Rockstar Runners

Rockstar Runners Run the Country Music Marathon

It's a week later and I think most of you who ran in Nashville last weekend should be feeling much better.  We'd love to hear from any of you who ran the Country Music Marathon or half marathon in Nashville. It sounds like it was a pretty great day and we were sad to miss it.

Below is a note I received from Tina and a few pictures from the day.

"the race...WOW. it was my first full marathon. probably cried 4 times in route as things passed through my head, as I saw things, or heard things. it was one of the most powerful experiences I've had personally. raced it smart...Galloway 4:1 run/walk which put me in at 4:39:40 with a sprint left in my legs for the chute. it felt great, still feel great. loads of life lessons "mined" from the whole thing. God's voice was very poignant during the race."

 

Tina

(L-R - Krista, Tracy, Nicole, Vicky)

This great sign was made by Krista and Tracy as a rallying point at the beginning of the race.  Alas though you can't easily run with a big sign so it ended up with all the empty bottles and orange and banana peels.

Moving forward,

Glenn

Another Completed Run

One of our members, Amy Halleran, completed her first 5k not too long ago!  She did a great post about it on her blog.  Head on over there, check it out and tell her how proud you are!

Way to go Amy!  You are a Rockstar for getting off the couch and training and completing that 5k.  We're proud of you!

Moving forward,
Glenn

Shamrock Marathon

This story was emailed to us recently and we just had to share it.

Jeremy & Glenn,

I ran a PR yesterday at Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach.  I came in at 3:43.50 with a 'gun' time of 3:44.40.  Although it was only by 50 seconds, I was very happy with this performance for several reason.  First, it is a PR, who cares about by how much.  Secondly, it was a PR on my 30th birthday. Lastly, I figured out shortly after the race that I had actually run negative splits for the first time.

After completing the marathon and getting some light fluids and food in my system, I set out on the second part of my goal for the day, which I had set about a year ago.  Running an additional 4 miles to complete my 30 on 30...30 miles on my 30th birthday.  While my time for those 4 miles wasn't as good as the marathon, I was able to accomplish the feat with relative ease and celebrated with a nice, sugary Coca-Cola afterwards.

After driving the 15 minutes back to my house, I immediately got on the race website to see how I placed, as well as to see how some other friends of mine did.  I didn't see myself in the results! After checking a few more times, doing a "Edit and Find on this Site" search, still nothing. "Are you kidding me" was my first thought (I think I said it out loud to no one in particular, as well!)

I finally checked the "Marathon Splits and DNF's".  I found my name...as a DNF'er.  All my splits are there thru Mile 18 (last split point until finish) and for some unexplained reason, my chip didn't register at the finish!

I emailed the race director and the timing company with my story, so who knows what will happen.  Needless to say, whether it's "official' or not, I know what I did and that is the important thing.

Just my story!

Thanks,

Jonathan Olszyk

Jonathan, let us know what happens.  We trust that the folks at the Shamrock Marathon will take care of this.

GL

Century Plus Runner - Buster Martin

I'm not sure where to even start with this one but thanks to Dave Lewis over at FIKA for the links.

Buster Martin is a complete Rockstar in our books.  He is training to run the London Marathon and is hoping to break a world record by being the oldest person to complete a marathon. (Article here.)  If he does it he will have beaten it by 8 years!!!  He's 101 years old.  This guy also fought off three guys trying to mug him when he was 100!  I'm telling you, he is  Rockstar!

So if you needed some motivation to start or continue running I hope Buster's life has provided some.  It has for me!  I'm off to do my 13 mile training run for Nashville now!

I'll leave you with a priceless quote from Mr. Martin.

“If I finish, I’ll do what I always do and have a pint and a fag,” he said. “People ask what is my secret but I haven’t got one. They say fags and booze are bad for you—but I’m still here, aren’t I?”

