OK, so next Sunday I am running in marathon relay. It's basically 5 people each running a certain portion of the 26 miles 385 yards (42.2km). So I asked some people I knew back in June if they were interested and got 4 people to join me. The lengths to run are 7km, then 10km, 11km, 9km, then 5km. I said right away that I would run the 11km so no one would have to stress over doing it. I am by no means a competitive runner but I do run quite a bit and the other people on my team don't run very much.
And I made up sample training programs, registered everyone, did all the legwork, all everyone had to do was train for it. I told them right from the start, DON'T put off training for this or you'll be screwed come race time. There isn't much of a way to cram for this one in the last week. I tried to update my training progress with everyone to maybe get them motivated to train or at least to let me know how they were doing. I hardly got any response, so the warning flags should have gotten raised then.
Plus my wife is part of our team too and she was working hard but then she hurt her achilles and couldn't run much until mid August so I said it would be good for her to run the 5km leg as she had less than a month to get back into race shape. Everyone agreed.
So then my buddy calls me late last week and says his woman (who is also on our team doesn't want to run the 7km anymore) WTF?! Something that could have been brought up before! I said well we'll have to figure smething out I guess. So my wife volunteered to run the 7km instead even though she didn't have much time to prepare and now she kinda pissed about it and nervous about running it, I guess rightfully so. And my buddy says he's not so keen on running his 9km leg either but he would do it. I mean what the hell were were you guys doing for the last 3 months?! I even said if anyone was having problems staying motivated to let me know and I would come help them out, run with them, whatever was needed. But I heard nothing.
The last guy on our team is running the 10km and he says he's ready for it so I won't question it, and hopefully he delivers on that.
But the last straw was, I set up a team run on the weekend to get everyone together to build a little confidence, answer any questions, and to see how everyone was doing in person. Everyone said they were in for Saturday at noon, late enough to give everyone time to sleep off whatever they needed to, yet early enough not to interfere with weekend drinking or whatever. So I call my one buddy at 11 and ask where everyone wanted to meet. He then tells me him and his woman aren't up for running today? I really didn't even know what to say. You have one week left and I'm trying to get some of the kinks worked out and they are no showing me. I was SOOO pissed I didn't even call ther other guy and just did some intervals on the treadmill instead. Wife and I did a run later in the day and that was that.
Now we're less than 5 days out from the marathon and I don't even know if some of the people on my team are even gonna finish their leg of the relay. And it pisses me off cuz I've worked damned hard to hit the pavenment a lot and improve my time over the last 12 weeks and now I'm worried that we won't even finish.
I'm pretty sure no one will even read all this but I needed to get it off my chest.
I've done thousands of miles of running, but have never been involved with a relay marathon. Is this a charity thing where you've already had pledges of money? If nothing else, it's a lesson learned on how dedicated/dependable these friends are. The way I read it, you're pretty much screwed if even one person doesn't show up. It's not like one person can run two intervals. Maybe at the begining (which I realize is no help now) you should have handed out training logs, which you checked every week. I guess it could even have been done online somehow. It sounds kinda like everyone but you and your wife regrets agreeing to run and really are just going thru the motions. At this point, I guess the only useful advice I could give is just to run the best race you can and let everyone else standby their own effort and results.
I've done thousands of miles of running, but have never been involved with a relay marathon. Is this a charity thing where you've already had pledges of money? If nothing else, it's a lesson learned on how dedicated/dependable these friends are. The way I read it, you're pretty much screwed if even one person doesn't show up. It's not like one person can run two intervals. Maybe at the begining (which I realize is no help now) you should have handed out training logs, which you checked every week. I guess it could even have been done online somehow. It sounds kinda like everyone but you and your wife regrets agreeing to run and really are just going thru the motions. At this point, I guess the only useful advice I could give is just to run the best race you can and let everyone else standby their own effort and results.
I remember reading that you ran 5 miles a day for 3 years and I always thought that was pretty impressive, not for the distance but for getting it done everyday.
