Run It Fast®

Matthew Manning won the inaugural Louisiana Marathon held Sunday morning in Baton Rouge, the state capital of Louisiana, with a winning time of 2:33:41.

Manning smoked the field, beating his nearest competitor, Chuck Engle, by nearly 11 minutes. Engle finished in 2:44:05 to barely hold off Christopher Reis who took third with a time of 2:45:38.

2012 Louisiana Marathon Results

1. Matthew Manning – 2:33:42
2. Chuck Engle – 2:44:05
3. Christopher Reis – 2:45:38
4. Matthew Urbanski – 2:51:55
5. Jacob Marsh – 2:53:20
6. Micah Mohler – 2:55:59
7. Karen Meraw – 2:58:54 (female)
8. Greg Soutiea – 2:59:13
9. Frank Livaudais – 3:00:01
10. Kevin Berger – 3:00:51

Karen Meraw was the fasest female marathoner down in ‘Red Stick’ on Sunday with a time of 2:58:54.  She beat Candace Caveny by almost ten minutes. Caveny finished in 3:08:53.  Third place female went to Grace Thacker with a time of 3:09:36.

Louisiana Marathon Searchable Results and Top Finishers

The marathon had 637 finishers.

The 2012 Louisiana Half Marathon was won by Jonathan Granger in 1:17:42 with the top female being Kelly Nicholas in 1:29:42.

2012 Louisiana Half Marathon Results

1. Jonathan Granger – 1:17:42
2. Grant Gonzalez – 1:18:12
3. Michael Anderson – 1:18:21
4. Jimmy Riccitello – 1:22:16
5. Michael Baston – 1:23:41
6. Calvin Conner – 1:24:01
7. Michael Whalen – 1:24:59
8. Van Edwards – 1:25:01
9. Luke Gehbauer – 1:25:05
10. Russ Bourgeois – 1:25:32

Louisiana Half Marathon Searchable Results and Top Finishers

Congrats to all who took part in the inaugural marathon and half marathon.

Louisiana Marathon Website

Ethiopian Tariku Jufar won the 2012 Chevron Houston Marathon on Sunday morning with a winning time of 2:06:51.  Jufar held off fellow countrymen Debebe Tolossa (2:07:41) and Demssew Tsega (2:11:13) who finished in third.

2012 Houston Marathon Results

1. Tariku Jufar – 2:06:51
2. Debebe Tolossa – 2:07:41
3. Demssew Tsega – 2:11:13
4. Shawn Forrest – 2:14:37
5. Leonardo Trejo Camargo – 2:18:10
6. Simon Bairu – 2:19:52
7. Samuel Kosgei – 2:21:05
8. Vasileios Pouliopoulos – 2:21:44
9. Alemitu Abera – 2:23:14 (female)
10. Jonnatan Morales – 2:23:16

Alemitu Abera, also of Ethiopia, was the winning female with a time of 2:23:14. She finished 9th overall.  She won the women’s race by over five minutes.

More 2012 Houston Marathon Searchable Results

Today the 2012 USA Olympic Marathon Trails were held at the Chevron Houston Marathon down in Texas.  It was a very speedy and fast day as four Americans went under 2:10:00 for the first time ever during the same marathon.

American male Meb Keflezighi won the Houston Marathon with the fastest time of 2:09:08 which is a new personal record (PR) for Meb.

Ryan Hall finished in a close 2nd place at 2:09:30.

2012 USA Olympic Marathon Trials Male Results

1. Meb Keflezighi – 2:09:08
2. Ryan Hall – 2:09:30
3. Abdi Abdirahman – 2:09:47
4. Dathan Ritzenhein – 2:09:55
5. Brett Gotcher – 2:11:06

It looks like it will be Meb, Ryan, Abdi representing the USA at the Olympics with Dathan as the 1st alternative.

Shalane Flanagan was the female winner as she held off Desiree Davila to finish with a time of 2:25:38.  Flanagan moves to 6-0 in the head-to-head matchup with Davila to date.

That means Flanagan, Davila, and Goucher will represent in the Olympics with Hastings as the alternate.

