Guest Blogger: Flying Pig Marathon (Lisa's Perspective)

Got up at 4am, yawn….

Made our way downtown to the sisters’ hotel via expressway – exits are closed – drove over the bridge into Kentucky and then back again, all the while the GPS woman telling us to turn around to get back on the expressway that we can’t exit off of.  Got good parking when we did get there though, so that was good.

The sisters’ hotel is jumping with racers everywhere!  Crazy how a hotel has to tell it’s guests to give themselves an extra 20 minutes to wait for elevators.  Another toilet mishap in the room – I guess we only get so many flushes… 

Put on our rain ponchos and head out into the dark, rainy morning to the starting line.  Good luck Sherry, Julie, and Scott – see you in a few hours!  Stood near the starting line and saw Julie and Scott run by in the pouring rain.  I decided to go find the finish line so I’d know where to go when it was time to see them finish.  Wow, what a walk!  I saw all the stations of bagels, fruit, and water they were setting up but I saw no finish line.  I had to ask someone where it was – it was on the other side of this ramp/structure to the Cincinnati Reds Stadium.  Finally got there after climbing a huge hill and going around this structure.

Ok, so now I know where I need to be later, time to head back to the hotel and eat and take a nap since I’m the designated driver.  Getting back to the hotel took about 20 minutes walking up a few hills and walking through an almost empty city – I guess no one wanted to be out in the rain.  At the hotel I changed my water logged pants and headed down to our restaurant – I call it ours because we’ve already eaten there twice after not being able to find anything open or not so crowded.  I ordered the cheapest thing on the menu, which were pancakes.  The menu said “pancakes topped with bananas and raspberries” – YUM!  After about a half an hour, I get my pancakes with 5 raspberries and 7 blueberries on the side…..hmmm not what the menu said but I’m not waiting any longer, I’m hungry. 

Breakfast was done now it’s time to take a nap.  I laid down, turn on the tv because the local news station was covering the race – thought I might catch a glimpse of my husband and friends.  Half hour later I get a text from Sherry saying she was done with her half marathon!  Great for Sherry!  Congrats!  Not so great for my nap.  I asked her where she was and I could meet her. Sherry says she is at a big stadium and that I’d never find her.  I told her to make her way up Broadway and go left on either Forth Street or Fifth and that I’d meet her along the way.  The tv anchors said the rain stopped, so I head downstairs, leave the lobby and it’s still raining – what the….  I run back up to the room to get my poncho but it ripped apart so it was useless. So I grabbed the keys to the van so I could get an umbrella and practically ran to the parking garage.  Thinking I’d take the elevator this time to avoid another “void” but the elevator at the parking garage never came.  So I took a deep breath and gathered my courage and ran up the stairs of the parking garage.  I grabbed the umbrella and ran as fast as I could down the stairs hoping not to see any more poop!  Phew, made it.

By this time Sherry was almost at the hotel and I met up with her a block away.  After Sherry was changed she was hungry so we made our way to our restaurant, again.  Got back to the room and I laid down again. Ten minutes later I got an Athlete Tracker email telling me Scott was at mile 19.7.  We decided earlier that at about mile 20 we’d head down the finish line.  So much for resting….  Sherry did not want to do any more walking – really, who could blame her – she just ran 13.1 miles!  So I geared up again and brought the umbrella – luckily it wasn’t raining any more.  I made the 20 minute walk back to the finish line to wait for Julie and Scott.  As soon as I got there Scott called me and said he was about 3 miles out and that Julie might be done already.  Unfortunately I didn’t see Julie, but I did see an old friend – Al, he was running for TEAM and after he finished his race he kept going back to help his fellow TEAM teammates finish.  Way to go Coach Al.

After about 40 minutes, Al ran by and said “Your husband is a little ways back!”  Thanks Al!  I saw Scott running down the straight away!  Yay Scott!  When he was close, I squeezed through the baracade and ran the rest of the way with him across the finish line!  Woooo hoooo!  Awesome job Scott!  I’m so proud of you!!!  I walked with him through all the food and water tables – he grabbed two of everything.  Alrighty, time to get back to the hotel. With no sign of Julie, we figure she headed back already.  As Scott and I start our 20 minute walk back to the hotel, Sherry texts me “How’s it going?  I hear Julie finished?? I heard they are both done?!?”  I think 'uh oh, isn’t Julie with Sherry?'  I texted Sherry back “Yes….. Julie’s not there?  Scott and I are on our way back.”  Thankfully her reply said that Julie is there at the hotel.   Phew.  I thought we lost Julie!