Well I did hand out training programs and emailed everyone reguarly with info, progress reports of my own etc. I have no worries that everyone will show up next sunday, as I have a detailed system designed to get everyone to where they are supposed to start and pick them up when they are done. But even if someone no shows I can always just run an extra leg of the marathon. The extra distance shouldn't be a problem, my time would probably not just be as good as I would have liked. I was thinking about doing the half marathon this year anyway, but thought this would be more fun to get some others involoved. We'll see if that pans out. I just hate this, "oh it's gonna be too hard" attitude I keep hearing. Well yeah it will probably be hard. It's gonna be hard for me too, as I will be trying for a personal best time. But at the same time I'm not asking for a world record performance either. Just go out there and do the best you can for the hour or whatever you'll be running.
Sounds like you did everything you could. At some point, everyone has to take responsibility for their own actions (or non-action). It's not a reflection on you if they don't take it seriously. People run for different reasons and one of the things I always enjoy about running is it DOESN'T require cooperation. Just lace on the shoes and head out the door. One of my strictest rules was once I started putting on my shoes, the run was gonna happen. I didn't care what happen between then and heading out the door, phone ringing, starting to rain, etc. Once I started, mentally the run was already in the books, the only thing left was to put one foot in front of the other and finish. I use to tell people that running for me was like diarrhea, when I had to go, I HAD TO GO. Anyway, good luck, let me know how you do. And always remember to have fun. Portland is a running city, we have a boulevard around a cove that is about 4 miles around, fine ground clay path about five feet wide with interval markers every quarter mile. Google Portland and/or Baxter Boulevard and see how nice it is. We also have a lot of trails that runners use, but I usually stick to the blvd. Btw, not to toot my own horn,it was 1825 days in a row (5 years), 6 miles each day.
Sounds like you did everything you could. At some point, everyone has to take responsibility for their own actions (or non-action). It's not a reflection on you if they don't take it seriously. People run for different reasons and one of the things I always enjoy about running is it DOESN'T require cooperation. Just lace on the shoes and head out the door. One of my strictest rules was once I started putting on my shoes, the run was gonna happen. I didn't care what happen between then and heading out the door, phone ringing, starting to rain, etc. Once I started, mentally the run was already in the books, the only thing left was to put one foot in front of the other and finish. I use to tell people that running for me was like diarrhea, when I had to go, I HAD TO GO. Anyway, good luck, let me know how you do. And always remember to have fun. Portland is a running city, we have a boulevard around a cove that is about 4 miles around, fine ground clay path about five feet wide with interval markers every quarter mile. Google Portland and/or Baxter Boulevard and see how nice it is. We also have a lot of trails that runners use, but I usually stick to the blvd. Btw, not to toot my own horn,it was 1825 days in a row (5 years), 6 miles each day.
yeah, by next year it will be 8 years and 12 miles a day
what was your average time?
btw, what made you stop?
I had five years as a goal when I started. Even thou I always enjoyed it, I knew if I kept going it was more of a sign of addition than a healthy response. My body fat was so low that when I wasn't running I had a hard time staying warm. I still go out, but hardly ever run consectutive days anymore. Partly because of business, partly just laziness. I know I'll never get back my speed. I was doing sub 6 minutes miles when all cylinders were firing. I never timed myself on my daily runs, but in five mile races I'd do around 29 minutes. I had regular runs that I knew were much better, but untimed. To be honest, I was never really interested in my times, even in races. I just liked running to be outside and burning off energy and stress. I've always had a hard time explaining a five year streak. I had a girlfriend part of that five years who thought it was related to bulimia and/or anorexia, but I told her that was bullshit. It wasn't like a compulsion, it was a challange. I wanted to do it, I did it and "that is all".
