Thanks to the offended sensibilities of some Qatari official/minister who tried to rent a car at Dulles and was given grief from the clerk about his foreign driver's license, Americans who want to drive in Qatar are required to take and pass a driving test. The rest of the Western/European countries can just exchange their existing license for a local one. Since we already bought our cars and have had difficulty getting Fox Transport (local taxi/limo company) to pick us up when we want them to, we've been anxious to get our licenses as quickly as possible. After waiting 10 days since receiving my residency permit and ID card without anything happening, I went up to HR the other day to ask them to start moving things along. It took some doing, but they finally got me set up to go to the driving school at 830 on Thursday morning.
I met Abdullah there and into the building we went. The first thing I noticed was how lost someone would be if they tried to do this without a handler/expeditor helping them out. There was only one large room, filled with dozens of chairs holding a mass of people sitting and waiting for something. Without any helpful signs pointing to an information desk or directing you where to go, it was tough to figure out what to do first. Let's hear it for Abdullah. He walked us right over to a window underneath a sign that read "New License," started talking with the guy behind the desk like they were old friends, and handed over my paperwork with a smile. Looked like progress to me, and while I didn't think I'd be handed a license right then and there, I hoped this meant I'd be getting an appointment date within the next week. I paid my 50 QR (about $18) when asked, but other than that I wasn't sure what was going on.
With more papers in hand, off we went to the next desk. This one appeared to be the main reception/information desk, but instead of getting a "deli number" like everyone else, Abdullah started talking to him and handed him our papers. A few more minutes of back-and-forth and shuffling through papers ensued, followed by the guy pulling out a form of some sort from under the counter and telling Abdullah to fill it out. Once he wrote my information on the form (hand-write in Arabic is quite tedious, I learned), we headed for the door out to the area where the cars and testing area are. This seemed to me like a good sign, maybe even one that I would get tested right then and there.
But no, this was not to be. Instead, we walked to the building next door, entered an office with a sign reading "Staff Only," and began talking to the officer there. I assumed by the two stars on his uniform and the big wooden desk he sat behind that he was in charge of the whole operation, so I made sure to stand quietly and smile politely whenever he looked over at me. A few gestures later, he had signed the form the guy behind the counter had given us at our last stop, and off we went, back to the guy at the counter. Abdullah showed him the signed form, they had a long conversation while flipping through all the other papers, and then it was over. The guy handed them back to Abdullah with a shrug that clearly said there was nothing more than could be done.
"So, what's going on?" I asked Abdullah. He gave me a grim smile and told me that we were missing a stamp on the form the officer signed, the man who could give us the stamp was not there, and that my appointment for the test was on February 2nd. He said I could talk to Basem (the guy in the HR who has a business card that reads "Interface Manager" and apparently knows everyone who is anyone) next week, but otherwise wasn't too helpful, explanatory, or interested in trying to do something while we were there. Back to the office I went, trying to figure out what I'd say to Basem when I got there.
To be continued.....
Dec 23, 2011
Dubai
He's put away 2 Smirnoff Ice. "What happens in Dubai stays in Dubai" must be the theory.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Dec 11, 2011
7 Things
My friend Mary recently wrote a post detailing seven things about herself, so I figured I'd do the same thing. It's a good way to get me to write something on here since I've been pretty lax in doing so recently. So without further ado, here are my seven things:
- In the past ten years, I've lived in six different cities, three states, and three countries. I guess you could say I've got the travel bug. And thanks to the Internet, email, and Facebook, I never have to really say goodbye to all the friends I make along the way.
- I'm currently living in a house without a dog for the first time in close to 15 years. Things are much quieter and calmer than I'm used to. Seems very strange.
- I'm running the Dubai Marathon next month. I'm looking forward to crossing my second continent off the list. I'm not looking forward to what I imagine will be a dearth of crowd support and entertainment along the course.
- I miss driving my TT, but i'm glad I'm not driving it over here. The drivers are so crazy that we're getting two sturdy SUVs to keep us safe as we master the right blend of defensive and aggressive driving necessary to get through the city.
- I wish I could bring myself to do all the things my running coaches want me to do. It's just so much easier to eat pizza than cook chicken and veggies.
- I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing the Saudi women here wearing their full face veils while talking on their iPhones. Those two worlds just seem so far apart.
- I find it amusing when my mother tells me that my nephews want to tell me all about their football games or want to hear all about what I'm up to. Considering they barely stay on the phone for two minutes when I call, I'd say she's projecting.
Nov 27, 2011
Marine Corps Marathon Race Report
Better late than never, right? Pictures to follow once I buy them.
Race weekend started for me when I left Doha at 8am on Friday. As much as I wanted to take advantage of the vintage champagne and 2000 Bordeaux being offered during the flight, I knew I had to behave myself. Somewhat. I did have a few glasses of champagne with breakfast, but I also downed four liters of water during the next 14 hours too. I think the flight attendants got a little tired of me asking for more bottles of water, but after a week in the desert air, I didn't want to get any more dehydrated.
After watching several movies and reading a few magazines, I landed at Dulles a little before 4. Thanks to the wonders of the Global Entry System (well worth the $100 fee for the background check), I skipped the 500-600 person line at immigration and was out of the airport and on my way in 15 minutes. I grabbed my Dodge econobox rental car from National and went straight to the expo.
I was a little disappointed by the expo. Picking up my bib, shirt, and other goodies was really quick and easy, but once that was finished, there weren't as many vendors there as I was expecting. I appreciated the ones that were there (stocked up on more Kayanos at one), but compared to Disney and RnR expos, the MCM expo just didn't have the variety and number of booths as the others. I stocked up on Kayanos to bring to Doha but wasn't able to find a single vendor selling the Rider flip-flops that Heather wanted another few pairs of.
I spent most of Saturday relaxing in my room, watching the rain slowly change into heavy wet snow. The overnight low temperature forecast kept dropping throughout the day, so I shifted my race day outfit from short sleeves and shorts to long sleeves and tights. I remember thinking when I was packing my running bag before leaving for Doha that I doubted I'd need all the cold weather gear I was throwing in (hat, gloves, tights, etc.) but better to be safe than sorry. After a nice sushi dinner with Eva and Steve, I climbed into bed and hoped the remainder of my jet lag would be gone by the time the race started.
I awoke Sunday morning to clear skies and 32 degree temps, perfect weather for a marathon. I put on my race outfit, donned my throw-away clothes, grabbed my Clif bar, and headed off to the bag check area. Watching the Metro cars go by jammed with runners made me glad to only have a short 15-minute walk from the hotel.
The race started right at 8am, just after a really cool fly-over by a formation of V22 Osprey. Marine Corps doesn't use formal corrals like Rock n Roll or Disney. Instead, they set up ones by pace and ask people to voluntarily sort themselves. The theory is a good one, but in practice, it makes for a pretty chaotic first few miles as there are always far too many runners who line up much closer to the front than they should, causing everyone else to have to weave and dodge around them.
By the time we hit the top of the hills in Rosslyn (the first two miles are pretty much all uphill), the sun was out and I was warming up nicely. I tied my trusty jacket around my waist, tucked my hat and gloves into my belt, and settled into a nice comfortable pace for the trip back down to and across the Potomac. A mile later, the jacket rubbing against my legs really started to bother me, so I left it on the side of the road. It served me well for five years and any number of cold or rainy days, which made me sad to let it go, but I'm sure someone else came along to claim it and will get good use out of it too.
After crossing the river, we turned left to run a four-mile loop up to Rock Creek Park, around the reservoir, and back. Not many spectators along this part of the course, which was fine with me because they just would've interfered with the beautiful scenery. People say this race is so scenic due to all the monuments and buildings in DC, but the foliage and views along the Potomac from mile 4.5 to mile 15 are just gorgeous. Of course, it helps to be running under clear, sunny skies.
The Rock Creek loop finished, it was time for a quick trip through Georgetown and then back down to the river for the next five miles. I had been wondering in my head whether I would've been better off in shorts or tights since the trip around Rock Creek had warmed me up quite a bit, and I had my answer as soon as I was hit by the wind coming off the river. Tights were definitely a good choice. The shade and the breeze cooled me right off again.
We got our first monument sightings as we turned back from Hains Point and had the whole city and much of the Mall laid out in front of us. Starting with the new MLK memorial near mile 16, the next four miles were nothing but monuments, memorials, impressive buildings, and hundreds of thousands of cheering spectators. The spectacular views coupled with the energy from the crowd made this stretch one of the best of any race I've ever done. You couldn't possibly feel yourself hurting or struggling because without even trying, all your attention gravitated to everything around you. It really is as great a part of the course as everyone says it is.
The trip through DC reaches its end just past mile 20 where there is a huge contingent of drummers getting you amped and pumped to Beat the Bridge. If you're not across the 14th Street bridge by 115 in the afternoon, they make you stop running and bring you to the finish on a bus. I wasn't at all worried about this, but I can certainly see why the drummers are placed where they are on the course. The noise and rhythm naturally cause you to increase your pace and motivate you to get across that bridge no matter what.
Unfortunately, the high of the drummers is quickly matched by the low of the bridge. If you're one of those people that hits the wall at mile 20 and really struggles after that, you're going to hate this part of the race. For nearly two miles, I found myself trudging along what's normally I395, and yes, it was about as thrilling as it sounds. The scenery looking up and down the river was nice and the guys on the boat blasting music helped, but it's still a pretty big let down after the incredible wonders of the city.
After getting off the highway, the next few miles were a loop through Crystal City. Not a whole lot of interesting things to look at along this part of the course, but the spectator support was pretty good. Lots of people out cheering, passing out oranges, and even one small group of people handing cold beer. Unlike in Houston where the Hash goes through several kegs at our beer stop at mile 24, these guys seemed surprised that I actually drank what they were offering.
The last two miles of the race took us around the Pentagon and back along the river past the National Cemetery. I could hear the roar of the crowd getting louder as I approached mile 26 and the final turn to the finish. The finish in this race is one of the most difficult I've ever encountered. When you turn left off the main road, you run straight uphill for a tenth of a mile, followed by a right turn and a more gentle uphill to the finish line. I knew it was coming since I walked down it on my way to the start five hours earlier, so I just gritted my teeth, shortened my stride, and sprinted up as fast as I could. It felt good to pass a lot of people in those last few hundred yards, and I crossed the finish line with a huge smile on my face.
