Friday Thrive

Friday Thrive

Happy Friday! Each week, Friday Thrive rounds up favorite things from this week. This week’s Friday Thrive features five interesting articles about running.

A Small Town Runner at a Big City Race

Amanda Loudin shares her experience in running the New York City Half Marathon, along with 22,000 other runners, in “Can a Small Town Girl Learn to Love a Big City Race?” from Runner’s World. Many athletes love the excitement and crowds of big city races, but Loudin represents a fair number of runners: “Small is my thing. I love waking up in my own bed, hopping in the car 30 minutes before a race start, and parking with a few minutes left to warm up. I don’t like corrals, jostling for position, or ironing out the logistics required getting to and from a big event.”

Loudin’s experience at the NYC Half – which included a 45-minute wait for her wave to start and a mile-long walk out of the finisher’s corral – contrasts to smaller races. Even the popular California International Marathon (the largest race I have run) has only 7,000 finishers – and you can hop immediately out of the finisher’s corral to hug your loved ones at the finish line. I agree with Loudin – smaller races definitely have their perks, especially for introverted runners. 

Friday Thrive
Photo Credit: Alex Nemeck

Elite Runner Turned Side Gig Queen

As a solopreneur and a female runner, I look up to Lauren Fleshman as one of my role models. Fleshman pivoted from a career as an elite runner to a businesswoman in the running world, with Picky Bars and the Believe/Compete Journals as her primary products. She may just be more of a household name now than during her elite career. Kate Siber for Outside explores Lauren’s successful career in “Runner Lauren Fleshman on How to Master the Side Gig.” 

A Trait of Successful Runners? Joy.

Sarah Canney of Run Far Girl wrote this fantastic piece that resonated with me: “How Joy Can Improve Your Running and Racing.” If you don’t already follow Sarah on social media or her blog, she’s an incredible runner – she recently placed third in the National Snowshoe Championships and is gearing up for a fast half marathon. In this blog post, she shares how her recent success is in part due to finding joy in her training and racing, rather than dwelling on doubt or putting pressure on herself. 

Friday Thrive

Time Off Isn’t Going to Hurt – It May Just Help

A week or two of running off, whether it’s after a race or to treat burn-out or injury, isn’t going to derail your fitness. If anything, the brief break may help, as “Why It’s Okay to Take Time Off from Running” discusses. David Roche writes for Trail Running Magazine, “A few days on your butt could heal muscles, balance hormonal fluctuations from hard training and stoke the motivation fire. After a short time off, you may even be stronger than you were in ancient times (a few days prior) when you were able to run.”

The Dietician’s Guide to Fueling on the Run

Natalie Rizzo for Women’s Running asked several dieticians to provide their top pieces of advice for fueling before and during runs. This short article offers a lot of good guidance, from adjusting your fiber intake around runs to the one big mistake athletes make – not hydrating enough during the day.

[Tweet “Catch up on this week’s must-reads in Friday Thrive from @thisrunrecipes #running #runchat”]

Do you prefer big city races or small races?
How have you found joy in running recently?

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14 Responses

  1. Lots of interesting articles here! I definitely agree about preferring small town races. Even when I travel for a marathon prefer smaller ones where the logistics are less complicated. It’s definitely less stressful to be able to park close to a race and get there a few minutes before it starts!

  2. So many good reads! I already read a few of them and definitely agree with Amanda with smaller races being better. After I ran NYC I vowed to never again tackle a race that size…of course I still want to run Chicago 🙂
    Have a great weekend!

  3. It always amazes me how relevant (and timely) your posts are to my life! These are all great articles, I especially love the one about taking time off since I was down for the count last week.

    1. I am glad they were relevant and helpful for you! Don’t worry about taking time off – you have plenty of time before marathon training begins to relax and enjoy some downtime 🙂

  4. I’m an extroverted runner but prefer smaller races- mainly because I like to interact with other runners and don’t think you can really do that in a huge race where you get lost in the crowd. At small races, you can get to know people- and if you run them in your town, you probably already know people there like local running stores, clubs, etc. To me, the best 5Ks are 400-500 people! I would want more people for a half or full marathon but still a smaller race. The size of the Charleston Marathon and Kiawah Marathon are just perfect… enough runners that you’re not alone, but not too many that logistics are crazy.

  5. I definitely agree that smaller and mid-size races are better logistically (and financially!), although I do like the crowd energy and one-of-a-kind experience that big city races can provide (I can run on my local park trails any day, but when else can I run through the streets of downtown Chicago?!).

    But, as the author said at the end, there is something to be said about breaking out of your comfort zone and trying something different once in a while.

  6. Great articles! I’m so aware of how important time off is but I’ve been running so long that it’s almost like breathing to me. I’ve had to take most of the week off running due to time constraints. This almost never happens to me and it was really mentally tough. I’m glad to be done with the week and am looking forward to getting back moving.

    1. Thank you! A week off does feel weird when it’s a break from the routine – but it really does make it that much more exciting to get back into the routine!

  7. the smaller races are so much better for sure! I like not having to leave my house too early, having to deal with major traffic, parking, buses to the start, and don’t like the waves at the start line either. There’s a local 10K fairly close to me (cow harbor) and it’s a runner’s world top 100 so the logistics of getting to the start line and then starting are way too much for me! I ran it once and won’t do it again lol.

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