Triathlon's Little Surprises

It should come as no surprise that I'm a big fan of triathlon. There are lots of reasons. To name a few:

• It keeps me healthy
• It's 200% more fun than it's single sport constituents
• It allows me to wear skintight clothing in public

And every once in a while, triathlon tosses me a surprise which boosts my admiration for sport. One recent such surprise happened this weekend at a tiny, local Olympic distance race affectionately called "A Tri in the Buff".

To be honest, the day didn't start off as pleasantly as I'd have wished. The park manager had cancelled the swim (more on this in a future post) so I walked into transition in a foul mood. ATITB and I do not have a good history together. If there's any race that I've flubbed up something, it typically happens here. I don't do it on purpose and I can't explain why. For instance, I've gone awry on the swim course. I've missed my turn on the bike course. I've actually ran on the run course. All of these were freak accidents. Right after they cancelled the swim, the name of the race magically transformed to "Du-ing It In The Buff" which sounds fun until you realize that they replaced the swim with yet another run. I had, at this moment, considered getting in my van and brooding all the way back home. But that was about a 2 hour drive and they promised hot dogs later. Sigh. I went searching for a spot to rack my bike.

So while I begrudgingly hunted for a place to set my wheels, I was becoming increasingly frustrated with the incompetence of my fellow competitors who didn't understand that you are supposed to stagger on the racks. On one slot goes a bike facing east. The very next slot is now available for a bike pointed west. Continue ad infinitum or until the end of the rack. If you rack 3 slots away, you've messed up the system and made it nearly impossible for the late risers, such as myself, to get a spot on the rack. Sure, I could try and get there earlier but, since I'm an American, I'd prefer to blame everyone else and not myself. Regardless, my point still stands.

Luckily for me, one of the guys on the east side was a friend of mine. I was able to persuade him to move his bike over 1 slot, thus allowing me to finally place my bike and get set up for (crap, that's right) a run. In the slot immediately next to me was that of this cute unknown Asian woman. I had absolutely no idea how old this person was. Nor am I competent in my Asian identifying skills to pinpoint which region of Asia supplied the DNA she's inherited. (Note: I originally thought that she was Hawaiian. I learned differently later and had to project back to re-write my memory history. /End note) According to the stereotype meme, she could have been anywhere between 18 and 50. Granted, I could have just looked at her calf to see the number printed there but I didn't want my gaze direction to be mistaken, then to be labeled any more of a creep than what an overweight, middle-aged male with a penchant for wearing spandex in public already bears.

After setting up, I do what I typically do, ogle the ladies start talking to the people in my near vicinity to pass the time. See, they force you to get on race site ridiculously early then make you stand around and wait. Triathlon is many things awesome, time efficient is not one of them. (Also not on the list is triathlon's lack of ability to have a decent backup plan should the park manager cancel the swim.) Remember that friend who moved his bike? Well, we started chatting about the course and what to expect where. Since I've made pretty much every mistake in the book, most of them here, I was able to answer questions with utmost confidence. My rackmate Asian-Hawaiian hottie woman of indeterminate age was listening in with much attention.

Since I was the local expert, she gathered up the courage to even asked a few questions of her own. Most of her concerns were of the bike course, understandably since they took away the swim. (<-- okay, that might have been my last snipe on this topic, at least for this post. Might.) I laid out the route and included a couple of the tougher spots. When she asked if one of the turns was difficult to find, I simply told her that it all depended on how good of a runner she is. <Awkward silence in the conversation, which was a lot more apparent when reflecting on the talk.> Finally I added that her running prowess was probably moot since she's in the second wave of runners and there's bound to be at least 3 or 4 people who could out run her by 5 minutes over a 1.8 mile run 1. <Second awkward silence in as many minutes.>

The race got started, boys before girls, separated by 5 minutes. The turn around was about 0.9 miles away in an out-and-back format. I was plodding around in the 2nd group of plodders. About the 1.2 mile mark, the men were on their way back while the women were on their way out. And, really, it was just one woman. Yup, it was my rackmate Asian-Hawaiian hottie woman runner of indeterminate age. At the half-mile mark, she was almost 2 minutes up on the field. I wasn't even that far behind the male run leaders. Yes, my ego started to kick in and I sped up in fear that I would be caught by this badass of a female specimen on the first leg. (Spoiler alert- at least that didn't happen.)

