The Running Thread - 2019

[lauraleh]

Thanks for all the replies! I think my plan will be running with a particular pace per mile in mind and then not caring what the total time is. I want to take in the atmosphere and meet as many characters as possible and just have fun! I'm SO excited for Wine and Dine.

 

[McNs]

Race Recap - Auckland Half Marathon

I entered this race a couple of months ago - it was never really on my radar, particularly with an injury enforced break earlier this year, but a colleague was doing it so I thought I would join him. The injury was feeling better, I was getting back in to running, and it seemed like a good idea. Because of the injury, and the fact I was going to be on vacation the 3 weeks leading up to the race, I was pretty relaxed with goal time. I had settled on 1:50 (with a fall back of at least beating Kipchoge) which for me is a pretty comfortable pace. Though I got some runs in while away, the longest was only 5 miles, so I was concerned the legs may not last the distance.

Race day came and I had a pretty good sleep. Up at 5am, out the door at 5:30 for the 20 minute drive to downtown Auckland where I would catch the ferry to the start line. I just missed a ferry - they stopped boarding at me - so had to wait 15 minutes or so for the next one. While that gave me priority access to the bathroom on board, it meant by the time I got to the corral I was further back than I wanted (there were no waves based on time). Once the gun went, it took a couple of minutes to cross the line, then quite a while to get in to a good rhythm. In the end though the first KM came in right on goal time (5:15ish per KM).

The next 14 KMs all went well, and were quicker than I had set out to do (averaged around 4:55 per KM), but I was feeling good. Quads started to feel a bit tight around 13km but otherwise was all good. At the 15km mark is the climb up the Auckland Harbour Bridge, which is about a 45m climb. After reaching the top, it is pretty much all down hill or flat to the finish, so as the point I decided to start pushing, aiming for 4:30kms (was feeling MUCH better than expected at this point!). The legs obliged, and even managed to squeeze out a 4:20 for the last KM. Crossed the line with 1:43:05, which was 533/5204 overall and 39/267 in my division and 7 minutes better than target!

I really enjoyed this race - it was great not having high expectations or a stretch goal. I was able to race based on feel, and it was nice to know my base fitness was able to carry me through. Not sure what my next race will be but based on this one I want to race more and really just enjoy them.

 

[PrincessV]

Question: For Disney races, do you set a goal in your mind? I know some people run these for time but I'm guessing that the majority do it for fun. How do you calculate what your goal should be with character meet and greets? Or do you just not care what your time is?

So far, my only goals for Disney races have been to finish, and have fun doing it. Sometimes I added weird little things, like a marathon goal was to get a jumping picture in each theme park. I didn't start my 2018 marathon with a time goal, but I felt good and realized around the 17-mile mark that I was on pace for a big PR, so I went for it and got it. For 2020, I won't have PhotoPass because I downgraded my AP to one that doesn't include it, and I refuse to pay for PP, which removes any particular feeling of "needing" to stop for pics to get my money's worth - so I'm aiming for a very simple goal of finishing all 4 races with an average pace under the 16:00/mile mark. Theoretically, that should be as easy as skipping photo stops in the full, unless it's brutally hot. We'll see!

 

[roxymama]

Question: For Disney races, do you set a goal in your mind? I know some people run these for time but I'm guessing that the majority do it for fun. How do you calculate what your goal should be with character meet and greets? Or do you just not care what your time is?

Don't think I've ever gone in with a final goal time, but I've had paces I'd like to be at while moving. I did a half in disneyland once where the first 5 miles+ were in the parks and full of characters so I didn't care about time at all for those miles and then I tried to keep a good, even, faster pace through the back portion of the race out on the streets where there were no characters. So it was like two races in one.
In WDW the characters were more spread out for the halfs so caring about time got thrown out the window.

I also am far more likely to take bathroom breaks or walk during water stops or stop to take pictures of scenery or selfies etc than during races at home because I don't care about wasting seconds at Disney.

 

[Slogger]

Hi everyone! Thought it would be fun to revisit an old question, what do you do with all of your running medals?
For many years I used to keep mine in a shoebox, put them on a spare Christmas tree, or forget about them.

Always wanted to come up with a better way to display them. We purchased a medal hanger that was not only expensive but ridiculously small.
So I did the next best thing....I made my own.

Went to Lowe's, bought two aluminum poles, 6 curtain rod holders, and a can of spray paint. Spent less than an hour painting and assembling.

Total cost= $35 total for both poles.

Here's what it looked like about a year ago. Have a few more medals to put on it but you get the idea.




How to do you display your Medals?

 

[avondale]

Hi everyone! Thought it would be fun to revisit an old question, what do you do with all of your running medals?
For many years I used to keep mine in a shoebox, put them on a spare Christmas tree, or forget about them.

Always wanted to come up with a better way to display them. We purchased a medal hanger that was not only expensive but ridiculously small.
So I did the next best thing....I made my own.

