Short Races of Spring 2013

Through pain and sorrow do I realize that short-distance running without proper training is nearly as bad as long-distance running without proper training.

So short-distances is when you suffer a lot of pain regardless of your fitness. But if you're unprepared, this pain catches you defenseless (mostly psychologically), and end up feeling shitty even if you ran kinda ok for your shape. For me personally it's compounded by the fact that I used to be much faster than now. It's guilt-tripping squared. So yeah, short distances suck. I experienced a couple this Spring and not looking for more.

Pirates Charities 5K Home Run

So some time mid-week I got bored and signed up for this race. It's a nice way to fight the Wednesday apathy.

Held on the North Shore of Pittsburgh around this baseball stadium PNC Park, it attracted surprisingly many runners for a chilly Saturday morning. Aren't normal people supposed to sleep in after a hard week and a raging Friday?

I acknowledged my expectations...

...which separated me from the crowd (2400+) that flooded the bridge shortly after.

The race also attracted a giant parrot. We immediately reported it to the Wildlife Control and Extermination services.

The beginning was very cheerful. Nothing helps fast pace more than a (false!) belief that you can sustain it for the whole distance.

Yes, I'm wearing a cyan t-shirt.

And yes, I'm still sleeping.

The second part of the race was less entertaining for me. If there's something a 5K shouldn't have many, it's turnarounds. This 5K had four (4!), some of which were on a hill. Check out the course map. Also I did not taper.


When the race entered the baseball stadium, I realized that (a) the finishing line was on the "home plate", and (b) I never watched baseball or knew rules, so (c) I didn't know how far I had yet to go and therefore (d) couldn't possibly compete with anyone around me. Thankfully I was alone there and no need to compete ever arose.

If you zoom in, you can see me through the homestretch.

These colors just make it look fast.

My result was 17:22 (results), 8th place overall and 5th in my age group. It's a shame, but it's not by far my first time at laming out a race.

I actually went to a Pirates game a few days later, and they lost. You know what, such a team as the Bucs deserves such a [fat, slow, lazy, insert your own] runner as me.

Random Distance Run 2013

This traditional race by CMU's School of Computer Science (which I am a proud member of) is among the few where you don't know how long the race will be before somewhat into it.

The essence of this race is to roll two squishy huge dice: one at the start of the race (thus giving runners 1-6 laps to work on), and one after the leading runners get close to finishing the assigned number of laps.

The dice surrounded by indifferent runners.

So this amounts to 2-12 stadium laps of running, or 800m-4800m. No surprise I was initially planning to settle on my 5K pace, but some competition prevented me from doing this.

Just like last year, only few of us share the faith in warming up...

... and stretching.

The first dice rolled 3. Good enough.

Chilling out at the start.

The only thing left of my 800m life is the starting technique.

After the first lap the race seemed pretty crowded.

Over time those brave guys lost their truly Olympic enthusiasm.

Everyone's suddenly interested in their time.

Then they rolled the second dice, and it also showed 3. 1.5 miles was fine by me, although I'd prefer it 10 times longer.

At some point it's my last year's vis-a-vis Jim, some about-to-be-lapped runners, and a ghost left in the picture.

This time I was luckier in using an unethical technique of overtaking in the homestretch.

This didn't feel nice and easy, after almost 2 years since I left my track team.

This sequence of spontaneous events landed me in the first place in the Random Distance Run 2013 (results). Cool, everyone's happy!


Time for some ridiculousness:

No, I wasn't arrested.

Bonus

And here it comes, a series of my individual pictures with the Lady Hounds! It's a collect 'em all thing.

Sh.

J1.

L.

 ______

A policy reminder: I post whatever the hell I want, and then you come to me and complain. Not any other way around. Say no to self-censoring! Say no to Putin! Say no to Chechnya!

Upd:  I figured my disdain for shorter races is motivated by me being able to run further with the same pace, but not able to put my resource into extra speed.