We went out onto the bike course, which was a slower day for the field compared to years past. I got passed by exactly zero people on the bike and passed several. By the time I started my official run, I estimated that I was in 8th place. We had a 2-loop run which started with that same out-and-back we did on the swim portion of the run. That portion of the course gave me an opportunity to try and validate my standing, which ultimately failed since there was more than one race happening and we had intermingled by this point. Of note, my rackmate Asian-Hawaiian hottie woman badass runner of indeterminate age was roughly that same distance behind me as she was during the first leg of the trip. And she was gaining quickly. No ego surge would have saved me from that reality. She went by at about mile 2.5. I cheered for her in the form of, "Go rackmate," which actually came out less awkward than the silences back in transition would have led me to believe. She thanked me for the attention (which is also weird for me) and ran on.

After  I finished the run, I was hobbled up in the finish area coral attempting to breathe and suck down some water. Here comes my rackmate Asian-Hawaiian hottie woman badass runner of indeterminate age looking as fresh as could be, wheeling her bike out of transition. I asked her how things went. She said that even after all those awkward silences, she still biffed the bike course. The bike course is a lasso with a really short handle. You ride up the handle, turn left, do the lasso-loop twice, and return to the transition area via the handle. She came down the handle after the first lap. Apparently, she had a gut feeling that something wasn't right, turned around and headed back onto the lasso. She reported that she'd lost about 30-40 seconds.

Since I was apparently the resident area guru on all things Du-ing It In the Buff, she was curious about the awards and if the prize was anything worth waiting around for. Her reasoning- she had a long drive ahead. Understandable, at least from my perspective. Typically, ATITB offered your run of the mill medal or trophy or trinket coupled with a little bit of swag. At some races by the same race company, they give away bottles of wine, but not at this venue. "I'm allergic to alcohol," she responds. <Third awkward silence of the day.>

While she was busy finding out about the awards and making a decision on her appearance at the ceremony, they posted the preliminary results. I went and searched for my name. The Banter=7th place overall and 6th amongst men. Not bad. My rackmate Asian-Hawaiian hottie woman badass alcohol-allergic runner of indeterminate age= 2nd place overall.

I told her of her placement and there was an immediate dismay in her eyes, which (I'm assuming) had nothing to do with my spandex. She asked by how much she lost. Luckily, I did look this up. Mostly because I wanted to see by how much I lost and by how much I got chicked. A brief mental math moment later told her about 2 minutes. She relaxed. "Phew, I thought that bike blunder cost me the win."

Later on, while perusing the internets, searching for something to keep me occupied, I looked up the race results. I do this after every race and scrutinize the performance. Then, I did something I have never done in the past. I searched for one of my competitors. Guess who? Sure enough, and I'm at least 58% sure of this, my rackmate Asian-Hawaiian hottie woman badass alcohol-allergic runner of indeterminate age is a professional triathlete. Here's a link to her website, from which I usurped her picture. I'll be rooting for her in the future.

Let's add this to the reasons I love triathlon. No other sport on the planet allows for a rackmate Asian-Hawaiian hottie woman badass alcohol-allergic runner turned professional triathlete of indeterminate age to commingle, ask questions, and embarrass on the course with riffraff like me in a podunk local race in the middle of nowhere NY. I'm only left wondering if she can swim...

Flower City Duathlon 2013 RRR

Welcome to the first official multisport Race Report and Results (RRR) for the 2013 season. Just like several years in a row, I started my non-running racing with a duathlon.

Once upon a time, they (whoever they are) invented this ridiculous sport called running and made it infuriatingly painful. Later on, they tried to solve this problem by inventing a bicycle. Finally, someone came to their senses and took to the water. Hence the sport swimming. When combined, swimming, biking and running become the holy trinity of all sporting events know and the "triathlon".

The problem is that there's a segment of the population (read: majority) who don't have crazy good swimming skills. They still want multisport but can't swim a lick. Somehow, they convinced a race director to forgo the aforementioned swim and replace it with another run. (Aside: They also convinced him to host a 13.1 mile running race on the following day. They are gluttons for punishment. I, like an idiot, signed up for both. End aside.) Basically, they want a triathlon without the tri. For those not in the know, or for those who happened to forget, duathlons are the bastardized little brother of triathlon.

One of those RD's just happens to be in charge of Fleet Feet, Rochester edition. They put on a pretty good show.  Much to their credit, late April is not normally a good time for open water swimming. Since I'm not a fan of open water swimming in a pool, I'm pretty pleased they decided to keep the race outdoors. As a consequence of that sage decision, race time starting temperature was roughly 42º. Brr.

