Double-Crim and Title Defense

I know it's been a while.  I've been missing on canoe trip and many other things.  Long story short, rivers are really low, but we only were tipped by the 1000s of obstacles once, which made my wife and I very happy.  I lost my sunglasses for the 3rd year in a row.  High five for consistency.  Plenty of the homebrewed Oktoberfest was consumed, we got a bottle of the Sam Adams Infinium (which, though a commercial disaster, was pretty decent to me...though overpriced, no doubt), and there were numerous Oberon and Yuengling bottles lying around.  For the river trip (given glass is disallowed) we had Sierra Nevadas, Blue Moons, and Magic Hat #9.  Finding MH9 and Sierra in cans made me very happy.  Blue Moon, well, that was for my lady.  Lots of eating of brats, and much sadness for the loss of Ma's Girls Cafe, which is now closed somehow, even though the breakfast was awesome.  Not as awesome a trip with less people, lower water, and new owners at the campground, but we managed.  It might be time to change things up next year, though.

After the canoeing, we did our usual Tawas stop to see our favorite hippo.  Ignore my Hawaiian shirt and horrible Metallica Load shirt, I purposely dress awful for vacation.  It's my thing.  The townies make fun of the fudgey tourists so much that I feel the need to be an in-your-face stereotype of it.  The man to my right in this photo, who is from the North ensures me I'm doing a good job of that.  I can hear you thinking, "Yes, but you still bought that hideous Load shirt in the late 90s."  Stop it.

Wednesday J and I ran the 10 mile Crim route, back-to-back (and some change).

Start

After Crim #1

After Crim #2

If 20+ miles weren't enough Wednesday, I chased it down with an 8K race earlier today (yesterday now, since it's 2am).  I had an age group title defense @ the Ophelia Bonner (don't say it too fast or it sounds dirty).  I was a little tired from the long run, so I was a whole 12 seconds slower than my 8k PR last year.  Cut me a break though, because I did defend my turf....against the only other 30-34 guy that bothered to show up and run the 8K.  Had he ran the 5K (or either of us, for that matter) it would have been an automatic 1st.  Where is everyone?  This race has everything (best Stefon voice)...trophies, pissy people from my neighborhood mad about traffic keeping them an extra 10 minutes when they're trying to get home, student volunteers from Flint Northern that cheer you on with really good enthusiasm, watermelon and bunches of grapes afterward, stinking up and sweating all over U of M property, and human parking cones.  I guess I can keep winning this thing the next 2 years if you guys don't want to show up.  All I'm saying is, that you just have to beat a chubby guy running a little over 9min miles to get the 1st in 30-34....

They even match

Anyway, just thought I'd stay up way too late and update.  I haven't even put mileage into daily mile either, so I don't want some sort of worry about my running and/or living status while I'm ignoring the existence of the internet for the next 7-10 days.  Chances are you won't hear from me again until I finish the 2012 sequel of Warrior Dash, and I'll probably even have a race somewhere "Up North," before then.

Toodley Doodley

Shamrocks and Shenanigans Part 3

Luckily, when I woke up the Sunday after St. Patrick's Day, my stomach had stopped doing somersaults, but I still wasn't in any mood to get moving any earlier than I had to.  The Al Kayner St. Pats race wasn't until 11:45, and I've been through it twice before.  So I know where to park and where to go, and all that.  Not a lot of sense in getting there too early.

Jason joined me again this year, vowing not to miss his turn and actually run the 8k this time, which I'm happy to say he did.  Some of the others weren't so lucky from what I've heard, and just like every year their facebook has complaints about the split not being properly marked.  I just think too many people run with their headphones in and their head down, and would miss it unless someone stopped them by bib color and sent them the other way.  I've ran the 5K and the 8K and I'm 3 for 3 going the right way.  I don't know, maybe they should start the 5K a little later.  I'm all for that.  Then maybe all the Powerades wouldn't be unnecessarily taken by 5K walkers and I might actually get one, which I haven't the last two years running the 8K, but my slow ass, 34 minute, 5K, 2010 self that probably didnt' deserve one did (ugh, I hate that guy!).

