completed marathons in Antarctica and Chile in her quest to run this world. Go Diane!

 RIF #28 Kenneth Williams (Bib #20561) has run Boston over 10 times. He’s not only a runner but a coach as well and has travelled the world to run marathons. You can follow him on Twitter here @MarathonKoach and check out his Run It Fast Profile here for more fun facts: Kenneth Williams Profile.

RIF #105 Kathy Shirley (Bib #20098) will be running her 3rd Boston Marathon. You can follow Kathy on Twitter @ipoddess

RIF #92 Steven Lee (Bib #6645) will be running his first Boston Marathon this year. He completed his 50 States quest at the Honolulu Marathon in December and has run a sub 4 marathon in all 50 states. You can follow him on Twitter here: @steventlee

RIF #206 Gary Krugger (Bib #309) will be running his 5th Boston on Monday. He ran a 2:44:48 there last year…when it was hot. It will be exciting to see what he does this year with better weather.

RIF #124 Michelle Walker (Bib #13916) will be running her 1st Boston Marathon. She also just recently completed marathons in Chile and Antarctica. You can follow her on Twitter here @MarathonMomof6, read about her Road to Boston here: Road to Boston, or check out her profile to learn more about her here: Michelle Walker Profile.

RIF #79 Dallas Smith (Bib #18431) will be running his 6th Boston Marathon on Monday. The last 2 years, Dallas finished 2nd in his Age Group! Go Dallas! He also holds quite a few Age records in the state of Tennesse. You can follow him on Twitter here @smithbend and check out his blog here: http://dallasfallsforward.blogspot.com/.

RIF #70 Chuck Engle (Bib #276) “Marathon Junkie” has run a sub 3 hour marathon in all 50 states and has over 275 sub 3 hour marathons on his resume. You can follow him on Twitter here: @MarathonJunkie and read more about him on his blog here: MarathonJunkie.

RIF #101 David Wingard (Bib #19810) will be running his 2nd Boston Marathon. He just completed his quest to run a marathon in each state at the Walt Disney World Marathon. You can follow him on Twitter here: @CockyDW.

RIF #261 Kerri Haskins (Bib #23693) will be running her 1st Boston Marathon. Kerri is on a quest to run a marathon in every state and has only 5 states to go! You can follow her on Twitter here @khrunner0815 and check out her Run It Fast Profile for more fun running facts here: Kerri Haskins Profile.

RIF #139 JD Leman (Bib #3575) is running his 1st Boston Marathon on Monday. It will be only his 4th full marathon. You can follow JD on Twitter here: @lefthash.

RIF #69 Nadia Ruiz Gonzales (Bib #8682) Nadia has completed over 90 marathons and has qualified for Boston over 50 times! You can learn more about her on her Facebook page Nadia Ruiz/Athlete or by checking out her blog: Nadia The Runner. You can also follow her on Twitter here: @IrongirlNadia.

If we left you off it wasn’t intentional. Just message us RunItFast@gmail.com and we’ll add you to the list!!! 🙂

Quite a list, isn’t it? Good luck to everyone running! We will be following along on Monday to see what they are up to. We hope you’ll join us on Monday too and follow along to get the latest info on all the Run It Fast Club members…and oh, yeah…the elites who will be running as well. 😉

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)

RIF #261 Kerri Haskins

This week’s Run It Fast – The Club Profile is Kerri Haskins. Kerri is one of our newest members and is on a mission to run 100 marathons. She’s half way there! Read on to get to know a little more about Kerri.

INFO

Name: Kerri Haskins
RIF #: 261
Twitter: @khrunner0815
Facebook: Kerri Haskins

STATS

Years Running: 12 years (age 8 to 22)-track and field (sprints and throws), 7 years (2006 to present) marathons
Favorite Race Distance: Ultras
Favorite PR: Vermont City Burlington VT 2007
Favorite Race: Akron Marathon (fireworks at start, great race and finishing at the baseball stadium).
Favorite Bling: Little Rock 2013, of course.
Next Race: Boston marathon…1st one…so excited.
What Makes You FEEL Fast?: Getting to mile 18 and there is still something left in the tank..to finish.

FUN RUNNING QUESTIONS

Why did you start running?
A transition in life and a relative passed away from being sick. Run for charity and just went from there in 2006.

Who inspires your running and why?
All of my fellow runners…their determination and support has been great. And when I see a person who just started running or those that are older just doing it…so motivational.

What’s the most beautiful place that you’ve run?
Green River Wyoming – small marathon, beautiful scenery and race at 8000 feet.

What is the thing you splurge on after a race?
Beer..and good food. My downfall, but the post parties and dinners are great ; )

Big races or small races? And why?
Small races between 1000 and 3000 runners. Just more of a shared, community feel.