Run 1
I really want to make a fair comparison. I really want to tell you that I ran faster or slower. Alas, I cannot. Sadly, they changed up the course this year. We used to play on the paths and trails near the Genessee. Apparently, the people doing the paddle tri wanted to run with the big dogs. We hug the riverside. 

They started me in the last wave. They heard a rumor that I was going to crush the field. I'm not sure what idiot thought that was funny as they were clearly wrong. I'm sure at some level, there is a valid reason for the chosen starting order. It's rarely popular amongst the masses. I set out at what I thought was a comfortably hard pace. Somewhere near the 1.5 mile marker, I overheard a lady (who started in an earlier wave) how she "wished the boys started earlier so she wouldn't have to be passed by so many people. This is demoralizing."

Of course, she looked directly at me. I don't blame her. Anytime I out run someone in a race, regardless of gender, religion, disability, or pre-existing mental condition, it has to be a slam on their athletic ability. Poor lady.

A year ago, I did this run in 21 minute and 29 seconds. This year, I came into transition after 20.42. Again, I have no idea if this is better or worse than last year but I was pretty happy with the performance as I had clearly broken the 7 min barrier. That pace was good enough for 42nd place.

Transition 1
It was still rather chilly. Temperatures were rumored to climb later into the mid-60ºs. You wouldn't have known it by the crispness of the air. If this weren't a race, I'd have put the bike on the trainer and biked indoors. I'm selectively pansy like that.

This year, I wanted to be a little more competitive. I decided not to put on a jacket. I kept my shoes clipped in to my pedals. I did need to put on ear coverings, helmet, glasses, and gloves. My fingers had a bit of an issue clasping the helmet closed, which is required by USAT rules. Of course, I removed my bike from the rack and got a pedal stuck on one of the cross bars of the racks. I suppose this is the reason you do these early season races, to work out the kinks.

I pranced out of transition after 1.19. Last year, my T1 time as 2.09. This is a fair comparison as the transition area was exactly the same. Not great but not bad, comparatively speaking. Oddly enough, I was again the 42nd fastest T1er.

Bike
The bike course is/ was spectacular. The roads were well groomed. Traffic was sparsely populated. What little traffic there present was nicely controlled by the happy volunteers and dutiful police officers. Thank you sincerely to both groups for a job well done!

This year, due to the late afternoon heat wave, the wind was steady out of the south. The bike ride, already chilly, kept you cool in the first half of the ride but pushed you back home.

 

I failed to check the hill profile ahead of time. I errantly told one of my co-conspirators that the course was pretty flat. I supposed that is a matter of perspective. The Garmin reports nearly 400 feet of climbing over the 20 mile course.

The bike course did not change so I can make a fair comparison to the 2012 race. Last year, I revolved the ride in 57.37. This year, I bettered my pace and finished the bike in 55.24, or about 21.8 mph. I'm pretty happy with that time and pace. My bike ride was good enough for 13th place overall.

Transition 2
I have a pretty good skill on dismounting my bike and running into transition. I am pleased to report that my skill had not diminished much over the winter. I hit the dismount line running. I found my shoes rather quickly and racked my bike. This was a bit of a challenge as the dude on the opposite side of the rack had beaten me into transition and crowded my rack space. I solved the problem by moving my bike 2 feet south of my expected location, which I hope did not cause any issues for anyone else.

My running shoes were exactly were I left them nearly an hour ago. I slipped them onto my feet and headed my way towards the exit. Before I got to the half way point in transition, I promptly stopped. mind you, stopping mid-race is not that effective of a race strategy. Neither is attempting a 5k with a sizable stone in your sole. I paused, removed a pebble, which I believe was limestone based, reapplied my shoe and continued out of the corral in exactly 1:00. Even with the stoppage, I was the 17th fastest second transitioner.

Run 2
Having passed a large chuck of the racers on the bike, the second lap around the course was a little bit more lonely. I passed one bloke almost immediately. He would be the last person I passed on the run.

Run 2 is nearly a carbon negative of run 1.

As we ran a good chunk of the run immediately adjacent to the river, we were able to see some of the tri-paddlers in their kayaks as they navigated the relatively calm waters. For them, the current was at their back on the way down and in their bows on the way back. For us, we had a mostly flat run. The Garmin posted an elevation gain of a whopping 17 feet, most of which came from the bridges over the river.

