Saturday, January 27, 2007
Free beer?!?!?!?!
J and I were discussing what she actually said this week. Turns out she said that I should take the week off and recuperate but still race, so I did.
I'll get to the chicken mole recipe a bit later. Edit: there is no recipe. Enjoy the post! But first:
I crashed around midnight and J finally joined me around 1 or so. Alarm goes off at 6:30. Snooze. I'm fairly certain that she wanted to get up around 6:45 so she hits snooze twice for an actual wake-up of 6:46. I'm still torn on how I feel about snooze. I used to be a chronic snoozer but now... Hop outta bed, and assemble my carefully planned running ensemble. Start with underwear because the blue thermal doesn't keep the mouse in the house very well. Cover that up with some lovely black athletic shorts. Thermal shirt with my Sandblast Rally 2006 shirt on the outside for warmth. I was Runner 1027 and J was Runner 1026. I also wore my incredibly comfortable Adidasish pants and my trusty hoodie. We picked up one of my wife's co-workers and carpooled over to Greenville.
Parking deck, walking, "FINISH". No big start sign which I found strange. But we stroll up and there are two huge inflatable Yuengling bottles. I kept hoping for samples or coupons or door prizes but alas, all for naught. I guess drinking and jogging don't mix. So what if it was 10 am? It's okay on a gameday but not for a 5K? They did have water provided by Pepsi, muffins (blueberry, banana nut, and choco chip [WTF?]), bananas, halved oranges, apples, Nutri-Grain bar (blueberry, apple cinnamon, and um, red.....strawberry?) and Kashi bars of which I tried the honey almond flax and brought home a peanut butter and trail mix. They also had some highly inefficient propane heaters. You could literally see the wasted heat rising away, but stand in the right spot and it made your face feel wonderful and your hands if you held them up high. We arrived way too early; around 8:05 for a race that started at 9. So we stood around, had a granola bar, drank some water, chatted and then it was 8:45, time to warm-up! We go out into the road which I find quite liberating, running in the street, it's been a taboo since childhood, and stretch and bend and jump around, getting loose and ready to go.
The starting line is actually the plaza in between a hotel and some other building. I jump up and try and judge the size of the crowd. The Irish announcer said they were expecting around 1800 people. Lots of heads was all I could get from the plaza. Airhorn! Hey, that means go! So we all start jogging, people dodging in and out. J was telling me beforehand that runner's etiquette is if you're slow, get in the back and if you're fast, go towards the front. Co-worker said that some people in front were actually walking from the start. Yikes, that's how people get trampled, not at a 5K but concerts and riots. It's mostly downhill for a bit, the crowd thinning out. There were a couple jogging strollers even a dog. But as I calmed down and found a spot in the chaos, I started to look around. They're really trying to spruce it up and make it pretty. But the people. So many people. I never turned around, didn't want to know how far back I was, but there was a solid column of humanity filling the road in front of us.
Downhill, up a tad, flattens out, turn right, turn right, downhill, across a bridge, oh no! an uphill! Phew, tough, but not bad, and I haven't stopped jogging yet where as last one I started walking a half mile in. Flattens out again. There are cops everywhere. Every street on at least one side blocking the streets so that we can safely pass and not play "dodge the traffic", so thank you to the Greenville Police Department for all the blockades! A peak and it's downhill! In the distance you can see where it goes back up so the relief is temporary. Rest while you can and J taught me to "open my stride" on the downhill so you cover more ground and do about the same work. We hit the uphill and my philosophy on hills is, the faster you go up them, the quicker they're over, within reason of course, so I don't slow down and just power through it. Must stop. I slow to a walk and move to the side. Just then I pass the 2 mile mark. Huh? It's more than halfway over?!? Apparently I missed the 1 mile mark if it in fact exists. See, it's a 5K and they still mark it in miles. I guess a 3.2mil. doesn't sound as cool. Encouraged by my making it over halfway through without stopping and the fact that J passed me when I was taking a stroll, I hit the next corner and pull out my secret weapon: ipod! I had been carrying it in my pocket up to this point, just taking in the city and the sounds. And I figured fiddling with my headphones and pod would distract me from that fact that I was jogging in the cold at too early o'clock on a Saturday.
