BT's own Salty (Asalzwed) takes 1st OA and in the news!

She said she would chime in but she has to go for her lunchtime run.

Actually, what she said was that she was going to kick my (cough, cough), but, same difference.

Indeed.

Salty Manatee yer my hero!  Anyone who can have a pre-race meal of a beer is my hero!

For real, I have learned a lot about consistency and dedication from her.  No short cuts!  (Although if someone gets in your way when you are merging, just knock 'em over ) 

Well, as Yanti said I really don't know that I am particularly gifted either. I didn't drop any jaws with my first 5K times or anything. I just knew that I really enjoyed it and wanted to get better. 

I just started running a lot of nice and easy miles working on volume and frequency and noticed significant gains in doing so. I ran two marathons with lots of shorter races thrown in and got my mileage up to the 50-60 mpw range. Once I completed my second marathon I decided that I had a good enough (injury free) base and wanted to introduce some quality into my workouts (meaning that up until now I didn't do anything you would classify as speedwork.)

As Yanti said, I don't run with a watch or anything so I have a really good grasp on RPE and "easy" and "hard" and generally, how my body feels. I spent a lot of time just wrapping my head around that. Once I started the quality workouts, I was very careful to pay attention to how I was responding so as to not get injured. I also read a lot so that I got a good grasp on what different workouts purpose is. Anyway, I joined a VERY competitive running club (I didn't know at the time) and get my arse handed to me every single week doing a variety of track workouts. 

I'm currently training for the Boston Marathon and put very little emphasis on metrics but has a distant goal of breaking 19 minutes in the 5K by the end of 2013. I'm thinking I'm well on track for this goal.

So yeah, no magic shoes or special workouts. Just lots of miles and consistency. 

Oh and geeze, thanks, all!!!

Absolutely Awesome Salty congrats!!

Bingo!  I was just discussing this with my gf after her marathon Sunday.  One of our friends, on her first marathon attempt, managed to be first female and 4th OA.  The gf ran a very respectable 3:25 on pretty limited, inconsistent training and she was pondering what kind of numbers she could put up if she was able to train consistently and big, "like you (I) do".  I'm not the fastest thing out there but there's no coincidence that my BQ came after a couple solid years of averaging around 50mpw, week in and week out.  It has been said a thousand times around here, consistency pays off.  You have definitely put in the work and earned that result.  

and I didn't knock him over. It was more of an exotic dance. A firm grab, followed by a full 360 spin then we were both on our way. 

Congratulations!  Awesome race!

lol

Congrats!!  Super fast Salty!! 

Ah, Salty, isn't it fun to have friends like Yanti?!

YAAAAAAAAY SAAAAAAAALTYYY!!!!!!

you're such a speedster Congrats!

That's the thing--perhaps the least of her services, and it's been OUTSTANDING as many of the posters here have noted, is that she's been a super mentor here on BT for several seasons.

Thanks you guys, it really means a lot. THIS is the most important part to me.