track fan

Congratulations on your race! It's a nice solid race time, if not exactly what you were shooting for. The last two miles were strong. Gotta love those pit stops. So what's next? It would be great if you could come down to Painter's 1/2 in January so we can meet face to face...

hmmmmm...that sounds interesting -- I was thinking about doing the winter series in Salt Lake (5K, 10K, 15K) -- but a chance to actually run another half might be nice, and meeting you fact to face would be great!

Congratulations on a well run race. The tough ones are always worth more than the easy ones, and strong winds always push races into the hard category in my book. Way to push on through given the circumstances, and an age group award is nothing to sneeze at.

I noticed you are being coached by Greg McMillan. I've been seriously considering his online personal coaching program for a while now, but have been hesitating since I haven't seen any feedback from folks using his program apart from his website. If you wouldn't mind, could you give some feedback on what you think of his services?

Last, I'm pretty sure dogs and cats count as "kids". I know our dogs and ferrets certainly do!

Congratulations on a race in tough conditions. You are laying a solid base for a outstanding year next year as well.

Great Job Bonnie! Sorry you didn't get the time you wanted, but I'm sure the wind is to blame. Too bad I don't have the expertise to give you a big ol' technical response about what your effort would've been worth on an ideal course. I say just take off 10 min. for the wind! ;)

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for your kind words!

Dale - I really can't say enough positive things about Greg. He really works hard with his athletes to find what works best for them in training optimally without injury. He is smart and a very nice guy to boot. He treats all of his athletes the same, whether they are elites or beginners or anywhere in between. If you would like to discuss anything by phone I would be happy to talk to you more about it, it is an investment, but in my opinion well worth it.

Jeff, thank you -- I agree. My first thought (when I realized I wasn't going to PR or even run close to what I wanted) was that I was not going to race again -- still run, but more for fitness. I since have decided not to give up quite yet - Dean said the course was not a PR course, but rather a good racers course - taken in that light I did ok. And now I am determined to race a little more and see what happens. Funny, my age graded performance for this race is better than my PR - but I still think on an ideal day I could beat my old PR, and I do feel I am in the best shape of my life (despite being a bit older!). I did have a better time on the hills than many I was running with, so I am pretty sure if I hadn't been in good shape it would have been far worse ;-).

Lybi, I love your idea, when I read your post to Dean, he said that it was clear that I should use the "Lybi adjustment" for this race! You are so sweet!

Bonnie

Good job on the 3rd! Sorry it wasn't all you wanted it to be, but I'd take that time anyday- (wink!) Is this that beautiful CA coastal run? Obviously the weather didn't cooperate, but otherwise did you like the course?

Bonnie - you are welcome to come and run the Uneventful Half-Marathon with us. We do it Mondays and Fridays at 6:30 AM starting at my house in Provo (339 N 1120 W). That might be hard with your work schedule, but we might be able to adjust the time and the day a bit on our end. Let me know.

Hey Sasha,

thank you for your invitation ... I thought your group was a little fast for me! I will definately keep it in mind, I can be somewhat flexible with my work hours some days and it sounds like a great idea. I need to sit down with Greg and figure out a plan for the next few months - but I will put one of these on the schedule - maybe I can make it the uneventful 10 miler for me!

Bonnie

Christi -- I don't really know if I liked the course, I didn't really see it except as a blur. The turnaround was on this penisula - probably was very pretty but with a uphill headwind I did not appreciate it to its best ;-).

I did do a warm-up and a few easy runs before the race on the course and thought it was stunning scenery.

I would definately recommend this race though, they did a really nice job with handling 5000 runners, it was small enough that the start and finish was controlled and well managed. It was pricey - both the race and staying in Monterey - but you can get cheap airfare into San Jose from SLC. It was not a flat course, but although there were plenty of hills, none of them were very steep.

Bonnie

Bonnie - we can go as slow as you need to as long as we break 1:45.

Bonnie, you did a good job on a not so easy course. I think you can still go sub 1:40 on a flat course without the wind. Congrats on the 3rd in age group - it's a great accomplishment in a field of 5000 runners! Just try to pick a flatter half next time if you want to see your true potential.

Bonnie, congrads on a tough course. 100 commando points, great effort.

Sasha - I am pretty sure I can do that so I will definately let you know, thank you again for inviting me. I am kind of debating about training for the winter running series, either the one down here in SL or maybe the Ogden (I really like the fact that the Ogden one has a 10 mile race, I really like that distance). Have you done them both?

Maria - Thanks for your vote of confidence -- I am going to lay out some more races soon to keep the momentum and see how things go. I might actually work some more on some shorter distances (even though I really dread the speedwork for them ;-) ).

Brent - Cool -- commando points I like them!!

Bonnie-I cannot say strongly enough how great the Uneventful Half is. Rubbing shoulders with Sasha and Ted is a real treat. I had to do special planning to make it work for my schedule, but I treated it like a free race and Sasha and Ted ended up being my dedicated pacers. Two thumbs up! Can I point up my two big toes too?!

Bonnie- Nice solid performance on that half marathon. Any time someone says "Big Sur", I immediately think of Highway 1, wind, and plenty of hills!

Question- is there a website or some additional information out there on the SL and Ogden winter running series you mentioned?

Hi Craig,

Well, the 1/2 marathon is not nearly as hilly as the marathon -- but certainly the wind was there! I would point out that despite the wind many people ran really well!! I am just a little wimpy ;-).

The Salt Lake Running Company has information on the two series races. The first one is "sponsored" by the SL track club (http://www.saltlakerunningco.com/event533.htm) and the second is called the winter racing circut (http://www.saltlakerunningco.com/event1129.htm) and is in Ogden. Technically, one could do both of them if you are like Sasha and can tolerate that much racing (which, unfortunately, I can't).

I wish they would have the races go from long to short (15K down to 5K) - but I guess especially for the Ogden one (that culminates to the 30K) it makes sense that they don't.

Happy running,

Bonnie

For the SLC races, the info will be at

http://www.slctrackclub.org/

For Ogden,

http://www.stridersrunning.com/2008_winter_racing_circuit