2012 USA Olympic Marathon Trials Female Results

1. Shalane Flanagan – 2:25:38
2. Desiree Davila – 2:25:55
3. Kara Goucher – 2:26:06
4. Amy Hastings – 2:27:17
5. Janet Cherobon-Bawcom – 2:29:45
6. Deena Kastor – 2:30:40
7. Clara Grandt – 2:30:46
8. Alissa McKaig – 2:31:56
9. Dot McMahan – 2:32:16
10. Magdalena Lewy Boulet – 2:33:42

Congrats to all of the men and women who qualified for the 2012 London Olympics today. Way to Run It Fast!!!

[women finish line photo by Hideki Kino. Follow her on Twitter @RunKino]

We asked on Twitter (@runitfast) where you were running this weekend and 17 of you responded!

Best of luck to you all running this weekend and those running at the Olympic Trials in Houston as well.

Joshua Holmes – Training runs in Maui and maybe a small marathon before next weekend’s Maui Oceanfront Marathon. #runitfast

Frank Hostetter  – Resolution 5k/10k in Orange Park, FL

Lisa Gonzales – I’m running local trails and going to hit every hill I can find so I’ll be ready to smoke some boys in Feb! 😉

Marielle Genovesi – Gotham Cup college meet, The Armory in NYC#oneontastate

Maricel Bautista – I’m running the Resolution 10K Race tomorrow in Orange Park FL!

Scott Gorski – Samson Stomp – 5k, Milwaukee Cty. Zoo

Caitlin E. Brown – Phoenix Rock ‘n Roll!

Rebecca Elrod – The @TRAXRunning Frozen 4 in Bowling Green, KY. It looks like it could be a four-miler in snow… 🙂

elizabeth v rehmer – livingston my half marathon w-Nike+

Craig Brett – 11 miles of The Rough and Tumble. Mud and hills what more could you want.

Nolan Holloway – running stone mountain park. training for a 5k in Feb.

Karla Riemer – a snowy 12 miler in my hometown!

jufreeze – Either Georgia or South Carolina, not sure but at least 7 miles

Kristin Auci – Freehold NJ Winter Series 5K on Sunday

Monkey Trent – I’ll be running SwmpStomper 50+ k in Memphis’ Shelby Forest.

Gerard Pescatore – Icicle 10 Miler in Wilmington, DE on Sunday! Brrrrrrrr

Willie Way – LVTC Fund the Fund 10k, Saturday.

Qualifying for the prestigious Boston Marathon is not easy to do. Some are able to pull it off on there first or second marathon. Others try to qualify for years and finally get there. And, then there are those who can never qualify no matter how much they want it.

I met Ami Roach at my neighborhood 5K nearly three years ago. She finished the 5k in 24 minutes which is a decent time, I thought. She shared with me that she would like to qualify for the Boston Marathon and needed a sub 3:40 finish time. She lit up when we talked about this. At this point, Ami had only ran a few marathons and her goal was to break 4 hours. I was excited for her that she was so driven to qualify for Boston but I knew deep down that she probably still had a long way to go. For most people, a lot is involved with knocking marathon times down.

Ami and I became running buddies after we met that day and began to run on a regular basis together. She shared with me that she used to weigh 254 pounds at 5’1”. Until she told me that she wore a size 20 shorts and showed me a few “before” photos, I really couldn’t imagine it. How could this super strong, powerful running machine once be morbidly obese? And on top of that, she had been overweight her entire life.

I tried to make sense of her weight problem by asking her a lot of questions. What was it like being that heavy? What was your daily life like? Did other people stare at you or ridicule you? And why couldn’t you lose weight?

Ami’s approach to weight loss was not by using fad diets, although she had tried many of them throughout the years. Over five years ago, she lost weight the good ‘ol fashioned way-eating less and moving more. She began to cook healthier and exercise by using “Biggest Loser” home video workouts and jogging on the treadmill in her home. She didn’t dare head outdoors out of being uncomfortable running in front of other people at such a heavy weight.