I admit that run 2 was borderline evil. First, it was the last work of the day on pre-fatigued legs. Second, it was a little bit further that the advertised 5k by about a quarter of a mile. Third, it involved yet more running.

I was passed by 3 people during the run. The first 2 passed my around the 1 mile mark and they were pretty much together. The last guy came by about the 2.5 mile mark. I'm pretty sure they were all in my age group.

I finished the 5+k run on a 7:15 pace and a time of 23.46. This time was good enough for a surprising 20th place over that stretch.

My overall time was 1:42.13. This put me in the top 20 (I.E. exactly 20th place). In my age group, I was 8th.

Just to compare, had I been in a different age group, say the M30-34 group, I would have been in 2nd place. Or, perhaps the M40-44, I would have been in 4th. Tough age group. I raced hard and am not at all upset with my results.

Good show by the guys and gals at Fleet Feet and Yellow Jacket racing. They posted results online before I was able to limb back to transition to change my shirt. Some dude with a Guiness and an iPad confirmed that I was not in the awards banquet. I went home to collapse from my effort and begin to ready myself for the second half of this race weekend. Stay tuned.

2011 Short Season

If you read the literature, 'they' say that you need to take a few weeks off after your A-race to recover and re-charge the battery. 'They' also say that you don't want to start training too soon for your next big race, in fear that you will peak too early. By all calculations, I will start training for Ironman Lake Placid, 2012 edition in mid October. This seems like a good time to get started in base training. Fall coaching season will have concluded. October should have a few good days left for biking. The temperatures aren't so cold, nor are they warm. This makes for good running. Also, and I'm pretty sure it's not too early to make this prediction, but the Cubs probably won't be playing any baseball.

As I near the end of my recovery (more on this topic soon), I have to figure out what to do with myself between now and October. Contrary to what the rest of the country thinks, not exercising isn't all that much fun. It's still quite warm outside and there are several local races to be had.

Getting Back to My Roots
Way back in the day, I got started in triathlon via the Sprint tri. Even though I have picked up the Ironman disease, I actually prefer the short distances. In long course, the routine is all about pace. In short distance, the routine is all about speed. The IM is not a swim race, bike race, run race. A Sprint Tri is just that. There is very little reason to hold out, especially when your base is significantly deeper than the Sprint distance. Plus, I like the satisfaction of being done Lens Crafters style (in about an hour).

The major issue I have with the short stuff is that I'm pretty sure I have forgotten how to go fast. I haven't trained for speed in any of this disciplines. That is going to have to change. Workouts from now through October will be laden with speed (assuming that the knee can hold out) with the occasional long day tossed in to keep me honest.

Off to the Races
Summer Sizzler- August 13th. This extra short Sprint is on the edge of my recovery plan. I probably shouldn't race, but the Wife will be doing this as her first triathlon in many years. Plus, I like racing. Like I said, the race is shorter than normal, making this the ideal come-back race. At 400 yard swim, 17 k bike (~10.5 miles) and 3k run (~1.9 miles), the Wife and I can be done relatively quickly. The have a 'Formula 1" race option, which means that you would do everything twice without stopping. Not this year.

Rochester Triathlon *- August 27. This is the first year of this event hosted by the RATS (Rochester Area Triathletes) and I am curious. They are holding the race in a location that is screaming triathlon but has yet to be tapped. Sadly, the race organizers have not really posted much information on this race. If you go to their website (link provided) the course details are meager. And, if you read my blurb on race distances, you'd know that Sprint distances are open to interpretation. After a bit of digging, I found the following distances; .75k swim, 20k bike, 5k run (0.5, 12.4, 3.1 miles)

Fingerlakes Triathlon- September 11. This race has long been on my triathlon schedule and it tends to mark the last horrah for triathlon in the area. There are others later in the year but I may have to break my 2 hour traveling rule. That might happen. But, since school will have started back up, I proceed with caution. In the FLT, I will be doing the Sprint Distance race at Swim .45 mi, Bike 13 mi, Run 3.1 mi. I am making this my A race for the short season, so hopefully the pump will be primed for speed. FYI, this is the race in the Rochester area that I encourage any triathlon newbie or swimmer-nervous athlete. The water is shallow enough that you could virtually walk the entire swim.