After walking for a few, Scott asks how much further to the hotel.  I said he didn’t want to know let’s keep walking.  He said 'No seriously, how much longer?'  I said about 20 minutes, but don’t worry about it you can do this.  Let’s keep going.  Running for 5 hours really messes with the body and mind!  Poor Scott, he was tired.  I’d be dead….  But I digress.

We finally make it back to the room so Scott can shower and we can get packed-up to leave.  I related the story I heard on the local tv coverage of a guy running the race naked.  Hee hee hee.

We got all packed-up and ready to get on the road.  First stop the airport in Kentucky to drop off Sherry so she can fly home to Boston to see her cutie pie Ruby.  Got to the airport no problem, now trying to get back to Cincinnati was another story.  Construction had I-75 down to one lane so traffic was at a standstill.  Nowhere to get off the highway either. We finally clear the traffic jam and are good to go.  On our way home to see our boys and Julie her kids!  Scott and Julie took a much needed nap on the way.

It was a really interesting and fun weekend and hope we can have more crazy adventures soon.  Thanks Scott, Julie, and Sherry for letting me tag along.  Congratulations to all of you for running and finishing The Flying Pig!  You are an inspiration and I admire each of you.

Until next time….

Lisa, the groupie, bag lady, chauffeur  J

Guest Blogger: New Year's Eve Central Park 4 Miler 2010...A Real Bucket Lister! (Sherry P))

After a string of failed New Years Eve plans including one year where I unknowingly ended up at a senior citizens event where the only person who would talk to us was a drunk retired chemistry professor, I decided to take charge and plan something that was sure to be exciting this year. What better place to go for guaranteed excitement than the Big Apple? New York City. Instead of standing for 12 hours straight in Times Square waiting for the ball to drop, my friend Deidre and I decided to run in Central Park, which is the location of the Emerald Nuts Midnight 4 Mile Run every year on New Years Eve. Plus, I needed another reason to wear my tutu, which I proudly display in Scott’s Turkey Trot write up (see shameless pics). My third use of tutu for the year counting the Somerville Jingle Bell race in Massachusetts. That’s right folks: one tutu, three states. Anyway, I am happy to report that I broke my string of failed New Years Eves! This was a real bucket list experience for any runner! Thousands of reveling runners showed up dressed in costumes, New Years Eve hats, me in my tutu, and other crazy attire in preparation for the experience. Music, dancing, and a costume contest started at 10pm, although Deidre and I were huddled up at a bar until just about race time after walking 3 miles in the cold to the race from the hotel, only to discover that bar food and martinis are not an ideal way to prepare for a race. If I had any idea how much attention one gets for wearing a tutu on the streets of NYC and in a bar no less, I would have been wearing this thing daily for years. After arriving at the race, we all lined up in one large corral and were informed that the race begins precisely when the firework display begins. At exactly midnight, the most amazing display of fireworks burst over our heads and off we went! The fireworks lasted for 15-20 minutes, just continuing to fire off over our heads as we ran through the park. I have never seen anything quite like it. It was like the city was exploding! Thank goodness it really wasn’t. The highlight of the race was the drunken runners who zipped past us yelling, “oh my god, I am SO hammered!” Yet somehow they were running faster than us?! Nicely done! The spectators were great too, high fiving all the runners, yelling “happy new year!”, this was a great race for that feeling of camaraderie you can get at races. Such a happy and friendly crowd, not to mention a diverse crowd, runners were coming from all over the world to run this race. At the 2 mile mark was a water and champagne stop. Gotta love that! And at the end of the race, the announcer called attention to any and all runners coming past the finish line. I was happy, once again, to be called out for my lovely tutu, the announcer said, “Tutu at the finish line!!!” So of course I did some ridiculous hop/skip move across the finish line, you know, the kind of move you do when you have a tutu on. All and all an amazing experience. I could very easily be convinced to do this again next year, so if there are any takers….I’m in! I can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year than a good run. Happy New Year!

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Guest Blogger: Muddy Watters Cider Slam 2010 (Mike B)

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First of all I must say that I’m not a strong runner in speed or distance but I do love the races that Jeff puts together. My friend Scott, a strong runner and creator of this site has gotten me to become addicted to these “mud runs” and he gets me to sign up for them by saying “come on it will be fun, its only like 3 or 4 miles you can do that mike” so I sign up and 5 miles into Scott’s 3.5 mile race I ask myself why do I let him talk me into these silly things, but after the race is over and my heart is back to pumping normal I say “that was a blast when is the next one”

Well the next one just so happened to be the day before Halloween on a beautiful chilly (cold as hell) morning. On the way to the race Robyn (my wife) was telling me to be careful and try not to die, she was worried about the cold and rumors of a possible bridge jump into ice cold water. I said don’t worry I love the cold, that wont bother me at all. Remember that last statement for later.

