Masters Weekend Races and Runs

Ian Stewart, Peter Elliot, Brenden Foster,Dave Bedford etc. They inspired me due to their relentless dedication and motivation to distance running. They worked so hard (100 plus miles per week). They gave their all to running and had no other life. At 14 years my school PE teacher took me to local athletics club and was soon in school, county and cliub junior xc teams. My greatest success was as a senior mens runner in uk national xc championships in 1992 when got 15th place overall. Now coaching mens distance team at club but wish youngsters had the guts and passion like my heros. Noow they think 80 miles per week is too much. Still enthusiastic about running and do about 55 miles per week and occasional 5 and 10k run. Athletics is tough but rewarding. But try telling my pack that when training through mud on a cold rainy monday night in winter.

Good Morning OMBTS. I'm another old man by another sea (AOMBAS). The usual mid-week for me, but I ran 8 miles yesterday with a group of friends(all younger). I hung on through about 6 miles and then they steadily dropped me. I haven't ran that hard in years. Not a bad day for a 55 year old.

Had a 58 mile week here, tapering down a bit for a race yesterday. Ran a nice 23:02 4 mile tempo in the middle of a 9 miler Tuesday. Based on that, I felt I could run that pace for 10 yesterday. But, when an entry form points out that that a course is 'Challenging'; probably should believe it! I thought the challenging part would be the 3 miles of hilly, soft, grass trails from 3.5-6.5...not the rolling hills the first 3.5, or the rolling hills the last 3.5! I ended up 59:55. Lost about 20-25 seconds when I made a wrong turn in the woods and had to backtrack. Finished 2nd overall, won the Masters and was only the 5th runner under 60:00 in the 5 years of the race. No one has broke 60 for 3 years! I'll take it...

Good Runnin'

Dave

Great run Dave!

Boston was not so much fun for me ... didn't wear enough clothing and got really cold. Wind seemed okay for the first half of the course, but there were some pretty strong gusts as we moved through Newton and into town. Last two miles saw a return to the death-shuffle I'd hoped to avoid, and a finish time more than 15 minutes off my goal.

Oh well. There's always another race, right? I know that four months of 60-70 mile weeks will provide a good base for summer trail races in the mountains.

Trying to move past my now annual post-Boston head cold. Will do some mountain biking this week, and a few short runs. Cheers to all.

Forgot about the coaches thing. When I was rowing in college, my freshman coach took me aside at the boathouse. He said my rowing was going well, but he was worried that I had a failing midterm grade in chemistry. I said that I was having trouble focusing because we were having an undefeated season and I was doing extra workouts to try and snag a spot on the varsity boat in my sophmore year. He said, "That's great. Drop the class and keep up the workouts." I loved him for that. (Eventually passed the class.)

Hello from No Cal. This weekend brought rainy windy weather (again!) Family issues kept me off the track M-W but I had a strong workout on Thursday --16x200 on the grass, alternating about 70% and then a jog back to the start. Then high jump drills on Saturday morning, over and over, about 25 spring jumps and my quads are feeling it. Two sessions in the weight room too. It was a light week but next week looks better.

I was a good (but not great) sprinter in high school until my Jr. year my coach looked at my stretched out stride and said, "Hey, would you like to try hurdles?" I 3-stepped from the very start, not knowing how difficult that was for many hurdler wannabes. Two weeks later I won the city championship. A good coach was able to look at my strengths and fit them to the appropriate event. 25 years later the hurdles are still my favorite.

Good running and training to everyone.

Hi. Don't know my exact mileage for the week but know I did a 5K race Thurs night and 10 miles along lake yesterday and feel like toast today so I'll probably take the dog for a walk. I ran in high school and was halfway decent but then didn't do much for 30 years until October of 2005 when I knew 5 guys in their fifties who either had strokes or heart attacks; 1 died. That was my wake up call and started over slowly and now race 5K's up to 20K while trying not to get injured.Have a good week everybody.

What a week!

1. My 8th grade daughter snagged a school record 1600m (5:36) the hard way: 75/90/85/86. Was on hands and knees afterward. I love getting to share running with her!

2) Successes at Vol Classic yesterday: my 3 junior boys in the mile went 4:27, 4:32, and 4:38 out of the second-fastest heat, so they had to do all the work. Freshman boy went 10:12 3200. We're looking about like I'd hoped we would look a the end of April, and the NTN dream is definitely alive (since my #3 is not running track, and my #7 is playing baseball. The freshman 3200 runner is my #8).

