Update: Dally Does Distance

Brandon Berg wrote:

"Dally" wrote in message
...

But that last stretch was awful. The road wasn't clear, they had opened
it back up to traffic (as if the straggler runners were okay to hit)...

Sometimes natural selection just isn't enough.

LOL, good point. But it's too late, I've already procreated. (But at
least they've evolved into martial arts students instead of runners.)

Dally

"Dally" wrote in message
...

But that last stretch was awful. The road wasn't clear, they had opened
it back up to traffic (as if the straggler runners were okay to hit) and
there was a wind tunnel effect blowing me off my feet with a frigid
wind. (It was 17 degrees F out, balmy to Dot but too cold for anyone
else.) I was also beat - I haven't trained past 5K. An old guy came up
on my tail and I tried to not let him pass me but I just didn't have it
in me. He beat me on the sprint (his, not mine, I had no sprint.) I
later found out that this is his first race after rehabbing a broken
ankle. He was about 70. I have to wonder just how pitiful am I?

When you're 70, we'll be able to compare. He's probably been running longer
than you've been breathing. I try to save something for the end and sprint
the last 1/2 mile. We'll see how that theory goes when I move up this year
from 5K to 10K's.

I finished 67th. There are 15,000 people in this town and I did better
than 14,933 of them, but I came in dead last in this race. (Where were
the "fun run/walk" people I was promised?!?)

That's okay, I transformed this from a scary, challenging thing into "my
first race" that I can use as the 'before' picture. And I learned that
I really hate 4 miles: 3.11 is a much better distance for me.

That was one reason I really encouraged you to do this Dally, to de-mystify
the whole race thing. Next one, you'll be more ready mentally.

Thanks to all who advised me, especially the sweet tender words from the
MFW self-actualization specialists and Jenn for making this sound like a
normal thing to do.

I am *so* proud of you!!! I took MFW off so I could just get all gushy and
emotional...*sniff* I knew you had it in you!!! As hard as it was and
crappy nonetheless, didn't you feel a rush of accomplishment crossing the
finish? A year ago, could you imagine yourself finishing a 4 mile road
race?

BTW - I went and ran 4 miles this morning just because I knew you were doing
your race - tried to send some positive vibes your way.

Jenn

"Beverly" wrote in message
...

"Dally" wrote in message
...
I finished 67th. There are 15,000 people in this town and I did better
than 14,933 of them, but I came in dead last in this race. (Where were
the "fun run/walk" people I was promised?!?)

The fun/walk people probably don't come out in the cold weatherg

Congratulations! You now know you can do it and I'm sure you'll do
nothing
but improve with each upcoming race. You should be quite proud of this
accomplishment. I can almost guarantee you that there were no other first
timers in the group.

Beverly

I was thinking the same thing...the fun/walk people weren't butch enough for
the challenge and this doesn't sound like the kind of thing a first timer
would do unless they had some gravitas (or a bunch of people in newsgroups
all over the place pushing them to do so).

Dally, you rock. Just for that I'm gonna work extra hard on my squats this
week.

Jenn

"Dally" wrote in message
...
I was impressed by how positive people were. There were no whispers of,
"what's the fat chick doing in our race?" It was all "way to go, you can
do it" sort of banter. I was an inspiration in my feebleness, LOL!

To me, that's one of the best parts of the race...no one is judgemental or
if they are they keep it to themselves. When I did that cross country
nightmare in November, the high school boys that all finished early were
lined up on the last leg of the race cheering on and encouraging everyone
else.

Jenn

I'm so glad that it worked out for you. I was kinda worried. The next one
will be better!

Tonia

"Dally" wrote in message
...
I ran my race today. You may recall a tiny thread about running a 5K
when I can't? Well, it turned out to be a four mile road race instead
of a 5K. I was pretty scared about it, but showed up in running gear
and figured I'd just do what I could.

I started out slow, then tapered off. :-) But a others pointed out, I
ran faster than I do on the treadmill. When I'm running just one mile
on the treadmill I usually do about 11:30, when two miles I do more like
12 minute miles and for three miles I do more like 13 minute miles.

My splits were 11:32, 12:38, 12:18 and 12:07 for a four mile time of
48:35. I ran most of it but did a brisk walk up hills or when I just
felt tuckered out. I was in good spirits right up until I turned the
final corner after 3.3 miles. (My time there was 39:48, so I would have
beat my 5K goal of less than 40 minutes!) It was a pretty route (until
the end) and the race volunteers were real gems, so kind and enthusiastic.

But that last stretch was awful. The road wasn't clear, they had opened
it back up to traffic (as if the straggler runners were okay to hit) and
there was a wind tunnel effect blowing me off my feet with a frigid
wind. (It was 17 degrees F out, balmy to Dot but too cold for anyone
else.) I was also beat - I haven't trained past 5K. An old guy came up
on my tail and I tried to not let him pass me but I just didn't have it
in me. He beat me on the sprint (his, not mine, I had no sprint.) I
later found out that this is his first race after rehabbing a broken
ankle. He was about 70. I have to wonder just how pitiful am I?

I finished 67th. There are 15,000 people in this town and I did better
than 14,933 of them, but I came in dead last in this race. (Where were
the "fun run/walk" people I was promised?!?)

That's okay, I transformed this from a scary, challenging thing into "my
first race" that I can use as the 'before' picture. And I learned that
I really hate 4 miles: 3.11 is a much better distance for me.

