On Being A Race Director

My first endeavor in this arena is this Saturday at 10:00 AM when I co-direct a 5k and 10k run for our triathlon club. I am SO excited and SO scared - the anticipation and panic are mounting daily.

The decisions to be made are exponential and with each decision I waiver and look for guidance. The other director has taken on all the parts of the job that I don't like - she is doing the majority of personal contact. I'm doing all the online, non-personal tasks. At this point, I'm not entirely certain that I'm pulling my weight.

She will be out there tomorrow morning in the frigid cold hanging NO PARKING signs along the route. I feel bad that I can't be there and glad that I can't be there. I hate cold - I hate cold real bad.

This is the third year for this race and in the past no one has really taken the time to promote it properly. We decided this year would be different - we had a crackerjack team of volunteers putting registration forms out all over the city. Last year there were 47 runners - this year we made the decision to stop accepting registrations when they reached 200 as we planned for far less and told city officials and police we were expecting 100-150. Not necessarily a popular decision if you intended to run in the race and just now decided to signup.

We had a blogspot to post information and participant lists, we had links to registration setup on the tri club site and local running store and track club sites. We had volunteers out beating the bushes for freebies for the packets.

We have these really cool looking beanies to give out instead of the ceremonious tee shirt. We have trophies and medals to hand out to the winners.

And we are hoping for a really awesome race and experience for the 200 that had the foresight to sign up before the week of the race. Lots of people inquiring and go away frowning - but next year we will be ready. We know the best way to promote and get the runners stoked - we will have a handle on how much money we will have to spend on niceties and awards.

So, it's been a true learning experience and I'm not really sure that I would want to do it again. But, you know, these things are like childbirth and triathlon - the joy at the end always seems to overwhelm the pain.

Starting off the New Year Right

i started off the new year by doing a 15k run with friends in a new neighborhood. I first ran a 10k with my training friend - we had to dodge the sticky balls and cracks and raises in the sidewalk while my friend kept checking the map to be sure we stayed on the route. It went well and I felt great.

My friend was done after the 10k, but I wasn't. So I went back out to run a 5k add-on and I reversed the route hoping to meet up with the folks that were running a half marathon. I never did run into them but was having a great run. The weather was about 35 degrees and the the sun was shining. I was running through a very nice park, but had to keep checking the route map to be sure I made the correct turns. Since this was a neighborhood that was off my beaten path, I wanted to make sure I didn't get lost. So, I had a little less than a mile to go and looked down at the map (while running) to check for my next turn and then down I went. I'm not even sure how I tripped. I landed on my left hand - bending back the nail on my index finger. Do you know how bad that hurts? and my right knee - felt like I skinned it a little bit. My Garmin even popped off the quick release wrist band.

So I popped my Garmin back in place, brushed myself off and continued on with my run. Of course, I'm cursing myself for being such a klutz. Got back to the house with the rest of my friends and enjoyed a great BBQ lunch - the neighborhood smelled of the BBQ as I approached the house and I was very hungry. In fact, I completely forgot all about my fall until I got ready to leave and had to go down a step out of the house. My knee hurt REALLY bad, but I continued loading up my car and headed for home.

After I got home, I was mostly whiny about my finger and my hand. I checked my knee and it was pretty scraped up - but nothing major. Later on that evening my chest muscle hurt on the side where I caught myself with my hand. The cold I had been fighting off also descended on me. I also wondered if my chest hurt due to my cold - just not entirely sure.

As the days went by, my knee felt better, my finger and hand felt better and the pain in my chest went away. If not for the cold, I would've been feeling pretty normal. I went ahead and took Monday as a rest day from workouts to try to recover from my cold.

Tuesday is workout with the trainer day and she is tough. She is really tough with me because she knows I will try to complete the workout and challenge myself - which is exactly how we proceeded through the workout. I had told her about all my "excuses" - I try hard, but I also whine along the way...in case you didn't know that about me. She took me seriously and she told me to be a bit cautious and see how things went. I was doing all the leg work just fine and the arm work as well. I did my plank jumps with no pain. We moved on to the ball pass using the Swiss ball and when I reached over my head, the pain in my chest was unbelievable. I figured that I had just sparked a muscle spasm and continued on - big mistake.

I was going to swim and/or run later that evening but weenied out on that - the pain in my chest was just too intense. It was no better today AND to top it all off - I totally scraped a big hunk of skin off the top of my finger when I was carrying a basket of laundry. I managed to run into the corner of the wall with my hand - so once again, I am just a big mess.

So do I do these things to myself to give me "excuses" to skip out on my workouts punishing myself mentally because I'm not doing what I think I should? Am I just the biggest klutz on the planet? I'm hoping that this is not a trend for me for 2009 - maybe I'm just getting it all out of my system during the off-season and will be ready to rock n roll soon.

Fingers crossed....

Here's to Breathing in 2009

What am I talking about? Didn't I breathe in 2008? Well, of course I did - but my farewell to 2008 was definitely questionable.

We never go out on New Year's Eve for many reasons: (1) we are older, wiser and not ready to die just yet; (2) we are fearful of the Popo (that's what my son calls the police and we don't want any DWI) - on that note I have to say that throughout our lifetime, we have been extremely lucky with the number of times we questionably drove home after imbibing - we didn't get caught, we didn't kill anyone and we didn't kill ourselves - enough said; (3) it's just too crowded to go anywhere.

BUT, last night, we went to a small bar near our house because it was my brother-in-law's 50th birthday - so we felt obligated to go. This turned out to be a huge mistake and one I am paying for today.

I have forgotten how smoky bars can get! We got there about 8:30 and left at 10:30 - I had a headache and felt like I was going to throw-up. One of the guys at our table is my son's girlfriend's father - whom I have never met before. My son and his girlfriend are getting engaged soon - they already have the ring - why aren't they engaged yet? Who knows - that's another story. Anyway, he was lighting up regularly and when he left, I felt a small bit of relief. Then another friend of my brother-in-law and his wife sat next to us and they both lit up the fire sticks. It was really more than I could take so we had to come home.

So add that to another reason to stay home on New Year's Eve - unless there is a smoke-free bar somewhere - oh yeah, they are smoke-free in Illinois - but that's too far to go.

I used to be a smoker - how is that even possible? I can't believe I did that for 15 years of my life - it is so awful and now my nephew is a smoker. My non-working, non-going-to-school 17 year old nephew smokes and his parents go out and buy cigarettes for him. His parents, who used to be smokers and finally quit, actually get in their car and drive to the store for the sole purpose of purchasing cigarettes for the lazy bastard! I asked my sister-in-law, "You let him smoke cigarettes?!" and she said that she didn't have a choice. But, she does have a choice about providing him with them to which she replied that he is difficult to live with unless he has his cigarettes. In my mind, the little slug can walk to the store himself to get them - but that's just me.

OK - I digressed just a bit. But the bottom line is that SMOKING IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH - but then you already knew that. I wish everyone else did.

So, I'm home and desmoking my clothes and body for 2009.