Girls ran a 13:06 DMR, then fell apart in 4x8. After a much-needed chewing out, they came back to run excellent individual races, including a 5:27 and a 2:28 for a pair of sophomores. This group lacks confidence in themselves and finds it easy to be intimidated, so we talked about confronting fear, about preparation for racing--all the stuff that makes racing worth doing. To see them pick themselves back up, get back on the track, and throw the hammer down--priceless. They were pretty pleased with themselves afterwards.

Oh, yeah: I did run 97 miles this week. About half were minimalist miles in my Kilkenny flats--smartest thing I've done in a while.

B0ulderite,

That is a classic story! I love it!

Ran 13 this morning ez with a few friends. Sunny and warm day. Nice to get out.

Sat - I raced one mile of a 5K :) Actually ran the whole 5K but went out way too fast. I know better and this was just a reminder of my fitness level and age. Oh well, they'll have more racees next week.

This was my first 100+ mile week since the summer of 1989!

This was also my first week back doing doubles.

Highlights:

- 13 runs this week (doubles each day except Sunday)

- 2 x 5k @ threshold pace w 4 min recovery walk

- 24 mile long run at easy pace (7:25)

- 104 miles total for the week

But the biggest highlight of my week was running with my daughter on Saturday morning as she won her first road race (small local 5k with 300 participants) with a 20:39 5k on a hilly course. First female overall and she is not even in high school yet. Amazing to watch her run. She thought the whole thing was really "cool". I was smiling the whole day.

As for inspirations: I have always been a big fan of Frank Shorter and Marty Liquori and have read as much about them as I can. As for people I know or have trained with that inspire me. I trained for a couple of years with Brian Pope back in the late 80's/early 90's an was and still am inspired by his "Edwin Moses" like discipline and dedication to his sport.

After a week of highs, a week of lows. My hip started to hurt again and I missed the entire week. A slow run on tap for this afternoon. Bummed but not feeling hopeless.

Enjoyed the 'Shi**ing in your pants' thread this week. Only among runners can such a topic be openly shared.

I was 13 and went with a friend and his dad to run around a reservoir within Mt. Tabor Park in Portland. It is more than a half mile around and I just cruised, lapping my firend and his dad. The light went on and I really felt I had found something. Loved baseball - still do - go Mariner's! - but didn't think I would be good enough for the high school team. Ran a couple of all-comer meets that summer and focused on the 880, might have tried a mile or two but just recall the 880. Anyway, I found a sport I was above average at right off the bat.

Most inspirational run was after a open meet at Mt. Hood CC, my high school team buddies, Dan and Bob Fulton and I had raced. In addition to our HS coach we had some guidance from Jim Gorman of Nike and I think he was 4th in the 72 Oly Trials, just missing the team. Anyway, Jim managed Nike's Athletic Department store on Hawthorne and we spent heaps of time there. Anyway, Pre ran at Mt. Hood CC that day and Jim knew him well. He convinced Pre to take us along on his 6 mile cool down run. So cool and I felt so privileged to join in.

Nowadays I take inspiration from all of you great masters runners - male and female. We are a great fraternity which challenges each other to keep at it despite life's attempts to derail us. Keeps me going. Thanks.

It was a good week until Saturday. Ran an 8k trail race, mostly single track with a lot of up and down. Was doing well until about 4 miles and my hamstring tightened real bad. Made it to the finish in 41:00. Pretty embarrassing time for that distance but even without the hamstring problem I might have been only 1-1.5 mins faster.

Earlier in the week I did 6x1/2 on a bike trail. No problems that day. Total mileage for the week was 95, always less than JR. Of course his miles take a lot less time than mine.

I didn't start running until I was almost 30 and can't say I have any real heroes other than the training group I started running with. All were my age or older and much faster. They welcomed me to the group and got me from a 45 min 10k to a 35 min 10k. The best part was the 20 miler on the weekend followed up with pancakes and pitchers of beer for post run hydration.

Good and healthy week to all

Kevin

Greetings from Indiana! I'm spending a day with my family after a fun but exhausting experience at the River to River relay. I ran on Jim Yost's No Walkin' Till the Van Passes Team with 16x and a solid group of men and women from OH, NJ and MO. We placed 2nd in the mixed master division behind a solid team from the Chicago area. They may have been a little faster, but I would bet that we had more fun, and I know we had better beer for the awards ceremony. I was happy with my first two legs (5:45 pace for 3.3 miles, 5:35 for 2.5 miles) but the hill on leg 22 got the better of me, and I only managed a 6:15 pace. My legs are a little tight but felt okay for a 5.5 mile recovery run today in ~37 minutes.

