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Why Outrun The Bear?

~ You just need to be faster than someone else.

Why Outrun The Bear?

Monthly Archives: April 2012

Trampolining bears?

30 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by Andy in Runcap

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bear, funny, photo, trampoline

So, my blog is called Why Outrun The Bear? but I saw a photo this afternoon of a bear that was falling out of a tree after being tranquilised and dropped to safety. However, to me it almost looks like the bear is on his way up from jumping on a Trampoline – what do you think?

Photo and more details CU Independent/Andy Duann

Just over a week to go to the Capital City Half Marathon.

27 Friday Apr 2012

Posted by Andy in Runcap

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5k, Dublin, Registration

Looking forward to this race and I’ve already booked my next race – the Dublin Irish Festival 5k run in August. The cool thing about this race is it runs right past my house. It’ll be weird running down the hill past my house and not stopping and hitting the Garmin.  The bad side to this race is that a lot of it is on a road that has no pavement (sidewalk) so it’s too dangerous to practise the route safely.  I do run about 1/3 of the race nearly every time I go out though, including The Hill  that I hate at the end of my usual runs, although I am finding it easier to run up it without stopping (but still have to sometimes!).

In the meantime I have the half next weekend and I’m volunteering for a couple of other local races which should be fun.

Scioto Miles 15k runcap or I ran 15k and all I got was half the chocolate?

25 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by Andy in Runcap

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15k, race, runcap, Scioto Miles

[wprunkeeper activity=”83272114″]I was a bit anxious going to bed on Saturday night as my legs had been a bit sore all day despite not running since Thursday. I woke up bright and early on Sunday morning from a dream where I had somehow bashedbut it does look rather peculiar. the back of my head in and it was covered with maggots… Not a very nice way to wake up and I hadn’t eaten any cheese the night before -honest. It was a bit of an ominous start however I soon cheered up when I checked my email and had a great offer from Groupon – Weightloss Hotpants…err no thanks – I’ll think I’ll go for a run instead.

I got to Cosi nice and early and saw Tina and Heather by their car and honked my horn giving Tina a fright. Thankfully she didn’t jump too much and did not bang her head on the roof of the car (maybe that is what the dream was all about?). I parked up and discovered that the meters were free on Sunday (after I put the first quarter in) – a nice perk.

I headed into Cosi and picked my race packet up as I hadn’t gone to the store beforehand. Then back inside the warmth –  a great perk of having the race held from the back of Cosi is being able to hang out inside the building in the warmth and with real toilets is a nice treat. Unfortunately for Tina I had drunk all my coffee at this point – if they had a stand selling coffee before the race I think they’d make a killing.

I met up with Heather, MelanieI think this is me next to the blue lamppost, Tina, Heather and Mike, posed for the usual shots inside and then headed out to the race. I think you can see me just to the left of the blue lamppost in this picture but that might be someone else, especially as I don’t see anyone else from the group.  Mike and I were running in shorts and a tshirts – after all – it was above freezing and I get too hot when running if I don’t wear shorts. I was surprised at the number of people who were wearing leggings, full trousers and jackets – it wasn’t that cold (at least not at the start).

A couple of minutes before the start of the race the inflatable starting line started to collapse much to my amusement – for a moment it looked like the start might be an obstacle course but it didn’t take long for them to fix the issue and a few minutes later the horn sounded and we were off.  Like last time I immediately lost contact with the rest of the group but I couldn’t find them despite hanging back for a while so in the end just got on with running.  The first few minutes is pretty intense – a flock of people all around you – most of whom are treading and running in the exact same space you want to be, you have to ensure the garmin is started, the itunes started, the run/walk timer started and runkeeper started…..or at least I did on the last race.  This time I ran with just the Garmin. My original intention was to use the run/walk time on the third loop but in the end I ran the whole way – including all the hills. Initially I didn’t start the ipod as I was waiting for the others to catch me up and then I was enjoying the running with no music so just left it off.

Anyway, as we’re heading down towards the start of Broad Street I’m fiddling with the camera on the phone and almost run smack into the barriers at the end of the road.  Who’s smart idea was it to put barriers in the middle of the course stretching across the width of the road? Thankfully I heard the Woah! from the people in front just before they swerved, giving me enough time to avoid having to do a very bad impression of a hurdle, which I would have failed miserably at.