Unfortunately, the smile didn't last very long, about ten feet to be exact. That's when the downside of finishing in a park comes into play. The finish is on a narrow park road leading to the Iwo Jima Memorial, so there's no room for people to spread out as they wait to get their mylar blankets and medals. We just shuffled along in a big mass of runners, and it took quite a while to finally move forward enough to get to the Marines handing out the goodies. That was another highlight of the race. You've got all these Marines, mostly young officers, giving you a blanket, hanging a medal around your neck, and saying "Congratulations, sir," as they do. Pretty cool.
Overall, I can't say enough great things about this race. The organization was as stellar as you'd expect from the Marines, the course was gorgeous, and the support along the way was fantastic. It's definitely one to add to your bucket list.
Race weekend started for me when I left Doha at 8am on Friday. As much as I wanted to take advantage of the vintage champagne and 2000 Bordeaux being offered during the flight, I knew I had to behave myself. Somewhat. I did have a few glasses of champagne with breakfast, but I also downed four liters of water during the next 14 hours too. I think the flight attendants got a little tired of me asking for more bottles of water, but after a week in the desert air, I didn't want to get any more dehydrated.
After watching several movies and reading a few magazines, I landed at Dulles a little before 4. Thanks to the wonders of the Global Entry System (well worth the $100 fee for the background check), I skipped the 500-600 person line at immigration and was out of the airport and on my way in 15 minutes. I grabbed my Dodge econobox rental car from National and went straight to the expo.
I was a little disappointed by the expo. Picking up my bib, shirt, and other goodies was really quick and easy, but once that was finished, there weren't as many vendors there as I was expecting. I appreciated the ones that were there (stocked up on more Kayanos at one), but compared to Disney and RnR expos, the MCM expo just didn't have the variety and number of booths as the others. I stocked up on Kayanos to bring to Doha but wasn't able to find a single vendor selling the Rider flip-flops that Heather wanted another few pairs of.
I spent most of Saturday relaxing in my room, watching the rain slowly change into heavy wet snow. The overnight low temperature forecast kept dropping throughout the day, so I shifted my race day outfit from short sleeves and shorts to long sleeves and tights. I remember thinking when I was packing my running bag before leaving for Doha that I doubted I'd need all the cold weather gear I was throwing in (hat, gloves, tights, etc.) but better to be safe than sorry. After a nice sushi dinner with Eva and Steve, I climbed into bed and hoped the remainder of my jet lag would be gone by the time the race started.
I awoke Sunday morning to clear skies and 32 degree temps, perfect weather for a marathon. I put on my race outfit, donned my throw-away clothes, grabbed my Clif bar, and headed off to the bag check area. Watching the Metro cars go by jammed with runners made me glad to only have a short 15-minute walk from the hotel.
The race started right at 8am, just after a really cool fly-over by a formation of V22 Osprey. Marine Corps doesn't use formal corrals like Rock n Roll or Disney. Instead, they set up ones by pace and ask people to voluntarily sort themselves. The theory is a good one, but in practice, it makes for a pretty chaotic first few miles as there are always far too many runners who line up much closer to the front than they should, causing everyone else to have to weave and dodge around them.
By the time we hit the top of the hills in Rosslyn (the first two miles are pretty much all uphill), the sun was out and I was warming up nicely. I tied my trusty jacket around my waist, tucked my hat and gloves into my belt, and settled into a nice comfortable pace for the trip back down to and across the Potomac. A mile later, the jacket rubbing against my legs really started to bother me, so I left it on the side of the road. It served me well for five years and any number of cold or rainy days, which made me sad to let it go, but I'm sure someone else came along to claim it and will get good use out of it too.
After crossing the river, we turned left to run a four-mile loop up to Rock Creek Park, around the reservoir, and back. Not many spectators along this part of the course, which was fine with me because they just would've interfered with the beautiful scenery. People say this race is so scenic due to all the monuments and buildings in DC, but the foliage and views along the Potomac from mile 4.5 to mile 15 are just gorgeous. Of course, it helps to be running under clear, sunny skies.
The Rock Creek loop finished, it was time for a quick trip through Georgetown and then back down to the river for the next five miles. I had been wondering in my head whether I would've been better off in shorts or tights since the trip around Rock Creek had warmed me up quite a bit, and I had my answer as soon as I was hit by the wind coming off the river. Tights were definitely a good choice. The shade and the breeze cooled me right off again.
We got our first monument sightings as we turned back from Hains Point and had the whole city and much of the Mall laid out in front of us. Starting with the new MLK memorial near mile 16, the next four miles were nothing but monuments, memorials, impressive buildings, and hundreds of thousands of cheering spectators. The spectacular views coupled with the energy from the crowd made this stretch one of the best of any race I've ever done. You couldn't possibly feel yourself hurting or struggling because without even trying, all your attention gravitated to everything around you. It really is as great a part of the course as everyone says it is.
The trip through DC reaches its end just past mile 20 where there is a huge contingent of drummers getting you amped and pumped to Beat the Bridge. If you're not across the 14th Street bridge by 115 in the afternoon, they make you stop running and bring you to the finish on a bus. I wasn't at all worried about this, but I can certainly see why the drummers are placed where they are on the course. The noise and rhythm naturally cause you to increase your pace and motivate you to get across that bridge no matter what.
Unfortunately, the high of the drummers is quickly matched by the low of the bridge. If you're one of those people that hits the wall at mile 20 and really struggles after that, you're going to hate this part of the race. For nearly two miles, I found myself trudging along what's normally I395, and yes, it was about as thrilling as it sounds. The scenery looking up and down the river was nice and the guys on the boat blasting music helped, but it's still a pretty big let down after the incredible wonders of the city.
After getting off the highway, the next few miles were a loop through Crystal City. Not a whole lot of interesting things to look at along this part of the course, but the spectator support was pretty good. Lots of people out cheering, passing out oranges, and even one small group of people handing cold beer. Unlike in Houston where the Hash goes through several kegs at our beer stop at mile 24, these guys seemed surprised that I actually drank what they were offering.
The last two miles of the race took us around the Pentagon and back along the river past the National Cemetery. I could hear the roar of the crowd getting louder as I approached mile 26 and the final turn to the finish. The finish in this race is one of the most difficult I've ever encountered. When you turn left off the main road, you run straight uphill for a tenth of a mile, followed by a right turn and a more gentle uphill to the finish line. I knew it was coming since I walked down it on my way to the start five hours earlier, so I just gritted my teeth, shortened my stride, and sprinted up as fast as I could. It felt good to pass a lot of people in those last few hundred yards, and I crossed the finish line with a huge smile on my face.
Unfortunately, the smile didn't last very long, about ten feet to be exact. That's when the downside of finishing in a park comes into play. The finish is on a narrow park road leading to the Iwo Jima Memorial, so there's no room for people to spread out as they wait to get their mylar blankets and medals. We just shuffled along in a big mass of runners, and it took quite a while to finally move forward enough to get to the Marines handing out the goodies. That was another highlight of the race. You've got all these Marines, mostly young officers, giving you a blanket, hanging a medal around your neck, and saying "Congratulations, sir," as they do. Pretty cool.
Overall, I can't say enough great things about this race. The organization was as stellar as you'd expect from the Marines, the course was gorgeous, and the support along the way was fantastic. It's definitely one to add to your bucket list.
Oct 22, 2011
Doha
Some observations about things that have interested me so far over here….
Seeing women run in full black burqas, Nike Frees, and Rudy Project sunglasses will take some getting used to
The drivers are nuts, but since they all know it and drive the same way, there doesn't seem to be any road rage
I can be happy in a country that brings you warm bread with hummus instead of butter during your meal
I'm curious to learn what is in the Sausage McMuffin at McDonald's since pork isn't allowed in Muslim countries
Coming into the arrivals terminal - Passport control line for business class: 1 person. Passport control line for economy class: 400 people. Glad work is paying for it.
The tinkering with the time zone reminds me of Russia. It's light by 530am and getting dark by 5pm.
Seeing women run in full black burqas, Nike Frees, and Rudy Project sunglasses will take some getting used to
The drivers are nuts, but since they all know it and drive the same way, there doesn't seem to be any road rage
I can be happy in a country that brings you warm bread with hummus instead of butter during your meal
I'm curious to learn what is in the Sausage McMuffin at McDonald's since pork isn't allowed in Muslim countries
Coming into the arrivals terminal - Passport control line for business class: 1 person. Passport control line for economy class: 400 people. Glad work is paying for it.
The tinkering with the time zone reminds me of Russia. It's light by 530am and getting dark by 5pm.
Oct 21, 2011
Greetings from Keflavik!
No, that's not a typo. Our non-stop to Doha took a slight detour. There's a medical emergency on board and we're landing in Iceland to get them off the plane. The woman sitting next to me has 40 minutes between this flight and her connecting one in Doha to KL. I don't think she's going to make it seeing as we've had to backtrack 30 minutes to get to Keflavik. Iceland sure is a pretty county from the air. Hopefully the next time I'm here, I can actually get off the plane and stay a while.
Oct 10, 2011
Last Lazy Weekend
It's going to be a crazy next six weeks, so I'm trying to enjoy this last lazy weekend as much as I can. Here's some of what's coming up:
- Monthly close
- Training my backfill
- Zach's show
- Saturday long runs
- BCPA Executive Committee & Board meetings
- First trip to Doha to train
- Marine Corps marathon
- Parents' visit
- Clean & sell house
- Sell one car
- Pack & move some stuff to Florida
- Get dogs to their temporary homes
- Medical exams
- Multitudes of paperwork
- Concerts - 5FDP, Corey Taylor
- Agility trial
Not to mention all the little stuff like changing addresses with USPS, shopping for supplies, etc. Bleh. I'll be glad when it's all over.
Jul 27, 2011
Damn Texas Drivers
On my way home from work today, the car two in front of me was driving just over the speed limit, maybe going 70 at best, and holding two of us up. Since we were in the left lane, my only option to get around him was to pass him on the right. As I pulled into the next lane over, he started to accelerate, slowly at first, then more rapidly as I started to pull alongside. By the time I passed him, our speed was close to 90. Once I got around and back in front of him - there was a car in the right lane - he immediately slowed down to 70 again. What is it with people around here that seem to take being passed as a personal affront? And why are they always driving slowly in the left lane?
