Come Back to Boston

Nice race, Michele. Were the first through fourth place finishers local women? Just wondering if this is your normal competition. I know I have certain ladies I keep my eye on when running races in Ohio...and now even down here in FL.

@Paula Sue wrote:Nice race, Michele. Were the first through fourth place finishers local women? Just wondering if this is your normal competition. I know I have certain ladies I keep my eye on when running races in Ohio...and now even down here in FL.

Everyone in the race is a local (Cleveland area) runner, so yes, they will be who I "run" against in the area. There are a few others including a couple who run 3:20 marathons. I still have a ways to go to be a bit more competitive, but I am getting there.

@Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Ran a 10 mile race this morning in Cleveland - 1:19:12 (chip) and 5th in my AG !!!!!!!!!, 2nd fastest for the last 5!!!!!!

Where did that come from? Oh yeah, I see.

@Michele "1L" Keane wrote:I just stayed strong, kept my heart rate in check and ran a 7:37 final mile.

Way to keep your head in the game 1L. Nicely done!

@Michele "1L" Keane wrote:I still have a ways to go to be a bit more competitive, but I am getting there.

Yes you are...and I'll bet they are starting to turn their heads and are looking for you You go get'em, GF! I love knocking off the locals!!!

Nice race Michele!!!

Awesome job on the race less than two weeks from Boston. Congrats.

@Michele "1L" Keane wrote:

@nkrichards wrote:

@Michele "1L" Keane wrote:So those of you who are thinking Monumental might want to change races.
Miles of smiles.

Hmmm...I need to make a decision and was considering Monumental...

I have been reminded that things always come in threes - so you are safe from my jinx.

I'm really tempted to run Monumental so I can meet everyone but Nick highly recommends Hamilton and it appears to be a much faster course. I know that the average finish time and % of BQ times is highly dependent on the field of runners but Hamilton is consistently much faster. All the corners at Monumental seem like they would slow you down. I'm really leaning toward Hamilton where I think I have a better chance at a BQ time. I am tempted to switch though as I would like to meet everyone. Tough decision...

Nancy - if I wasn't able to drive easily to Indy and I didn't need Indiana as a state, I'd probably consider Hamilton as well. For me, the turns really don't matter that much as I am hoping to run around 3:45 and I think it is well suited to that. I ran a similar time at NY and I think Monumental is a bit easier course and less congested. If not, I've got Tucson in December. One nice thing is that if I do get that BQ in Cleveland, decide to run and get in, Boston allows you to enter faster times up through late March when they assign the corrals.

It would be nice to meet you though, but I might solve that by coming out to run Newport (or Eugene if I decide against Boston) next Spring.

Michele, I was checking out the results and noticed that your friend Bill they had an age of 44 for him. That would put him in the younger age qualification. Did they get his age wrong?

@Alex Kubacki wrote:Michele, I was checking out the results and noticed that your friend Bill they had an age of 44 for him. That would put him in the younger age qualification. Did they get his age wrong?

He'll probably be 45 by race day next year, which is what they use for qualification standards.

@mul21 wrote:

@Alex Kubacki wrote:Michele, I was checking out the results and noticed that your friend Bill they had an age of 44 for him. That would put him in the younger age qualification. Did they get his age wrong?

He'll probably be 45 by race day next year, which is what they use for qualification standards.

Jim is correct. He turns 45 in the fall. Another Cleveland friend (woman) did the same thing at Kentucky Derby - she turns 45 on Marathon Monday, so that is considered the next AG, so she ends up with a BQ-6, not -1.

@Michele "1L" Keane wrote:
It would be nice to meet you though, but I might solve that by coming out to run Newport (or Eugene if I decide against Boston) next Spring.

Not sure what my family would think about me running Eugene...we're Oregon State Beavers (it's the ag college).

Tough for me to get away in the spring but it might be easier once our son gets settled. He moved home last month and will be farming with us. Newport looks like fun.

@nkrichards wrote:

@Michele "1L" Keane wrote:
It would be nice to meet you though, but I might solve that by coming out to run Newport (or Eugene if I decide against Boston) next Spring.

Not sure what my family would think about me running Eugene...we're Oregon State Beavers (it's the ag college).

Tough for me to get away in the spring but it might be easier once our son gets settled. He moved home last month and will be farming with us. Newport looks like fun.

Newport is supposed to be great, but apparently limited with regards to places to stay, so I will need to commit early which is often tough for me as early June always poses the school issue. Eugene has better timing being that it is April, but there is the lingering want/need to run Boston (if I re-qualify) even though it was not the original plan.

When will you make the decision to run Cleveland?

@Alex Kubacki wrote:When will you make the decision to run Cleveland?

I committed as a 4 hr pacer with Bill and Angel who just ran Glass City. One of us will finish the race, and if it is warm, we have all decided that all bets are off. They also agreed to let me pull away from the group at mile 23 (and take anyone who wants to come) and go for the definite sub-4 and not just 3:59:59.