Ami explained to me that she had an epiphany after she ran her first 10K, which was in the 60 minute range, still at a heavier weight. She said that she realized at the finish that this was what she was meant to do…run.

I really wanted Ami to break 4 hours in the marathon for two reasons: 1) She wanted it desperately 2) What an incredible success story for someone to lose 130 pounds AND finish a sub4 hour marathon. We trained together and with others in our community and she continued to run marathons. Some of them close to the 4 hour mark and others were ten or more minutes off. I even paced in twice to finish in four hours but she still couldn’t do it no matter how much she wanted it.

At the Chicamauga Marathon last November, she missed the 4 hour mark by 6 seconds. Six measly seconds! She was determined to get a sub 4 hour marathon at that point and trained harder. She never gave up.

I used to wonder if Ami got sick and tired of always seeing me finish faster in every race that we do. Not that she is competitive with me but I can see how it could become frustrating at times. I also wondered if Ami would ever be able to get a sub 3:40 or even a sub 3:45 which is what her qualifying time changed to by turning 35 years old. I tried to be optimistic but I often thought, if she’s struggling so much breaking 4 hours, how is she going to knock off another 15 minutes? I continued to be supportive and of course never shared my doubts with her.

On a mission, Ami set out to run the Charlotte Marathon the following month and didn’t tell anyone except for myself and one other person. She was fed up with this, didn’t want any pressure, and headed to Charlotte to run a hilly marathon and break 4 hours. She not only broke 4 hours but she blew it away with a 3:53. Okay…now I’m thinking that she can qualify for Boston and she’s thinking that she can too.

A few marathons later used as training runs, she prepared herself to qualify at the Mercedes Marathon this past February. She had veteran runner, Scott Ludwig, pace her to finish in under 3:45:59. She finished in 3:44:12. This was Ami’s 21st marathon.  I have never seen her more happy in her life and she couldn’t wait to register for the Boston Marathon.

The Boston Marathon has become so popular in recent years that the standards to get in changed for 2012. Because Ami is in a competitive age group and she “barely” qualified, she missed getting in by 26 seconds. She was devasted but this fueled the fire even more. Hard training was not over. Now it was time for her to get ready to lower her time significantly for 2013 so that there is no chance that she will not make it in with her time.

Training became more intense and running buddy, Coach Joe Fejes pushed her even more. But, heading over to the park by herself to run a 0.67 mile significant incline at a 8:00 pace over and over was not unusual for Ami. She was driven. She wanted it. And she was not going to give up. The Savannah Marathon, which coincidently was one year later from the Chicamauga Marathon where she couldn’t break 4 hours, was the race that she had her sights on to crank it out. And, she was not using a pacer this time.

The morning of the Savannah Marathon, I was counting the minutes for the phone call. Did she break 3:40? Did she break 3:35? How did she do? When I got the call from her that she got 3:32:06, I was ecstatic and couldn’t control my enthusiasm. It’s a good thing that I was in a car parking lot with the windows closed or my loud screeches would have disturbed some people for sure.

Ami had an over 12 minute personal record AND she beat my marathon PR from 2009 by over a minute. She had done it and this was her 29th marathon.

A good friend of ours gave us free entry into the Zooma Women’s Half Marathon this past weekend so we both registered. Ami had run a 1:39 half just two days prior at the Thanksgiving Atlanta Half Marathon and I had a 100 mile race the following weekend, so we sort of decided that we would stick together and not push too terribly hard. When the gun went off, we suddenly found ourselves 2nd and 3rd overall and were running a 7 minute pace. Wow! I thought, I wouldn’t be able to keep this up. My goal for the rest of the race was to try and keep up with Ami who is clearly faster than myself at this point. I loved chasing Ami. She is finishing this race, on tired legs from a fast half marathon just 48 hours ago, before me. This was one of the best races of my life.

-Beth McCurdy

Here is a look at the 15th Anniversary Walt Disney World Half Marathon finisher’s medal from the race that was held on January 7, 2012 in Orlando Florida.

