In my last post, I mentioned that instead of shooting for personal bests, I am now trying to obtain as many Explorer Tiles as I can. I started out the year with 869 tiles, and a max square of 10×10. Since the pandemic started, my rate of progress has slowed, but I still have increased those to 994 tiles with a max square of 16×16! As you can see, I have filled out all of Read more…
As you may have read in an earlier post, I have stopped chasing personal bests, for a number of reasons. This has allowed me to search for new challenges and opportunities, instead of the usual “run as much as I can and try to run as fast as I can” in days of yore. One of my challenges that I have taken up recently is to try to run every road and street in both Read more…
Editor’s (aka Matt’s) note: I asked Ruth to write a race report for the recent Syracuse Half Marathon because I felt that this race was the culmination of all her hard work recently, and perfectly reflected how she has been able to improve and smash her goals. Please take all her kind remarks about me with a grain of salt, as she is obviously still on a PR high. Now, on to her report! I’ve Read more…
When I was in my twenties, training was easy. I would just run as many miles as I could, and complete progressively harder and bigger workouts leading up to a goal race. Then, after a brief respite, I would start all over again, trying to get just a few more miles per week out of my legs than I did in the previous cycle. It was time consuming, and it took a lot of effort, Read more…
For the three of you that read this blog, you know that I had idiotically signed up for a sprint triathlon this year. I wanted to do something outside my comfort zone, and that would encourage me to do some cross training and learn how to swim. Well, I got out of my comfort zone, I did some more cross training, but that last item is a bit of a sticky one. Even after going Read more…
I’ve been remiss in posting race results lately, so here are a few RunTuff performances from the past few weeks: Ruth Shields ran the Emily McWilliams memorial mile in 7:30 on June 27th.Ann Lynn ran the Revolutionary Run 5K on July 4th in high temperatures and humidity in 33:07.Crys Holm suffered through hellish conditions on July 6th to complete the Sodus Bay Lighthouse 5K in 46:28.Ruth Shields ran the world-famous Delta Chicken Run 5K in Read more…
This past Sunday was the Utica Boilermaker 15K, which I have run every year since 2001. In 2006, I ran under an hour for the first time, and ever since then I have tried to equal or surpass that feat. My times have ranged from 54 minutes on an uncommonly cool day, to 59 minutes after bopping around Europe for two and a half weeks prior to race day. This year, I knew I was Read more…
Well, that got your attention, didn’t it? You may think that I am just using a clickbait title, and here I will explain how actually, I think they are not dumb, and all will be happy and shiny. But that’s not the case. I’m sticking by my opinion, and that is: triathlons are dumb. But you see, I am also of the belief that marathons are dumb, and ultramarathons are dumb, and lots of things Read more…
I don’t write a lot of race reports these days, mostly because I haven;t done any races that I thought worthy of an actual write-up afterward. But I feel that it would be good for me to write up a recap of the Newport Marathon in Oregon. My training leading up to this race has been sporadic at best. I spent much of last fall and winter enjoying a bit of a hiatus from hard Read more…
Okay, now that I have your attention, let me explain myself. Tapering is most assuredly not for chumps, and is practically a requirement for running a good marathon. But I am not going to taper for the Newport Marathon on June 1st. Why not, you may ask? Because my training has been so sporadic and minimal, that a taper would make no sense, given the lack of volume I am running right now. Consider: before Read more…