Action shot as we start up Broad StreetUp Broad Street we went and I managed to snap an action photo , the only one I took of the entire race – I don’t know how Tina does it. As we turned off Broad and headed (the wrong way) along Wall St, the race felt different from last week – this time there wasn’t anyone yelling at everyone to get off the sidewalk. I checked the Garmin and saw that my pace at that moment was 24min miles…I put that down to the bad satellite reception as there was no way I was going anywhere near that pace.

I settled into the run and it was pretty uneventful. The aid stations had very vocal helpers which was a nice incentive to hear as you approached the bridges. I still managed to get water all over me and up my nose once despite pinching the cup together.  One day I’ll get the hang of it.  No homeless people on the path this time grunting incomprehensible messages to everyone as we passed them.

I was running about the same pace as the 10k 3 weeks ago but this time I spent more time looking around and being aware of my surroundings – there is a ton of art and nice views in downtime Columbus. If I wasn’t racing I would certainly have stopped to take more photos.

The out and back portion of the race was horrible (again). Under a dark underpass and a narrow footpath with people going in both directions and up and down the hills a lot means it’s a tough portion of the race. It was made infinitely better by running down the hill and seeing and hearing Melanie and Heather cheering me on as we approached each other on the second out and back – nothing like your own personal cheer team 😉 On the first out and back I ran past Heather who gave me a high five – with the cold and the combined speed we were doing, that stung for a couple of minutes afterwards to my amusement.

Towards the end of the race, around mile 8.5 I was doing pretty good. I was running alongside another runner who was about to run a marathon the following week. Scary to think that a 15k is considered tapering… Anyway we talked a little bit as we approached – he wished me luck and then I looked at my watch – about 2.5 minutes to get to the finish line in under 90 minutes.  I started to sprint to the finish line…

With the occasional glance at the Garmin it looked like it was going to be close but passing people at the end, whilst running fast feels good. The only hard bit is trying to run around pairs of runners and avoid the goose poop.  As I approached the finish line, Michael was standing there cheering me on – a glance at my watch and I gasped “15 seconds to go”. I didn’t have the spare energy to give a high five as I ran past Michael and through the finish line . By the time I slowed down and stopped the Garmin it read 90 minutes and 5 seconds…my official time ended up being 90 mins and 2 seconds – a slight, very slight disappointment but still over the moon that I had run 9.3 miles in 90 minutes and really enjoyed it.  Besides, if I had broken the 90 minute mark, what would I aim for on my next 15k?

Final results were 1:30:02, 357th out 645 runners, 44th in my age group of 62 runners.

After grabbing some water and a banana I headed back to the finish line to cheer in the rest of the Turtles.  My hands were freezing and the camera was slow/ I wasn’t really thinking straight, so the photos I got were not very impressive…oops. The photo I have on the left is the best I could do.

After we all had finished we did some stretches in the warmth of Cosi and then headed downtown to get some coffee.  I can’t believe how hard it is to find an open coffee shop.

I think we passed about 5 coffee shops before we ended up in Tim Hortons. Food and coffee tasted *really* good but I was totally ripped off when I pulled out the Boston creme doughnut from the bag and left half of my chocolate attached to the inside of the bag.  Adding insult to injury I then watched everyone else tear their bags open and start eating their fully coated chocolate covered doughnut. I was very tempted to go and get another one – after all, I *had* just run 9 miles!

As usual, thanks to the Turtles for keeping me company and thanks to Tina for the use of some of the photos.

I’m now less than 10 days away from my first half marathon and very excited – after all I now get to put a 13.1 sticker on the back of the car.  My question is, should I wait until after the race to purchase the sticker or buy it beforehand so I can put the sticker on the car with great ceremony as I get back to the car? – Do you have a 13.1 sticker (or more) and when did you put it on the car?

 

Double digits and a new state

22 Sunday Apr 2012

Posted by Andy in Runcap

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PA

[wprunkeeper activity=”81556890″] Last weekend I was able to take a long weekend off work and headed out to see my friends in Hookstown, PA – right in the middle of a whole load of hills. As the 15k is coming up (on Sunday) and the half marathon is coming up real soon, I hoped to get a long run during the weekend and to avoid being antisocial I set my alarm clock on the phone for 6.30 with the intention of being out of the house by 7am.