I came home and stretched while I ran a hot bath, then after the bath I
took a nap. I'll do some more stretching later today. All my parts
seem to be working fine, though my legs started out leaden for the first
1/2 mile and my quads were really cold on the last .7 mile stretch.
There were a lot of hills and I felt myself digging deep for more power
from my gluts that just wasn't there. Gives me something to work on.

Thanks to all who advised me, especially the sweet tender words from the
MFW self-actualization specialists and Jenn for making this sound like a
normal thing to do.

[Cross-posted to three groups, may I please request that you limit
follow-ups to the group you read this from? (I read all three groups
but I get flames for starting cross-posted threads.)]

Dally

On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 14:37:23 -0500, Dally wrote:

I ran my race today. You may recall a tiny thread about running a 5K
when I can't? Well, it turned out to be a four mile road race instead
of a 5K. I was pretty scared about it, but showed up in running gear
and figured I'd just do what I could.

I started out slow, then tapered off. :-) But a others pointed out, I
ran faster than I do on the treadmill. When I'm running just one mile
on the treadmill I usually do about 11:30, when two miles I do more like
12 minute miles and for three miles I do more like 13 minute miles.

My splits were 11:32, 12:38, 12:18 and 12:07 for a four mile time of
48:35.

I thought about you today when I caught the end of some show on FitTV and a
woman ran a 5k in 45 minutes - I knew then that you'd be ok. :-)

Congratulations!

I doubt all of the run/walk peeps come out when it's 17F out - you distingushed
yourself by even showing up at all.


--

Scott Johnson
"be a man ,stop looking for handouts , eat ,lift and shut your mouth"
-John Carlo

"Brandon Berg" wrote in news:v5VSb.150656$sv6.838726
@attbi_s52:

as if the straggler runners were okay to hit)...

Sometimes natural selection just isn't enough.

I thought about that too, but I was trying to be nice. I couldn't say that
in a nice way.

-Phil

"Dally" wrote in message
...
I ran my race today. You may recall a tiny thread about running a 5K
when I can't? Well, it turned out to be a four mile road race instead
of a 5K. I was pretty scared about it, but showed up in running gear
and figured I'd just do what I could.

I started out slow, then tapered off. :-) But a others pointed out, I
ran faster than I do on the treadmill. When I'm running just one mile
on the treadmill I usually do about 11:30, when two miles I do more like
12 minute miles and for three miles I do more like 13 minute miles.

My splits were 11:32, 12:38, 12:18 and 12:07 for a four mile time of
48:35. I ran most of it but did a brisk walk up hills or when I just
felt tuckered out. I was in good spirits right up until I turned the
final corner after 3.3 miles. (My time there was 39:48, so I would have
beat my 5K goal of less than 40 minutes!) It was a pretty route (until
the end) and the race volunteers were real gems, so kind and enthusiastic.

But that last stretch was awful. The road wasn't clear, they had opened
it back up to traffic (as if the straggler runners were okay to hit) and
there was a wind tunnel effect blowing me off my feet with a frigid
wind. (It was 17 degrees F out, balmy to Dot but too cold for anyone
else.) I was also beat - I haven't trained past 5K. An old guy came up
on my tail and I tried to not let him pass me but I just didn't have it
in me. He beat me on the sprint (his, not mine, I had no sprint.) I
later found out that this is his first race after rehabbing a broken
ankle. He was about 70. I have to wonder just how pitiful am I?

I finished 67th. There are 15,000 people in this town and I did better
than 14,933 of them, but I came in dead last in this race. (Where were
the "fun run/walk" people I was promised?!?)

That's okay, I transformed this from a scary, challenging thing into "my
first race" that I can use as the 'before' picture. And I learned that
I really hate 4 miles: 3.11 is a much better distance for me.

I came home and stretched while I ran a hot bath, then after the bath I
took a nap. I'll do some more stretching later today. All my parts
seem to be working fine, though my legs started out leaden for the first
1/2 mile and my quads were really cold on the last .7 mile stretch.
There were a lot of hills and I felt myself digging deep for more power
from my gluts that just wasn't there. Gives me something to work on.

Thanks to all who advised me, especially the sweet tender words from the
MFW self-actualization specialists and Jenn for making this sound like a
normal thing to do.

Congrats on your first run. We all have to start somewhere. I'm glad you did
it, I knew you could. : )

[Cross-posted to three groups, may I please request that you limit
follow-ups to the group you read this from?

You're joking right??? People aren't going to follow this. I know you think
you can tell others how to post, but it doesn't work that way.

(I read all three groups
but I get flames for starting cross-posted threads.)]

You could have posted this separately in each. : )

Martha


Dally

"Lee Michaels" wrote in message
news:UGTSb.199248$na.331263@attbi_s04...

"Dally" wrote

snip race saga

[Cross-posted to three groups, may I please request that you limit
follow-ups to the group you read this from? (I read all three groups
but I get flames for starting cross-posted threads.)]

Two points Dally.

Congrats on the run.

If you want to post to three newsgroups, it may be asking a little to much
for others to limit their responses to a single newsgoup. If you want a
thread in three different newgroups. Take an extra minute and make three
original posts.

See how simple that was?

Lee

Exactly!!

Martha

alien wrote:

Dally!! You are my inpiration for the day! A BIG congrats on your
accomplishment. We are very proud of you and I know you are proud of
yourself.

Thanks. I feel a bit as if I've rediscovered myself. I always
remembered my high-school runner persona, but it was buried in the
blubber. It's really more important to my self-esteem to accomplish
something with my fitness than to look good or fit into size 12 jeans, etc.

Dally, turning 40 this year
244/184/170