Jun 15, 2011
3 Wives
So Heather and I are sitting here drinking wine and reminiscing about Athena and the wonderful life she's had with us. I said I can't believe that she's been with me for 14 years, after which Heather remarked that she can't believe Athena made it through my three wives. "A MACH and 3 wives, that's pretty damn good," is what I think she said. That's one helluva dog. :)
Jun 1, 2011
Close Call
Happy National Running Day! I got my run in first thing this morning, but I almost didn't make it back. A woman yakking on her cell phone hit me as I was crossing the street near the end of my run. Her SUV hit me with its side view mirror and rear corner as I banged on her window to try to get her attention. I don't think she really knew what happened and am pretty sure she never hung up the phone since she drove into the curb several times as she made her way through the gas station parking lot afterwards. Be careful out there people, and wear your shoe tag or your RoadID.
May 10, 2011
Pacing
My fast pacing needs a lot of work. Don't let the average for this run fool you. I ranged anywhere from 7:55 to 8:55. I need to learn to get into an 8:35 groove as easily as I can settle into 9 or 9:30. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?
May 2, 2011
Texas Marathon Challenge
Check out the new medal holder I got for my Texas Marathon Challenge medals. I bought it from @maddyhubba and her husband. Great workmanship and shows them all off beautifully. The five medals are from San Antonio, Texas Trails 50k, Houston, Austin, and Davy Crockett. And no, I'm not doing this again next year. Now, it's time to get faster and run a 3:45.
This is also the first post I've tried making from my iPad. It's not as easy to do as on my laptop, but it's much more convenient. I can't figure out how to get the picture centered under the text of the first paragraph. I had to edit the post online to get it to show up properly. If there are any Blogsy experts out there who can help, please let me know.
Apr 12, 2011
Davy Crockett Bear Chase Marathon
This was my last marathon needed to complete the Texas Marathon Challenge, and boy was it a tough one. The course wasn't too bad, two pretty loops of mostly rolling hills with one section of steep incline on the dirt/sand road in the national forest. What got to me was the heat. Combine temperatures of 72 at the start and 86 at the finish with not enough solid training, and you've got the makings of a long race. I ran it all until about mile 18. That's when I started up the dirt road, looked at the continuous climb until the turn-around at mile 19.5, and decided to treat that stretch as an ultra - walk the uphills, run the downhills. While doing so, I came across another ultra runner doing the same thing. Since all we both wanted to do was finish (this was her third race to qualify for the Marathon Maniacs), we decided to just run/walk most of the rest of the way. I figured it was better to have someone to hang out with and talk to than trot along suffering in the blazing sun by myself.
I spent the first lap running behind and then with a group of women from a running club in the Groveton area. There were about 25 people from the club in the race, most of whom were doing the half. Two of the women in the pack near me were running their first half. They picked a very fun little race to make their debut, but the heat was definitely making them nervous. They quit talking at mile 10 and didn't say another word until after they crossed the finish line.
The race was one of the smallest I've ever been in. There were maybe 300 or 400 runners, and not many of them did the full. When I finish 82nd and in the top ten in my age group, it's safe to assume there weren't very many people entered. I know I was 82nd because that's the number on the bear I was given at the finish line. In addition to a really cool medal, each finisher get a stuffed bear with their place on it.
I'd definitely run this race again, but probably not the full. Running a marathon in the heat this early in the year just isn't fun. Besides, I've done the Texas Marathon Challenge once now. It's time to give something else a try next year. Maybe a return to Rocky?
The race was one of the smallest I've ever been in. There were maybe 300 or 400 runners, and not many of them did the full. When I finish 82nd and in the top ten in my age group, it's safe to assume there weren't very many people entered. I know I was 82nd because that's the number on the bear I was given at the finish line. In addition to a really cool medal, each finisher get a stuffed bear with their place on it.
I'd definitely run this race again, but probably not the full. Running a marathon in the heat this early in the year just isn't fun. Besides, I've done the Texas Marathon Challenge once now. It's time to give something else a try next year. Maybe a return to Rocky?
Apr 3, 2011
Athena
Here's a picture of her taken this afternoon. I think she looks pretty good for a dog that just turned 14 two days ago.
Apr 2, 2011
Angie's Half Crazy Half Marathon
This post should really be titled "How Not to Train for a Half" since I spent the week before the race in Bermuda celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary by eating and drinking a lot and exercising very little. Getting in to the airport at 10pm the night before probably wasn't a great training tactic either. Truthfully, I hadn't really planned on running this race. I only decided to enter a few days before we left on vacation because I wanted to force myself to get some miles in before Davy Crockett next weekend.
This was one of the more interesting races I've ever run. It's organized by a woman named Angie who started it three years ago. Every year, she picks a different theme and a different charity for the race. This year, the theme was baseball and the charity was the local Little League. The shirts have a baseball look to them, the guest starter was a former Astros player, and the finisher's medal was designed to look like a baseball. Very well done all the way around. Next year's race is going to support local firefighters, and I'm interested to see what she does for that.
My race itself went very well given my lack of training and the heat and humidity that rolled in overnight. I finished in 2:10, not a bad time for me considering I was just out for a run and not trying to race. As the race went on, I certainly felt the extra pounds I gained in Bermuda. I felt very sluggish and lacked my normally strong finishing kick over the last two miles. Still, I accomplished what I wanted. I got some miles in and got myself back into the mental game for next weekend.
My race itself went very well given my lack of training and the heat and humidity that rolled in overnight. I finished in 2:10, not a bad time for me considering I was just out for a run and not trying to race. As the race went on, I certainly felt the extra pounds I gained in Bermuda. I felt very sluggish and lacked my normally strong finishing kick over the last two miles. Still, I accomplished what I wanted. I got some miles in and got myself back into the mental game for next weekend.
Mar 13, 2011
DTCSP Courses
Here are my Excellent courses from this weekend's trial in Florida. Note to anyone who sees this opening sequence in the future: if you are not ahead of your dog, do not try to beat them to the table from the right side of the triple. They'll take take the chute every time.
Mar 6, 2011
Saturday's Courses
I loved how many different ways people came up with to run this FAST course. Several different strategies and paths all produced the full 80 points.
For all the bitching and moaning about 11-12-13, it was bars coming down at 17 and dogs running past 3 that caused most of the NQs. Even with the strong wind blowing the chute open and making it a straight tunnel, very few dogs actually went into 19 after 11.
Mar 4, 2011
Austin Marathon 2011
Race #4 of 5 for the Texas Marathon Challenge is done! Only one more to go in April and I can finally get my jacket!
My alarm went off at 6am, and after meeting up with Stephanie and Florencia at 630, we set off to find Sandy and Tim before the start. Sandy and I had agreed at lunch on Saturday to meet at one of the east corners of 15th street at 645. Unfortunately, I got there a few minutes late and couldn't find them anywhere. Rather than walk back from where we had come to get in line with the 4:30 pace group, we just hung out on the corner knowing the race would come to us and we could jump in at the right time. After some short remarks by Lance Armstrong and Joan Benoit Samuelson (from my hometown of Cape Elizabeth, ME!), the fireworks went off and the race was underway. Stephanie and I waited about 10 more minutes trying to see if we could find Sandy, and when we didn't, we walked towards the starting line just in front of the 4:15 pace group. Not the group I wanted to be with, but we were both getting anxious and tired of standing around.
The course starts out heading north away from downtown, and after a quick series of right turns, we found ourselves going south on San Jacinto heading up our first real hill of the day. It's a pretty short and steep hill, and the "800 meters to go" sign was a reminder that we'd see it again just before the finish. As we descended the other side of the hill and ran past the capitol building, we passed the finish line just a block to our left, so close and yet so far. After that, we wound our way through downtown before ending up on South Congress going south over the lake.
This next part of the course was fairly steadily uphill for three miles or so. While it's not a very scenic part of the city, there was still plenty to look at. The funky Bohemian clothing stores, multiple yoga studios, and off-beat record stores reminded me of Ann Arbor, and I enjoyed checking them out as I ran by. One thing that really caught my eye was the collection of food trucks offering everything from cupcakes to Pad Thai. I violated the long-standing rule of my In Flight training group - no talking about breakfast until we're back to the park during our early morning long runs - and started daydreaming over what I was going to have for dinner, never mind the fact that I'm not usually very hungry after a marathon. Somewhere along this stretch is where I first noticed problems with the aid stations being unprepared for the number of runners, the warm temperatures, or both. There were no stacks of pre-poured cups waiting to be handed out. Instead, much like at Houston a few weeks ago, the volunteers were trying to fill cups on the fly by pouring from pitchers or scooping out of large jugs as dozens of thirsty runners jostled each other trying to grab one. Having the tables set back from the street didn't help much either because it forced everyone into a small area instead of spreading them out along the course. It was quite chaotic and not what you'd expect from a big marathon with a title sponsor like Livestrong. The Livestrong aid station several miles later was very well run, as you'd expect. Maybe next year they can share some of their organizational skills with the other ones.
Shortly after mile five, we made two right turns and began our long descent back towards downtown. I liked this part of the course because it was in a residential area and there were a lot of people out cheering us on. Not huge crowds, but almost every house had a group in the front yard clapping, offering orange slices, or even a cold beer. We had this kind of support throughout most of the rest of the race, which I found to be a nice change from most races where there are pockets of large numbers of people and stretches between them without anyone at all. Along this section was also where I noticed how dog-crazy Austin is. It seemed like nearly everyone who was out watching the race had a dog or two with them. Eventually, it started to seem strange when you saw people in front of a house without a dog.
A few miles later, we crossed back over the lake and started out trip to the west of downtown. While there was a park area to our left that was pretty to look at, the other side of this road seemed to be pretty dull and industrial. Livestrong had claimed mile nine as their section of the course, so in addition to the very well run aid station mentioned earlier, there were hundreds of messages to and from cancer patients chalked on the street. About this time is when the sun started to really break through the clouds, so reading the messages was a good excuse to keep my head down. This was also the last flat road we'd run on for the next ten miles or so. As much as I wanted to stretch my legs out and go, I knew the big hills were still in front of me.
Right before mile eleven, the half marathoners turned right to head back towards the finish and the course got really quiet. Not that people weren't still chatting around me (I did get to meet Meredith, running the marathon on her 30th birthday) but when you take that many people off the course, the background noise noticeably decreases. Still, there was plenty happening to keep me entertained. One of my favorites was watching a guy named Jake approach his cheering fans. From the looks of it, they are all students and fraternity brothers at UT. They would pop up on the side of the road every 2-3 miles, let out a huge roar for Jake, and then jump in and run with him for a few minutes. Watching guys in boat shoes run up hills faster than I, and Jake, were running was annoying; watching them pull up heaving and out of breath very shortly thereafter made up for it.
