Running Community > What I am LOVING right now in the Running Community
Wow, what a week for the running community and for this mom. For me, personally, I had a fun-filled, busy week full of play dates and coach work AND my coach upped me to be running 5 days a week now (SO happy about that!) For the running community, we had the NYC marathon and the Indy marathon, both with amazing results!
The NYC marathon was amazing. The lineup for US women was strong and deep and out of the top 20 female finishers, 13 were American! Such a good day – a couple highlights Shalane Flannagan came in 3rd, and close behind were Molly Huddle for 4th, Des for 6th, Allie Keiffer for 7th, and Daska for 9th, Stephanie Bruce for 11th, and Sarah Sellers for 18th.
It really was an amazing race and day for American women, I just find it so inspiring and encouraging! YAY USA!
Before I dive head first into a much needed, unplugged weekend, I want to share my quickly becoming favorite post of the week with you all. COMMUNITY FRIDAYS! What is Community Fridays?
Basically, community Fridays is a day that I am dedicating to the running community. There is something special about cheering others on and sharing good news with other people. Whether that’s an inspiring runner, a good sale on running clothes (who doesn’t love that?!) or an encouraging story, I want to have Fridays be a day of celebration – celebrating real runner’s, real stories, and encouraging others in their own running journey! Basically, Fridays are going to be my new, favorite, on the blog, day of the week! SO, if you know of an inspiring runner or an encouraging running related story, or you want to share YOUR running story (and want to be featured!) make sure to email me at coachbethanythompson@gmail.com. I would LOVE to feature YOU!
Melissa Becker aka motherrunnermel > If I could pick one word to describe Mel “resilient” I started following Melissa a while ago and was immediately impressed by how speedy, consistent, and dedicated she is as a runner. Melissa is a mom of two and has also been fighting Lymes disease. And yet, through it all, she’s running at a high level, competitively racing, and preforming well. She recently ran the Indianapolis Momentum Marathon and ran a 3:07! In her words, ” I went into the race with the goal of a PR. My hope was to run 3:12 to give me a NYC qualifying time. James [her coach] had been telling me for weeks he was certain I could run sub 3:10, but I was incredibly skeptical. Coming from Orlando ALL my training runs felt insanely hard running in the humidity all season. I ended my runs hitting the efforts, but frustrated with how hard everything felt, but I was willing to give it a shot with negative splits.
Kat and I met up with Laura in the morning and went off to the start. My plan was to start around 7:20-7:30 pace and then ease into the 7:15-7:20 range and go from there
First 10k I ran side by side with Kat (who ran the half) and Laura. We talked. I felt great. 7:23 average.
By mile 7 I told Laura and I was going to feel out some faster splits and went off a bit. I knew it was going to be an incredible day for me, I started to tear up (of course I did) with excitement of what I could do. I focused on staying controlled and comfortable and tried telling myself “don’t be stupid” every time I saw my watch dip below a sub 7:10 pace. Clocked the half at 1:35:00, 7:16 average pace.
I allowed myself to pick it up “just a smidge” from there.
Mile 14 I clocked at 6:56 mile. Too fast dummy, I thought and pulled back the pace without looking at my watch. Yet my 15th split I ran another sub 7.
The hills I ran at a comfortable 7:09 pace and then I let myself really go and started picking it up and running tempo effort. I ignored my watch, but later I saw I had clocked 6:46-7:01 for miles 18-24.
Mile 25 my legs were KILLING ME and I got emotional (of course I did) and soaked it all in, I was running a huge PR today.
Mile 26 I saw Kat screaming her butt off and sprinted best I could.
I crossed the finish line with a 3:07 above me and sobbed and hugged James. I called SJB and he was almost as emotional as I was and I talked to my babies.
It was the best day ever.
3:07:32.
2+ minute negative splits and a 12 minute PR.
Guess that sub 3 is closer than I thought 😏” So inspired by you, Melissa! Keep running strong!
Gear
Brooks Ghosts 11 > Man, these shoes are AMAZING. I seriously love how they feel on my feet, the cushion is just enough and I love how much support my plantar plate area gets from it. I’ve been consistently training in the Brooks Launch’s (which I love) but really have enjoyed the extra support from the Ghosts. The Ghosts aren’t really a ‘support’ shoe, but are a slightly more cushioned shoe than the Launch. It’s been fun to change it up and see how my feet respond. If you are looking for a super solid, neutral shoe, you can find the shoes here!
News/Events
I have something super special, upcoming in the next couple of weeks! Make sure to watch out for some exciting things happening over here!
And with that, I wish you a happy Friday! May your weekend be filled with long runs and hot cups of coffee!