road and trail talk - Albany Running Exchange

Recommendations

Info

Page 4 By Miriam Hardin Finding ARE Two milestones for me in 2007 were turning 40 and returning to running, after having been away from it, for the most part, for more than 20 years. Several years before, I’d managed to lose more than a hundred pounds, and regular physical activity was helping me maintain the loss. However, I wasn’t running--somehow in my mind this was something I used to be able to do. I’m not sure what clicked for me in 2007, but I realized that I really missed running. At the time, though, my mindset was that I needed somebody to run with. My first idea for finding these somebodies was to send out a message to a parenting listserv I belonged to. I got a couple of responses and went on some runs. However, scheduling issues made these runs pretty infrequent. If I managed to get out and run more than once in a month, I was bucking the trend. Despite the irregular schedule, though, I signed up for Race for the Cure, my first race since high school. Although I was much slower than I’d been in high school, racing felt great, and I knew I wanted to race more. I decided that I wanted to work my way up to a marathon... in a few years. I would spend 2008 building my distances, do a half in 2009, and a full marathon in 2010. Realizing that I’d need to run much more regularly to meet these goals, I took a deep breath and began to go on runs by myself. From Runner’s World magazine, I picked up the concept of doing an easy run and a “speed” run during the week, and a long run on weekends. Initially, my weekday runs were only two miles, and my starting distance on the weekend long runs was only three. I added on to those runs steadily, so that before long, I was in the fives and sixes. Early in 2008, I joined HMRRC, hoping to meet other runners that way. I posted in their message board’s “Where to run, who to run with” forum, hoping to find other runners in my neighborhood, but got the sound of crickets in response. Although I saw a reference to the Albany Running Exchange in the “running groups” section of their website, I got the distinct impression that it was a group for runners who were affiliated with UAlbany, or at least that all of their group runs were held there. What really got me curious about ARE was seeing so many ARE singlets at races. I remember seeing runners wearing them at Freihofer’s, Race for the Cure, and Stockade-athon (the three races that I ran in 2008). I Road and Trail Talk Magazine wanted to learn more about this group, but I didn’t get around to finding the website until early 2009, and I didn’t join until March of that year. Almost immediately, I found people to run with. My very first group run with ARE was the first “Houseto-House Half” in September of 2009. As many of you might recall, the event listing for this run billed it as “mostly flat.” I wasn’t yet attuned to the sense of humor of Randy Goldberg and Chuck Batcher! Despite the unadvertised bumpiness of the course, I had a great time, met lots of ARE members, and proved to myself that I could cover the needed distance for a half marathon. Another benefit of ARE membership became apparent when I started wearing an ARE singlet during races. People who didn’t know me would cheer, “Go ARE!” From the first time this happened, I knew I’d become part of a great “running” family. As I got to know more ARE members by attending group runs, I had more and more people cheering me on by name at races. Sometimes that kind of encouragement is all it takes to turn around a race that isn’t going so well. After finishing my first half marathon (the Mohawk Hudson Half) in October of 2009, the thought of running double that distance made me feel panicky. My husband had parked on Broadway, and each step descending from the pedestrian bridge from the Corning Preserve was an agony. But I reminded myself that I’d worked my way up from running 5Ks; working my way up to a marathon would be the same kind of process. In June of 2010, I started my first 16-week marathontraining plan, which I’d generated using the SmartCoach tool at runnersworld.com. This was the summer that I started attending Anne Butler’s “Nisky Bike Path” runs on Sunday mornings. This was the perfect way to ramp up my long runs, as our group conversations helped make those miles fly by. One of my favorite memories from that summer was laughing so hard I had trouble catching my breath. I also noticed that there is no better way to get to know people than to go on a long run. Something about it is like truth serum--folks will open up about pretty much anything during a good group run. October 10, 2010 was marathon day. Lining up at the start in Schenectady’s Central Park before the race, I was excited and nervous, and surrounded by ARE running buddies. I remember Stacey Kelley commenting that we’d banked our miles, and now was the time to cash them out. One of my mantras during the race that
Page 5 day ended up being “You’ve banked it, now you cash it!” I ended up doing the marathon in 4:14:53. I was thrilled, especially since this beat my SmartCoachpredicted time by almost four minutes. Plus I felt invincible, capable of anything. After all, I’d completed a marathon, something that had seemed impossible to me. Since then, I’ve run a second marathon (Philadelphia in November of 2011) and as I’m writing this, I’m training for my third marathon and my second Mohawk Hudson River Marathon. I’ve gone through phases where I don’t join many group runs, but I feel good knowing the option is available. This past winter, I never missed a single “Joe Benny” pancake run, whereas in previous years winter kept me indoors on the treadmill. By no coincidence, I also participated in every HMRRC Winter Series race, as well as taking a leg in the February 2012 HMRRC Marathon Relay. Finding ARE has been exactly what I’ve needed to reboot my “running” life. Belonging to ARE means knowing I can find people to run with, but it also means having countless people who understand what I’m talking about when I talk about running 1 . These are people who don’t stare bug-eyed if I say I ran “only ten miles” the other day or that I have a 20-mile run coming up the following weekend. When I have one of my moments where I realize I’m being a bit obsessive about tracking my runs, I know I can find others who are equally obsessive about tracking theirs. That can be so comforting at times! Finally, I just want to say: Thank you ARE and happy 10th birthday (you don’t look a day over nine!) 1 Speaking of which, I highly recommend What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. Road and Trail Talk Magazine Chris Chromczak (R) stretching before a group run on Nov. 7, 2002. Matt Wright, Pete Rossi, and Paul Herbig at WS #5 on Feb. 9, 2003. Jess Waltz and Keely O'Connell at a group run in March '03.
Page 2 and 3: Page 2 The Official Magazine of the
Page 6 and 7: Page 6 Finding Synergy with the ARE
Page 8 and 9: � Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon & S
Page 10 and 11: Page 10 By Elaine Morris Why I Belo
Page 12 and 13: Page 12 Ray Lee and Bob Knouse at t
Page 14 and 15: Page 14 Henrik Metzlaff handing out
Page 16 and 17: Page 16 team, and some simply stopp
Page 18 and 19: Page 18 had very motivated sellers.
Page 20 and 21: Page 20 timer that Nicole had, and
Page 22 and 23: Page 22 world record. And before my
Page 24 and 25: Page 24 FROM THE HMRRC RECYCLING CO
Page 26: Page 26 Meet Steven Gibbs ** From t

road and trail talk - Albany Running Exchange

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?