Sandy blew past me between mile 13 and 14. She was having a great race, looked really strong, and kept on charging after we chatted for a few minutes. Other than that, not much of interest happened until I saw Tim at mile 19. The course was much prettier than it had been earlier, Meredith and her friend kept yo-yoing around me before and after aid stations, and two guys complained they were getting dizzy staring at my shirt for miles on end. That about sums up those five miles. Seeing Tim was a huge boost for me. I hadn't hit the wall, but my legs were dead from 10 miles of climbing hills and my brain was fried from trying to keep myself entertained. Tim told me Sandy was doing well about five minutes in front of me, snapped my picture, and sent me on my way. Sufficiently distracted, I got back into my groove and kept on chugging. I was expecting some sort of nice view of the city since this was supposed to be the highest portion of the course, but none appeared. I think I misread the course description one of Austin's papers posted on their web site. Bummer.
Just before mile 20, we finally made the right-hand turn back towards downtown. There were still six miles to go, but I got a nice mental boost from knowing that I was on my way back. Unfortunately, the wind was now right in our faces and was more of a "tough to run against" wind than a "cool you off" breeze. I mention this because it explains why I picked up a shadow that stuck with me all the way to the finish. I heard someone mention something about following the guy with the tie-dye shirt and turned around to see this woman tucked in behind me. By tucked in, I mean she was no more than a foot directly behind me. I smiled and asked her if she was drafting, and she said "As a matter of fact I am and I'm not going to try to deny it." Some runners might have been annoyed or upset by this and sped up to get away from her, but I actually liked it. Knowing that I was pulling her along gave me something to focus on for the last part of the race other than myself. There's no way I was stopping to walk or relax any when I had a runner depending on me to get them to the finish line. Having her there really helped me get through what I thought was the worst part of the race - the hill at mile 23. You make a turn at 22.5 to run parallel to the soccer fields, and after you check them out, you look ahead and see a water stop with a steep hill beginning just a few hundred feet further along. It's a pretty brutal stretch of roadway coming this late in the race and one I was definitely not expecting. Even with my draftee, I wasn't really feeling like tackling the hill with gusto until who should appear but Tim! He was pretty close to the top, so posing for pictures and talking while he ran with me was all I needed to get distracted enough to get through it.
After that, it was pretty much downhill for three miles all the way to the finish. I put my game face on, as they say, and started trucking. It was time to stop holding back, start running strong, and pass as many people as I could. As we got closer to the UT campus, I saw a familiar pair of green shorts up ahead of me. I'm not sure how it happened, but now I had Sandy to chase down. I caught up to her a mile or so from the finish and we ran the rest of the way together. Tim popped up at the hill on San Jacinto to offer up his best version of a drill sergeant to get us up the hill and down to the finish. Having a hill after mile 26 is certainly not fun, but unlike San Antonio, at least you've known since the first mile that it's coming. Tim peeled off as Sandy and I turned towards the finish line, and after a fast sprint down the hill for a block, the race was over. Several of our In Flight friends were standing on the finishing stretch cheering for us, but I didn't see or hear them. Florencia got a really good picture of me though. Apparently, I had a problem all day long with not hearing my friends along the course. Jenny was at the race cheering on a friend of hers from law school running her first marathon, and when I finally heard her scream "John Senger!" some time after mile 20, she told me she'd been yelling at me all day. Oops. I did see Shelley, though. She spotted my shirt and ran with me for a few blocks near mile 24.
Before I left the finish area, I made sure to wait and find my draftee. All my hard work paid off as she ran a new PR by over two minutes. That's pretty impressive on a tough, hilly course like this one. She was quite thankful and appreciative, but not so much so that she'd buy me a beer. Oh well, it's the satisfaction of a job well done that counts, right?
My alarm went off at 6am, and after meeting up with Stephanie and Florencia at 630, we set off to find Sandy and Tim before the start. Sandy and I had agreed at lunch on Saturday to meet at one of the east corners of 15th street at 645. Unfortunately, I got there a few minutes late and couldn't find them anywhere. Rather than walk back from where we had come to get in line with the 4:30 pace group, we just hung out on the corner knowing the race would come to us and we could jump in at the right time. After some short remarks by Lance Armstrong and Joan Benoit Samuelson (from my hometown of Cape Elizabeth, ME!), the fireworks went off and the race was underway. Stephanie and I waited about 10 more minutes trying to see if we could find Sandy, and when we didn't, we walked towards the starting line just in front of the 4:15 pace group. Not the group I wanted to be with, but we were both getting anxious and tired of standing around.
The course starts out heading north away from downtown, and after a quick series of right turns, we found ourselves going south on San Jacinto heading up our first real hill of the day. It's a pretty short and steep hill, and the "800 meters to go" sign was a reminder that we'd see it again just before the finish. As we descended the other side of the hill and ran past the capitol building, we passed the finish line just a block to our left, so close and yet so far. After that, we wound our way through downtown before ending up on South Congress going south over the lake.
This next part of the course was fairly steadily uphill for three miles or so. While it's not a very scenic part of the city, there was still plenty to look at. The funky Bohemian clothing stores, multiple yoga studios, and off-beat record stores reminded me of Ann Arbor, and I enjoyed checking them out as I ran by. One thing that really caught my eye was the collection of food trucks offering everything from cupcakes to Pad Thai. I violated the long-standing rule of my In Flight training group - no talking about breakfast until we're back to the park during our early morning long runs - and started daydreaming over what I was going to have for dinner, never mind the fact that I'm not usually very hungry after a marathon. Somewhere along this stretch is where I first noticed problems with the aid stations being unprepared for the number of runners, the warm temperatures, or both. There were no stacks of pre-poured cups waiting to be handed out. Instead, much like at Houston a few weeks ago, the volunteers were trying to fill cups on the fly by pouring from pitchers or scooping out of large jugs as dozens of thirsty runners jostled each other trying to grab one. Having the tables set back from the street didn't help much either because it forced everyone into a small area instead of spreading them out along the course. It was quite chaotic and not what you'd expect from a big marathon with a title sponsor like Livestrong. The Livestrong aid station several miles later was very well run, as you'd expect. Maybe next year they can share some of their organizational skills with the other ones.
Shortly after mile five, we made two right turns and began our long descent back towards downtown. I liked this part of the course because it was in a residential area and there were a lot of people out cheering us on. Not huge crowds, but almost every house had a group in the front yard clapping, offering orange slices, or even a cold beer. We had this kind of support throughout most of the rest of the race, which I found to be a nice change from most races where there are pockets of large numbers of people and stretches between them without anyone at all. Along this section was also where I noticed how dog-crazy Austin is. It seemed like nearly everyone who was out watching the race had a dog or two with them. Eventually, it started to seem strange when you saw people in front of a house without a dog.
A few miles later, we crossed back over the lake and started out trip to the west of downtown. While there was a park area to our left that was pretty to look at, the other side of this road seemed to be pretty dull and industrial. Livestrong had claimed mile nine as their section of the course, so in addition to the very well run aid station mentioned earlier, there were hundreds of messages to and from cancer patients chalked on the street. About this time is when the sun started to really break through the clouds, so reading the messages was a good excuse to keep my head down. This was also the last flat road we'd run on for the next ten miles or so. As much as I wanted to stretch my legs out and go, I knew the big hills were still in front of me.
Right before mile eleven, the half marathoners turned right to head back towards the finish and the course got really quiet. Not that people weren't still chatting around me (I did get to meet Meredith, running the marathon on her 30th birthday) but when you take that many people off the course, the background noise noticeably decreases. Still, there was plenty happening to keep me entertained. One of my favorites was watching a guy named Jake approach his cheering fans. From the looks of it, they are all students and fraternity brothers at UT. They would pop up on the side of the road every 2-3 miles, let out a huge roar for Jake, and then jump in and run with him for a few minutes. Watching guys in boat shoes run up hills faster than I, and Jake, were running was annoying; watching them pull up heaving and out of breath very shortly thereafter made up for it.
Sandy blew past me between mile 13 and 14. She was having a great race, looked really strong, and kept on charging after we chatted for a few minutes. Other than that, not much of interest happened until I saw Tim at mile 19. The course was much prettier than it had been earlier, Meredith and her friend kept yo-yoing around me before and after aid stations, and two guys complained they were getting dizzy staring at my shirt for miles on end. That about sums up those five miles. Seeing Tim was a huge boost for me. I hadn't hit the wall, but my legs were dead from 10 miles of climbing hills and my brain was fried from trying to keep myself entertained. Tim told me Sandy was doing well about five minutes in front of me, snapped my picture, and sent me on my way. Sufficiently distracted, I got back into my groove and kept on chugging. I was expecting some sort of nice view of the city since this was supposed to be the highest portion of the course, but none appeared. I think I misread the course description one of Austin's papers posted on their web site. Bummer.
Just before mile 20, we finally made the right-hand turn back towards downtown. There were still six miles to go, but I got a nice mental boost from knowing that I was on my way back. Unfortunately, the wind was now right in our faces and was more of a "tough to run against" wind than a "cool you off" breeze. I mention this because it explains why I picked up a shadow that stuck with me all the way to the finish. I heard someone mention something about following the guy with the tie-dye shirt and turned around to see this woman tucked in behind me. By tucked in, I mean she was no more than a foot directly behind me. I smiled and asked her if she was drafting, and she said "As a matter of fact I am and I'm not going to try to deny it." Some runners might have been annoyed or upset by this and sped up to get away from her, but I actually liked it. Knowing that I was pulling her along gave me something to focus on for the last part of the race other than myself. There's no way I was stopping to walk or relax any when I had a runner depending on me to get them to the finish line. Having her there really helped me get through what I thought was the worst part of the race - the hill at mile 23. You make a turn at 22.5 to run parallel to the soccer fields, and after you check them out, you look ahead and see a water stop with a steep hill beginning just a few hundred feet further along. It's a pretty brutal stretch of roadway coming this late in the race and one I was definitely not expecting. Even with my draftee, I wasn't really feeling like tackling the hill with gusto until who should appear but Tim! He was pretty close to the top, so posing for pictures and talking while he ran with me was all I needed to get distracted enough to get through it.