When we got there we meet our other friend Julie (another victim of Scott’s shenanigans), we were all in costume for the race, since we got points for doing so. Scott as usual went all out and dressed up as Hong Kong phooey dog nose and all. Julie and I went as a tropical paradise, we put on Hawaiian shirts and wore white boxers with dice drawn on them (get it a tropical pair of dice) this was not to be creative but rather to have an easy costume to run in.

So the premise of the race was to run to different check points and do a task to get your passport marked to accumulate points. So you were going for total points and best time. We weren’t going to get a good time sine we decided to run it together and as mentioned before I am not a fast runner. We trusted Scott to be out navigator sine he trains in the park on a weekly basis. So off we go!!!!

80% of the runners went one way and we went the other way, this had me second guessing my trust in Scott as our leader, but then I thought to myself you’re a grown man running in the woods on a 42 degree day dressed in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt following another grown man dressed as a karate chopping dog you have no right to second guess anyone!!!

Ok we get to the first stop, the task, drink a little cider and eat a tinny little doughnut hole, come on Jeff you can come up with something better than that, well he did . Before you get your treat you have to do a trick which was to run up and down 200 stairs. Side note, the week before I went for a walk and my heels started to hurt so after a mile and a half I said we have to turn around and when we got back my heels were blistered and bloody, second side note, NEVER GO FOR A WALK IN CRAPPY SHOES!!!. I tell you this only for sympathy since my heels were not completely better and going down stairs (the easy part) hurt like hell. Anyway we went down and back up only to be asked if that was our first trip and it had to be done twice, you have got to be fu@%$ng kidding me, damn you Scott, not even a mile in and I hate you. So we went back down and decided to go to a few different check points before going back up.

The next one wasn’t bad just had to do a few exercises and off to the next. The next one I think we had to do 30 down ups and I thought that’s a lot but ok , then I was told first you have to run up that huge, steep, leave covered hill and back down first, Damn you Scott or Jeff or whoever, you all suck. Up I go, feet slipping, heels loving me, finally get to the top with Julie and start to go down. Looking at everyone falling and slipping I decided to go down sideways cross stepping so my feet wouldn’t be facing down hill, Julie decided to slide down on her butt. I made it down with just a few falls and Julie made it down but looked like she soiled herself (she had dirt marks streaking down the back of her white boxers) We did our stupid down up’s and ran back to the bottom of the steps.
Up another 200 Fu@%$ng steps to eat our treat. You would think it would be easy to eat a single doughnut hole but not after doing all that I could hardly get it down. You win again Jeff.

We realized that we had to get to the bridge in the next 20 minuets since that stop would close, and we were about 2 miles away. Now I may not be good at running but I am good at math and if I figure it correctly 2 mile in 20 minutes is almost running at a 10 minute mile pace. That’s my fast speed on flat ground, Damn you Hong Kong phooey you got me again. So we ran as fast as I could and Scott pulled away at the end to ensure we would be at the bridge in time. He made it and I got there in time to see him jump off the bridge doing a karate kick in the air. I was able to do it also even though I was technically 1 minute late. So I took off my shirt and Julie pushed me off the bridge, and down I went into the icy waters below.

Now remember when I said “ I love the cold it doesn’t bother me at all” well I was wrong when I hit the water and went 3 feet under IT WAS FREEZING!! When I came up I couldn’t catch my breath for a few seconds, it was like my heart did not want to move, and I thought if I have a heart attack, Robyn is going to be so pissed at me, so I sucked it up swam to the river bank dried off real quick and back to running. I was feeling good the river gave me some energy and the hardest parts of the race were behind us. Just a few more MILES of running up to a store had to buy some candy for the kids run, back to the park, to run up and down a little hill a few more exercises, and had to solve a few riddles. I say thank you to Scott and Julie for running a slower race so we could stay together. As for Scott talking me into doing it , I love and hate you at the same time, I guess that goes for Jeff also. The only think left to say is, that was a blast, when is the next one!?

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Guest Blogger: Muddy Watters Cider Slam 10/10 (Julie M)

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This was my second bump and run with Jeff Watters and Motor City Boot Camp crew. These races entail trail running with a twist. The twist is various exercises and hazards thrown in just for fun! A risky, crazy kind of fun, but fun none the less.

