Monthly Archives: August 2013
Half Marathon or Bust
So it’s done. I scheduled my first half marathon in roughly three months. Hopefully that gives me time to continue my current training so that I’ll at least feel comfortable once I’m out there actually doing it. After plenty of research, and the fact that I still need a few hundred SkyMiles so that I can retain my Silver Medallion Status through 2014, I have decided on Philadelphia in November. It appears to be a very large and very friendly race, an historic course, and a diverse group of people of all backgrounds and fitness levels. So that actually has me excited for it. So within one massive sweep late last night after kickball, I booked the race, the flight and the hotel. I’m set. I hope I don’t regret this. 😉
Actually, I’m feeling pretty good about it. I’m actually feeling so good about it (remember this will be my first), that I feel pretty lofty about my goals now. I’m thinking if I train properly for the distance, my normal pace should carry me across within 3 hours. Originally, my goal was to just finish and hopefully within 4 hours. I based that on a worst case scenario, not being ready, or having some sort of injury or sickness and having to walk the entire length of the course. I know that may not sound noble or maybe even admirable to some. I’ve certainly come across my fair share of blogs and articles that downplay the role of slower runners and walkers and even go so far as to criticize them for crowding up the marathons in recent years. I can certainly understand some of the gripe. Slower runners should do everything they can to stay out of the way of faster runners. They should start in appropriate corrals, or if there are none, they should start in the back of the pack just in front of the walkers. They should not stop to rest of tie their shoes in front of other people. They should not stop and block the water/aid stations. I do get all that, I promise. I try very hard to follow the etiquette of running, whether I’m running, jogging or walking. But just like with everything else, it does go both ways. Runners need to start in their appropriate corrals and not at the very back because they’re arriving late or prefer to start in the back so they can feel good about themselves while weaving around all of the slower runners just to later complain about the number of slower runners they had to weave around. Slow runners and walkers make up a huge part of race event weekends now. They attend the expos. They buy the sweatshirts and caps and gadgets. They bring in the money not only to the event itself but to the city that’s hosting it. They’re the reason that faster runners have 50% more events to run in, because if you go back and do any bit of research, you’ll discover that the number of race events have easily doubled and maybe even tripled since the early 1980s. What can I say. The consensus is that it has become more popular. The idea now is that you don’t have to be an Olympian to register for a marathon just to say you finished it. You just have to decide you want to do it and then put forth the effort to actually do it. Who cares about winning. I’ll never win a race unless I’m the only contestant. The best I can hope for is winning my age bracket if it’s a small enough race where enough people in my age bracket fail to attend. I think that’s where some additional criticism comes in. Some elitists believe that slower runners have “dumbed” down the sport, made it slower. Luckily, this isn’t the consensus of the majority. Most people would agree that we as a society need to get off the couch and move more, so for anybody to just run, walk or jog 13 or 26 miles just to finish is worthy of a little admiration and respect because at least they’re doing something. I think people just have to have mutual respect. Elite runners should respect the slow runners for being out there, trying to improve their overall health and supporting their events while slower runners need to respect that the elite runners still make up the “race” and that pushing yourself to the extreme and having fast times mean more to some than having fun. There are plenty of events out there that still cater to only the faster elite runners or only to the slower runners/walkers who are looking for more fun, and it is our job to be aware of that before signing up for any given race. Shame on the elite runners for signing up for a fun run expecting walkers to get out of their way as is equal shame on the slower runner for signing up for an event geared towards fast racers with a very short course cut off time and then failing to finish within that time and complain about it. But I have been in enough events already to know that it’s easily possible to have both if it’s done correctly. And luckily for us, most events are coordinated well just for that purpose. So what I say is, come on back down to Earth with the rest of us humans and try to enjoy yourself without worrying about what the next person is doing. Run for the prize money; run for the victory; run for a new PR; run for your health; run because a friend wants someone to run with; run to get your mind off of everyday troubles; run to remember; run for fun. You pick your level and just enjoy it. If you do that and can incorporate that same idea with other areas of everyday life, then you’ll find yourself happier for it and won’t feel the worries of regret.
