A fellow gradfolk decided that he wanted to try a 10k and asked if I would run with him. Sure! Anyway, today was his first 10k, and I ran it with him. It was at a pretty cool and very runner-friendly place. The weather was a bit chilly with a very nice misty fog hovering around for the start. By the end, the sun popped out and brought in a lovely day.
Runbuddy did really well, too. He made it all the way through with a good pace, even though the longest he had previously run was about 7-8k. Our final time was around 55min. Hooray for him! Fun for me! Tshirts for us both! Little American Flags for everyone! (please forgive the Simpsons reference)
Extra bonus reason to get out and run in the morning - some moron pulled the fire alarm about 30 minutes after I left. My roommate said it stayed on for about 30 minutes. yeesh.
Showing posts with label 10k. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 10k. Show all posts
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Sunday, October 28, 2007
10K II: The Blisters Strike Back!
Ok, no 10 page post about this morning's 10k, but it was a lot of fun. It was much less hard-core than last weeks. A lot of people had costumes - if fact one of the folks lining up in the fastest ranks for the 5k was Spiderman. Isn't that kinda cheating? I imagine that if they had a urine test, he'd turn up a wee bit hot. There was also a fund-raising walk, and that's where most of the costumes were. I saw a very impressing Opimus Prime, and several assorted cats and such. No bunnies, oddly enough. I guess I should have worn the ears...
The goodie bag was much better though:
quality running shirt - cool
ketchup-sized packet of 'udderly smooth' udder cream - a bit scary. I don't have, erm, udders.
8 cups worth of ground coffee - odd
hideously ugly yellow sweatband - maybe I can give it to someone?
2 strange 'Cashew cookies' - I vote yuck.
Mango Coconut Soy Joy Bar - why did it have to be coconut?
Powdered energy drink stuff - meh.
Powdered 'flavored fizzy drink' - hmmm...
Various ads and coupons - nice, but nothing really useful
A toothbrush - Wha?
2 elastic hair bands - I only wish I had long hair, they're pretty nice...
Minutia of the run:
Best tracks that I added to the playlist (didn't get to them all, but I'm working through them):
The goodie bag was much better though:
quality running shirt - cool
ketchup-sized packet of 'udderly smooth' udder cream - a bit scary. I don't have, erm, udders.
8 cups worth of ground coffee - odd
hideously ugly yellow sweatband - maybe I can give it to someone?
2 strange 'Cashew cookies' - I vote yuck.
Mango Coconut Soy Joy Bar - why did it have to be coconut?
Powdered energy drink stuff - meh.
Powdered 'flavored fizzy drink' - hmmm...
Various ads and coupons - nice, but nothing really useful
A toothbrush - Wha?
2 elastic hair bands - I only wish I had long hair, they're pretty nice...
Minutia of the run:
Best tracks that I added to the playlist (didn't get to them all, but I'm working through them):
- Billy Joel
- Movin' out
- Big Shot
- Pressure
- Tell Her About It
- You're Only Human
- Starship - Don't Stop Believin'
- Sting/Police
- Message in a Bottle
- Can't Stand Losing You
- Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
- Heart
- Magic Man
- What About Love
- Smashmouth - All Star
- Steely Dan - Reelin' in the Years
- Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride
- Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Running in Circles
Another reason why I might have been confused about last week's 10k - There's another one tomorrow. Pardon me while I adjust my running playlist. :)
Sunday, October 21, 2007
A Long Post on a Long Run
Whew. It's been awhile since I last did a big-ish 10k. I had completely forgotten how much fun it is.
Part of the uniqueness of this run was getting there. I had to rely on the public transit system, and it actually worked out fine. Except I felt kinda funny sitting there in the bus in my running garb, and until we got closer to where the race was happening, well, it was just me and what looked like a lot of folks heading off to early morning jobs on Sunday. They didn't look pleased.