This particular race was titled the Cider Slam. Runners have to partake in slamming cider and eating donuts to the point of vomiting, or so it says in the brochure. I wondered how eating donuts and cider could be a bad thing, so I signed up. Scott, my friend in charge of this nonsense, was worried the field of 70 would fill, so I hurried and signed up, not reading the fine print. The other premise of this race that made it different from all the rest was that the course was unmarked. We were to run through Bloomer Park to several different checkpoints and get our ticket validated by a race volunteer after a given activity was completed. Runners were to use maps and a compass to navigate through the park in the most efficient manner possible. Scott and my other friend Mike decided to wear our silliest costumes and try out our orienteering skills. Scott spent many hours training in Bloomer Park since the last race we had there, so he felt he was familiar with the lay of the land. I think he was trying to redeem himself from getting lost at two previous bump and runs. He also poured over maps of the park and attempted to determine the most efficient manner to traverse the park and hit the various checkpoints. Mike and I reviewed his instructions and they seemed reasonable.

So let the race begin! All the runners began going in different directions. This was a weird feeling because usually a race course is predetermined and we all follow the same route. We headed out to the first obstacle which was a 200 step staircase. We were to go up and down 2x and slam cider and donuts at the top before heading to the next checkpoint. We went down, up and back down again when we decided to change course based on what some of the others were doing. We headed to a bridge area where we were supposed to do 15 down ups. There were no race officials at this point so a fellow runner suggested we skip the down ups. This idea sounded appealing to me as we just finished 300 steps and I knew we had a lot of the race ahead of us including climbing broken collar bone hill and a proposed bridge jump. However my dear friend Scott is a stickler for details and he has been training hard for this race...down ups and all. So we diligently did our down ups!! I think his look of satisfaction was almost worth the effort.

We are now back on the trail heading for the stairs when I notice an older gentleman with his teenage daughter and son in tow. I suddenly began having flash backs of Scott being lost in the woods at the previous race and going about 4 miles out of his way. Any self respecting dad would never take his precious children running through the woods without a plan. Maybe I should follow them? I sort of began following them. I very soon began to hear jeering and shouts from Scott and Mike. It was apparent they did not like my change in plan, so I let the others pass and rejoined my friends. After all they are a fun bunch and I rather like hanging out with them, even if it means a major detour..aka LOST.

We then headed back to complete the next 200 stairs and time for DONUTS!!! The reason for the race!! Now this was a situation in which I knew I would excel. I am used to long distance running and choking down warm electrolyte/sugar gels, which taste awful. Many times I swear they will come back up, but soon the delightful sugar high starts and I can run like the wind. I chose a cinnamon sugar donut and a cup of cold sweet cider. I quickly devour my tasty snack and look over at my friends. They were struggling to get a teeny tiny donut hole down. I am feeing high on sugar and very excited. I even began to think ridiculous thoughts like doing the bridge jump in 42 degrees. I'm on fire, bring it, lets go!! We have 20 minutes to run 2 miles to get to the bridge before the obstacle closed at 1015am. At this point MIke was falling behind. It seems he went walking all around Boston the weekend before in improper footwear and bloodied his heels. The bloodied heels were screaming, but he had his heart set on the bridge jump. (for the record I told Mike to bring his running shoes to Boston, but he didn't listen) I was shouting out the time as each minute passed to Scott up ahead and he could maybe stall when he reached the bridge to buy time for MIke. We arrived just in the nick of time! My silly friends catapulted themselves off the bridge and through the 42 degree air into the cold and swirling water below. This part of the race is a bit of a blur because apparently they removed their clothing prior to the jump and I had no recollection of this happening until I saw the pictures. As they rose from the water, I observed that they looked cold, wet and miserable. I was having no part of that so I climbed under the fence and crossed the bridge via the road, the way the law intended the bridge be crossed.

Now we are doing some road running to the next checkpoint. We have been instructed to bring $2 along for reasons to be determined. We found out we had to go to a party store checkpoint and purchase the candy for the children's race. Seems like Jeff has us doing his work for him, but we obliged since it was part of the race. In the store there were other racers also purchasing their candy! How fun to have some camaraderie with fellow racers! I love hearing everyones' stories so I began chatting with the other runners and the store keeper. My teammates apparently still had their game faces on and want to get moving so I had to cut it short. But I did get a chance to tell the friendly police officer about our silly little bridge jump. My friends scolded me later because apparently the jump is not legitimately condoned by the law. I was astounded! Jeff would never get us into trouble! I still think they are wrong! Bridge jumping is totally legal, right?