After that, it was pretty much downhill for three miles all the way to the finish. I put my game face on, as they say, and started trucking. It was time to stop holding back, start running strong, and pass as many people as I could. As we got closer to the UT campus, I saw a familiar pair of green shorts up ahead of me. I'm not sure how it happened, but now I had Sandy to chase down. I caught up to her a mile or so from the finish and we ran the rest of the way together. Tim popped up at the hill on San Jacinto to offer up his best version of a drill sergeant to get us up the hill and down to the finish. Having a hill after mile 26 is certainly not fun, but unlike San Antonio, at least you've known since the first mile that it's coming. Tim peeled off as Sandy and I turned towards the finish line, and after a fast sprint down the hill for a block, the race was over. Several of our In Flight friends were standing on the finishing stretch cheering for us, but I didn't see or hear them. Florencia got a really good picture of me though. Apparently, I had a problem all day long with not hearing my friends along the course. Jenny was at the race cheering on a friend of hers from law school running her first marathon, and when I finally heard her scream "John Senger!" some time after mile 20, she told me she'd been yelling at me all day. Oops. I did see Shelley, though. She spotted my shirt and ran with me for a few blocks near mile 24.
Before I left the finish area, I made sure to wait and find my draftee. All my hard work paid off as she ran a new PR by over two minutes. That's pretty impressive on a tough, hilly course like this one. She was quite thankful and appreciative, but not so much so that she'd buy me a beer. Oh well, it's the satisfaction of a job well done that counts, right?
Feb 5, 2011
Houston Marathon
Houston was race number 3 of 5 in my attempt to complete the Texas Marathon Challenge this year. Coming just three weeks after Goofy, I wasn't shooting for a great time. I was hoping for a 4:30 but really just wanted to make sure I finished and crossed it off the list. Given that the forecast was for showers, rain, and thunderstorms,
One really fun tradition of the Houston marathon is the Hash's Marathon Mile. As part of this year's festivities, one of the hashers decided we needed to have an Elite Hasher Fluids table just like the elite runners do. He said he'd set up a table with our names on it and have our beverages waiting for us when we got there. On my way down to the expo Saturday morning, I stopped by to drop off a bottle of Bad King John, my elite fluid of choice. I've never had it, but it caught my eye while I was wandering through Spec's a few days earlier. Not that black, bitter, high-alcohol content beer is a recommended beverage choice during a marathon, but at mile 24 when you're only running to finish, a cup of it probably won't make you feel worse.
After dropping off my beer, I drove over to the expo to pick up my packet and goodie bag. I was very disappointed in the expo's size and selection. Compared to Disney or even San Antonio, the selection was much smaller and the prices not nearly as good. No good deals to be found on shoes or clothes, so I ended up leaving pretty quickly. Like so many other things about this race, the expo needs a lot of work to be considered on the same scale as ones at other nationally significant events. Once I got home, I spent the rest of the day watching the X-Games and getting things ready for Sunday. After a sushi dinner, it was time to pin my bib on my shirt, check the weather one last time (still calling for rain until 11am), and climb into bed.
When I got up on Sunday, I was pleasantly surprised to see the rain hadn't arrived yet. I put in my contacts, exercised the dogs, and was on my way. Since it wasn't raining, I decided to meet everyone at the In Flight tent rather than fight the crowds inside the convention center. I stayed there until 20 minutes before the start, at which point Sarah and her son Zach joined me for the short walk to our starting area. Zach was running the full too, but Sarah hadn't yet decided what to do. She was entered in the full but hadn't been able to train much last fall. We planned on running together until the turn-off for the half at mile 9 where I hoped she'd do the smart thing, make the turn, and run the half instead.
It didn't start raining until after we had started, mostly drizzle for the first few miles. Combined with the warm temperatures, the moisture in the air made for some uncomfortable running. Nothing unbearable, but definitely warmer and more humid than we'd seen in several months. I knew there were going to be a lot of people really suffering later in the race when I got to mile 3 and the aid station was completely out of Gatorade and the volunteers were futilely trying to pour water from a handful of pitchers into paper cups. Missing out on fluids so early in the race is a good way to end up with cramps and dehydration problems later on.
A mile or so later, Tim popped up next to us as we ran through the Heights. Hard to believe we ran into each other in the midst of 22,000 people, but I'm glad we did. He's a fun guy to run with and was good company once Sarah turned off for the half several miles down the road. Tim and I ran together until just after the halfway point. That's when his legs started getting tired and his side started really aching from the injury he received to his ribs while playing soccer earlier in the week. I pushed on alone as he slowed down and started walking. Of course, with a race this size you're never really alone, and I had a great time chatting and joking with the people around me, especially one woman named Mary. Her name was being called out by the spectators along the side of the road so often, it felt like she had paid them off or something. She was fun to talk to and kept my brain occupied until I ran into Michael, our head In Flight coach, around mile 23.
A half mile or so later, Michael turned around to wait for the next In Flighter, and I continued on. After a quick cup of water at the In Flight tent on Allen Parkway and a stop to say hi to Jen, I arrived at the Hash Mile. Much to my disappointment, my beer wasn't there waiting for me. Somehow, it had been misplaced or consumed (knowing the hashers, my money is on consumed) before I arrived. No worries, though, as I was handed a cup of St. Arnold's Elissa from a keg bought just for hashers. The next mile and a half went by pretty quickly as I had some hashers to run with, including my friend Bob who donned a horse costume for the last two miles.
Once I finished, I walked around some to stretch out before heading into the convention center for water and my finisher's shirt. To my surprise, as I was standing by the finish line waiting to see Bob cross the line, I ran into my friend Jackie, an In Flighter who moved here last summer. She was not very pleased with her time, and I'm glad I was able to be there for moral support. Back at the tent after the race, we changed into dry clothes, enjoyed a few beers, and took some pictures to celebrate being done.
One really fun tradition of the Houston marathon is the Hash's Marathon Mile. As part of this year's festivities, one of the hashers decided we needed to have an Elite Hasher Fluids table just like the elite runners do. He said he'd set up a table with our names on it and have our beverages waiting for us when we got there. On my way down to the expo Saturday morning, I stopped by to drop off a bottle of Bad King John, my elite fluid of choice. I've never had it, but it caught my eye while I was wandering through Spec's a few days earlier. Not that black, bitter, high-alcohol content beer is a recommended beverage choice during a marathon, but at mile 24 when you're only running to finish, a cup of it probably won't make you feel worse.
After dropping off my beer, I drove over to the expo to pick up my packet and goodie bag. I was very disappointed in the expo's size and selection. Compared to Disney or even San Antonio, the selection was much smaller and the prices not nearly as good. No good deals to be found on shoes or clothes, so I ended up leaving pretty quickly. Like so many other things about this race, the expo needs a lot of work to be considered on the same scale as ones at other nationally significant events. Once I got home, I spent the rest of the day watching the X-Games and getting things ready for Sunday. After a sushi dinner, it was time to pin my bib on my shirt, check the weather one last time (still calling for rain until 11am), and climb into bed.
When I got up on Sunday, I was pleasantly surprised to see the rain hadn't arrived yet. I put in my contacts, exercised the dogs, and was on my way. Since it wasn't raining, I decided to meet everyone at the In Flight tent rather than fight the crowds inside the convention center. I stayed there until 20 minutes before the start, at which point Sarah and her son Zach joined me for the short walk to our starting area. Zach was running the full too, but Sarah hadn't yet decided what to do. She was entered in the full but hadn't been able to train much last fall. We planned on running together until the turn-off for the half at mile 9 where I hoped she'd do the smart thing, make the turn, and run the half instead.
It didn't start raining until after we had started, mostly drizzle for the first few miles. Combined with the warm temperatures, the moisture in the air made for some uncomfortable running. Nothing unbearable, but definitely warmer and more humid than we'd seen in several months. I knew there were going to be a lot of people really suffering later in the race when I got to mile 3 and the aid station was completely out of Gatorade and the volunteers were futilely trying to pour water from a handful of pitchers into paper cups. Missing out on fluids so early in the race is a good way to end up with cramps and dehydration problems later on.
A mile or so later, Tim popped up next to us as we ran through the Heights. Hard to believe we ran into each other in the midst of 22,000 people, but I'm glad we did. He's a fun guy to run with and was good company once Sarah turned off for the half several miles down the road. Tim and I ran together until just after the halfway point. That's when his legs started getting tired and his side started really aching from the injury he received to his ribs while playing soccer earlier in the week. I pushed on alone as he slowed down and started walking. Of course, with a race this size you're never really alone, and I had a great time chatting and joking with the people around me, especially one woman named Mary. Her name was being called out by the spectators along the side of the road so often, it felt like she had paid them off or something. She was fun to talk to and kept my brain occupied until I ran into Michael, our head In Flight coach, around mile 23.
A half mile or so later, Michael turned around to wait for the next In Flighter, and I continued on. After a quick cup of water at the In Flight tent on Allen Parkway and a stop to say hi to Jen, I arrived at the Hash Mile. Much to my disappointment, my beer wasn't there waiting for me. Somehow, it had been misplaced or consumed (knowing the hashers, my money is on consumed) before I arrived. No worries, though, as I was handed a cup of St. Arnold's Elissa from a keg bought just for hashers. The next mile and a half went by pretty quickly as I had some hashers to run with, including my friend Bob who donned a horse costume for the last two miles.
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| Steve, Jorge, Jackie, me, Robert |
Here are some final thoughts about the good/bad things during the race
- CW-X compression shorts rock
- Having to walk the length of the convention center twice and then go up and down a flight of stairs to get from the finish line to the post-race party is poor race organization
- A race that runs out of fluids at mile 3 has no business comparing itself to Chicago or New York
- Seeing friends along the course sure helps keep you going
- Houston is the only major marathon I've run that doesn't offer any food or fuel along the course. Lots of people stand in their yards with fruit and candy for the runners, but there is no official Clif stop or anything like that. Another sign of how poorly this race is run.
- Drinking beer at at the Hash Mile is a great way to celebrate the closeness of the finish line
- A race with 22,000 runners needs more than two start waves
- Wet shoes and wet clothes make for a long, hard slog of a marathon
Jan 29, 2011
Goofy Challenge 2011 - Part IV
Disney gave everyone who finished the marathon on Sunday free entry in to any park on Monday. All you had to do was show up at the ticket counter, show them your finisher medal and the pass they gave you at packet pick-up, and they'd activate the pass and let you in. We decided to go to Epcot with a bunch of my running friends to Drink Around the World. With 11 countries in Epcot's World Showcase, we figured this was as good a way as any to spend a day.