There's a wonderful gathering of excitement when you get close to the starting line. First you start seeing people dressed for running. There are the showy folks - the people who have all matching-branded and color coordinated clothing, sometimes their scrunchies or iPod holders even match the color scheme (I should also mention that this is very much an iPod environment. I felt slightly out of place with my just-as-good-and-even-better-at-some-things-no-I'm-not-being-defensive Zen Micro V.) Then there are the people that you can't tell if they are there for the run or not. Some people are just dressed casually in a tshirt and shorts, with shoes that might or might not be running shoes. These folks interest me. Are they too cool to wear clothes that actually work well for running? Did someone run off with their luggage? We all got a nice ultra-light tshirt for registering. Why then?
As you get closer, you start seeing folks wearing their number bibs. Now you can really categorize people if you care to. Blue bibs for the 10kers, yellow for the 5kers, and pink for the elite runners. I'm still not sure what all that really means except that they all run faster than I do. It might be that they get priority to go to the front of the pack before the gun. Lower numbers for the early registrees - they usually know what they are doing, well, at least more than I do, cause I forgot about the whole thing.
At the starting line is where it really gets exciting. The 5k start was 30 minutes before the 10k, and I got there right in time to watch them start off. They even had an MC-ish sort of fellow up there doing the countdown. I had forgotten that they did that. It's really cool to watch a mob of people go from standing to surging forward.
After the 5k started, they started passing out the bunny hats.
Seriously.
They were basically a foam headband with big bunny ears sticking up in front. Genius. They were sponsored and tagged with advertising. Normally, I hate wearing advertising for people, but hey, free bunny ears! I think their strategy was to pass the ears out to the hot ladies and take pictures of them for some promotion, but they were handing them out to everyone. They, um... didn't ask for my picture, but I happily wore mine for the whole run. I should mention that it is a bit spooky seeing your shadow with demonic horn-looking things sticking out from your head when you aren't prepared for it. It's ok. Only ears.
As the time to start got closer, we all moved toward the line. They had signs marked with minute/mile times staggered out from the front: 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 etc... There was a bit of polite but nervous jockeying to get near the correct time based on what you thought you might run.
After people had basically settled in, everyone started stretching a bit, well, as much as we could stretch with people crowded all around. Everyone chatted nervously while waiting and wished everyone else a good run. An unhappy-looking collagen-injected woman in front of me didn't care for my bunny ears at all. I think she said something along the lines of, "Oh, I guess you have a sense of humor." Feh.
Then the countdown (given by a "celebrity" who actually said, "Go win. Run fast.")
5...4...3...22222.......11111111.....(no kidding. She stumbled over actually pronouncing the numbers 2 and 1. Was she being funny? Was she just trying to slow down to sync with an official clock? No clue. Maybe I don't have a sense of humor after all, bunny ears or no)
Oh, and the gun wasn't a gun. It was an air-horn.
If you haven't been in a big run, you might not know that you can't actually run when the horn goes off. Only the people at the front can actually run. Everyone behind them kind of does a wobbly shuffle-hop, shambling toward the line. It takes a while. It's all okay though, because they gave us little tracker buttons to put on our shoes to give us official times. Our times only start when we actually cross the start line, and by that time, the shamble had turned into a rumble.
It was a bit frustrating, but I really loved the start of the run. Runners took over the entire street - both lanes from sidewalk to sidewalk. Later on, we only had one lane, but for that moment, we were the traffic. The game of watching people (more entertaining than the actual run some of the time) began. Unhappy humorless women took off with a bit of a sprint. I liked that. She would burn out quick and I would pass her about a mile into the run. A lot of people do that. You get so excited that you run way too fast in the beginning and don't have anything left at the end. I forced myself to pay close attention to my pedometer to keep from going faster than the 8 minute/miles I had budgeted.
