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The 2010 Baltimore Marathon – First Event Since the TransRockies Run

Thomas Neuberger — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 19:57:35 +0000

Finisher medal and official time

A week before the Baltimore Marathon I decided I wanted to run it. It made sense, I am training for the NYC Marathon and had a 22 mile training run scheduled for the same day. Why not add 4.2 miles and get a medal?

The event was sold out, so I put the word out that I wanted to run it and if anybody knew a way for me to get a bib contact me. I even tried calling charities involved to see if I could run legit.

Social media came through when traditional channels failed. I found a guy that injured his foot and could not run. I was able to buy his bib and gain entry. He wanted to keep the shirt so we worked out a discount for it.

The eve of the race came quickly and I found myself more relaxed than I have ever been before a big run. After all this was just a training run not a race.

I got up early Saturday morning and the family headed down to Fells Point to meet up with some friends. After getting everyone together, we finally started heading to the start with about a half hour to spare. We got dropped off about a mile from the start line. I had told another friend I would meet him at the start for his first marathon, I felt bad that we were getting there late so I ran to the start to meet up with him. The warm up was good.

We lined up with the 3:50 pace group in the corral. I concentrated on running easy and relaxed from the get go. During the run I started to see familiar faces which kept the miles sailing by. Soon we were in front of the 3:50 pace group and feeling quite relaxed. Baltimore is a hilly course, I knew I had to keep some reserves for later but, in the mean time, the pace seemed quick and comfortable. Overall, that is how the race went. I got in a comfortable groove and just held it. I was even able to resist the urge to sprint to the finish line. As I came into the finish I looked up and saw the clock and was honestly surprised to see 3:45. I had just run my best marathon on a tough course in relative ease. I was pretty pleased. I just got a new PR and finished my 9th Marathon.

The bummer is that my time is officially under another name not mine. The good news is that it filled me with confidence and excitement for the NYC marathon coming up in November.

I definitely believe that the TransRockies Run has put me into the best shape of my life. I got to write my review of the GTTR, I am just having trouble getting my head around it.

Believe in the Run.

True Lemon Give-Away!

Thomas Neuberger — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:45:23 +0000

The good people at True Lemon Liked my Chia recipe and decided to let me give out some of their products to you! Check out the post below click on the link, it will take you to a blog I did a shoe review for. On that site leave a comment about the post and include the fact that you would like to try True Lemon’s products and I will make sure you get some! EASY!

Running Shoe Review: Saucony Kinvara vs. Newton Gravitas

Saucony has jumped on the minimalist running bandwagon with its recent release of the Saucony Progrid Kinvara, a lightweight (7.70z) training/racing shoe that boasts a smaller-than-usual heel-toe offset of only 4mm (this essentially means that the heel is only 4mm thicker than the forefoot). The upshot of this is that the Kinvara, with it’s relatively flat sole, is better suited than many shoes on the market to promoting a midfoot/forefoot footstrike. We decided to put the Kinvara to the test by having two naturally midfoot striking runners review and compare the Kinvara to another shoe that is designed to promote a midfoot/forefoot strike: the Newton Gravitas. READ MORE

Don’t forget to sign up for dailymile

Now for some fun. Run an Andy!

Thomas Neuberger — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:13:08 +0000

Okay, to fully understand the “before” and “after” image, you first have to follow @AndyO22 on twitter or Andy O. on dailymile. Andy is an inspirational runner that regularly clocks wicked fast times for his runs (mostly in the 7′s if not faster). He is also a great sharer all around positive nice guy that is fun to interact with over the social networking landscape. The funny thing is, I have never actually met Andy. We are scheduled to run the HAT 50k on the same day in March, but at his pace I would be lucky to see him at the beginning of the run or at the end. Anyhow, back to the explanation of the image. A few weeks ago Andy wrote “How many times do I have to run 6.52 miles to trademark it? 3, 10, or 100+?”, to which I wrote, “From now on a 6.52 will be referred to as an “Andy.” ie: I am going to go run an Andy.” And so it started and the “Andy” caught on. Others began to reference Andy’s 6.52 mile runs as “Andys”. Fun, right? Well, yesterday Andy ran another “Andy” and when people were leaving comments for Andy like “There you go with another nice ANDY.” -Jeanne B. I decided that I would create a challenge on dailymile. The challenge was simple, RUN AN ANDY! (6.52 miles) on Jan. 7, 2010. I thought a few people might sign up for the challenge, after all, Andy is a popular figure on the site. To my surprise over 40 people signed up! The virtual turn out was great! I decided as a tribute to Andy I would transform myself into Andy. How would I do that? In all the pictures I have seen of Andy, he wears a yellow tech shirt and a white doo rag. In the picture you can see how the “Andy” affected me.

