Race planning, Road Running
Lee Mamola
Heads Up Race Directors!

My racing experience dates back to the days of $5 entry fees and as an incentive for runners to sign-up organizers offered runners a free T-Shirt! Well, the shirts are mostly still here and thankfully they are a much-improved product too. In recent years some races recognize that many runners have drawers full of T-shirts and the shirts are no longer the incentive they initially were during the early years. Fast forward to current time and see some organizers offering a different incentive to runners. They offer runners to not receive the shirt and in turn pay a lower entry fee!

Heads Up Race Directors!
Race Report, Road Running
Lee Mamola
Kick Off 2024 - Super 5K

So come race morning I wake early and find that the last thing I really wanted to do was run a race, let alone a faster pace 5K race. It’s not unusual for me to have “race entry remorse” on race day anymore.

Kick Off 2024 - Super 5K
Road Running
Lee Mamola
What's In A PR?

I am going to go way out on a limb here and assume that you, like most runners, are not a world class runner and therefore will never come close to challenging a world, Olympic, national, regional, or similar record. In the world of running, runners instead celebrate their personal records or PRs. It does not matter how fast one ran a race, what matters is how fast the runner ran for a specific distance relative to that runner’s past performances. Since most runners compete in races of various distances, most runners will accumulate their own best finish time for each distance. Thus, the title PR for that distance.

What's In A PR?
Lee Mamola
The Brooksie Way Half Marathon #14, Race Report

This post is why the 14th Brooksie was important to me. This year’s race was more than about returning to the event after last year’s virtual race.

The Brooksie Way Half Marathon #14, Race Report
Marathon training, Half Marathon training, Running coach
Lee Mamola
Lose To Run

Typically you will hear people say they need to start running to lose weight. Well, leave it to this architect to think differently. I knew I needed to lose weight in order to run!

A bit of background here. My friends and running buds know that I have been running in some form or another for more than 50+ years, and over the years my weight as gone up and down, so why now? Well, the short version is that I had several non-running injuries and two different surgeries during the past four years. This along with the lack of any motivation to race is how I gained unwanted pounds. Just when I was starting to recover from most recent surgery along came Covid and the end of racing.

Lose To Run

The Running Architect

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Detroit Half Marathon 2022

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Detroit Half Marathon 2022

When race organizers realized the popularity of running through these wonderful areas of Detroit, they found a way to incorporate them into this year’s race and presented runners with an entirely redesigned race route. While the new route remained an international race and runners would run over the Ambassador Bridge into Canada at sunrise. Then return to the US via an underwater mile long tunnel. Most of the balance of the route was new. This included still new areas of Mid-Town such as the historic Woodbridge neighborhood. I told myself I had run over the bridge and thru the tunnel enough times (12th during my career), I wanted to experience these other parts of Detroit especially the Dequindre Cut. I also saw it as a unique opportunity to feel like I was running an entirely new race too, albeit a race that was at the same time very familiar to me. So, I switched my entry from the International Half Marathon to the US Half Marathon and was anxiously looking forward to this exciting opportunity!

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Lucky 13 ! - The Brooksie Race Report

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I have never feared the number 13 as being an unlucky number. Not even a world wide pandemic could stop the 13th annual running of The Brooksie Way Half Marathon this weekend!. What’s so special about The Brooksie Way Half Marathon? Well you need to understand how it began and how it has evolved from the very first race in 2008.

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Group Training, Is It Right For You ?

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Group Training, Is It Right For You ?

First, recognize that by the very nature of their name they train in “Groups” meaning a whole bunch of people at a time! Again, this can be very beneficial, particularly to those who are new to running and have very little idea of how to go about training for any event especially a marathon!

The information and materials contained within this website are copyrighted 2024 by The Running Architect LLC and cannot be reproduced, copied, borrowed, utilized in any manner without the permission of The Running Architect. Blog posts represents Coach Lee’s personal opinion and is not to be taken as direction or professional advice without consultation. All data collected is used solely for analytical or communications purposes. It is not sold or shared with any entity beyond The Running Architect LLC.