Our last obstacle is the infamous sledding hill. We only had to run down and back up again which seemed incredibly easy compared to the last race going up and down 5 times with burpees in between.

We ran back to the pavilion where we started. We had to solve 2 puzzles, do 20 push ups and 50 mountain climbers in any order. We chose the puzzles first so we could sit down for a minute or two before completing the race. We handed in our tickets and sighed with relief. We helped ourselves to a big bowl of warm, bubbling, chili on the grill that looked absolutely amazing!! I kept my mouth shut because I just then realized we never finished our push ups and mountain climbers. Don't tell Scott!!!

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Guest Blogger: Crim Festival of Races - 2010 (Julie M)

On August 28th, 2010 I ran the Crim 10 mile race in Flint, MI. It’s a fairly large race with an estimated 10,000 runners registered for the 10 mile. There also is a 8k, 5k and teddy bear trot for those interested in a shorter racing experience. It is actually a 3 day festival encouraging health and fitness for the entire community. Being that I attended college at UM-Flint and have in-laws from the Flint area, the route brings back many memories.

This year the weather was absolutely perfect. It was 53 degrees when we arrived in Flint at about 6:45am for our 8am starting time. The sunrise was beautiful and hardly any humidity. We had to arrive early to ensure a parking place and avoid road closures. All of the preliminary race preparations went very smooth. We all got our shirts and timing chips without any waiting or confusion, not even long bathroom lines.

I ran the race with an experienced runner friend, Jerry and a new runner friend Scott. When I run races with Jerry, I usually see the back of his head for a moment and then he is lost in the crowd way ahead of me, never to be seen again until the finish line. However, he has been battling a ankle injury so his plan was to jog slowly and stay along with me. I estimated, quite optimistically, that I would maintain a 9:30 min/mile pace. That plan was quickly aborted for me when I knew I wasn’t feeling a PR day coming on. Jerry kept that pace and quickly disappeared as usual. So Scott and I began our journey through 10 lovely, hilly miles of Flint, MI.

The Crim is a very exciting race because so many people in the community turn out to cheer on the runners. As a runner, you almost feel like a celebrity running along the streets lined with people! There are several bands playing and people singing upbeat music along several corners throughout the route. The people who live along the course bring out their lawn sprinklers and they will gladly hose you down if you ask, or even if you don’t ask in some cases. Some other kind and friendly locals even offered cups of ice to cool and hydrate runners as they speed on by. The most interesting offerings are the fraternity houses. They are happy to provide you a beer or a Krispy Kreme and shot of espresso if you choose. Of course I did not choose to indulge in any of those treats just in case they didn’t agree with me. Scott and I found out later that Jerry was having a grand old time after 2 beers and a Krispy Kreme. Jerry still managed to beat us by 10 minutes and he had a very sore ankle. but that is how it goes with Jerry. Did I mention he was seeded and had a yellow bib meaning he was an “elite” runner? Scott and I were lucky just to be running in his shadow.

There were also some interesting costumes, such as a woman in a leopard cat bikini outfit. Wonder woman and the super hero from the Incredibles also ran the Crim this year. Another interesting fellow dribbled a basketball for the entire 10 miles. I ran near him last year and the constant bouncing of the ball became slightly annoying. Last year we came across a scantily clad middle age woman who we fondly nicknamed the “butt cheek lady” She was wearing elite runner shorts, which are like very small underpants. Elite runners are usually folks of small stature. However this particular woman did not have an elite runner size bottom, so most of her buttocks hung out of the shorts. I really pondered why her friends or family members didn’t pull her aside and get her some running shorts that provided adequate coverage.

The most amazing and motivating people we saw were the runners who have run the Crim since the inception of the race in 1977. Of course many of them are older ladies and gentlemen. They received special honors and were allowed to start before all the rest of us. It is these older ladies and gentlemen who over the past 33 years get out of bed before the sun comes up and get to the starting line at 8am to run the hot, hilly race we call the Crim! I can only hope when I am close to their ages that I will still be able to participate in races like the Crim. I think they are a testament to what the body can do especially when you make the effort and sacrifices to stay healthy throughout your lifetime, and that is really what the Crim Festival of Races is all about!! As the Crim fitness foundation states on their website,” Please join us as we strive to “cultivate fitness as a community and family value.”
I couldn’t agree more and that is why I love this race!! J