Happy trails
Zoo Zoom 5K
Race #11 Overall
Race #8, 13 in 2013
Race Bib
So if you hadn’t figured it out already, I skipped out on Dallas this weekend. As a matter of fact, that race in Dallas should be wrapping up right about now. It’s 88 degrees up there already while it’s still 78 here, mainly due to continued cloudiness. But that’s not why I backed out. As noted in the previous post, I have decided to push thru some half marathons to continue my challenge, and I need time to train for it. Honestly, if I could have switched my 10K registration to the Half Marathon in Dallas, I would have done it and probably would have suffered greatly for it but I would have done it. Alas, that was not permitted, so instead I decided to nix the Dallas trip and save that money for a future half marathon trip. Luckily I lost very little money on this deal. The flight was barely $150 and the race was about $45, so less than $200 total. The hotel and incidentals would have cost me an extra $500-$600 or so and that’s money I could put towards a future trip. And if I have to go back to Texas again anyway? Yeah, so the decision was pretty easy then. Not to mention, I was able to pick up a last minute local race here that ended up being a lot of fun. The Zoo Zoom.
Course Map
This race seems to be pretty popular. Over 800 registered for it. There were many kids and high school students, which worried me at first since I figured the students were all track and field or cross country athletes and I would surely get smoked. Turns out that there was a pretty fair mixture of people, but yes, it was mainly families with children.
The registration was easy. There wasn’t a lot of information on their website though, no course map, where to meet up, what to expect. Packet pickup didn’t offer anything additional, but I also didn’t ask. I smiled, picked up my bib and tshirt and walked off when the person offered no additional information. I will say though, these shirts are pretty nice. I guess I should start taking pictures of the shirts too huh? I saw a couple of searches concerning race t-shirts and it got me thinking, yes, some people would really like to know what the shirt looks like so that they can perhaps get on next year. Some shirts are really flimsy. Most are cotton. Some are dry-fit. Some are too big, others are too small. Most are white. This one was purple, and it fit great, almost too big but very comfortable. I just took some pictures. I’ll see how they came out before posting. I just took one of the Zombie shirt also.
Race Shirt
There was a half mile fun run for children around some of the zoo exhibits before the actual 5K. The 5K event started outside of the zoo, went around a field and then came back into the zoo for basically two full circuits (although the paths kind of crossed somewhat). I was amazed at just how many people there were. I saw the starting line area back up with loads of people and I had no desire to get in the rush. I wasn’t really shooting for a new personal best. I was mainly doing it for fun and was kind of hoping to get some pictures of some zoo animals. More on that in a minute. So for now, I just stood around the back. I try not to be a total douche and just run around all the walkers. That’s not my intent at all. I totally respect walkers because for 30-40% of a full run and for 30-40% of recreational, I’m still a walker. I’ve basically been a walker forever. I can walk for days. It’s just recently that I turned that potential energy into faster jogs and brief sprints. But I’m not very consistent in running and I certainly don’t want to block someone else from getting around me, so I find it safer and more practical to set up near the back somewhere and just wait for my time.
So anyway, I did basically what I did at the Gleaux Run. I started off walking, to let the crowds thin out slightly, then when a father jogged past while pushing his daughter in a stroller, I decided to follow along and go around some of the back walkers. This turned out to be perfect really because we only really ran for about 1/3 mile and then we ran into a pretty big bottleneck trying to get back into the zoo. It was slow. Slow enough to drop my pace to like a 45min/mile. But it really didn’t last that long, maybe 30-45 seconds. But I found it hard to pass which didn’t upset me because I wasn’t trying to pass. It only upset me on the inside because I feel bad for the people behind me. I feel like they want to pass and I don’t know if they’d push through the crowd to pass whereas I don’t. My thought is that if you wanted a record time or wanted to run fast, you should have been in the front to begin with. 🙂 The worst part about it though is that this second bottleneck where we were making our first loop was about the same time as the lead pack was looping back around to begin their second longer loop. So I know there was trouble behind me. I heard people scream get to the left but they never caught up right behind me. Then we turned to the right for loop 1 while they turned to the left for loop 2. After that point, I really didn’t see any other problems.