The plan was to meet up with everyone at Canada at 11am, so we decided to kill some time beforehand by taking a ride on the Test Track. We walked right up the singles line and found only two people in front of us. Things were looking great until the park ride gods looked down and realized Heather was in line. I don't have any other way to explain the fact that anytime she's on or in line for a ride, it's got a very high chance of breaking down. Sure enough, the Test Track ride broke, and after 20 minutes of "temporary closure," Disney finally closed it and sent us all out.
We got to Canada a little after 11, and ran into our second disappointment of the day: they don't start serving beer until 12. We killed time on some kiddy rides that Eva and Steve knew about. They have annual passes even though they live in New York, so yeah, they know their way around the parks. When we returned to Canada, we met a few other runners planning to around the world too. As the day went on, we met more and more people doing the same thing, including one group who started at Mexico and were going the opposite way around. We ran into them in Japan, about halfway around, and they were hurting. Starting with margaritas is not the way to go; much better to end with them.
We had a great time, half of us managed to have a different drink in every country, and we ended the night at England watching the fireworks and listening to the music. A great way to end a fantastic weekend!
The plan was to meet up with everyone at Canada at 11am, so we decided to kill some time beforehand by taking a ride on the Test Track. We walked right up the singles line and found only two people in front of us. Things were looking great until the park ride gods looked down and realized Heather was in line. I don't have any other way to explain the fact that anytime she's on or in line for a ride, it's got a very high chance of breaking down. Sure enough, the Test Track ride broke, and after 20 minutes of "temporary closure," Disney finally closed it and sent us all out.
We got to Canada a little after 11, and ran into our second disappointment of the day: they don't start serving beer until 12. We killed time on some kiddy rides that Eva and Steve knew about. They have annual passes even though they live in New York, so yeah, they know their way around the parks. When we returned to Canada, we met a few other runners planning to around the world too. As the day went on, we met more and more people doing the same thing, including one group who started at Mexico and were going the opposite way around. We ran into them in Japan, about halfway around, and they were hurting. Starting with margaritas is not the way to go; much better to end with them.
We had a great time, half of us managed to have a different drink in every country, and we ended the night at England watching the fireworks and listening to the music. A great way to end a fantastic weekend!
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| Jeff, Matt, Maddy, Eva, me, Gina starting out at Canada |
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| The gang at Italy |
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| Me and Eva |
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| Maddy & Mr. H |
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| Eva, Maddy, Matt, Gina, Heather at Norway |
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| With Senor Donald after our last drink at Mexico |
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| The four of us completed the whole challenge! |
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| A perfect pour at England |
Jan 21, 2011
Goofy Challenge 2011 - Part III
Sunday morning was pretty much a repeat of Saturday: wake up at 330, get dressed, grab bag, walk to bus stop. The only real difference was the lack of traffic heading to the race, meaning we got to Epcot in fifteen minutes instead of an hour. Since it was 40 degrees out at the time, I found myself wishing I'd be spending the next half an hour on a warm bus instead of in a cold parking lot. I had no trouble finding Eva, Maddy, and the rest of the Dailymile/Twitter runners outside the bag check tent. While the rest headed off to the corrals at 430, Eva and I remembered our lesson from Saturday and waited until 5 before beginning our trek to the start. As expected, there were no crowds to be found at the porta-pottys or along the way, and we arrived at the start area with plenty of time to spare. I wished her a good race and wandered off to find my corral. I was tempted to jump into corral D with the 4:30 pace group since that's about the pace I planned on running, but I kept on walking up to corral B. The idea of standing around for any extra time just wasn't that appealing; I was ready to run!
In fact, I was too ready to run. I ditched my pants once the first wave started and pulled off my top just before we started. That turned out to be a mistake. The first mile or so takes the runners past some low-lying areas, and once the masses in the corral spread out, there's not much to block the chilly breeze blowing through there. I wasn't freezing, but I sure would have been a lot more comfortable wearing my cheap top for a while longer.
Unlike last year where there were two courses at the start, this year there was only one. Unfortunately, instead of using the left-hand course that I loved last year because it takes you around almost all of World Showcase in the dark and quiet of the morning, they used the right-hand one. That course runs underneath Spaceship Earth, around past Mexico, and then back out to the start area. It's not a horrible course, but it's not nearly as interesting and fun as the other one.
Around mile 2, I started talking to two women running with outfits similar to mine on Saturday, minus the wig. One had Texas A&M written on the back of her leg, and the other had UT. (Funny side note: when written, A&M's logo reads ATM, which totally confused several people later on. "Why do you have ATM written on your leg? Do you work for a bank?" one guy went so far as to ask her.) Delaney (A&M) and Kristen (UT) are best friends from growing up, are seniors in college, and were running their first Disney marathon together. I hate running alone over long distances and was quite thankful when they said they didn't mind me running and chatting with them for a while.
As we left Epcot and turned towards Magic Kingdom, Delaney's IT band was acting up. It wasn't so painful that she wanted to stop, but we did make sure to keep an easy pace so it didn't cause her any more discomfort. We stopped a few times along the way to take some pictures of Disney landmarks, and before we knew it, we'd covered 10 miles and were running down Main Street. The crowds were loud and cheering and screaming for everyone they ran by. Lots of shout-outs to the "tutu girls" were heard, demonstrating once again that the best way to get extra support from the crowd is to wear a pink tutu.
The lines were too long to stand in to get pictures with the princesses on one side of the castle or in front of the castle on the other side, so we just kept on cruising. Suddenly, just as we left the castle and headed for the rest of the park, a cast member jumped out, grabbed us, and pushed us off to the side for a picture. We didn't know they were taking pictures from there, but at that point, we figured we were already there and went ahead with it. It's not the best picture of the castle, but it's better than not having one at all.
We couldn't resist the Toy Story picture either.
After that, we left Magic Kingdom for the four mile journey over to Animal Kingdom. I really enjoy this part of the course, even if a lot of other people don't. There are woods along the side of the road at the beginning, a golf course for a few miles after that, and quite a few characters and other entertainers to amuse you along the way. They even put up signs with cute little sayings and ironic questions on them during the stretch where the characters can't get to. Kristen started reading the signs aloud to see if Delaney and I knew the answers to the questions. One asked, "why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?" As we thought about that for a second, this guy running by shouted out "because glue is activated by air." We wondered how he knew that, and he told us he saw the same sign last year and looked up the answer when he got home.
Somewhere between mile 14 and 15, Delaney and Kristen slowed down some. I'm not sure if her leg was hurting again or they just wanted to run slower, but they dropped back a little. I was feeling good with my 10 min/mile pace and kept on trucking. I figured I'd see them at the finish. Not too long after that, I had to make a quick pit stop, so they passed me back, giving me people to look for and keep me focused during the rest of the race.
As I started settling back in to my pace, I overheard the guy from the signs talking to one of the TNT coaches. He was struggling to get into a groove and not really doing too well in keeping his head in the race. I offered to run with him for as long as it was working for both of us, and his mood instantly improved. Over the course of the next few miles, I learned his name is Tim, he works in the theater industry in New York, and has run several races with TNT. I've had some pretty bad experiences with TNT coaches before, so I was pleasantly surprised with what I experienced running with Tim. All of the coaches that came up alongside us, whether they were from his group or a different one, were all very considerate of everyone else on the course. None of them cut another runner off to get to their runner, pushed anyone out of the way at a water stop, or said anything less than positive about anyone on the course. Tim's coaches from his group were terrific. They got cups of water for him, ran with him for a half mile or a mile at a time, and gave him a pep talk and mental boost the whole time. They were also surprisingly complimentary of me helping to pace him along like I was doing. I think they realized it was doing good things for Tim, and with getting him across the finish line in good shape being their primary goal, they didn't want to mess that up.
Unfortunately, Tim and I didn't make it to the finish together. He ended up having to stop at the bathroom outside France in the World Showcase, so I was on my own for the last mile. I felt great at that point and decided to pick up the pace and finish strong. I took the straightest, fastest line I could the entire rest of the race. I even got smart and went to the left-hand side of the finishing chute away from all the people trying to shake hands with Goofy at the end. That strategy worked like a charm. Not only did I have clear running room all the way in, I was visible enough that I got to hear my name called out by the announcer as I crossed the line. Now that's pretty cool in a race with 20,000 people in it.
I stuck around for a while after I finished trying to find Delaney & Kristen and Tim. I didn't have any luck, so once I was done with my post-race snack (mint chocolate mini Clif bars, yum!), I hopped on the bus to head back to the hotel. On the bus, I ran into the running skirt guys from Saturday wearing a different set of them today. They answered the question that everyone wants to know: yes, running skirts really are as comfortable as people say they are.
After an ice bath and a shower, Heather and I drove over to Downtown Disney for some real post-race refreshment. I really think they should start marketing this as the perfect post-race recovery drink. It's much tastier than chocolate milk. We spent the first part of the afternoon at Ragland Road and then moved up the hill to Paradiso, where we moved from stout and cider to tequila. Our bartender did an excellent job of suggesting new anjeo and reposado ones for us, one of which was Partida. Quite tasty, and went very well with our enchiladas and cilantro rice. Once we finished up there, we walked back to Raglan Road to have a few drinks with Eva & Steve before heading back to our room and crashing for the night.
My only real disappointment with this year's marathon was not being able to ride the Expedition Everest roller coaster in Animal Kingdom. We run right past it at mile 17, but unfortunately for me, it doesn't open until 9am. I was 20 minutes too early. Lesson learned for next year: move back a few corrals and start later.
And here's something cool that Disney just sent me. They've got a page set up for each runner with your time, pictures, and race certificate. That's pretty cool. Here's the link to mine. It would've been nice had I been in the middle of the picture instead of that other guy, but my one from the half turned out really well.
Unlike last year where there were two courses at the start, this year there was only one. Unfortunately, instead of using the left-hand course that I loved last year because it takes you around almost all of World Showcase in the dark and quiet of the morning, they used the right-hand one. That course runs underneath Spaceship Earth, around past Mexico, and then back out to the start area. It's not a horrible course, but it's not nearly as interesting and fun as the other one.