This medal is on the large side and is die-cut using the 0 in 2012 to double as Donald Duck’s eye.  It is the 15th anniversary medal of the Disney Half Marathon, and it’s obvious more went into the design than in previous years.

The race started and finished at EPCOT and included a tour around the Magic Kingdom and through the big castle along the way.

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

More Photos of the Disney Half Marathon Medal

Here is a look at my the finisher’s medal from the 2012 runDisney Kids’ Races that were held on January 6, 2012 at the Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida.

Events included a diaper dash, 100m, 200m, 400m, and 1-mile race.

[medal submitted by my son who ran the 200m]

New Years Double Challenge

The New Years Double Challenge took place on New Years Eve 2011 and New Years Day 2012. You can run anything from a 5K to a marathon either day and you receive a medal each day. If you run both days, you receive the Challenge Plate which allows you to combine the medals together! These are the individual medals:

New Years Eve Medal

New Years Day Medal

 MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

[medals submitted by Beth Lynch, follow her on Twitter @bethlynch]

I decided to end my best year of running by trying to attempt two races, separated by over 200 miles, on the same day.

The first race would be a 50K trail/cross country race in the morning with the second race being a road 5K later on that night.

I travelled down to Huntsville, Alabama the night before the Recover from the Holidays 50K to stay the night, catch up with my friend Naresh Kumar (who was running the race as well), and get some grub.

It’s always great spending time with Naresh, trading war stories, and exchanging Vol State 500K horror novels.  It’s truly amazing the 2011 that Naresh had in his Vibrams.  He did several amazing races that many runners will never be brave enough to enter much less finish.

The Recover from the Holidays 50K is a great event that had exploded with runners this year to a near-max of 150.  It’s $15 and features a cool finisher’s medal.  The race is always on the last day of the year, New Year’s Eve.

The RFH course is on a cross country course, which was more trail than XC in my opinion.  It consists of a 1 mile loop to start, followed by 10 three mile loops.  There is an aid/water table at the start finish that you circle every three miles.

The weather was great this year as I quickly shed my long sleeve shirt after the first loop. I felt good early on and went with it. I kept an eye on my overall pace as I continued to run the race one mile at a time using the lap pace on my Garmin set to 1-mile laps. This helps me focus on the mile I’m on and not getting lost in the big picture. It helps me to not throw miles away.

As each loop disappeared into 2011 I remained strong and kept trying to stay consistent without fading.

I ended up having a great race. I had only run a 50K twice before. Each time being the same trail race in Memphis.  My 50K PR was 5:59:59 coming into RFH.  On Saturday I finished the Recover from the Holidays 50K in 4:53:22.  It was a good running day so I was pleased.

After the race, I received my finisher’s medal, grabbed some pizza, changed clothes, and was on the road within 15 minutes.

It took about 3.5 hours to drive the 200 miles back to Tennessee. I didn’t really eat too much on the way as nothing tasted that good. I think I ate half a piece of pizza and a small bag of potato chips.

I made it to my house around 5:20pm. I had time to take a shower and lay down for about 15 minutes. I couldn’t sleep but didn’t feel great at the moment. I felt tired and worn down.  My wife asked me, “Are you sure you should run this race (5K)?”

I still was determined to run the Downtown Dash 5K that night in Jackson.  Jeff Keas was the race director of this race.  He was my youth minister as a teen.  He’s a good friend and one of my running mentors. We have lunch about once a week to talk running, and I really wanted to be at his race to support him and this first year event.

As I left the house I prepped myself mentally to run a 25 minute or slower 5K. I usually run a 5K in 19:45-20:30.  I knew after running 31 miles that morning that I’d be a good bit slower than my usual 5K times.

Nuun, Sport Beans, and a Roctane seemed to be the right combo. That along with seeing many friends before the start of the race seemed to return my system to normal.  I had done much harder running events than tackling a 50K and 5K in the same day, but I actually wanted to perform well at the 5K.  I didn’t want to just show up and jog an easy 3 miles.

