RR: Kiwanis Midnight Run 5K/10K

Subtitled: The Second Worst Idea I've Ever Had ;)

Headed from Hudson to "Delightful Dunedin" (according to the Chamber of Commerce commercials) around 9:45 PM. Seriously, it's a nice little town that I would consider moving to if I were to stay in Florida. Not that you could see much of it in this race, but I digress. It was pretty gross out--80F with 88% humidity at 11 PM. Got my chips and goody bag, which I was pleased to see was a cloth bag. Now if they would only quit stuffing all those paper flyers that I just end up tossing in the recycle bin...Looked for Slow Twin Bill, didn't find him, but found my co-worker Wilson and his wife Diane, who was doing her first race in five years, so I hung out with them until it was time for us to line up. Diane was very nervous, so I kind of "adopted" her, and we went and stood in the middle of the 1000 or so 5K'ers (my estimate--no final numbers published yet) and chatted.

Diane is very young, like 23 or 24. Diane is very tiny. She is the size of your average fourth-grader. I felt like Fiona (Shrek's girlfriend) standing next to her. Seriously, she didn't even come all the way up to my shoulder. I bet she's not 5 feet tall, maybe 90 lbs after a huge meal and soaking wet with rocks in her pockets. So I was very suprised when she told me that she had looked up some of my races and was intimidated to run with me. Whaa?? But I guess when you're just starting out, the sheer volume and distance of what I've run might seem a bit daunting. I assured her that this was strictly a fun run, and no land-speed records would be broken on my part.

We took off, and as is usual in crowded 5Ks, we bottlenecked, got darted in front of and practically run over by people who were late to the party and trying to get further up in the pack. We came upon the first bridge at about 1/2 mile and Diane waved me on. The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. Finished in 32:01, with Diane coming in about three minutes later. I had about 15 minutes until the start of the 10K, so I BS'ed with Wilson for a few minutes while I slammed down some Gatorade and a couple of sport beans, then I swapped race numbers and lined up for the next race.

Found Slow Twin Bill in the middle of the pack. He had run the 1-mile and the 5K that night. Chatted briefly, then the air horn went off. I did okay the first couple of miles, but the heat/humidity made me feel kind of like an old limp dish rag. Felt really horrible after about 2.5 miles, but managed to hold a 12:00/mile pace, praying that I would just puke already so I could feel better. Didn't happen. Swung through Honeymoon Island, where it was completely dark except for the candles in the empty water jugs lining the course. The frogs were extremely loud in the marsh, and I heard some rustling in the bushes next to me, which I tried not to think about too hard. The mosquitoes attacked me viciously, biting me through my clothes. The bug spray was rendered mostly ineffective by the massive amount of sweat coming out of every pore in my body. I scratched the inside of my left elbow bloody, and I now have a welt and a lovely companion bruise :-P I totally fell apart just past mile 4. I was nauseated. I had a pounding headache. I had huge, itchy welts from the rat-bastard mosquitoes. Sweat was running down my legs and into my socks, which is an unpleasant sensation. I was running S-L-O-W. I was walking way more than I had intended. I managed to finish in 1:19:31, which is easily the slowest 10K I've done in the past two years. So bottom line, the 10K was all bad. Not even fun.

For now, I'll be spending lots more time on the bike than in my running shoes, starting with a planned 20 mile ride tomorrow morning.

But I'll come back to kick the 10K's ass at the Turkey Trot this year, when the weather is much more conducive to running fast. And I'll be back at the Midnight Run again next year, doing only the 10K. Because I never learn.

Baby you're all that I want...

