Hey all you runners out there! A new month, a new thread, a new chance to talk, brag, or complain about our running accompolishments! Hope everyone had a great month running in August, and heres to an even better one in september!!! The temperatures should be starting to fall, people should be getting back into their "fall" groove... Lots of races coming up for all of us!!
So have at it!

Ill start..... very nice 7.5 miles this am..... 1 hr 3 minutes.......
I have a race this weekend im planning on doing...the Park to Park 10 miler here in Denver.....i dont NEED to do a race, other than the fact that i enjoy them, and i like to "test" where my running is at, speedwise, as often as i can. Helps keep me focused....

On a completely unrelated note...i made a HUGE mistake yeaterday...My brother emails me and says he has a bunch of pictures for me to see, so why dont I "join facebook so i can see them"?? Ok, i thought......get into work this morning and i have about 150 emails from pepes requesting to be my friend, and they all have 50 friends and they all have 50 friends....i have no idea what the heck is going on, or what im supposed to do...feeling very overwhelmed!!

Going to try & run my first 5k on September 26th. Working on flexibility and form this month. Doing run/walk intervals for 30 min each day. About 2 miles.

As for facebook....its so easy.


Just login and go to your "requests" page and click accept or ignore for each friend request. It doesn't really matter at all if your friends have friends.....don't pay attention to that.

And when you're caught up you can be friends with me

Good for you working on our form and flexibility!! How many of us out there ever take the time to stretch or focus long enough on our form?? Maybe if i spent even two minutes a day stretching my hammys and back wouldnt be so tight all the time!! As it is, i only stretch when my trainer makes me....

I've started running again (I've done it off and on over the years but always gotten bored). This morning I managed 5 kms and I want to keep going with it but I have a short attention span. So I'm joining this thread in the hope that it will keep me excited about getting up and getting out there.

This morning was just perfect for running. There was enough of a chill in the air that I wanted to move to keep warm.

Good afternoon all! No running still, but my ankle is wrapped up and was iced this morning. It'll be iced again before bed. I did walk, though, and it hurt, but I think it's getting better. Maybe?

Orchestra starts tonight. My day has been nothing but going to the public library for some new books (they had Tosca Reno's clean eating book- I snagged it fast!) and then coming home to a leftover lunch and then 45 minutes of flute practice in preparation of our 2 hour rehearsal tonight. I'm so rusty, but I found I can go higher than before! It's tinny and hard to get to, but I did it. Three times! *lol*

I may hit the park for my walk tomorrow. It all depends on how I'm feeling when I wake up.

hey ladies. Greatest Bday weekend ever and now back to reality! hehee. I haven't decided totally but I think it will be a long one today!

Duh... I kept checking the August thread and wondering why nobody was updating. Get with it, Fat Pants!

I've come to the conclusion that I'm trying to up my miles too quickly. Every time I attempt 5 miles, it turns out to be a disaster. I just recently hit 4 miles so I think for September I'm going to concentrate my long runs on 4-4.5 miles, October will be 5-5.5 miles and November I will do one 6 miles run before my 10k. Rookie mistake... wanting to run more than my legs can handle.

My 5k is in 1.5 weeks! I'm sooo excited. I ran on the race route last Saturday and as I was running I was thinking about our discussion in the August thread about increasing speed. Mkroyer, I remembered what you were saying about not being afraid to run faster. The first mile of the 5k route is uphill and then a significant (1.5 miles maybe) stretch down hill. I've always used that downhill portion for recovery... never letting myself go too fast for fear of wearing myself out and not being able to finish the run. Well, on Saturday I said screw it, paced myself for a quarter of a mile to recover from the uphill mile and then just flat out ran as fast as I could for the rest of the downhill portion.

1) It felt AMAZING to just let myself go and see how fast I could run... felt very freeing

2) As a result, I had my best 5k time yet of 30:27... usually I'm around the 33 minute mark.

So just wanted to say thanks for the great advice, everyone!

Fatpants-- do i see a "sub 30" 5k time for you at your very first race?!?!? I think i do!! You will run even faster during the race!! COngrats...im so glad my ramblings had a positiv eimpact on someone! Let me ask, how did you feel AFTER that fast downhill? You still had a half mile or more after that, correct? How did running fast during that middle portion affect your pace during the last portion, i guess is what im asking?

WOOT! WOOT! WOOT! See my THREE woots?

Weather was FAB this morning--I did 6 miles. GO ME! OMG!!!

I did a fast paced short run yesterday so that means I gotta long today! I;ll be in there like swimwear this afternoon!

FatPants- AWESOME> You are super fast!!!!

Yeah GO YOU!!!! THIGHS!!!!

Happy September! I love Fall! It's definitely COLD in the mornings now when I run, and the sun doesn't really come up till I'm on the way home. But I love it! I'm looking forward to some glorious day-runs on the weekends.

I ran TWO MILES STRAIGHT for the first time on Monday - AWESOME, for me at least. Today was a little rougher - only made 1.5 miles. I'm blaming in part my weird eating schedule yesterday - big lunch for work around 2, then just fruit and yogurt during Jeopardy, then early bedtime. So I didn't have the fuel I usually would. I'm going for the 2 miles again on Friday, though! Haha that sounds so paltry when the rest of you are hitting 5+ miles - I'll be there soon!

I would love to have a sub-30 5k! I will run the race course one last time this coming Saturday so I'm interested to see what will happen again.

Yeah there is about half a mile after that significant downhill section. It goes short hill-significant stretch of flat/another hill and then downhill to the end. I did notice that I slowed significantly when it came to the two hills but I maintained my regular pace on the flat parts. My recovery was still in the 170s for heart rate on the downhill even though I was running as fast as I could so I really wasn't working that much harder by running faster. Actually I think sometimes it is MORE work to slow yourself down going downhill than it is to just let yourself go and run at whatever speed your legs want to go.

For a 5k, it's not as important to pace yourself, right, since it's a shorter distance? Toward the end of the big hill, I'm going SO slow so I figure I can catch up my time by just allowing myself to go faster on the down hill.

This month I am doing a 10k in Montreal, the best part is that the finish line is in the Olympic stadium, that in itself should be a rush arriving like a real athlete ... Am I ready? NO way!! I am doing it just for fun, so are my g/fs who are doing it with me... It'll probably take me 90mins to do 10k... Oh well, it'll be fun...

FAT-for a 5 k i think you should just go balls to the walls so to speak!!! Sometimes when i get running really fast my body gets into this groove with my form, so that even when im tired and need to slow down, i end up still running at a faster pace than my "comfort" pace, which is why i was asking.....Dont worry bout the hills...the trick to running hills w/o dying is to focus on form!! Make sure you arent hunching over and keeping your amrs clenched up near your chest and swinging them across your chest. Try to focus on keeping your upper body relaxed, dropping your arms so they are no MORE THAN at a 90 degree angle. Look up. Also, try and keep your feet moving at the same tempo even though your stride will shorten up. If your leg muscles start getting tired, alternate the way your foot is striking....go a short distance landing on your hills as you run up, and then a short distance landing on our toes!! It will help if any of your muscles start cramping up on the hills! I REALLY think you can do under 30 if your practice run you were only 27 seconds off!! You will definitely run at least a little faster during the race because of adrenaline and excitement and the distraction of it all away from yourself!! If you do decide to go and try the course one more time, dont get discouraged if the time is not as fast as last time...dont let little doubt bubbles in your head!! Not every run can be a winner, right?