Went to Lowe's, bought two aluminum poles, 6 curtain rod holders, and a can of spray paint. Spent less than an hour painting and assembling.

Total cost= $35 total for both poles.

Here's what it looked like about a year ago. Have a few more medals to put on it but you get the idea.

View attachment 446540


How to do you display your Medals?

That's a great display arrangement!

I have one of the purchased medal-hangers. I forget how many it holds - maybe 2 dozen? I don't race that frequently and some races don't give out medals, so it will still be a little while before it fills up and I have to decide what to do next.

 

[TheHamm]

Hi everyone! Thought it would be fun to revisit an old question, what do you do with all of your running medals?
For many years I used to keep mine in a shoebox, put them on a spare Christmas tree, or forget about them.

Always wanted to come up with a better way to display them. We purchased a medal hanger that was not only expensive but ridiculously small.
So I did the next best thing....I made my own.

Went to Lowe's, bought two aluminum poles, 6 curtain rod holders, and a can of spray paint. Spent less than an hour painting and assembling.

Total cost= $35 total for both poles.

Here's what it looked like about a year ago. Have a few more medals to put on it but you get the idea.

View attachment 446540


How to do you display your Medals?

I have many less than you, but I only keep a few out, and we painted the room recently and they have not come back out yet. Those that were out were in the window of our bedroom. They are looped over the window valance box/cornice thing. I can still open and close the blinds, and I loop them a couple of times in the middle so they are longer on the edges and shorter in the middle.

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

ATTQOTD:

Mine is very similar to @Slogger 's. A single curtain rod that a friend was throwing away, so total cost $0.

Mine is in our basement stairwell (making it almost impossible to get a picture of). I ding my favorites every time I go by. Half marathon or more finisher medals are on the right in date order. AG awards are on the left in reverse date order (easier to just slip them on the end.)

I have all my marathon bibs framed. Plaques and statues and bobble-heads(!) are on a built-in shelf above the medals.

 

[MissLiss279]

ATTQOTD:
I had made one from a coat hanger thing from Hobby Lobby. I placed one too many medals on it and it crashed. Now they are all in a shoe box. I need to find somewhere I can hang something like yours...

 

[Slogger]

@OldSlowGoofyGuy ....looks great with the medals and bibs. Can't beat the cost!
You beat me to my next question about what people do with their bibs!!!

Bobbleheads? Picture please!

 

[PrincessV]

How to do you display your Medals?

I don't, really. It's just not a look that goes with my decor, and I really don't care about most medals, so the ones I couldn't sell, or got before I realized there was a market for them, are in a shoebox in the far recesses of a closet. I do currently have my marathon and Dopey medals hanging on hooks in a corner of my bedroom, but I don't know how long that will last.

 

[SheHulk]

ATTQOTD: Mine are heaped in a pile in my office, but I'll be watching for good ideas here on this thread

 

[roxymama]

I have more than my little medal holder can take so some are hanging on chip clips off side of fridge. The issue is that my husband and I tend to run the same races so we end up with double.
I need to a new medal strategy where maybe we only display one of each of those!

 

[Dopey 2020]

I keep the most recent 18 or any favorites out under a shelf where I built a hanger with 3/4” dowels. The overflow gets the curtain rod with an old one that was taken down in a remodel. All the bibs are in a folder until I figure out what to do with them, and get a yay or nay from my beautiful wife of course.

 

[Mickey Momma]

Here is my current medal situation. My sister bought me the one on the left and I bought the one on the right after Dopey 2018. Still have a few that need to be added to the display and am trying to decide if I want to do anything special with my Chicago medal.

I don’t keep all my bibs, but do have ones that are special to me set aside.

 

[jennamfeo]

I keep the most recent 18 or any favorites out under a shelf where I built a hanger with 3/4” dowels. The overflow gets the curtain rod with an old one that was taken down in a remodel. All the bibs are in a folder until I figure out what to do with them, and get a yay or nay from my beautiful wife of course.

View attachment 446601

Running is great and all but let's talk about that stein collection!

 

[Dopey 2020]

Running is great and all but let's talk about that stein collection!

A hobby from a long time ago, I won’t clutter the forum with endless pics of the downstairs, I do however plan on adding a Galaxies Edge Yub Nub to that shelf in a couple of weeks.

 

[Kazrak]

How to do you display your Medals?

Mine currently all hang on a doorknob to our closet. I think I need to change that before I break the doorknob. (There's a lot of bling there.)

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

Bobbleheads? Picture please!

Nothing beats a bobblehead!

 

[avondale]

@OldSlowGoofyGuy ....looks great with the medals and bibs. Can't beat the cost!
You beat me to my next question about what people do with their bibs!!!

Bobbleheads? Picture please!

I got a Bibfolio keeper and keep all of my bibs, along with an explanatory page. Bibfolio sells the pages to fit into the folios. Again, since I don't race that much, it doesn't bother me that the pages and plastic covers you put the bibs in are probably really overpriced.