I've recently done two crazy things:
1) Agreed to organize the local Philly Fit chapter -- which means being in charge of the whole local USA Fit marathon training program. Live in the Philadelphia area and want to run a marathon? Check it out: www.phillyfit.net
2) Signed up for a 36 mile day hike of the Brandywine Trail. This is taking place about a month from now. I hope we enjoy it!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Bizarre race mementos
After Caesar Rodney half marathon instead of presenting finshers with small medals (as they had the last two years) they presented us with this lovely cup.
It's plastic, about 4 or 5 inches high, with a false bottom. In the false bottom are three ugly plastic trinkets: a golden trophy, a giant blue basketball sneaker, and a big white waterbottle.
It says 2008 finisher on one side and has the race logo on the other side.
I have it on my desk at work filled with paperclips, which makes it far more useful than any other race medal/memento I've ever recieved, but I still kind of hate it.
Today, I got an email from the director of the Lehigh Valley Half Marathon. (This is a great race at the end of April. Their race director sends TONS of e-mail about the race.) This note was to announce the special bonus gift we'll be getting at packet pick-up this year. It's bizarre and yet totally awesome...I think every runner needs one of these: a FREE Tortoise and Hare Reversible Hand Puppet!
While I admire the bushy white beard on the hare, I think the tortoise is so ugly he's cute. Plus, I'm a tortise at heart.
Monday, March 10, 2008
In the last month...
Since I posted, I ran a super fun 5 mile race in Ambler (The Frostbite 5-mile) which was truly cold. My feet felt frozen until mile 2.5. I did OK at that race considerig it was the first time I'd run 5 miles since the marathon and the flu and I did OK even though I was surprised by all the uphills in the race.
I finished in 52:03 which is fine by me. I was hoping just to finish under 55 minutes and I did that.
The race itself was pretty awesome with excellent goodie bags (chips, pens, and massage rollers) and a cute t-shirt. Post race food was awesome (hotdogs, fruit, chips, cereal bars, OJ and gatorade) and they had tons and tons of door prizes. Including an awesome yellow knit hat that I really, really wanted to win even though I hate wearing knit hats.
After the Frostbite race I didn't do much running until I spent some time in Washington, DC where Brian and I "ran" along the trail in Rock Creek Park. Really, we just walked a lot, and tried to run at times. It was extremely poor training for the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon that I did for the third time yesterday.
Caesar Rodney is HILLY. Very, very hilly. I was very, very unprepared. That, coupled with the freezing temperature and the blustery wind (20mph with 40mph gusts) it was a crazy day for a race. Not totally awful, but pretty tough.
Check this out from the webpage of the race results:
"Race Day Conditions: "Not user friendly." But hey -- it's March. Cold & windy.
But sunny and no rain. Go for it. And that is what so many awesome finishers did.
Not a day for a personal P.R. A day to be aware how strong & dedicated all the finishers were. Looks like a good 2008 to you all -- to us. "
Anyway, I knew at the halfway point that that was about all the distance I was properly trained for so I just resolved to get through the rest of the race and that led to me walking up just about every inch of the hills and then trying to run every bit of the flats and downhills. It was a slightly different course than in prior years but I'm not sure where all the changes were made. The bottom line though, is that I finished in 2:24:20 which is only 7 seconds slower than last year when I felt pretty good about the results. So, I'm not thrilled, but I'm not disappointed either and I was never miserable out there on the road, and that's always one of my goals.
One funny note -- I backtracked a couple of feet to hand off a gel to Brian. That probably cost me a PR for the course. That's the last time I'll be nice! (Only kidding!)
I finished in 52:03 which is fine by me. I was hoping just to finish under 55 minutes and I did that.
The race itself was pretty awesome with excellent goodie bags (chips, pens, and massage rollers) and a cute t-shirt. Post race food was awesome (hotdogs, fruit, chips, cereal bars, OJ and gatorade) and they had tons and tons of door prizes. Including an awesome yellow knit hat that I really, really wanted to win even though I hate wearing knit hats.
After the Frostbite race I didn't do much running until I spent some time in Washington, DC where Brian and I "ran" along the trail in Rock Creek Park. Really, we just walked a lot, and tried to run at times. It was extremely poor training for the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon that I did for the third time yesterday.
Caesar Rodney is HILLY. Very, very hilly. I was very, very unprepared. That, coupled with the freezing temperature and the blustery wind (20mph with 40mph gusts) it was a crazy day for a race. Not totally awful, but pretty tough.
Check this out from the webpage of the race results:
"Race Day Conditions: "Not user friendly." But hey -- it's March. Cold & windy.
But sunny and no rain. Go for it. And that is what so many awesome finishers did.
Not a day for a personal P.R. A day to be aware how strong & dedicated all the finishers were. Looks like a good 2008 to you all -- to us. "
Anyway, I knew at the halfway point that that was about all the distance I was properly trained for so I just resolved to get through the rest of the race and that led to me walking up just about every inch of the hills and then trying to run every bit of the flats and downhills. It was a slightly different course than in prior years but I'm not sure where all the changes were made. The bottom line though, is that I finished in 2:24:20 which is only 7 seconds slower than last year when I felt pretty good about the results. So, I'm not thrilled, but I'm not disappointed either and I was never miserable out there on the road, and that's always one of my goals.
One funny note -- I backtracked a couple of feet to hand off a gel to Brian. That probably cost me a PR for the course. That's the last time I'll be nice! (Only kidding!)
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