Autumn Classic Duathlon*- October 2. Sigh. The triathlon season is officially over here. It's back to non-swimming events. I did this race a year ago, encouraged by the Wife who wanted to do a trail run. When given the option of just running, or biking and running, I picked the latter. While the Wife was out prancing through the trees, I was doing my (at the time) first ever Formula 1 duathlon. We ran 2 miles, biked 10, ran 2, biked 10, and again ran 2. That's RBRBR. It was kind a fun so I plan on doing it again.

*Denotes that I have not yet registered for this event as of this post.

Since fall is the season of the runner, I am sure there may be a 5k or 10k that may pop up on a whim. And, the whim generally means that a woman in my life has encouraged it (beit the Wife or one of the ladies I help train). Those are also fun to do as well.

If anyone knows of a good race (hopefully triathlon but will consider others) in late September or early October, please send it along. I do like racing. Racing keeps me motivated. Racing keeps me moving.

Race Review and Results- Flower City Duathlon

First- A public service announcement. You may have noticed that Tri-Banter has a new look. Every once in a while, I like to change things up a bit. This is normally externally motivated. In this case, it was a rant by The Wife. She was (literally) yelling at her computer about people who's webpages have black backgrounds with white fonts and how it migraines her. She may have blurted out something about, "... and that's the reason I don't read your blog." I'm skeptical. I am sure there are many reasons she not a follower, I can at least resolve the background problem.

Now, on with your regularly scheduled blog post.

This weekend marked the first time I've done 2 races in the same weekend. This is the first in the series, the Flower City Duathlon, Part One of the Double. I had some lofty goals for this race and I may have set myself up for failure. As with any failure, I need a scapegoat. Therefore, I thought of a list of reasons why I would do bad even before the race began. There are lots of reasons I came up with for a poor performance.

• I've only ridden the bike outside 3 times this year.
• 3 days ago, it rained while riding. 2 days ago, I had to clean off the rain gunk and goo. In doing so, I pulled a muscle in my back.
• I was so distracted by the woman's race winner that I swallowed my tongue as she ran by in her pink shirt and lycra shorts.
• The racetime start temperature was lower than my normal threshold for biking.
• I was distraught that the race organizers had to cancel the paddle-triathlon. All those competitors magically became duathletes and my race grew in size.
• I had not put on my race wheels.
• I am a pansy
• I was over-rested. Due to the back problem, I did not exercise on Thursday or Friday. My legs were not ready for the effort.
• I was under-rested. I did not go to sleep until about 11:00 pm, which is a good 90 min after my normal bedtime. Couple that with the earlier wake-up
• Still, even with the early wake up, I did not get out of bed until 5:30, which was only 2 hours before race time
• Because I woke up so close to race time, I couldn't eat much. I didn't want my stomach bogged down with slushy goo. I maybe had 500 calories.
• I hate duathlons. I miss the swim. Therefore, I had a bad attitude going into the event (especially when you add in the all the other bullets)

Each of the above is completely true. Each of the above is completely valid. Any one, or a combination (depending on the seriousness), of them could be used in the event of crappiness. Here's how the day panned out.

I did get up from a groggy nap at 5:30. I spent most of my evening neurotically packing the car with the necessities of the race. Bike. Race belt. Rubbing the pulled muscle in my back. Blah blah blah. Everything except for the clothes I was going to wear to the race and my bike shoes. The bike shoes were still wet from being stuck in a torrential down pour during Wednesday's training ride. I had hoped to get in a 20 miler but mother nature laughed at me in her own way with horizontal rain and winds on 40 mph gusting to 55. It was a good way to practice bike handling skills and get in a good forearm workout (IE hanging on for your life). The shoes were placed in the basement in front of a fan. They dried out by morning.

Race time temperature was a whopping 38º. If you ignored the thermometer, the day was as beautiful as it could get. Sunny. Slight breeze out of the north. A couple of fluffy clouds scattered in a backdrop of blue. Good running weather.

My run goal of the day was a 7:30 pace for the entirety. That meant hitting a 5k in under 22:00. The second wave of the race went off a full 3 minutes after mine. It took the lead runners all the way until mile 2 to catch me. Despite their awesomeness to my suckiness, I was able to hold a 7:20 pace. My time: 22:17. If you are good with numbers, you'd know that I'm giving you conflicting data. The problem was that the early session was not a 5k. It was more like a 5K + 400 yards. That makes my run 1 time all that much better. So far, so good. I'm on target and ahead of schedule.