Slowly the group unclumped. The truly speedy were gone almost immediately. I would only see them after they made the u-turn and were coming back the opposite way. After they were gone, I started beating people. Well, that's all in my mind. Plenty of people were still passing me, but it's all a mind game, right? I picked out someone who was running nearly my pace and took up place behind them. Then, eventually, I would pull out in front of them, congratulating myself on my victory in a race that the other person knew nothing about. I was able to keep this game going for the whole run.
There were a couple people who I dueled with for a mile or two, but eventually I got past them all. The one who gave me the most trouble was a very attractive (at least from the back) woman with two long, crazy, hypnotically twisting braids. She passed me early, and I think it took me 3 miles to get passed her for good.
The other fun game was to chase down the other bunny heads. Unfortunately, there weren't too many in front of me that were really catchable, but each one I saw on the horizon was a moving target. Especially the one worn at a jaunty angle by a ginormous mountain of a man. His ears stuck out to the side about a foot above my head. But I passed him.
The end of the run was beautiful. There was a really strong tailwind and a very slight downgrade. I had been picking up my pace slightly. I could see people falling out and dropping back into a jog, but I actually had energy and legs left, so I lengthened my stride and picked up the pace into a quick run for the last half mile and a sprint at the end, weaving through the people in front of me. Over the music from my earphones, I heard the MC with the PA system call out, "And here comes a guy with bunny ears, sprinting for the finish, let's let him hear it!" I did.
48:42, but I can do better.
Part of the uniqueness of this run was getting there. I had to rely on the public transit system, and it actually worked out fine. Except I felt kinda funny sitting there in the bus in my running garb, and until we got closer to where the race was happening, well, it was just me and what looked like a lot of folks heading off to early morning jobs on Sunday. They didn't look pleased.
There's a wonderful gathering of excitement when you get close to the starting line. First you start seeing people dressed for running. There are the showy folks - the people who have all matching-branded and color coordinated clothing, sometimes their scrunchies or iPod holders even match the color scheme (I should also mention that this is very much an iPod environment. I felt slightly out of place with my just-as-good-and-even-better-at-some-things-no-I'm-not-being-defensive Zen Micro V.) Then there are the people that you can't tell if they are there for the run or not. Some people are just dressed casually in a tshirt and shorts, with shoes that might or might not be running shoes. These folks interest me. Are they too cool to wear clothes that actually work well for running? Did someone run off with their luggage? We all got a nice ultra-light tshirt for registering. Why then?
As you get closer, you start seeing folks wearing their number bibs. Now you can really categorize people if you care to. Blue bibs for the 10kers, yellow for the 5kers, and pink for the elite runners. I'm still not sure what all that really means except that they all run faster than I do. It might be that they get priority to go to the front of the pack before the gun. Lower numbers for the early registrees - they usually know what they are doing, well, at least more than I do, cause I forgot about the whole thing.
At the starting line is where it really gets exciting. The 5k start was 30 minutes before the 10k, and I got there right in time to watch them start off. They even had an MC-ish sort of fellow up there doing the countdown. I had forgotten that they did that. It's really cool to watch a mob of people go from standing to surging forward.
After the 5k started, they started passing out the bunny hats.
Seriously.
They were basically a foam headband with big bunny ears sticking up in front. Genius. They were sponsored and tagged with advertising. Normally, I hate wearing advertising for people, but hey, free bunny ears! I think their strategy was to pass the ears out to the hot ladies and take pictures of them for some promotion, but they were handing them out to everyone. They, um... didn't ask for my picture, but I happily wore mine for the whole run. I should mention that it is a bit spooky seeing your shadow with demonic horn-looking things sticking out from your head when you aren't prepared for it. It's ok. Only ears.
As the time to start got closer, we all moved toward the line. They had signs marked with minute/mile times staggered out from the front: 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 etc... There was a bit of polite but nervous jockeying to get near the correct time based on what you thought you might run.
After people had basically settled in, everyone started stretching a bit, well, as much as we could stretch with people crowded all around. Everyone chatted nervously while waiting and wished everyone else a good run. An unhappy-looking collagen-injected woman in front of me didn't care for my bunny ears at all. I think she said something along the lines of, "Oh, I guess you have a sense of humor." Feh.