Zoo Entrance
Take that back, I did see a problem. All of the animals were still sleeping. I was hoping to see more animals stirring. I saw several different bird exhibits, and the antelopes were up. No monkeys the first go around but I saw them just kinda sitting there the second pass. I never saw the flamingos, or any elephants. Another person said that they weren’t out yet. No cats. BR Zoo has a good cheetah exhibit but I never saw them. As we were making our second pass, I saw more zookeepers tending to the exhibits and more animals were stirring but the race was all but finished by that point. I settled for pics from the Club South Runners group.
After the bottlenecks, I did settle in for a bit behind a group of girls who were dressed as flamingos. They were easy to spot. They were completely dressed in pink and had flamingo masks on. It took a while for me to pass them but eventually I did and I guess I didn’t look back because they ended up finishing nearly ten minutes after me. I did feel like I was in a little groove through miles 1 to 2. Mile 2 was definitely my fastest. I also caught up with a girl I saw at the beginning who was dressed up as peacock. It was a very cute outfit and everyone was taking pictures of it.
Eventually, we came around to the finish. They had chip timing, but it was only for the finish. They used a gun start. So I crossed the finish at around 34:45 or so. But it took me a good 45 seconds or so to cross the start, and I used my watch to track and time this race. I ended up finishing at 33:40. I probably could have finished a lot quicker but I held back in this race and there were some bottlenecks. But it’s exactly what I wanted. I wanted fun and this race was fun. Over 800 registered (which I heard was a new record for this race) and out of that there were times for about 630 of them or so. I still finished right around the middle of the pack, so it’s still in line with my normal 5K finishes. I’d definitely do this race again. If you want fast times, start up front. Otherwise, bring your family and just have fun, plus you’re supporting a very good zoo and cheetah conservation.
Race: Zoo Zoom 5K
Date: August 24, 2013, 8:15AM
Place: Baton Rouge Zoo
Time: 0:33:40
Charities: Baton Rouge Zoo & Cheetah Conservation
The Half Marathon Itch
So… I had a feeling this day would come but I didn’t think it would come so fast. I’ve been running 5Ks and a couple of 10Ks this year and felt alright doing so, not great times but about what I expected and I’ve been slowly improving. Then I started running and walking a bit more during the off hours over the past few weeks and I began to realize that even if I can’t run forever, I sure can walk for a pretty long time without fault. That’s about when I started keeping up with my pace outside of races and noted that even if I walked the entire way, I could finish a half marathon earlier than most cut off times (usually 3.5-4 hours). So of course that got me thinking… If I can walk an entire half marathon course, why can’t I learn to run it or at least wog it (job/walk)? I mean, even if I jog parts and walk a lot, I can creep up into the 12 minute mile category and easily finish within 3 hours which in my dreams was my initial goal to begin with should I ever attempt a half marathon. My ultimate goal would be to finish it, and hopefully within 4 hours, but theoretically I could potentially do it within 3 hours which still isn’t bad for a beginner/novice. And if I committed myself to running 51 half marathons, surely I could improve on that time just like I’ve been improving on my 5 and 10Ks. Sounds plausible right?
Well it doesn’t really matter, because I’ve pretty much already talked myself into attempting half marathons and converting my 10K challenge into a Half Marathon challenge. I told you several months ago when I first started this that that could be a real possibility, that I’d want to increase my challenge to something a bit more challenging should I not feel challenged enough with my 3 and 6 miles races. Not that I really didn’t feel challenged. But in all honesty, 5Ks have practically become easy now (for me at least), 30 minute finish times and very little recovery effort. Trust me, you aren’t going to see me running along at a 6 or even 7 minute mile. If I’m lucky, maybe I can work my way past 9 into the 8ish category, but that’s still asking a lot. Now 10Ks certainly were more of a challenge (especially locating them at convenient times and places, and running up and down hills). But after doing some research and actually stopping to relive the 10Ks I completed, I realized that the recovery time from them was pretty short too. They’re worthy of any challenge, but if I’m up to making it just a little bit tougher on me where I have to push myself even harder than ever before or at least harder than any time since after college and Tigerband, I say why not!
As I started increasing my distance, I got curious about the half and starting doing research. Mainly I looked into some training plans, some other racing blogs and some past results from some popular events. That was when I came up with a few assumptions.
#1. There are probably more half marathons (quantity and popularity) out there than 10Ks.