I had five years as a goal when I started. Even thou I always enjoyed it, I knew if I kept going it was more of a sign of addition than a healthy response. My body fat was so low that when I wasn't running I had a hard time staying warm. I still go out, but hardly ever run consectutive days anymore. Partly because of business, partly just laziness. I know I'll never get back my speed. I was doing sub 6 minutes miles when all cylinders were firing. I never timed myself on my daily runs, but in five mile races I'd do around 29 minutes. I had regular runs that I knew were much better, but untimed. To be honest, I was never really interested in my times, even in races. I just liked running to be outside and burning off energy and stress. I've always had a hard time explaining a five year streak. I had a girlfriend part of that five years who thought it was related to bulimia and/or anorexia, but I told her that was bullshit. It wasn't like a compulsion, it was a challange. I wanted to do it, I did it and "that is all".
sub 6 mins for 5 or 6 miles is pretty freakin fast!
I'm lucky if I can keep up 7 min miles over any great distance.
I never used to time myself either very much before I entered this, but it's kinda good, for me anyway, to see if I'm progressing.
I was watching "The Sentinal" over the weekend. If you've seen it, you know it's about the Secret Service protecting the President. Anyway, in one of the extras, they interveiw real Secret Service agents who have to guard President Bush. He was saying the guards were harder to find because Bush runs 7 minute miles and sometimes the older agents couldn't keep up. 7 minutes is a nice clip, I don't think I could do it now. My body has changed from carrying heavy furniture up and down the stairs for all these years. I'm probably closer to 8 minute miles now.
I was watching "The Sentinal" over the weekend. If you've seen it, you know it's about the Secret Service protecting the President. Anyway, in one of the extras, they interveiw real Secret Service agents who have to guard President Bush. He was saying the guards were harder to find because Bush runs 7 minute miles and someone the older agents couldn't keep up. 7 minutes is a nice clip, I don't think I could do it now. My body has changed from carrying heavy furniture up and down the stairs for all these years. I'm probably closer to 8 minute miles now.
that's not bad considering the bulk of the population probably can't even run a mile.
other than this race though I've stopped running anything more than 5k(3miles) in favour of more sprint/ interval work but once in awhile I like to go out and just run, clears the mind.
I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this, but there was a time I was hired to guard Mel Gibson. He saw I was running everyday and asked to show him the trails. This was in Arcadia National Park, outside Bar Harbor. The guy smokes like a chimney, I could never do more than trot, and pretty much got bored after a couple miles. When we returned to the cottage where he was staying, I turned around and did my five miles. I couldn't even subtract off the two or three miles we ran because it was so slow.
I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this, but there was a time I was hired to guard Mel Gibson. He saw I was running everyday and asked to show him the trails. This was in Arcadia National Park, outside Bar Harbor. The guy smokes like a chimney, I could never do more than trot, and pretty much got bored after a couple miles. When we returned to the cottage where he was staying, I turned around and did my five miles. I couldn't even subtract off the two or three miles we ran because it was so slow.
I thought the same thing. Whenever I see him running on screen, I figure it must be a stunt double or special effects or something. This was during the premiere of "A Man Without a Face". He certainly looked like he was in better shape than he actually was.
I thought the same thing. Whenever I see him running on screen, I figure it must be a stunt double or special effects or something. This was during the premiere of "A Man Without a Face". He certainly looked like he was in better shape than he actually was.
I thought the same thing. Whenever I see him running on screen, I figure it must be a stunt double or special effects or something. This was during the premiere of "A Man Without a Face". He certainly looked like he was in better shape than he actually was.
As disgraceful as his behavior was, can you believe his father is even worse? The apple evidently didn't fall to far from the tree in their case. 750 million dollars isn't going to change him. It's too bad, I enjoyed his company, but he's just too much of a racist to have any lasting respect for.
If this is anyone but Steve Allen, you're stealing my bit!
spotted
Re your other posts... I didnt make E Cup + by reading lengthy posts J/K In the end you gotta realise some friends are reliable and some friends, as fun as they are to drink beer with etc you just cant rely on