@nkrichards wrote:

@Michele "1L" Keane wrote:
It would be nice to meet you though, but I might solve that by coming out to run Newport (or Eugene if I decide against Boston) next Spring.

Not sure what my family would think about me running Eugene...we're Oregon State Beavers (it's the ag college).

Tough for me to get away in the spring but it might be easier once our son gets settled. He moved home last month and will be farming with us. Newport looks like fun.

Boston, schmoston. It's so touristy! Eugene is the place to be in the spring! We Ducks even allow giant aquatic rodents in town for the race, as long as they don't make a mess of things and start gnawing on the campus trees.

In all honesty, my hubby would way prefer that I run Eugene.

@Michele "1L" Keane wrote:In all honesty, my hubby would way prefer that I run Eugene.

A man of exquisite taste. Obviously.

@Mark B wrote:

@nkrichards wrote:

@Michele "1L" Keane wrote:
It would be nice to meet you though, but I might solve that by coming out to run Newport (or Eugene if I decide against Boston) next Spring.

Not sure what my family would think about me running Eugene...we're Oregon State Beavers (it's the ag college).

Tough for me to get away in the spring but it might be easier once our son gets settled. He moved home last month and will be farming with us. Newport looks like fun.

Boston, schmoston. It's so touristy! Eugene is the place to be in the spring! We Ducks even allow giant aquatic rodents in town for the race, as long as they don't make a mess of things and start gnawing on the campus trees.

I promise that I'll be on my best behavior and leave the campus trees intact. Even though all three of our kids went to Oregon State I'm more of a platypus. I can't help but cheer for the Ducks...unless they are going head to head with the Beavers.

In all seriousness I don't normally travel for races during irrigation season...April through October and we usually travel in the winter so I'm not race ready in the early spring but if I knew ahead of time I might be able to make something work for Eugene or Newport. That's a long way off...we'll see what happens.

So, you ARE coming to the Monumental marathon or you're still considering it?

@dot520 wrote:So, you ARE coming to the Monumental marathon or you're still considering it?

I am coming, Dot - registered with a hotel - I'm in.

@nkrichards wrote:

@Mark B wrote:

@nkrichards wrote:

@Michele "1L" Keane wrote:
It would be nice to meet you though, but I might solve that by coming out to run Newport (or Eugene if I decide against Boston) next Spring.

Not sure what my family would think about me running Eugene...we're Oregon State Beavers (it's the ag college).

Tough for me to get away in the spring but it might be easier once our son gets settled. He moved home last month and will be farming with us. Newport looks like fun.

Boston, schmoston. It's so touristy! Eugene is the place to be in the spring! We Ducks even allow giant aquatic rodents in town for the race, as long as they don't make a mess of things and start gnawing on the campus trees.

I promise that I'll be on my best behavior and leave the campus trees intact. Even though all three of our kids went to Oregon State I'm more of a platypus. I can't help but cheer for the Ducks...unless they are going head to head with the Beavers.

In all seriousness I don't normally travel for races during irrigation season...April through October and we usually travel in the winter so I'm not race ready in the early spring but if I knew ahead of time I might be able to make something work for Eugene or Newport. That's a long way off...we'll see what happens.

Irrigation season? What exactly does your family farm out there in Central Oregon?

Recap of the Week -

Strangely feeling good and suddenly running the paces that I was running last Spring. I know that I don't have the endurance yet though, but I'll be getting it this year as it looks like I'm going to knock off 4 more states in the process. And Mark, my husband really thinks that I should run in either WA or OR next Spring rather than Boston. Not becasue of what happened, but because he wants to go out west since we have not been to the Pac NW in a long time (for me since HTC 2007).

Mon - No run, Core class and weights
Tue - 6.5 miles done as 3 x 8 min with 3 min rest and 3 x 40 sec with 1 min rest. Not too bad despite the fact that summer showed up and it was 77F. Managed to do the repeats in 7:45-7:50 pace
Wed - Easy 4.5 mile; core class and weights
Thurs - 5 miles with 8 x 30 sec pickups
Fri - Long run 13.5 miles @ 8:50 pace. Lead legs for most of the run
Sat - 8 miles - this one felt easy and who knows why? 8:42 ave pace
Sun - 5.5 miles - this one did too, effortless and surprisingly faster than I thought. Just wore my normal watch, but I know the distance.

WTD: 43.5 miles

I was also asked to pace the Leading Ladies marathon (4:10 group) in August in South Dakota, and I think I'm going to do it. After all, it will be slow long run pace and it will get me South Dakota. Decisions, decisions........

Oh do it! I've heard it's a good one. If you don't, though, Brookings is an okay SD marathon (that's what I did) and closer to you.

How many states do you have, now?