I felt like I was painfully slow in T1. Run shoes off. Bike shoes on. Ear covers. Helmet. Sunglasses. Gloves. Run away. I accomplished all of that in about 90 seconds. I should have done it in under 50. I knew I had a few seconds to space on my goal time and therefore was in no real hurry.

On to the bike. Good mount. Good cadence. I was able to hold just under 21 mph for the ride (thank goodness I changed that goal). There was an unexpected stretch of about 7 miles that was straight into the wind the entire time. It was during this stretch when I was passed by 3 of the 4 guys that were going to pass me. They were all wearing aero helmets and had disk wheels. It's possible that they were better bikers than me. But, since I'm in the mood of making excuses, I'm blaming their equipment.

T2 was a bit better than T1. I had to undo everything I did on the way out. I left the shoes on the bike and did a flying dismount. I kept on my gloves and ear things to slowly remove during the run. With speed laces, I was able to slip on my Mirages. When I compare my T2 times with the field, I was rather efficient at 53 seconds.

Run 2 surprised me. Since I had very little calories on the day (I took an additional 100 calories along with some water on the bike), I was expecting to die at any time. Death did not come for me. In fact, quite the opposite. I felt great. There were a couple of hills that ascended up to 8 feet while going over river bridges. One of the hills may have been as great as 10 feet. They were intimidating. (I know that sarcasm is difficult to write, but you had to have caught that one, right?) It was near the last hill that I got chicked. She flew by and I was helpless to her prowess on more than one level. Still, I was able to hold a 7:00 pace. Negative splits on the day. YES! My R2 time was 19:28. Again, if you are an amateur mathematician, you'd get that there is something askew in my numbers. This 5k was a good 400 yards less at 2.81 miles. I guess they needed balance. Aside: The Garmin, in its infinite wisdom, had my average moving pace way fast. Maybe I'll start training for the record.

The Pros for the Race

• Good time of year (woohoo, first multisport event!)
• Well organized (good transition area, good finishers area, good venue, parking a bit further but plentiful)
• Nice courses for both the runs and bike (good path, good roads, bad cow smell at one point but that's not their fault)
• Food spread post race (cookies, fruit, and hot dogs. Seemed a bit early for hot dogs but I was ravenous)
• Awesome volunteers (I can't say enough about these good people. They control traffic, hand out water, steal timing chips from sweaty, dripping monkeys. They are the heart and soul of these races and better people than me.)

The Cons for the Race

• Temperature (When will RDs figure out how to control the weather?)
• Different distances in the runs (I'd prefer the consistency)
• Worst Swag Ever (Nothing. We got nothing except one lousy coupon and a bunch of advertisements for other races. Oh, and a grocery bag.)
• Race Results (The pdf gave name, age, run, transitions, bike, overall time, and for some reason USAT status on the report. No places except overall. No paces. Better results include a breakdown in each category of your overall place, gender place, and age group place. They tell you the official pace in min/ mile for the run and mph for the bike.)
• Tearing down transition before racers finished (Even though my bike was out long before this point, there were many bikes and such in the transition area when they broke down the fences. I understand that you guys want to go home, but how is that secure for the late finishers? Wait a little bit more, please.)

Springer's Banter's Final Thoughts
I will, most likely, do this race again next year. I am guessing that the race organizers will have figured out how to control the temperature a little bit better. Plus, if the record books have anything to say, spring of 2012 is guaranteed to be dryer, warmer, and more biking friendly.

I wanted a sub- 1:45 for the race. I clocked a 1:42.09, making this my Flower City Duathlon PR (yes, this was my first attempt, thanks for pointing that out). I finished in the top 25 overall (read, I was 25th). I was 4th in my age group. All of my excuses for a bad performance were not necessary and I hate it when I do unnecessary work. To live and learn. Due to that effort, they gave me a nice metal pail with a marigold (which The Wife is allergic and refused to accept). They also gave all those who crossed the line a nice "finisher's medal."

(Short rant here but I find that, for a race this distance, finishers medals to all is a bit silly. I don't feel it was that special of an accomplishment. By handing everyone who finished a medal, it sort of dilutes it. We all got t-shirts. Did we really need medals too? Sure, there are those that disagree with me. Personally, I think that making a reward challenging and not giving it to everyone makes it all that much more special when you do earn it. Either that or spend less money on medals and give out more swag, which for some reason, seems better. End Rant).

Stay tuned. The Flower City Half Marathon Race and Results soon to follow.