On I went, out of the wood, passing the man leading without knowing I was going to do so. Flip-flap, flip-flap, jog-trot, jog-trot, curnchslap-crunchslap, across the middle of a broad field again, rhythmically running in my greyhound effortless fashion, knowing I had won the race though it wasn't half over, won it if I wanted it, could go on for ten or fifteen or twenty miles if I had to and drop dead at the finish of it, which would be the same, in the end, as living an honest life like the governor wanted me to. -Alan Sillitoe, "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner"

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

I ask, you answer

I'm not doing the High Heel-a-thon today, after all.  I woke up with a stomach thing yesterday and skipped my run, so I don't feel like I can skip or truncate my run today.  Plus, the likelihood of me twisting my ankle is just way, way, way too high.  My physiatrist called me "much improved" at my appointment on Monday.  I'd hate to let her down with a new injury.  I still love the idea of a gimmick race, but not with a marathon looming!

Yesterday I wrote about some of the annoying things I'd seen at the 18m tune-up.  In the comments and on twitter, I got some other responses.  Some commonalities emerge...  Here are a few of the twitter responses I got:


I said it in the comments yesterday, and I'll say it again here: if you're going to be that pedestrian crossing the path of a race, first of all, don't do it.

Barring that, here's a sure-fire method: cross at an angle in the direction the race is moving.  It's much easier to weave in and out of people when you're moving in their direction (and it's much easier for runners to avoid you when you're moving the same direction they are) than it is to abruptly cross directly perpendicular to them.

Also?  This totally arrived in the mail yesterday (and yes, I'm old):
At first I was a little disturbed to be #47,170 when there are allegedly only 45,000 runners.  But I did register mere moments before the race closed, so I'm assuming that's what they based it off of, not their assumption of my speed.

LAST THING: It's my friend Kate's 30th birthday today.  Happy day!
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6 comments:

  1. Silly Girl RunningWed Sep 22, 08:35:00 AM EDT

    I do not like it when other runners throw their cups around. Somehow I always end up finishing a race with some sticky sports drink on my clothes...

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  2. Carla @ I Run, You RunWed Sep 22, 09:41:00 AM EDT

    I got mine in the mail yesterday too (mine is 10,000 something). It kind of annoyed me that they mail it to 45,000 people. Couldn't they have just emailed the PDF like the other races now do? Not only it's a waste of paper, but save that money and put into other race amenities (I bet a few more port-a-potties could be added for the amount they spent on printing/paper/postage!).

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  3. MichaelWed Sep 22, 10:36:00 AM EDT

    I'm going to use my advanced age then to tell you that 33 is not old! the best part of my life started after my 30s. You better listen to your "elders" ;)

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  4. MikeWed Sep 22, 01:11:00 PM EDT

    You see a lot of those pedestrian road-crossers around mile 19-20 of the NYCM. They seem equally perplexed by all these people running up 1st Ave.

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  5. TWed Sep 22, 04:30:00 PM EDT

    I'm NOT pleased to hear the marathon's like that, but I can't say I'm surprised. Darn it.

    And Carla, I hadn't thought about the .pdf issue. Now that I think about it, it is kind of annoying. I remember being quite stressed out last year about losing the magic ticket.

    And Mike, I like your attitude about age :)

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  6. UnknownWed Sep 22, 11:26:00 PM EDT

    Thank you so much for celebrating with me! It really made my birthday celebration that much more special!

    ReplyDelete

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