What running moment are you most proud of?
My 50th marathon in Rehobeth Beach Delaware..a fellow runner had a beer in their hand waiting for me when they announced my name and the 50th marathon. From there I knew I could do the 50 states and start the quest for 100 marathons.

I asked Kerri if there’s anything else she would like the rest of the club to know and she had this to say:
I’ve run 50 marathons and 6 ultras to date and run about 600 to 700 race miles a year. 5 states to go to get my 50 states, finishing in July. Then on to ultras (favorite races) and going for 100 marathons.

***

What a go-getter, eh? Love that she just joined the club and is already volunteering to be a profile. Obviously, she is driven which you can see by her goals and what she’s accomplished so far. Whatever your goals are, go after them! And if you need a little push or encouragement, that’s what we are here for. 🙂

Good luck at Boston Kerri! I hope you have a lot of fun, savor your first run there…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 Kerri Haskins]

This is the medal for the Moscow 5K that was held on April 7, 2013 in Moscow, Russia.

Kind of unique, eh? And here is the 2nd place medal that RIF #133 Michelle won:

Way to Run It Fast Michelle!

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[medal photo submitted by RIF #133 Michelle Mitchell – follow her on Twitter @runnerchickey]

This is the sprakly medal the finishers of the Hollywood Half Marathon received on April 6, 2013 in Hollywood, California.

Perfect medal for a  “run with the stars”. Love the medal. It’s so shiny and the film strip ribbon is perfect. This is the medal for the Hollywood 10K:

Congratulations to RIF #1 Josh for having an awesome 10K on Saturday! He ran a PR, was 13th overall, and 1st in his Age Group! Way to Run It Fast Josh!

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[Medal submitted by RIF #5 Lisa Gonzales, follow her on on Twitter @runlikeacoyote and by RIF #1 Joshua Holmes, follow him on Twitter @bayou]

This is the finisher’s medal for the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Francisco Half Marathon that took place on April 7, 2013 in San Francisco, California.

This is a very cool medal. They hit all the main elements of San Francisco you’d expect. 

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

RIF #133 Michelle Mitchell

This week’s Run It Fast – The Club profile is Michelle Mitchell #133. Michelle is one of our international members who currently lives in Russia. Michelle is hard core! You should see the snow and the temperatures she runs in! I guess after having lived in Alaska, she’s used to freezing temps. But the cold may just be her secret weapon for running fast! Check out her profile to see how amazing and speedy Michelle is:

INFO

Name: Michelle Mitchell
RIF #: 133
Blog: RunnerChickey
Twitter: @runnerchickey
Facebook: Michelle Mitchell

STATS

Years Running: 25 or so but seriously only since about college  and into my early 20s.
Favorite Race Distance: 50/100k
Favorite PR: Chicago Lakefront 50K CR2012 3:44 not only because it was a 10 min improvement over 2011, but because I did it at age 37.
Favorite Race: Oh that’s tough, but I love the Humpy’s Marathon (now Big Wildlife) in Anchorage in August. I won it all 6 times I did it and being Anchorage in late August always meant perfect weather in the 40-50 degree range. I want to better my CR there while I still can. I miss that race probably more than the rest.
Favorite Bling: Hard to narrow it down, but my three 100k World and European Championship medals are up there with my two 50 and 100k Latvian national titles. Winning a national title is something to be proud of.
Next Race: Next biggie is 100k Euros on April 27th in Breves near Bordeaux, France.
What Makes You FEEL Fast?: If I run smart, I usually negative split in the second half and pass people along the way especially if they are fast runners say 10-20 years my junior. 🙂 Years ago, I worked with a coach in Alaska who had this strategy down to a T and we then used it with the high school track and xc teams and had great results. I have to say, I felt fast in the final 10k or so at Chicago Lakefront 50k last fall. I dropped to half marathon pace with about 8k to go and ratcheted down to a 3.33 final km (5.40 mile) at the end. I had no idea I had that in me I just went eyeballs out with about 10k to go to see what would happen.

FUN RUNNING QUESTIONS

Who inspires your running and why?
The master blasters because they give me hope that you can still do well late in your career. Meghan Arbogast will be 52 in April (looks 32) and finished fourth in 100k Worlds last year after leading most of the way. I also know several of the top Russian marathon women who are still kicking some serious tail like Maria Konavalova (3rd and 6th in Chicago), Lyubov Morgunova (won more big marathons than you can shake a stick at but Russian national champion in 2011 at 40 in 2:30 deserves respect) and several others into their 40s still not slowing down. I train at the same facilities and usually the same times that many of the national team runners do and see what hard work and discipline is all about. We all know each other and encourage each other.