Unfortunately, electronics had other plans. I woke at 7am the next morning to find that my phone had decided to switch itself off overnight and therefore the alarm hadn’t gone off. Not only had it switched itself off, it had decided to not charge itself either, so there was only a little bit of battery left.  I left it charging whilst I grabbed some coffee and a banana before heading out the door.  I drove into Hookstown and parked “down town” and headed off up the first road that was appropriately named Hill Road. 10-15 minutes later the phone decided it was almost out of battery so I had to turn off the music and run the rest of the run with just my breathing and the sound of many barking dogs for company. The good thing with the battery dying is that I realised I hadn’t actually started the Garmin GPS going, so the stats for this run are actually a combination of Runkeeper’s stats for the first 1.5 miles and the Garmin for the rest of it.

Hill Road was appropriately named. Very pretty but very hilly. Lots of ups and down and very quiet – I saw about 2 cars all the way. At one point there was a guy using a JCB/Backhoe to pick up rubbish/trash into a lorry/dumper truck that was blocking the entire road.  Fortunately there was enough room to squeeze by, but I did feel sorry for the couple of drivers in their cars on the other side who had a long wait ahead of them.

After a while I ran down the hill and ended up in Georgetown. A tiny village with about 3 streets in it – probably even smaller than Hookstown.  In fact I wasn’t even sure if this was the town that I was meant to turn off Hill Rd as it didn’t feel like I had run far enough. I got the phone out, checked the gps and sure enough – this was the town.  The road I was meant to take had a different name on the signpost which had added to the confusion. In the end I ran through most of the town (which wasn’t difficult) and said Hi to a couple of people working in their garden who probably wondered where I had come from.

After leaving Georgetown the road back to Hookstown was pretty flat with a gentle , barely noticeable climb alongside a river bed.  There were tons of fishermen camped out along the river and the smell of a wood fire and breakfast smelt really good. I did wonder why they were fishing as the “river” was a tiny little stream and barely seemed large enough to support some minnows let alone fish.

Eventually I arrived back in Hookstown and was feeling really good – the previous night we’d driven down a lane that led to Little Blue Lake. Take a moment to go look at that overhead view of the lake – it really looks like something out of Cocoon or something.

The Blueness of the water is due to flyash dumping from the local powerstation – more information and details at Sorabji’s site. Despite knowing about the toxicity of what caused the lake, the road up to the lake was 1.75 miles long with some nice curves and rolling hills and would make a good addition to the run to bring me up to about 11 miles so off I went.  Enjoyed the run up but it was starting to get warm out – thankfully this road is so deserted there was little chance of any vehicles coming so I could run in the shade of the trees on the “wrong side” of the road.  After reaching the end of the road, I turned around and headed back into town.  On the way back I was pleased with the progress but not sure whether to do another loop – which would put me at half marathon distance – or call it a day. Due to the late start and no phone to call back home with an update I decided to call the 11.4 miles a day.  My feet and legs weren’t too tired so it was great to end on a high note, knowing that I am not going to shouldn’t have a problem with the 13.1 miles on May 5th.

Later that afternoon we did go out for a short hike in Racoon Park – the first part was straight up a hill. (Photo to the left shows the view back down the hill on our way back).  I was tempted to do a bit of trail running when the ground leveled off a bit, but I really didn’t fancy tripping or twisting an ankle amongst the tree roots this close to the half so I restrained myself.  The combined distance of the walk and the run this morning *did* put me over the half marathon distance. This is probably the furthest I’ve ever walked/run in one day and I wasn’t feeling sore – just elated from all those endomorphins running through me.

Combined with spending 3 days with my friends and winning a game of Killer Bunnies – a GREAT weekend.

This time it’s the right knee.

09 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by Andy in Runcap

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knee, pain

After a great race last week I ran just under 3 on Sunday as a recovery and then 7 on Monday, bringing my longest streak to 3 days – we all have to start somewhere right?

However the rest of the week I’ve been resting as my knee has been “tweaky” and hurts a little bit. Not enough to really bother me, but enough that I don’t want to risk making it worse. The annoying thing is the weather was great on Saturday and Sunday but I didn’t want to risk it – although it looked like a great day for running. Mind you, there weren’t many people out on Sunday afternoon – probably sleeping off the Easter Ham’s.

Next race is under 2 weeks away and the half marathon in 25 days – yikes!

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