Andy's profile picture

Check out some of the responses to the posting of the before and after pick:

“LOL! You definitely look better in the after shot.” – Andy O.
“Now I am really nervous about my run later. My wife might leave me if I start trying to rock a doo-rag.” – Caleb M.
“This made me LOL OUT LOUD VERY LOUD!!!” – Michelle
“This is pure awesomeness.” – David D.
“Good one Thomas. Great challenge you set up here….inspiring a ton of people in the process.” – Steve S.

I had a lot of fun with this and it was great to connect with all these runners. I am still amazed at how these social media tools can be used to connect with people that in our offline lives we would never meet, and how those people can touch our lives. I love me some dailymile. – Believe in the run

Dailymile.com

Thomas Neuberger — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:30:41 +0000

I am loving dailymile.com, “A social training log for runners, triathletes, and cyclists. Dailymile is the easiest way to share your training with friends and stay motivated.“ It is great to connect with so many other runners and see that there are other running fanatics out there. I find myself comparing pace and mileage with runners all across the USA. The site has a great group of runners that are very positive. I have connected with people I know in the real world and runners I have never met. I am looking forward to meeting some of my cyber friends this December at the Celtic 5 Miler in Baltimore, Maryland and in March at the HAT Run 50k in March. Connect with me on Dailymile.com.

Guest Blog

Thomas Neuberger — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:29:49 +0000

I did a guest blog spot on RunnerDude’s site check out my interview with Jeanne Bayers from Back On My Feet (BOMF).

Runtoon

Thomas Neuberger — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:54:24 +0000

I saw this video on runfasterdaddy. It is very creative and worth watching.

Onwards from AKQA on Vimeo.

Social Media & Running

Thomas Neuberger — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:52:57 +0000

Running and sharing the running experience probably goes all the way back to caveman days. When I first got bitten by the running bug talking about running with other runners was a big part of the allure. It made me feel like I was part of a secret society. All of a sudden there were all these people to talk to that shared the passion for running. I found myself at parties talking about shoes, a new Under Armour shirt, what the next race would be, and on and on. This was before I ever thought there might be others like me online looking for others that felt the way I did.

It turns out there are tons of us out there, and I think it is only the beginning. I started to realize this when I began using Nike+. The tool itself is not very accurate, but it shows how many runners are out there trying to connect.

Next, I started communicating with other runners on Facebook. The Facebook runners were an extension of people I had already had contact with in the real world. It just made it easier to stay up to date with what was going on with their running and running events.

Facebook lead to twitter. I originally thought I would be using twitter to talk to other designers and share coding tips, psd tutorials and other work related topics. As I started using twitter more I started tweeting about running more and more. I started being followed by runners and I started following more runners. All of a sudden I was talking to runners I had never met. Currently, I have regular dialogue with with @britishbulldog and @andyo22 two runners that I have no cantact with outside the virtual world. They are much faster runners than me. In the real world these guys and I would probably never talk because of the vast difference in our pace, online I benefit from their help and motivation. Each day that goes buy on twitter I meet more and more runners with all different paces and running goals.

I forget how I found out about dailymile.com. It is a great extension to following runners I have met on twitter. I love it for the sharing training. You see peoples good days and peoples not so good days. It is a great way to see how your training compares to others. I feel connected to their runs. When someone I only know online does well in a race or run, I feel as good for them as I would for a friend I run with in the real world.

The big take away from all the sharing I have done with runners online is that runners as a whole are supportive, caring, and well, they are good people. Maybe we can’t run the same roads, but we all seem to be running the same path.