Sunday, December 5, 2010

Santa Run

Ok, so the suits were actually fairly decent for the $25, so I retract my statement about them being cheapies. Now on to the race.



Jason showed up about 10:30 and we headed up to the Y at about 11 to meet Mike. We were all geared up and ready to go. Mike was sipping a Tim Horton's as he often does. This was his first race with us, and I think now he's officially hooked. So that's just one more person in the collective to keep us going.

The run was great, but there's just a few things that get in the way of running when you have a Santa suit over your clothes. The first thing is, it's hot as hell. So all of us overdressed. The second thing is, don't let your pants fall down. It's hard to tell they fell until they're at your ankles. Third, try not to blow out the crotch. Fourth, breathing through a fake beard is not easy, even if you're not aspirating some of it every time you inhale.

I toughed it out for about a 30:30 time though, even with the wardrobe malfunction (the pants around the ankles thing was me), and all the beard breathing (I kept it on, while most people ditch it down to their neck). It felt more like a 34 time, though, because I was really dragging ass (or so I thought). That's not bad. My 3rd best 5K time ever next to the two sub 30's at the Spirit Run and the Tailgate Challenge. If I can knock off as much time next year, I'll really be in business. It seems like now my slow times are what used to be what I thought to be almost out of reach. That's progress for sure.

The big thing now is, don't fall apart over the winter. We have to do things to stay relatively in shape. I want to hit the ground running (literally) next March/April.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

F*ck Rocky!

Ice and snow are not that easy to run on. I have the Santa Run this weekend, which will likely be the last run of the year. I haven't picked up the suit yet, but I hear they're very small and flimsy. What do you expect for $25?

Anyway, back to almost falling on my butt, standing up on crappy roads takes a lot of ankle strength that I don't have. After a 5K today, they felt like the most worked part of my body. Stupid old injuries. Today trampoline ankle was more ouchy than soccer ankle, but I'm sure it will jump back and forth.

I looked up how to dress and layer yourself for winter, and doing a wicking layer, sweats layer, and windproof layer worked out pretty well. I stayed relatively dry, wasn't cut to pieces by the cold wind, and wasn't cold at all. I think I need to start researching some more running tips, and maybe subscribe to a running mag to give myself a little help. Although, I'm not sure it will help much until March or so. The weather is about the test my mettle...
Locations of visitors to this page