My lady came up with us to root us on as well, which was really nice for a change.  Most of the time she's either working or they are just way too early for her to want to get up and stand around waiting to see me run a few seconds (and I can't say I blame her, because sleeping is awesome, and some of these races take a really long time). 

The weather was a ridiculously balmy 67 degrees at race time, according to the Chemical Bank ticker near the start.  Last year it said 36, and it was 39 the year before.  So, needless to say, I was very happy I decided to roll with some old soccer shorts instead of some long pants.  Jason had a whole St. Patrick's accessorizing scheme going that made him look like runner Bono on St. Patrick's weekend or something. 

Early on the run was really crowded, and it didn't really let up until the 5K split off.  Every single race there are those people that scoot up with the faster pace runners, take off like a shot, and stop to walk less than a half mile in.  These people make the crowded streets much more difficult, and it really gets old after a while.  Know your capabilities and be honest with yourself (own up that you're wussy, out of shape, and a complete failure at running).  I own up to being a fat guy that isn't going to keep up with the 8 minute or less people, and even though I've ran in the 8's and am in the 9's right now, you'll find me back behind that big "10" just in case.  Not that I had a choice, because I couldn't get up any closer, and still feeling a little bit of the hangover I wasn't sure if I belonged up closer anyway.  Tanking was a distinct possibility (although when has a lot of beer the night before kept me from finishing?...not counting the times I didn't make it to the race at all, that is).

I didn't tank, though.  I started out a little fast, and really had to push to hang on to some resemblance of pace.  I still ran the 8K in a 46:41, which was over a minute faster than last year.  I would have liked to be around 2 minutes faster, but you can't have everything.  That just means I'll really have to beat last year Brent pretty badly at the Martian Half Marathon in about two weeks.

Once again the Kayner medals were the same design again (I really should bend them and start fixing them to pint glasses...or maybe in like 50 years make a coat of arms out of them) with a different lanyard.  The shirts varied from the green and white designs of previous years and went for an all black with green print this year (which I was a little less enthused about, but I'm sure they're planning something cool for the 40th anniversary next year and went a little on the cheap this year).

Shirt and 3 years of Medals

Afterwards we had some nice breakfast brunchin' at The Texan.

Ophelia Bonner

 

So...I got another age group win last Thursday.  This time it wasn't at some backwater town race, but in an actual city race.  Ok, so maybe it wasn't a large race, and, yeah, maybe the heat chased most of the runners registering that day into the 5K (instead of the 8K), but a win is a win.  The guy who got 2nd in our age group and I pretty much ran side by side most of the way.  Every once in a while one of us would pull ahead, only to have the other compensate and catch right up.  This went on for the entire race until the final stretch where we both cut loose on the last sprint.  He'd go faster...I'd go a  little faster...he'd go up a gear...I'd go another.  Eventually after the 6th or 7th ramp up, I heard a cuss word from him and I pulled ahead at the last second.  Of course I didn't know we had been racing for 1st until after, and the times for us were both the exact same time in minutes and seconds, meaning I had won by a fraction of a single second.

It would have been a really fulfilling moment for me, but unfortunately that person that I beat out had to be my good friend Jason.  I still think he could have lost me at some point, but he swears not, and that if he had I would have caught up.  Who knows?  Either way, I still kind of feel like I robbed him blind of a win, but he still got an award.  I guess that will teach him to leave me behind next time, if he can.  Again...I'm just the....worst...running...partner...EVER!  Also, there was another person in our group that was faster, but he was taken out of age group awards for being the overall winner, I guess.  Whatever.  I don't get this stuff sometimes.

Also, I have to mention that this race had watermelon for the finishers, and that is the best thing that I have ever had after a race.  I think I had like 8 corners of it, and, at the time, I probably would have pawned off the trophy to take one home, maybe even just half.