#2. Most had many thousands of participants (which I’m somewhat starting to like) and most of the same had very generous course limits (usually 4 hours, although most people finish easily within 4 hours). But for a first marathon, this was good to know, just in case I got burned and failed miserably.
#3. Halfs require much more training and distance running. All but the elite runners (through their blogs) appear to struggle at some point (mentally, physically or both) and most seem to have respectable recovery times of a few days to a week or even longer.
#4. They’re survivable! You just have to want to do it. 13.1 miles is not easy, otherwise everyone would do it, but it can be done if I’m determined enough.
Sure I’m not wanting to kill myself, but I like the idea of pushing myself as hard as I can safely go, and the idea of traveling across the country to run for 3 hours and hurt from it for a week afterwards surprisingly fits more into my idea of a challenge than just showing up for a 60-70 minute jog and barely feeling a thing afterwards. Having said that, I admit that running across the Golden Gate Bridge was pretty awesome in itself (10K in April). But for many people, myself included, the harder I push myself to obtain a goal, the better it feels when I’ve obtained it. I have this feeling that if I can make it thru one half and continue towards 50 more, I’ll ultimately enjoy this challenge and the memories of completing each will be that much more engraved into my brain.
What do you think? Do you think this is plausible or am I just kidding myself? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
A couple fate items to note: A local half marathon training group is starting up this coming Monday which I didn’t learn about until nearly immediately after I had talked myself into upgrading my challenge. And as far as picking my first half marathon to train for, well, I’ve already had a couple of images cross my path that pretty much confirm the choice. But until it’s set in stone, I won’t announce it just yet. I still have time to fail; but that is not part of the plan. Failure has already been deleted from my training plan.
Red Dress Run 2013
August 10, 2013
Race Bib
First off, Hashing (or the Hash House Harriers) is technically a running club (with chapters all around the world) but they pride themselves on drinking and having fun also. It’s basically like another social club like the Moose Lodge or Lions Club, and just like those clubs. Hashing began in Malaysia it seems as a way for friends to meet up on Mondays to run for exercise to counter all the beer they’d drink during the weekend. Hashing groups quickly spread across the globe.
The Red Dress Run was started in San Diego a few decades ago after a female friend of a hasher decided she wanted to run with the group even though all she had for clothing at the time was a red dress. The hashers liked it so much that they made an annual event out of it in San Diego and it quickly spread like wildfire around the globe especially when they decided to do it for charity. Of course it didn’t take long for New Orleans to pick up on it. What can you not do in NOLA??? The Red Dress Run has been an annual event in New Orleans now for the past nineteen years and now it has become the largest Red Dress Run in the world with easily 10,000 plus people participating. Supposedly some 7,000 registered last year and it was estimated that more registered this year although the only count I saw said it was only 6,000 for this year. But there are the so-called bandits, who show up and participate but don’t register. There’s no way to stop them from being in the Quarter or being in the bars with the registered people, but there are some perks. Sure, the hash got rid of the pub crawl with free beer in the bars because too many unregistered people were drinking the free beer. So now bars have specials for everyone involved. The event itself is now blocked off in Armstrong Park north of Rampart Street and you have to be registered to enter. Once inside, there is actual free beer, free food and free music from some pretty awesome bands: Dash Rip Rock and Cowboy Mouth. So people on the outside really did miss out on a lot more fun. It’s kinda of a shame that people won’t pay because first off, it’s for charity. Not to mention you do get free beer, free food, free toilets and awesome entertainment. Just pay up dammit! At least the registered people get to see Cowboy Mouth and get to wear their race bib for the rest of the day that way people don’t look at us funny for wearing a red dress just to stand in the Quarter all day. I had a reason. Did you? Haha.