Back in "the day" (middle school,) I was a Bryan Adams FREAK. And this song was the single most romantic thing I'd ever heard in my young life. Sent my little tender heart all aflutter ;)

It's aged well, and I think I love it even more with Jason Aldean singing it:

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RR: Mad Beach Sprint Tri

Sunday, May 31, 2009, Madeira Beach, FL

1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike, 5K run

1:52:49

Swim - 18:04
T1 - 2:42
Bike - 53:29
T2 - 3:1
Run - 35:19

I've got a lot of work to do, particularly on the bike, although for me, that's a decent time. I was pleased with the swim time, and okay with the run. I did great when we were on pavement, but the second half was on sand, which sucked, but what can you do. Got popped on the back of the head during the swim, not hard, and the girl apologized profusely. It really wasn't that bad, but it was nice of her to be concerned :) And my transitions are fine, but I should probably stop chatting with everyone on my rack. Then again, like Linae says, they ain't paying me to do this, so I may as well enjoy myself.

Enjoyed the free beer at the end, and had a great time with Linae, Kurt, and Joe at the Angry Pepper afterward. This was actually the best I've felt about racing tris, ever. There were few "WTF am I doing here??" moments, and NONE of them on the bike, which is a first. So I guess Linae's Evil Plan is working ;)

Next race: Taphouse 5K, Oldsmar, FL, June 12. Starts and ends at a pub! Hell yeah!

RR: Hog Hustle 5K

Six days late and probably about $20 short ;)
==============================================
Dunedin, FL, May 16, 2009, 8 AM

I wanted 30-ish. I got 30:32.

This is a fun little race that runs through Dunedin. I can't remember exactly the story of how it got its name; something about rounding up thewild hogs that lived on Caladesi Island, which used to be called Hog Island. Anyway, the race starts and finishes at the ballpark where the Blue Jays do their spring training, goes through the downtown area, through a couple of the nice little neighborhoods, and along the water. There were over 300 people this year. The shirt usually has some kind of tacky, colorful pig cartoon on it, and this year's was no exception. It had a pig dressed as a pirate. How friggin' awesome is that?? ;)

Met up with "Slow Twin" Bill, who isn't slow at all, but is marginally slower than his brother. After hanging out and BS'ing a bit, Bill went to warm up before heading to the race start. I had briefly thought of finding him and drafting the first half of the race off of him, but it was kind of hot and I didn't feel up to running at puke speed, so I just settled into a nice, even pace. Hung off the right shoulder of this big dude for about half a mile, but he slowed down, so I reeled in this other guy, who had some pretty bad-a$$ tats on his arms. Spent the next mile or so trying to figure out what some of them were, but then I got ahead of him, too. Just kind of zoned out after that. Walked the second waterstop. It was hot and I was tired, and I wasn't going for a PR anyway. Right before mile 3, this lady pushing a jog stroller came up on my left. She was barely sweating. I'm distrustful of her. Oh HELL no. You are NOT passing me!So I pushed a little more and finished about 10 seconds ahead of her.

All in all, I'm not disappointed with my time. I was only here for the tshirt and the socialization, anyway, and we're a few months past prime running PR weather here. Plus, I got what I wanted, time-wise, so it was a good day.

Next race: Mad Dog Sprint tri, May 31, my first of the season. Bring it!!

Need a Break

Life'll make sure that you got your troubles
Life'll make sure that you work too hard
There ain't nobody that don't get tired
Of watchin' troubles pile up big in your own backyard
Everybody gotta get away sometimes
Forget about yourself for a while
If you live your whole life up there on that shelf
You got no one to blame but your own damn self
It's okay, it's all right, heaven only knows what's gonna happen tonight
I'm okay, I'm all right, carry on...

--Pat Green, Carry On

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 26th Anniversary to my parents, Carol and Steve. Who'd have thought they'd make it this far? True, if Dad had a regular 9-to-5 job, we probably would be looking at a homicide situation, but still, way to go, y'all!

Road Trip!!

Big Blue the Trusty Racemobile is ready to ride again. She's washed, vacuumed, and gassed up to go to Jackson, Mississippi. (What you can't see in this photo are the Polish flag hanging from the rear view mirror and the obnoxious pink Hello Kitty car seat covers, which several people have been begging me to get rid of :-D )

Rather than a race, this time Big Blue is transporting Linae and me to Holly's wedding. Pics later!