Thursday, July 30, 2009

Another Last Place Finish in July

A grilled cheese sandwich during a race is always yummy...although this one at the Race Around the Lake Marathon was not a race sanctioned aid station but was a church fundraiser. But regardless it was tasty!
Enjoying the lake while partaking in a yummy coconut smoothie from Gingerbread construction company (good smoothie, great muffins!!) In fact for this picture what you cannot see is that I was sitting on a bench appreciating a small break from running (yeah, that's what I'll call it even though I was "running" 20 minute miles at best!)


"I'm in a race, can you call me later?" (these are words you'll never hear me say). In fact I was calling people left and right. Although no one was home or else they were screening their calls at 7 a.m. Saturday morning!
I think I need to upgrade my friends and family. If I need to phone a friend during a race, they should be available!!

Here I am sizing up my competition, a very cute golden retriever puppy. I think I could beat him in a marathon, but he abruptly quit after about 100 meters.


During the race I wanted to check my google e-mail (in case some sponsor decided to offer me some big bucks for my inspiring performance!). I also needed to check in online so I could get a good seat on my return Southwest flight (nothing but A's in boarding group is my philosophy). And of course I like to keep on top of the news:-)
Notice that my new laptop matches my running outfit. I think I will start running with Pinky because she would be a really cool accessory to go with my lei, sparkeley fanny pack and lucky mountain goat: Jim Baaaah--n (thanks Glaven!)


July has not been a stellar month in terms of athletic performance. Although it started off well since July 4th I ran a 5 km fun run with my friend Flo and we did not come in last. Since then my placement has dropped precipitously with:

1) Last place female at Vermont 100 miler (how did this happen??? after Umstead 100 in 2007 I vowed never to come in last place and suddenly I recapture the pathetic-ness of my youth).

But apparently last place female was not a low enough bar for me...

2) Last place overall at the Race Around the Lake Marathon!!! was my next event. (Even if I had skipped my shower, sleep, blogging, e-mailing, muffin-buying and eating, I still would have come in last as my main competition for last finished in just over 7 hours! Excluding my tasks and sleeping would have simply altered my time from ~14 hours to ~8 hours).

I had been hoping there was a glitch and someone unexpectedly finished after me but now the official results are posted showing me as the last finisher.

I am optimistic August will bring me improved placement; however, considering I was 2nd to last in the IronGirl Triathlon last year and I have been last in 50 km races before, I am not convinced I will do much better.

My IronGirl Triathlon poor performance I blame on my waterproof camera (which totally wasn't pulling it's own weight), my ~20 minute transition time (excuse me for wanting fastidiously clean feet) and my general awful swimming and biking capabilities (throw in bad running and how I came in second to last is easily understandable!)

Maybe I need a new strategy. Or maybe I just need to embrace my pathetic-ness. Or maybe I need to take the advice of one of my bloggy friends, Joy who suggested to her kids "You're a winner for even finishing". Yeah, that sounds right!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

One correction. While you may have been last among the women finishers at the VT100, 57 people DNF'd (no I did not pace them all), and you beat 3 male finishers. So, as far as I can tell, you're far from last! Plus that dog DNF'd the lake run. :)

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Wait! How did I earn a thanks?

I really don't remember!

joyRuN said...

So it's not speedy with the e-mail/blogging/phone calls/muffins/etc., but it sure sounds more fun & relaxed!

Oh, and YEAH - what sphericalcow said!!!

Runner Tammy said...

Shane,

Good point...but alas in statistics we just ignore missing values (DNF's). Or is it that we are not supposed to ignore missing values. Aack!!

That's hysterically funny about your confession that you did not pace them all. You just paced 2 of them. Next year I need you to pace about 150 people until they all DNF and I come in first!

Glaven,

You helped me name "Jim Baaahn" my mountain goat. Guess Alkie Toosday's strikes again.

Joy,

You are so encouraging...I still wish I could do the kiddie races with your kids because I am pretty sure they would beat me. Although maybe if I practise T2's race stance I can get faster (or else intimidate my competition into DNF'ing--particularly if Shane-speherical cow cannot convince runners to DNF on their own).

A 24 hour time limit for a marathon makes the event so much more enjoyable! We need to petition the Richmond Marathon folks to extend their time limit, then you and I could take a side trip to Krispy Kreme for some hot fresh donuts, yum!

Tammy