What’s the most beautiful place that you’ve run?
ALASKA hands down especially the Anchorage/Wasilla area. I used to go out in the afternoon right after work and time my run for the mid-late afternoon pink moment before sunset over the mountains! On the Coastal Trail in Anchorage, the view was to die for with the mountains in the backdrop along the coastline heading out to the ocean. I loved running the mountains and trails and miss it so much.

What is your favorite go-to pre-race meal?
STEAK and wild rice.

How many pairs of running shoes do you have and which pair are your favorites?
This question needs a picture! I honestly don’t know but I’d guess over 40 are in my shoe closet which has shelves to the ceiling. In the entryway of my flat I have a 4 levels of shoe shelves my coach helped build. I travel back to the US once a year for most of my shoes, and last year, 12 pairs came back with me. I don’t buy in Moscow, the markups are insane. This includes spikes,flats,summer training shoes, winter icebugs for training, waffles, trail shoes, you name it! I go through shoes like water because of the mileage I do to prep for my ultras. My friends tease me when they visit and see all the shoes in the entryway assuming a centipede must live here!

Why do you race?
I do it to challenge myself. I am a competitive, goal oriented runner. I also like pushing the envelope and seeing what I can do. It motivates me to have a goal  to work for. I am also still at a point in my career where I can improve as was quite evident last year even in the shorter distances. I still want to see how much I can cut from my 50 and 100k times. I was going to try for another 1:24 ish half before the 100k, but my options sadly have been cancelled which is super frustrating. My next chance to run a half will not be until August and likely too hot to run a blazing fast time…sigh.

What running moment are you most proud of?
There are quite a few. This one is tough to narrow down. One that does stick out in my mind was crossing the line at 100k Worlds and Euros in Gibraltar in 2010. That’s one heck of a place to make a 100k debut! I got selected to the 100k team based on my marathon and 50k performances and was offered the slot only 4 1/2  months before the race! I didn’t accept right away because I wasn’t sure that was going to be enough time to prepare properly. I had planned to try the 50 mile at Chicago Lakefront that fall and see how that went and move to the 100k in 2011 if I handled the 50 mile well. Hmmm, I guess the process was just accelerated a bit! I finished a modest 40th that yr but have since improved quite a bit.

3rd place in the Riga Marathon in 2009. That was my comeback race after all of 2007 and half of 08 were a disaster where I was in this serious hole of bad performances that seemed to go on forever and nearly caused me to retire. That really gave me a badly needed boost of confidence.  Riga is one of the major European marathons with 12-14,000 runners. The weather was nice and cool and I went out conservatively to really pick up after 25k. That’s also what got me noticed in Latvia and I started winning more commercial races there more as a result of a need to pay bills during what was the economic crisis and a time when there was much less work at my work. Ironically, that’s what led to the tap on the shoulder for selection to the national team!

My heyday in Chicago at the marathon 2003-05 also stands out not for the times but because my mom, despite feeling really awful tired from the effort to ride into the city with me and the walk to the finish and wait for me and watch me come in, did it because she really wanted to see me. She had terminal breast cancer.  I remember in 2005, telling her she could stay home and rest, she didn’t have to go through the trouble of going to the city with my dad and I, but she wanted to be there. I was still living in Alaska then and by 2005, was already in Moscow, so I tried to make it back to Chicago to my parents when I could. That was the last time Mom got to see me finish. By 2006, she was too tired to ride in with my dad and I. TV coverage usually went on just past the 3 hr mark so I remember thinking I’d better get this one right around 3 ish again so Mom could at least see my finish on TV-and she did. Less than 3 months later, Mom went to heaven.

If you can’t run, you’re ________?
A witch with a capital B flying about town on my broomstick because I’m not very nice to be around if I can’t run. 🙂

***

How ’bout them shoes, eh? I’m totally jealous. 🙂 But seriously…love that Michelle is so fired up about racing and works so hard to get faster and stronger. And that she’s not letting her age be a deterrent to her goals. Age is just a number, right? It doesn’t matter if you are 10 or 70, you can still be the best runner YOU can be and you may just beat someone a lot younger than you in the process. I’m still waiting for that to happen. 🙂 It could happen, right?

Thank you for taking the time to do the profile with us Michelle! Good luck at the 100K Euros! We are excited for you and know you will 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 Michelle Mitchell]

This is the medal for the Chino Hills Trail Run 15 Miler that was held on March 30, 2013 in Chino Hills, California.

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[Medal submitted by RIF #5 Lisa Gonzales. Follow on Twitter @runlikeacoyote]