The race started at 7pm and the field of nearly 150 runners took off into the cool night air.  I took off as I normally do at a 5K. I was about 1/3 mile into the race when I checked my pace at around 6:40. I wanted to run hard but play it smart. I kept the pedal mostly down throughout the race, but was smart to ease off enough at points as to not pass out and crash into the asphalt.

I was running strong when I got to the 2.5 mile part of the 3.1 mile race. I decided to up the intensity and see how many runners I could catch in the last half-mile.  I was able to track down 4-5 runners before finally reaching the finish line.  I had finished with a time of 21:07 officially and 20:58 according to my Garmin.

I was beyond pleased and excited that the race was over. I hung around for the awards ceremony to applaud some friends I knew had won their age divisions.  I was surprised when my name was called out for having won my age division.  The division wasn’t that deep in runners, but it was a great cap to a wonderful day of running.

It wasn’t my most challenging day of running, but my most successful of 2011. I had PR’d the 50K that morning by 66 minutes and won my age division at the 5K that night by running a 6:49 pace.

I hope all of you had a great 2011 and that you make new goals that you reach in 2012.

I also want to give a big thank you to everyone that supported Run It Fast in 2011 as it really gained speed and a nice following.

Chrissie Wellington Kona 2011

2011 was an amazing year for running. Records fell left and right. There were some very gutsy runs at top marathons, ultras, and on the track. The Olympic Marathon Trials are now less than 2 weeks away and 21 Masters Women qualified for them. 21! Women of all ages are rocking the running world and just about every weekend in 2011, I was inspired by them.

These 5 women/races/adventures in 2011 inspired me the most and made me want to lace up my running shoes and test what I was made of:

1. Chrissie Wellington at the Ironman World Championships

Chrissie always amazes me with her blazing speed, whether it’s setting records or smoking tri guys but she blew me away with her determination and pure grit in Kona this year. Just a couple of weeks prior to Kona, Chrissie crashed her bike. She had major road rash, bruised her hip, elbow and pectoral muscle, and had to battle an infection. During the Ironman, she was 9 minutes behind the lead woman coming out of the swim and 22 minutes behind coming off the bike. She was in pain. She was aching. But she battled back and won her 4th World Championship! You can read about her day here.

Or watch a recap of it here:
2011 Kona Recap-Chrissie

2. Caroline Kilel & Desi Davila at the 2011 Boston Marathon

I was “watching” this through Twitter as it happened and my coworkers were wondering why I kept yelling. It was so exciting and it had me on the edge of seat. I saw the finish later and still got chills. Watching the lead change back and forth between them…you could see neither wanted to give it up. When Caroline collapsed after the finish, you knew she’d left everything out there.

You can watch a recap of the women’s marathon here:
Boston 2011

3. Lauren Fleshman at the London, England IAAF Track and Field Diamond League

Lauren’s run in the 5000M showed how a great finish kick can you help you win. Bam! She just took off and kept going putting a huge gap on the competition. Talk about intimidating the competition!

You can watch a recap of it here:
Fleshman 5000M 2011

4. Devon Crosby Helms, Krissy Moehl, Darcy Africa, and Bethany Lewis at the Grand Canyon R2R2R (Rim to Rim to Rim)

This was quite a year for the Rim To Rim To Rim run for women. Devon & Krissy set the Female Fastest Known Time (FKT) back in April and then Darcy Africa set a new Female FKT just a few days later! Then in November, Bethany shaved almost 10 minutes off of Darcy’s time for yet another Female FKT! This run is hard core but these women rocked it in 2011.

This is a short video of Devon & Krissy’s run:
Devon & Krissy R2R2R

5. Jennifer Phar Davis Thru-Hike of the Appalachian Trail

Jen set the speed record for a thru-hike of the Appalachian trail, man or woman, and she did it in 46 days, 11 hours, and 20 minutes! For a girl who gets lost on trails she runs frequently, this floors me. What an adventure and what a great experience.

Here is a short interview with her about her hike:
Jennifer Phar Davis Interview

These women rocked 2011 and inspired me and countless other women (and men, I’m sure). Who inspired you? Who have you inspired? Or better yet…who will you inspire in 2012? Happy running!