Around mile 2, I started talking to two women running with outfits similar to mine on Saturday, minus the wig. One had Texas A&M written on the back of her leg, and the other had UT. (Funny side note: when written, A&M's logo reads ATM, which totally confused several people later on. "Why do you have ATM written on your leg? Do you work for a bank?" one guy went so far as to ask her.) Delaney (A&M) and Kristen (UT) are best friends from growing up, are seniors in college, and were running their first Disney marathon together. I hate running alone over long distances and was quite thankful when they said they didn't mind me running and chatting with them for a while.
As we left Epcot and turned towards Magic Kingdom, Delaney's IT band was acting up. It wasn't so painful that she wanted to stop, but we did make sure to keep an easy pace so it didn't cause her any more discomfort. We stopped a few times along the way to take some pictures of Disney landmarks, and before we knew it, we'd covered 10 miles and were running down Main Street. The crowds were loud and cheering and screaming for everyone they ran by. Lots of shout-outs to the "tutu girls" were heard, demonstrating once again that the best way to get extra support from the crowd is to wear a pink tutu.
The lines were too long to stand in to get pictures with the princesses on one side of the castle or in front of the castle on the other side, so we just kept on cruising. Suddenly, just as we left the castle and headed for the rest of the park, a cast member jumped out, grabbed us, and pushed us off to the side for a picture. We didn't know they were taking pictures from there, but at that point, we figured we were already there and went ahead with it. It's not the best picture of the castle, but it's better than not having one at all.
 |
| Delaney, Kristen, me |
Somewhere between mile 14 and 15, Delaney and Kristen slowed down some. I'm not sure if her leg was hurting again or they just wanted to run slower, but they dropped back a little. I was feeling good with my 10 min/mile pace and kept on trucking. I figured I'd see them at the finish. Not too long after that, I had to make a quick pit stop, so they passed me back, giving me people to look for and keep me focused during the rest of the race.
As I started settling back in to my pace, I overheard the guy from the signs talking to one of the TNT coaches. He was struggling to get into a groove and not really doing too well in keeping his head in the race. I offered to run with him for as long as it was working for both of us, and his mood instantly improved. Over the course of the next few miles, I learned his name is Tim, he works in the theater industry in New York, and has run several races with TNT. I've had some pretty bad experiences with TNT coaches before, so I was pleasantly surprised with what I experienced running with Tim. All of the coaches that came up alongside us, whether they were from his group or a different one, were all very considerate of everyone else on the course. None of them cut another runner off to get to their runner, pushed anyone out of the way at a water stop, or said anything less than positive about anyone on the course. Tim's coaches from his group were terrific. They got cups of water for him, ran with him for a half mile or a mile at a time, and gave him a pep talk and mental boost the whole time. They were also surprisingly complimentary of me helping to pace him along like I was doing. I think they realized it was doing good things for Tim, and with getting him across the finish line in good shape being their primary goal, they didn't want to mess that up.
Unfortunately, Tim and I didn't make it to the finish together. He ended up having to stop at the bathroom outside France in the World Showcase, so I was on my own for the last mile. I felt great at that point and decided to pick up the pace and finish strong. I took the straightest, fastest line I could the entire rest of the race. I even got smart and went to the left-hand side of the finishing chute away from all the people trying to shake hands with Goofy at the end. That strategy worked like a charm. Not only did I have clear running room all the way in, I was visible enough that I got to hear my name called out by the announcer as I crossed the line. Now that's pretty cool in a race with 20,000 people in it.
I stuck around for a while after I finished trying to find Delaney & Kristen and Tim. I didn't have any luck, so once I was done with my post-race snack (mint chocolate mini Clif bars, yum!), I hopped on the bus to head back to the hotel. On the bus, I ran into the running skirt guys from Saturday wearing a different set of them today. They answered the question that everyone wants to know: yes, running skirts really are as comfortable as people say they are.
After an ice bath and a shower, Heather and I drove over to Downtown Disney for some real post-race refreshment. I really think they should start marketing this as the perfect post-race recovery drink. It's much tastier than chocolate milk. We spent the first part of the afternoon at Ragland Road and then moved up the hill to Paradiso, where we moved from stout and cider to tequila. Our bartender did an excellent job of suggesting new anjeo and reposado ones for us, one of which was Partida. Quite tasty, and went very well with our enchiladas and cilantro rice. Once we finished up there, we walked back to Raglan Road to have a few drinks with Eva & Steve before heading back to our room and crashing for the night.My only real disappointment with this year's marathon was not being able to ride the Expedition Everest roller coaster in Animal Kingdom. We run right past it at mile 17, but unfortunately for me, it doesn't open until 9am. I was 20 minutes too early. Lesson learned for next year: move back a few corrals and start later.
And here's something cool that Disney just sent me. They've got a page set up for each runner with your time, pictures, and race certificate. That's pretty cool. Here's the link to mine. It would've been nice had I been in the middle of the picture instead of that other guy, but my one from the half turned out really well.
Jan 17, 2011
Goofy Challenge 2011 - Part II
There's not much to report about Friday. We slept in, had a late lunch, and made our way back to Disneyworld to check in at our hotel. After the crowds and long bus lines at All Star last year, we stepped up a level and stayed at Caribbean Beach this year. What a smart choice on our part. There was no line to check in, due in part to Disney letting you check in online in advance, and when we got to our building, the parking lot was practically deserted. No screaming kids running around, no one tromping past our room all the time, and a bus stop right across the lot - it's a perfect place to stay for a weekend like this. I imagine it's quite a bit busier during the summer being a beach resort and all.
Corinna was kind enough to run with me for a while to help keep me from going too fast. At least that was her story. In reality, I was the one slowing her down since she was hoping for a 2:10 and I wanted nothing faster than 2:20. Still, we had a great time together. The first few miles are in the dark and along the road with nothing much to see, so we told each other stories and chatted about whatever came to mind. As we approached the Transportation Center, we finally saw something worth looking at. A classic car group had set up a dozen or so old cars from the 50s and 60s, dressed up in poodle skirts, and were playing sock-hop music. Finally, some entertainment. The TC is also where I saw Maddy and her sign.
After that, it was on to Magic Kingdom. To me, the best part of the half is running through Magic Kingdom in the dark. It's so much more peaceful and serene all lit up than it is during the daylight. These people didn't think it was all that serene, though. The woman on the left is doing everything she can to get away from me. She's probably just trying to be polite and get out of the picture, but it sure looks like she's appalled by my outfit.
Once we left Magic Kingdom and were on our way past the Grand Floridian, Corinna decided it was time for her to speed up and go run her own race. I wished her well and continued on my way. I thought I wouldn't see her until the finish, so I was quite surprised to see her standing in line to get a picture with some of the characters. I stopped to join her, and we got a great one. Check out how Chip is puzzled as to why a man would be dressed like me, and how Dale is checking out Corinna and is happy he got to stand next to the hot chick.
The rest of the half is pretty dull. You run on a road back to Epcot with only a few characters and bands and cheerleaders along the way. There were certainly more this year than last, not surprising given the weather, but it's still a pretty tedious slog. Somewhere around mile 11, I crossed paths with the 2:15 pace group. The lead pacer was a woman who was doing her best to keep everyone motivated and excited about the race and how close they were to finishing it. "Two miles! Only two miles! That's eight laps of a track! You guys can all run eight laps of a track!" I appreciate what she's trying to do and realize that's her personality coming through, but I'd go nuts if I had to run an entire half marathon listening to her. I didn't even think I could make it for two miles, so I stopped off for one last character picture. The poor ladies were freezing cold, but that didn't stop them from smiling and chatting with everyone who stopped.
One last trip across the parking lot, around the huge Epcot Christmas tree, past the choir, and the race was over. My Garmin said my running time was 2:16, not counting picture stops. A bit faster than I planned, but with stops, I was out there for 2:20, so it's all good.
I hung around at the finish for a little while to eat and drink some before heading back to the hotel. As I was leaning against a post changing out of my costume, I felt this guy tap me on the shoulder as he said, "it takes a real man to wear pink during a race." I turned around to see a guy and his running buddy both dressed in pink-and-white running skirts. Too funny, and probably a lot more comfortable than a wig and a tutu. Speaking of the wig, it was given a proper burial in a trash can in the parking lot. Two races of having its cheap polyester hair get sweaty and stick to my face and mouth was enough. I'll need something better the next time I wear a costume while running.
Getting back to the hotel was a breeze compared to last year. I walked right on to the Caribbean Beach bus without waiting in line, and the bus took off within five minutes of my sitting down. A few minutes later, I was back in the room having an ice bath and a nap while Heather went shopping at the outlet mall. To keep from being totally bored while I rested up for Sunday, Saturday afternoon we went to the movies to see Black Swan. We still ended up with some time to kill before dinner, but thankfully we didn't have to spend all day in the hotel room.
Friday night, we drove over to Downtown Disney to have dinner at Portofino with Heather's parents. Just like last year, the place was packed. Even with our reservation, we had to wait 15-20 minutes before getting a table. If you didn't have reservations, you didn't stand a chance. They wouldn't even put your name on a list unless you were willing to come back in two or three hours. Needless to say, there were more than a few people stalking the lucky ones with seats at the bar. Kind of reminded me of the parking lot at the mall the week before Christmas. While we were waiting for our table, I was able to meet up with Eva to give her shirt to her. She and her husband Steve were even smarter about dinner than we were - they skipped Disney altogether and went out to Uno's instead. Next year, I think we'll do the same.
After dinner, we went back to our room, where I started putting everything together for Saturday's race. I still can't believe they put me in corral A. I assume they took my 4-hour marathon seed time, used some pace prediction calculator, and figured I'd run a sub-2 half. That makes sense if I was only running the half, but not as the first third of Goofy.
Unlike last year, I didn't have to stress over the weather and try to decide what to do about long sleeves or tights. With the start temperature expected to be in the high 40s, shorts and short-sleeves are all that I needed. I did set out my throw-away clothes (courtesy of the sale rack at Sports Authority) since I figured I'd be chilly just sitting around the corrals before the start. The hardest part of getting ready was putting my costume in order. My wig had been stuffed into a plastic bag after the half at Disneyland, and it looked about as you'd expect when I pulled it out. Heather said I looked like I'd had a rough night in a dark alley. I'm not sure if she felt sorry for me or was concerned about me actually going out with such a mess on my head, but either way, she spent the next ten minutes trying to comb some semblance of neatness into the wig. When she was done, it looked pretty good, but I knew there was no way I'd be wearing it again after the half. A cheap wig can only handle so much sweat before it gets too sticky and gross to be worn. The tutu was in great shape, though. Tulle is pretty indestructible, especially the cheap kind.
