Runners Inspiring Runners – John Shafer

Posted on October 9, 2013 by SoWhatIRun

One of the most inspiring runners to me is my personal trainer, who also coached me for my first half marathon with Charm City Run. When John runs, you can’t help but be in awe of his form and grace. Not only is he a great runner, he is humble and genuine. He’s a constant coach even while he’s running a marathon, checking in on runners when they’re not looking so good and giving them a pep talk to help them push through the wall. John turned to running after living a very unhealthy lifestyle that was taking him down a dark road that wasn’t going to end well. He now helps people by coaching half and full marathon groups and also with personal training. Below is our interview. Continue reading →

Week 16 – Long Run (Not Quite 20 Miles, But I’m Good With That)

Posted on October 6, 2013 by SoWhatIRun

Saturday’s long run was the last long run before the Marathon. The day started out beautiful and we had a great first 10 miles, but then the sun, heat, and humidity reared it’s ugly head. By mile 15, we were hating it. We were in Timonium which means hill after hill after hill and twenty miles of hills suck. And they suck worse in 87 degree weather. Continue reading →

Week 15 – Long Run (12 Miles and Killer Acorns and Geese)

Posted on September 28, 2013 by SoWhatIRun

Another strong long run for the books and I’ll take it any time I can get it. I would like to thank Mother Nature for giving us another beautiful day to run. Overcast, no humidity, upper 50’s lower 60’s. But I’d like to ask Mother Nature to keep her acorns and attack geese to herself. I missed getting hit in the head with one and my friend had the unfortunate luck to step on on one and wipe out. It’s a good thing that Carrie’s bad ass because she took the wipe out like a champ, despite spraining her ankle, busting up her knee and elbow, and braking her Garmin <gasp!>. Continue reading →

The Importance of a Recovery Run

Posted on September 24, 2013 by SoWhatIRun

As I sit here with a heating pad on my back, I’m now realizing that no matter how tired I was on Sunday, I should’ve went out for a recovery run. After speaking with my personal trainer/coach, apparently, Saturday’s long run took a harder toll on my body than I thought. And being sedentary on Sunday allowed for my muscles, in particular my back, to stiffen up. Because of this, I will now have to skip tonight’s track workout (partner 800s) and tomorrow’s personal training session. Continue reading →

MCM Training – Week 14 Long Run (18 Miles with Bad Manners)

Posted on September 21, 2013 by SoWhatIRun

Well, there goes another 18 miles for the books. Today’s run was a practice run on the Baltimore Marathon course. Those doing the Baltimore full had to run 20 miles, while the halfies did 10-12. Since MCM is a little later, our mileage was 18. We decided that we would cut the 20 mile course short and in doing so, we got a little lost and ended up a mile short at the end. No worries…we found the 18th mile. Continue reading →

Definition of a Marathon

Posted on September 19, 2013 by SoWhatIRun

Marathon

mar·a·thon

ˈmarəˌTHän/

noun: marathon; plural noun: marathons

a long-distance running race, strictly one of 26 miles and 385 yards (42.195 km)

Since I started running, I’ve heard some people refer to races as ‘marathons,’ and frankly, it irks me a little bit. As the definition above says, a marathon is “strictly one of 26 miles and 385 yards.” It is not a 5K, it is not a 10K, it is not an ultra. Continue reading →

MCM Training – Week 13 Long run (16 Out of 17 Ain’t Bad)

Posted on September 15, 2013 by SoWhatIRun

This weekend’s mileage for our long run was between 16 – 17 miles, so I had my heart set on 17. Even posted on Facebook that I was running 17, cause you know you MUST do it if you post it. But at 16, I was done and I was fine with it. Well, I wasn’t actually totally fine with it, but fine enough to stop and not whine too much about it. My Garmin had died, my legs were tired, and I wanted brunch. I’m pretty sure I could’ve pushed through to the 17, but after running 4 yesterday, I decided I didn’t need to…brunch was on the brain instead. Continue reading →

Slower vs. Faster?

Posted on September 13, 2013 by SoWhatIRun

As I sit here gathering my race stats information for my new Race Stats page, I noticed how significantly slower I’ve been running this season. And I think of some of the problems that I’ve had and I flashback to an appointment that I had with my podiatrist when I was having pain on the top of my foot. I remember boasting about how I went from 0 to 26.2 in a short amount of time and that I had planned on picking up speed this year. When I told him I did my first marathon in 4:56, he, who was also a runner, said to me “was it worth it?” And I looked at him. Then he proceeded to tell me that he rarely sees elite runners for pain and injuries because they were fast. He said that the runners he typically sees are slower runners because they spend more time on their feet. Fast runners spend less time on their feet and therefore have less injuries.

I wanted to punch him in the face. Continue reading →

MCM Training – Week 12 Track (Time Trials and an Unexpected Patriotic Moment)

Posted on September 11, 2013 by SoWhatIRun

Last night were two mile time trials. I did a 9:09 for my first mile and an 18:04 for my second…negative split! YES! Using the McMillian Calculator (https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/), it looks like my marathon race pace is set to be 10:59. If I’m on target, I should finish my marathon 4:47:38. Ok, so it’s a far cry from doing a 4:00 marathon, but when I set the goal of shaving an hour off of my time at the end of last year’s marathon, as Kendra said, I had “Marathon Goggles” on. It’s amazing what adrenaline does after you finish your first marathon. I hope you all have or will have the experience to know how that feels.

Last night at the track, the college had some sort of game going on. At the beginning of their game, they played and sang our National Anthem. I was surprised and touched that EVERYONE at track practice stopped where they were, faced our American flag, put their hand over their heart and listened. I looked around and smiled…folks scattered around the track loop just standing there honoring our country. I don’t know why I was surprised, but I loved it. Continue reading →