New Sponsor: Fleet Feet

We're pleased to announce the addition of a new sponsor, Fleet Feet Sports. In the next few days we will be announcing via our team newsletter some great deals exclusively for team members. So if you're not a team member yet, make sure you sign up (on the left)!

How Will You Feel the Day After?

This is a fantastic video. For those of you who have run a marathon before, you'll get it. Those who haven't but are planning on it, it might give you something to look forward to, anyways... It's always fun to milk it a little bit so that when people ask you what's wrong you can say, "Oh nothing - I just ran a marathon/half-marathon yesterday"... [HT: Spence]

New Contributing Expert

Please welcome a new addition to our blogging and coaching team, Marilyn Trout. Marilyn is an accomplished cycling coach (click here or on her name in the left-hand sidebar to read her list of accolades) and writes a regular article providing training tips that are applicable to all endurance athletes, not strictly cyclists. Marilyn has also made herself available to answer any specific questions you may have about your training whether it's on a bike or on foot. Click here to send her your email - she'll probably answer it right on the blog.

Please leave a comment and welcome Marilyn to the team - we look forward to having her contribute. Happy running!

Jeremy

Inspiring Quote?

". . . to take part in a Marathon race is to risk serious and permanent injury to health, with immediate danger . . . exercise should always be purely subordinate to the business and pleasure of life."
- The New York Times, 1909

Isn't it great to live life on the edge!!  I found this quote while flipping through this book I'm sort of reading called Boston - A Century Of Running.

Running For My Life

Over the past weekend I finished a book called Running For My Life - On the extreme road with adventure runner Ray Zahab.  It’s Ray’s story of how he came to start running and turn his life around.  The man is a little bit of a freak which I’m guessing most people who can run 100 miles at a time are.  The first race he ever ran was the 160km/100mi long Yukon Arctic Ultra!!  He went from smoking a pack a day to becoming a pretty serious cyclist then he moved onto running.  And his first race is 100 miles in the arctic!  Pulling a sled behind himself!

Now I can relate to Ray with his Canadian citizenship, his Newfie wife, and love of running but I cannot relate to being able to stay on my feet for that long and enjoy it.  It is however interesting to read about his experiences.  It sure makes going out for a 20 mile run seem a lot less significant.  A good book to read if you are training for a half marathon or full marathon or any distance really.  It’ll just give you some perspective.

Some of my highlights from the book:
Ray’s learning experiences from the Yukon Arctic Ultra and finding out where Ray placed in his first real race!  Crazy.

Ray’s account of running the Marathon Des Sables in Morocco.  This race is a multi stage race in which the competitors cover 243km in six days.  This was his second real race.  He talks about how to run on sand, how to deal with sand storms, the heat, tarantula spiders and how he dealt with some poor preparation on his part of his food and sleeping necessities.

The Jungle Marathon that took place in South America.  Fun to read about but man I would never want to do that.  This is another multi stage race except they are running through the jungle dealing with swamps, razor sharp vegetation and of course a ton of animals and insects that you would not want to be caught by.

Not in the book but something you should also know about Ray is that last year he completed yet another ridiculous feat.  He ran across the entire Sahara Desert!  He ran with two other guys, Charlie Engle and Kevin Lin in support of the H2O Africa Foundation.  A film was made about the whole expedition directed and narrated by Matt Damon.  For more info about that here's the web site.

I'm convinced again about how running can change lives!

Moving Forward,
Glenn

Presidential Hopeful Mike Huckabee Featured in "Runner's World"

I've been intrigued recently about the running story of Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. I posted a blog the other day on Normal Rockstar about why I would vote for Huckabee (if I could actually vote). Suffice it to say that the fact that he's a runner factored into the equation. Well, I found this article in Runner's World that was published in 2005 while he was Governor of Arkansas and it talks about how he ended up losing 110lbs, picking up running, and completing his first marathon. It's pretty inspirational - if you've got the time, check it out!

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