The 330am alarm came way too early on Saturday. After delaying as much as I could in the room, I geared up, donned my wig, grabbed my bag and my Powerade, and walked off to the bus stop. There were only five or six other people there, and a nearly empty bus came by to get us within a few minutes. I sat down in the back for what I thought would be a short ride up to Epcot. Boy was I wrong. The traffic on Buena Vista Drive heading towards World Drive to get to Epcot was at a standstill. We crawled along slowly, moving a few feet every few minutes. I was supposed to meet my friends at the T bag check tent at 430. Before too long, I realized that wasn't going to happen. I sent them texts letting them know I was running late, and Eva said she'd stay behind and wait for me. Corinna told me she'd wait for me in corral C so we could run together. So as not to keep Eva waiting any longer than she was already going to, I took off my fleece sweats and stuffed them into my bag. It was warm enough on the bus that I didn't need them anyway, and changing in advance would save a few minutes at bag check.
Those of us on the bus could tell some people were panicking over making the start as we watched two of them run past the bus and head for Epcot on foot. It was only 450 at the time, and with a whole line of buses behind us, we knew we'd be fine. I think Disney puts the "you must be in your corral at 5am" line in the race program to prevent all 27,000 people from getting there together at the last minute. As it turns out, having everyone else get there early worked out perfectly for us late arrivals. I stepped off the bus, walked across the parking lot, and found Maddy, Eva, and Steve waiting at bag check. They weren't hard to find because there wasn't anyone else there. There wasn't even a line at any of the porta-potties on our way to the corrals. I made a mental note to not leave the bag check area until 5 on Sunday too.
We made our way to the corrals pretty easily, I put on the rest of my costume, we said our good-byes, and I went off to find Corinna. She was supposed to be waiting for me at the entrance to corral C, but when I got there, she was nowhere to be found. I hoped she would be keeping an eye out for me (a guy with blue hair and a pink tutu should not be hard to spot) and started walking towards the front of the corral. About halfway to the front, I found Jenn, her husband, and some others in their lime-green WISH shirts, but no Corinna. I hopped the fence to hang out with them, sent Corinna a text letting her know where I was, and hoped for the best. Sure enough, she showed up about five minutes later, having seen my hair as I was walking past the corral. Next thing we knew, it was time to start. The fireworks went off and we were on our way.
Once we left Magic Kingdom and were on our way past the Grand Floridian, Corinna decided it was time for her to speed up and go run her own race. I wished her well and continued on my way. I thought I wouldn't see her until the finish, so I was quite surprised to see her standing in line to get a picture with some of the characters. I stopped to join her, and we got a great one. Check out how Chip is puzzled as to why a man would be dressed like me, and how Dale is checking out Corinna and is happy he got to stand next to the hot chick.
I hung around at the finish for a little while to eat and drink some before heading back to the hotel. As I was leaning against a post changing out of my costume, I felt this guy tap me on the shoulder as he said, "it takes a real man to wear pink during a race." I turned around to see a guy and his running buddy both dressed in pink-and-white running skirts. Too funny, and probably a lot more comfortable than a wig and a tutu. Speaking of the wig, it was given a proper burial in a trash can in the parking lot. Two races of having its cheap polyester hair get sweaty and stick to my face and mouth was enough. I'll need something better the next time I wear a costume while running.
Getting back to the hotel was a breeze compared to last year. I walked right on to the Caribbean Beach bus without waiting in line, and the bus took off within five minutes of my sitting down. A few minutes later, I was back in the room having an ice bath and a nap while Heather went shopping at the outlet mall. To keep from being totally bored while I rested up for Sunday, Saturday afternoon we went to the movies to see Black Swan. We still ended up with some time to kill before dinner, but thankfully we didn't have to spend all day in the hotel room.
Jan 13, 2011
Goofy Challenge 2011 - Part I
After grocery shopping on Thursday morning, we drove in to Disney to hit the expo and then move on to the park at Universal. I decided to hit the expo early on Thursday morning. Last year, we were there just before noon and the lines and crowds weren’t bad at all. That wasn’t the case this year. The parking lot was completely full, and we ended up parking in the field across the street.
While Heather and her mother went off to the expo to do some shopping, Jim and I walked in to the Milk building (or whatever it’s called now) to get my packet. Like last year, it was much nicer to not have to go up and down the stairs to accomplish this. Paying that extra money for Goofy does get you a few perks. There was no line at all, so I walked right up, checked in, and was given an envelope that wasn’t quite the normal size you’d expect to contain bibs and other race instructions. I opened it up and read it while the guy helping me was busy getting my real packet. The envelope contained our park pass for Monday and instructions on how to activate it that morning. After being handed my other packet containing my bibs and D-tags, I was just about to sign the book verifying I had received them when I noticed the age printed on the outside of the envelope said “27.” I put down the pen and read the bibs and names on them carefully. Good thing I did. I had been given packet 4603, not my number of 3603. With that momentary panic behind me, we went off to find the ladies and do some shopping of our own.
I also had to make sure I found my friend Stan. He’s a guy I know from Dailymile and Twitter, and part of the group of five of us (Eva, Jenn, Devin are the others) that had shirts custom-made for Goofy. I’ve used Sport Science gear for years, and they were really great in turning around our small order very quickly. We used one of their designs, made the appropriate modifications for our 39.3 mile endeavor, and then asked them to print our usernames on the back. Even though none of us ran together, it was still pretty cool to know we all had the same shirts. I got some really good comments about mine during the race on Sunday.
I didn’t spend as much at the expo as I normally do. I always try to stock up on running shoes, but there weren’t any good deals to be found. The Kayano-17s that I bought in San Antonio for $100 were $140, and there weren’t any Kayano-15s in my size to be found. I could have bought some 16s for $99, but I’m not crazy about them. They don’t fit me nearly as well or as comfortably as the 15s or the 17s. I ended up buying a Goofy fleece top from Disney and a pair of compression shorts from CW-X, and that’s it. The expo got progressively more crowded while we were there, so we didn’t stay too long. Plus, we had an afternoon of rides and roller coasters to get to.
Speaking of which, the new Harry Potter section of Universal is excellent. They’ve done a fabulous job of recreating Hogwarts, the Three Broomsticks, Hog’s Breath, and all the other well-known landmarks from the books. It’s so close to what Disney does, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were ex-Disney employees who worked on it. The new ride is a good one too. Not as good as their Hulk coaster or the Spiderman ride, but still quite good. One word of advice - don’t wait in the very long line. Go up the singles line instead. Your wait will be a lot shorter that way.
While Heather and her mother went off to the expo to do some shopping, Jim and I walked in to the Milk building (or whatever it’s called now) to get my packet. Like last year, it was much nicer to not have to go up and down the stairs to accomplish this. Paying that extra money for Goofy does get you a few perks. There was no line at all, so I walked right up, checked in, and was given an envelope that wasn’t quite the normal size you’d expect to contain bibs and other race instructions. I opened it up and read it while the guy helping me was busy getting my real packet. The envelope contained our park pass for Monday and instructions on how to activate it that morning. After being handed my other packet containing my bibs and D-tags, I was just about to sign the book verifying I had received them when I noticed the age printed on the outside of the envelope said “27.” I put down the pen and read the bibs and names on them carefully. Good thing I did. I had been given packet 4603, not my number of 3603. With that momentary panic behind me, we went off to find the ladies and do some shopping of our own.
I also had to make sure I found my friend Stan. He’s a guy I know from Dailymile and Twitter, and part of the group of five of us (Eva, Jenn, Devin are the others) that had shirts custom-made for Goofy. I’ve used Sport Science gear for years, and they were really great in turning around our small order very quickly. We used one of their designs, made the appropriate modifications for our 39.3 mile endeavor, and then asked them to print our usernames on the back. Even though none of us ran together, it was still pretty cool to know we all had the same shirts. I got some really good comments about mine during the race on Sunday.
I didn’t spend as much at the expo as I normally do. I always try to stock up on running shoes, but there weren’t any good deals to be found. The Kayano-17s that I bought in San Antonio for $100 were $140, and there weren’t any Kayano-15s in my size to be found. I could have bought some 16s for $99, but I’m not crazy about them. They don’t fit me nearly as well or as comfortably as the 15s or the 17s. I ended up buying a Goofy fleece top from Disney and a pair of compression shorts from CW-X, and that’s it. The expo got progressively more crowded while we were there, so we didn’t stay too long. Plus, we had an afternoon of rides and roller coasters to get to.
Speaking of which, the new Harry Potter section of Universal is excellent. They’ve done a fabulous job of recreating Hogwarts, the Three Broomsticks, Hog’s Breath, and all the other well-known landmarks from the books. It’s so close to what Disney does, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were ex-Disney employees who worked on it. The new ride is a good one too. Not as good as their Hulk coaster or the Spiderman ride, but still quite good. One word of advice - don’t wait in the very long line. Go up the singles line instead. Your wait will be a lot shorter that way.
Jan 8, 2011
Jan 6, 2011
The Kid Canoe
As with any flight to Orlando, our flight had more than its fair share of families and kids going to see Mickey Mouse. One child, unfortunately, was not happy the Star Trek transporters weren’t working and decided to throw a tantrum in the middle of the aisle. As Heather stood there waiting to for the parents to resolve the situation (i.e. shut the kid up and stuff him in a seat), one of the flight attendants remarked, “welcome to the kid canoe.” Too true. Other than that, not much of interest happened on the way to Orlando. Even with the traffic mess at the Orlando airport, we managed to get home at a reasonable hour.
I always find it strange walking in to our house here. It was our home base during our years spent overseas, so it’s very comforting to be here and not in a hotel our staying with family for days on end. Still, without a lot of the comforts of our current home, it doesn’t feel like home. Then I sit down on the couch and find dog hair left from when Holden was last here two years ago and realize that home is all relative.
I always find it strange walking in to our house here. It was our home base during our years spent overseas, so it’s very comforting to be here and not in a hotel our staying with family for days on end. Still, without a lot of the comforts of our current home, it doesn’t feel like home. Then I sit down on the couch and find dog hair left from when Holden was last here two years ago and realize that home is all relative.
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