Then the countdown (given by a "celebrity" who actually said, "Go win. Run fast.")
5...4...3...22222.......11111111.....(no kidding. She stumbled over actually pronouncing the numbers 2 and 1. Was she being funny? Was she just trying to slow down to sync with an official clock? No clue. Maybe I don't have a sense of humor after all, bunny ears or no)
Oh, and the gun wasn't a gun. It was an air-horn.
If you haven't been in a big run, you might not know that you can't actually run when the horn goes off. Only the people at the front can actually run. Everyone behind them kind of does a wobbly shuffle-hop, shambling toward the line. It takes a while. It's all okay though, because they gave us little tracker buttons to put on our shoes to give us official times. Our times only start when we actually cross the start line, and by that time, the shamble had turned into a rumble.
It was a bit frustrating, but I really loved the start of the run. Runners took over the entire street - both lanes from sidewalk to sidewalk. Later on, we only had one lane, but for that moment, we were the traffic. The game of watching people (more entertaining than the actual run some of the time) began. Unhappy humorless women took off with a bit of a sprint. I liked that. She would burn out quick and I would pass her about a mile into the run. A lot of people do that. You get so excited that you run way too fast in the beginning and don't have anything left at the end. I forced myself to pay close attention to my pedometer to keep from going faster than the 8 minute/miles I had budgeted.
Slowly the group unclumped. The truly speedy were gone almost immediately. I would only see them after they made the u-turn and were coming back the opposite way. After they were gone, I started beating people. Well, that's all in my mind. Plenty of people were still passing me, but it's all a mind game, right? I picked out someone who was running nearly my pace and took up place behind them. Then, eventually, I would pull out in front of them, congratulating myself on my victory in a race that the other person knew nothing about. I was able to keep this game going for the whole run.
There were a couple people who I dueled with for a mile or two, but eventually I got past them all. The one who gave me the most trouble was a very attractive (at least from the back) woman with two long, crazy, hypnotically twisting braids. She passed me early, and I think it took me 3 miles to get passed her for good.
The other fun game was to chase down the other bunny heads. Unfortunately, there weren't too many in front of me that were really catchable, but each one I saw on the horizon was a moving target. Especially the one worn at a jaunty angle by a ginormous mountain of a man. His ears stuck out to the side about a foot above my head. But I passed him.
The end of the run was beautiful. There was a really strong tailwind and a very slight downgrade. I had been picking up my pace slightly. I could see people falling out and dropping back into a jog, but I actually had energy and legs left, so I lengthened my stride and picked up the pace into a quick run for the last half mile and a sprint at the end, weaving through the people in front of me. Over the music from my earphones, I heard the MC with the PA system call out, "And here comes a guy with bunny ears, sprinting for the finish, let's let him hear it!" I did.
48:42, but I can do better.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Something Else To Distract Me From Work
Poop.
The 10k I planned to run at the end of October does not occur next weekend, but tomorrow at oh my god in the morning. This would have been better to discover before I went on a 4 mile run this morning.
At least I was able to get down to the registration place and pick up my bib number and tshirt (long sleeve? WTF? I can't wear a long-sleeve shirt. I'll burst into flames. grrrranimals.)
Also, they said there would be a gift bag. I can confirm there was a bag. Gifts? umm.. a sample-size granola bar and a sticker for a local radio station? not so much.
The 10k I planned to run at the end of October does not occur next weekend, but tomorrow at oh my god in the morning. This would have been better to discover before I went on a 4 mile run this morning.
At least I was able to get down to the registration place and pick up my bib number and tshirt (long sleeve? WTF? I can't wear a long-sleeve shirt. I'll burst into flames. grrrranimals.)
Also, they said there would be a gift bag. I can confirm there was a bag. Gifts? umm.. a sample-size granola bar and a sticker for a local radio station? not so much.
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