Headphones on and I just reached the hill that was looming in the distance but I know this is the last hill and that it's a gentle downward slope for the rest of the race. Offspring kicks in and I use the auditory burst to decimate that hill. But it hurt and I have to walk towards the top. J catches back up with me when I walk and we walk for a bit recovering from the ascent. J takes off and I follow a few steps behind. We pass 221 North, where we drank the other weekend, Island Jerk, the Caribbean restaurant that J won't eat at cuz she's a jerk, and lots of shops and coffee shops and all the other boutiquey places that is downtown Greenville. Maybe a butcher or bakery is the next step. And then, there in the distance, you see it. The need to get there as fast as possible kicks in but you must fight it! There is no way you can sprint that far and you've come too far to spaz out in front of all the people at the finish line, which is basically friends of runners and all the runners who have just kicked your jogging ass, but at least are nice about it. So you maintain the jog, knowing that a mad dash is coming. J kicks, there she goes, but wait! She not sprinting, she's just jogging faster, so I wait a few more strides and then take off! Full stride but controlled cuz there are kids around and pass at least 8-9 people. I even leapt through the finish line. It took a while to recover from that full sprint but I thought it was a nice finish and I beat my wife J! Burn! She said it's just cuz I was a boy but that's just an excuse.
We wait around and snag some take-home Kashi bars and an apple and hear some times. Fastest guy was 15:mid-30ish and the fastest lady, his wife, was 17:mid-30s. J and I were in at 32:something which was a slower time than last time but a far greater performance. And J did great too!
No recipe tonight, we're about to go to the store for nachos for dinner. I'll edit the promise of a recipe at the top so you won't feel like I suckered you into this marathon post.
I'll get to the chicken mole recipe a bit later. Edit: there is no recipe. Enjoy the post! But first:
I crashed around midnight and J finally joined me around 1 or so. Alarm goes off at 6:30. Snooze. I'm fairly certain that she wanted to get up around 6:45 so she hits snooze twice for an actual wake-up of 6:46. I'm still torn on how I feel about snooze. I used to be a chronic snoozer but now... Hop outta bed, and assemble my carefully planned running ensemble. Start with underwear because the blue thermal doesn't keep the mouse in the house very well. Cover that up with some lovely black athletic shorts. Thermal shirt with my Sandblast Rally 2006 shirt on the outside for warmth. I was Runner 1027 and J was Runner 1026. I also wore my incredibly comfortable Adidasish pants and my trusty hoodie. We picked up one of my wife's co-workers and carpooled over to Greenville.
Parking deck, walking, "FINISH". No big start sign which I found strange. But we stroll up and there are two huge inflatable Yuengling bottles. I kept hoping for samples or coupons or door prizes but alas, all for naught. I guess drinking and jogging don't mix. So what if it was 10 am? It's okay on a gameday but not for a 5K? They did have water provided by Pepsi, muffins (blueberry, banana nut, and choco chip [WTF?]), bananas, halved oranges, apples, Nutri-Grain bar (blueberry, apple cinnamon, and um, red.....strawberry?) and Kashi bars of which I tried the honey almond flax and brought home a peanut butter and trail mix. They also had some highly inefficient propane heaters. You could literally see the wasted heat rising away, but stand in the right spot and it made your face feel wonderful and your hands if you held them up high. We arrived way too early; around 8:05 for a race that started at 9. So we stood around, had a granola bar, drank some water, chatted and then it was 8:45, time to warm-up! We go out into the road which I find quite liberating, running in the street, it's been a taboo since childhood, and stretch and bend and jump around, getting loose and ready to go.
