Rockstar Runners

Still Running

We are well into December and it's time to ask, are you still running?  This cold weather and busy time can really make it difficult to keep it up.  We've had a busy fall with lots of touring and Jeremy and his wife Erin just had a baby, 3 weeks early!  So needless to say keeping up the training hasn't been easy but keeping that base is so important.  It sure helps when it comes time to start training for another race.  So speaking of another race we will be running the Country Music Marathon in Nashville this April and I am planning on running the Goofy Challenge at Disney in 2010.  I'd love to see some other Rockstar Runners there again with me!  We will also be looking for a fall race to run so if you have any suggestions we'd love to hear them.  We are looking into another discount code for any of these races so if you would like to get the Rockstar Runner discount make sure you sign up to our email list and we'll send it out as soon as we have it!

Sorry for the lack of posts this fall but we anticipate a busy 2009 so keep us in your feed and we'll keep you up to date!

38,000+ run New York City Marathon

Over 38,000 people ran the New York City Marathon yesterday - sounds like it was quite the event! That's one of the races on my "To run" list. I posted a brief wrap-up of the race and my own personal running goals and failures over at Normal Rockstar - check it out!

A Way To "Contribute"

We've been working on a way to fulfill our "Contribute" part of our 3 C's.  Jeremy and I will be running in the Missoula Marathon and Half Marathon on July 13th and have been working on a way that we as Rockstar Runners can "Contribute".  So for the Missoula run I will be trying out the Team World Vision system which I think will be great for us to use.  Plus they now have Olympic medal hopeful Ryan Hall and his running wife Sara on board.  You can create your own fund raising page, add a widget to your blog, add your page to your Facebook page.  There are many options.  And on top of all of that World Vision is a great organization that we have worked with and really believe in.

I posted about this on my blog if you'd like to check that out.  Or you can just check out my fund raising page by visiting here.  If you are willing to donate let us know how the process goes for you so we can get an idea for how this all works.  Hopefully we'll be able to implement it for our next Rockstar Runners race and make a huge difference in the lives of many people.

Moving Forward,
Glenn

New RR Facebook Page and other news.

Hey Rockstars!  Just to update you on a couple of new things.  You'll notice that the top post here will always remain on top now.  We needed a way of making sure that visitors were able to figure out what this whole Rockstar Runners thing is.  So when we add a new post it will show up just below that welcoming information.  Also, if you read that post you will have noticed a link to a new Facebook page for us.  We figured we needed some work on the "Connect" C so this is the first thing we are doing to improve that.  There we can message each other, list upcoming events, upload photos and video and have discussions.  So all in all I think it'll be a great thing.  Just head on over and click on "become a fan".

You should be receiving a newsletter this week with some new race info so look for that.  Keep on track and keep putting one foot in front of the other!  Hope to see you out on the road!

Moving forward,
Glenn

Welcome to Rockstar Runners! What is Rockstar Runners Anyway?

Hello and welcome to the Rockstar Runners running club! Jeremy Thiessen and I (Glenn Lavender) have been dreaming about this for a while now and we are excited that you are here reading this and that we are finally able to get things rolling. What is this whole Rockstar Runners thing you ask? Let me explain.

Quite simply, we believe that if you can get off the couch and get yourself out for a run a few times a week then YOU are a Rockstar! People will watch you and be influenced by this simple act more than you realize.

Rockstar Runners is based on three C’s: Condition, Connect and Contribute. We want to Condition ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually to be in the best shape possible. We want to Connect with each other so that we can encourage one another and help each other along in this journey. We want to Contribute by having others benefit from all that we do as Rockstar Runners. We’re constantly working to figure out how to best achieve these goals.  We are always open to feedback so comment and email us often.

So how do we achieve these three C's?  Add this site to your feed reader and we'll keep posting articles here that will hopefully help you as you condition yourself in all areas.  As part of "Connecting" with each other we also post about runs our members hve completed and try to encourage one another there.  We have also started a Rockstar Runners page on Facebook so that we can have a place to discuss things and have more interactions with our members.  In the area of "Contribute" we have worked with World Vision for many years with our band and will be partnering with them in upcoming races to help with specific projects and villages that could use our help.

We are really excited that you found our site today and we hope that you are able to join us in this journey of improving our lives and the lives of others through the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other.

To learn more about how we got started check out our first post from November of 2007.

Moving forward,
Glenn

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)!