Start
Concerning the event itself, first off, packet pickup was sort of a mess. You had to take a cab or drive to the Fairgrounds and find your way around it to get to the pickup area. Then the lines got really confusing. You had to get into one line to get some paperwork and one initial, then move all the way across the room to another line to get another initial and your bib and bracelet. Then you had to zig zag around the room to these various stations to get beer tickets, free gifts, haberdashery items to buy, and yet another line for beer itself. It was like a medium size long hall way with X lines zig zagging across the middle of it for each line. I’m afraid that made little sense, although supposedly it’s because of the strict Over 21 policy, to verify that there is noone underage. My thought though is that once I get the packet and bib and bracelet, couldn’t I just give this to my 19 year old cousin in the parking lot and let him race and drink in my place? I mean, at the event itself, there was no real verification except for checking to see if you got your bib and bracelet. I think they need to correct that for next year. Otherwise, the trip up and back was painless and we even won $15 while at the small casino there.
a cheer squad
Friday night in the Quarter, I found a red sequin cap that I decided to buy because I realized that even though I had the outfit finally, I didn’t have any accessories to bedazzle it with. Haha. So as I was checking out with the hat, the guy at the counter knew exactly why I was buying it and said that a lady had come in earlier and bought three or four of them, I guess for a group. So anyway, I was proud that I had something now to bedazzle my outfit with, and I’m glad too because the next day I saw accessories galore, and many of them on the guys. Haha. I did change outfits twice. Now I see what girls have to go through. The first dress I bought I ended up hating because it really didn’t fit well at all. It was just, blah. I gave that one away and I’m glad too because it turned out not to hold water well at all (because it rained hard right after the run), so it was a pain to dry out. It didn’t look fun to run in. So I forgot where I had seen it but I decided to go for a more elastic outfit and found a full red cheerleader uniform that actually fit perfect, was short enough to reduce chaffing (because up until this point I had intended to run) and it surprisingly resisted water very well so I didn’t sweat in it or get soaked during the rain storm. So I think I made a great decision. Of course, it felt odd at first especially since this was my first Red Dress Run and I had no idea what to expect, but after running into more red dressers, it actually was way more comfortable than many of the other things I saw. At least I had full coverage. Haha.
The next day, Saturday morning and downtown, we wake up later than planned but still early enough. Supposedly beer is tapped at 9am. I’m not sure what else they do there before the run itself. No food is served until after the run. No live music, but plenty of radio music anyway. We didn’t leave the hotel until probably 9:45. This probably isn’t a great idea elsewhere, but in New Orleans, it’s no big deal for women to dress really provocative and slutty and for guys to dress in their best tutu, prom dress or cheerleader uniform and walk thru the CBD and across Canal Street into the Quarter. This really has become a huge event here. Granted, we didn’t see many red dressers in the CBD but as soon as we got across Canal, they were everywhere. By that point, I had already been called cute twice. Wow, that really is a compliment. No wonder women love to hear that. Haha.
Armstrong Park
So we stop off at Tropical Isle, going and coming. Going, it was around 10am or so and they had specials: Triple Crown and Sevens. I had one and a half. Goodness they were strong! I ended up staggering to Armstrong Park, just in time really to start the run. Needless to say, there was no running involved. Sure, the runners left first, but at that point, I had no desire to run anywhere, otherwise I might have run myself into a parked car along St. Ann. So I stayed with a friend and we staggered down St. Ann to Bourbon, stopping off at a few other places, including Oz. I have to say, that was my first time there and I didn’t even realize where we were until well after we got in. I’ve only heard about it from a girl at work, on many occasions. Let’s just say she really really likes that bar. Haha.
Float
So I guess it was around that point that I finally sobered up and we continued down Bourbon and into The Marigny. This was wear we saw our first naked guy. Jezus!!! We found a pull behind wagon float that looked like the Eat Me Cake Float from Animal House and followed it for a bit before being distracted by more free beer, Red’s Apple Ale this time. That stuff was good (first time drinking it). We eventually made our way back to Rampart and back down to the finish line at the park. We ended up walking the route, about 1.8 miles, in about 52 minutes or so. Not bad for starting off feeling pretty drunk.
Party in the Quarter
Back at the park, there was free bbq, more beer, and then Dash Rip Rock started playing. This is about when the rain started. The canopies were full of people while everyone else either huddled under oak trees where we were or just said F-it and got soaked. Eventually the rain ended and then we made our way over to the stage to listen to Cowboy Mouth. They put on a very good show and I didn’t realize the singer was also the drummer. I guess I did, I had heard, but I’ve never seen them live so I just never visualized it. But they were excellent. I hope they become a Red Dress Run tradition. Needless to say, I’d definitely do this again. The whole thing was crazy fun. Who knew cross dressing could be so much fun. LOL!
500K Across the USA 