The starting line is actually the plaza in between a hotel and some other building. I jump up and try and judge the size of the crowd. The Irish announcer said they were expecting around 1800 people. Lots of heads was all I could get from the plaza. Airhorn! Hey, that means go! So we all start jogging, people dodging in and out. J was telling me beforehand that runner's etiquette is if you're slow, get in the back and if you're fast, go towards the front. Co-worker said that some people in front were actually walking from the start. Yikes, that's how people get trampled, not at a 5K but concerts and riots. It's mostly downhill for a bit, the crowd thinning out. There were a couple jogging strollers even a dog. But as I calmed down and found a spot in the chaos, I started to look around. They're really trying to spruce it up and make it pretty. But the people. So many people. I never turned around, didn't want to know how far back I was, but there was a solid column of humanity filling the road in front of us.
Downhill, up a tad, flattens out, turn right, turn right, downhill, across a bridge, oh no! an uphill! Phew, tough, but not bad, and I haven't stopped jogging yet where as last one I started walking a half mile in. Flattens out again. There are cops everywhere. Every street on at least one side blocking the streets so that we can safely pass and not play "dodge the traffic", so thank you to the Greenville Police Department for all the blockades! A peak and it's downhill! In the distance you can see where it goes back up so the relief is temporary. Rest while you can and J taught me to "open my stride" on the downhill so you cover more ground and do about the same work. We hit the uphill and my philosophy on hills is, the faster you go up them, the quicker they're over, within reason of course, so I don't slow down and just power through it. Must stop. I slow to a walk and move to the side. Just then I pass the 2 mile mark. Huh? It's more than halfway over?!? Apparently I missed the 1 mile mark if it in fact exists. See, it's a 5K and they still mark it in miles. I guess a 3.2mil. doesn't sound as cool. Encouraged by my making it over halfway through without stopping and the fact that J passed me when I was taking a stroll, I hit the next corner and pull out my secret weapon: ipod! I had been carrying it in my pocket up to this point, just taking in the city and the sounds. And I figured fiddling with my headphones and pod would distract me from that fact that I was jogging in the cold at too early o'clock on a Saturday.
Headphones on and I just reached the hill that was looming in the distance but I know this is the last hill and that it's a gentle downward slope for the rest of the race. Offspring kicks in and I use the auditory burst to decimate that hill. But it hurt and I have to walk towards the top. J catches back up with me when I walk and we walk for a bit recovering from the ascent. J takes off and I follow a few steps behind. We pass 221 North, where we drank the other weekend, Island Jerk, the Caribbean restaurant that J won't eat at cuz she's a jerk, and lots of shops and coffee shops and all the other boutiquey places that is downtown Greenville. Maybe a butcher or bakery is the next step. And then, there in the distance, you see it. The need to get there as fast as possible kicks in but you must fight it! There is no way you can sprint that far and you've come too far to spaz out in front of all the people at the finish line, which is basically friends of runners and all the runners who have just kicked your jogging ass, but at least are nice about it. So you maintain the jog, knowing that a mad dash is coming. J kicks, there she goes, but wait! She not sprinting, she's just jogging faster, so I wait a few more strides and then take off! Full stride but controlled cuz there are kids around and pass at least 8-9 people. I even leapt through the finish line. It took a while to recover from that full sprint but I thought it was a nice finish and I beat my wife J! Burn! She said it's just cuz I was a boy but that's just an excuse.
We wait around and snag some take-home Kashi bars and an apple and hear some times. Fastest guy was 15:mid-30ish and the fastest lady, his wife, was 17:mid-30s. J and I were in at 32:something which was a slower time than last time but a far greater performance. And J did great too!
No recipe tonight, we're about to go to the store for nachos for dinner. I'll edit the promise of a recipe at the top so you won't feel like I suckered you into this marathon post.
Labels: 5K, Greenville, Kashi
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