As far as coaches, I had the opposite experience in high school, with a coach who burned out most of his runners. It was only after 20 years that I was in a situation where I was in a position to rediscover my passion for running. It's taken a lot of work, and I have to credit Jim and Sue Derick and other local runners for encouraging me for the past two years. I now have been reading this thread for about 6 months, and I have learned much from several of the runners who post on this forum.

Scott

Ran with a heavy heart this week after Va. Tech massacre, which happened on the day of my son's 16th birthday. Emotional roller coaster on April 16. Blacksburg VA is the site of my only overall wins in races since becoming a master. From '02 thru '05 my family stayed in the Va. Tech dorms for a week each summer at family camp, and I'd run a very low key race as part of it. Beautiful area near mountains.

On a happier note, I'd say my brother in law [who still holds most of the Family Records] Ted Hammett and my 3 older brothers taught me the most about running, and Bill Rodgers was probably the most inspiring. Watching him hold off Jeff Wells by 2 seconds to win Boston one year was one of the most exciting races I ever saw. I got to talk to Bill about it after a 5k a couple years ago. That's one thing I love about road racing. You're not just going to a baseball card show or the like and getting these guys to sign something; you can actually participate in the same event.

best workout of the week 3 X 2000 (400 jog) in 6:32, 6:31, 6:29. Next Sunday I need 5 X 2000 averaging 6:48 with no rest to break 34:00 for 10k. Probably not the best way to think of it.

have a great week.

Here's a how-to-start-running story for you, Old Man- When I was a kid my dad had a dream of moving to the country and having a little farm. By the time I was 11 we had a few dozen heffers and steers on about 80 acres of central Wisconsin. These cattle-things looked good to eat, but basically they were some special kind of holstein actually bred to run. My dad was a furniture salesman, not a farmer. Instead of building good, strong fences, basically he upholstered a make-shift system of pourous barriers. Imagine a really cheap loveseat made out of cedar and electified barbed wire. These cattle were not dumb- and they got out almost every day. And one heifer, a holstein/guernsey cross, was built like a greyhound. Almost every day she would get out, and I- little old me- I would have to chase her. I was introduced to O2 debt chasing that stupid cow all over Wisconsin. So when I went out for track and ran a 5:17 mile, I was, like, whew- that was easy! I didn't even have to wear barn-boots! And I don't have to muck-out the barn for a cool-down! A few high-school kids saw me run, and when I got into 9th grade, they said I was going out for CC and running all summer at 7 PM every night and they would even pick me up if I needed a ride from the country. So I would chase cows in the morning, bale hay all day, and do over-distance at night. Thanks to Epi Dimas, Jaime Dimas, Tony Melchor, and Thane Jones. PS: that was the summer of 1978.

And now, a moment to reflect on the life of Epifanio Dimas, who died of Lou Gherig's disease a few years ago- only 40 years old.

I started running in 1976. I was thirteen year old and was star-stuck by some of the distance runners at the summer games in Montreal (Shorter, Viren, and Juantorena). I figured that if each day during the summer I could run to my Dad's vet clinic (4.5 miles one way) that eventually I'd be a world beater, too. Alas. Alack.

(Maybe some young man or women will take similar inspiration from Ryan Hall's courageous, outstanding run in London...)

For the first time since last October I ran on some of the trails in the wooded hills east of Laramie. There is still a fair amount of snow on the trails (elevation 7800'-8800'), but it was compacted enough that I didn't do much post-holing. Oddly, I didn't see another soul during the entire 12 miles. (I did see two wild turkies, though.)

Stay well.

Dan R

You guys have some pretty cool stories....winning a city title after 2 weeks of hurdles ? wow !

Max, I bet you were in shape after chasing cows. lol

1500, I can picture you lapping those guys now. Pretty cool stuff.

When I was in 8th grade, I ran one day with my junior high's stud runner, Sammie Ford, who was already a legend, having run 2:07 already as an 8th grader. We were on a 2 mile run on Cumberland View Drive, talking running, for some reason, and he critiqued pretty much everything about my (terrible) running. I remember very clearly that he told me to run my own pace no matter what, and I've played that card countless times in the intervening almost-30 years.

Sammie ended up our #5 on our 1983 state champion xc team and was a 1:54 800m runner by the time he graduated. I was #1 on that xc team, but that was only because I ran a lot more miles than he did. (He had opened a car door into his nads our senior year and couldn't run for nearly a month. Seriously.)

He was the most beautiful runner I have ever seen when in full flight: all legs and sweat and smoothness. Totally fearsome.