Sports: November 2008 Archives

Well, the official race photos from the Richmond Half-Marathon are now in. You can see the effort crease my face several times on the race. I’m actually surprised there aren’t more pictures, but I guess they couldn’t pick me out as easily in the earlier photo locations. I know I went through some photo zones where I was holding my hat and should have had one or more photos there, and there should have been some photos earlier while wearing the hat.

There’s only one photo of me in my hat, which would have occurred during the first 6 or so miles (before I took it off, because it was so warm and humid). The rest of the shots are in the last mile-and-a-half, it appears — two of me finishing up (when the face is really pinched as I run all-out down the hill) and a bunch right after turning onto Grace Street from Lombardy Street (with a strong headwind on both stretches).

(And let’s say that I don’t know why they show all of the winners crossing the tape. I’m not in any of those shots, challenging for the win — if you know what I mean.)

Still, this is probably more photos found than at any other event I’ve run. They had a bunch of photographers on the course (some who moved about after earlier shot locations finished up), so they did a great job there.

And one more thing — you know you’ve been waiting for it, and it is here now. That’s right — the Monty Python channel on YouTube. (Yes, it is the official channel with high-quality videos.)

I’m actually referring to last Saturday, when I ran the inaugural Richmond Half-Marathon. If I told you that the morning temperature was going to be near 70 degrees and humid, which month of the year would you think I was referring to? Maybe August. But no, this was mid-November, after the color on the leaves had largely turned. It was overcast, and a storm had blown through the night before. But yes — weather conditions were rather warm and humid.

My official time was 1:57:33 (good for 877th overall, and 91st in my age group), but I had 2 stops along the way. One stop was for a true pit stop (too crowded at the start to get in line after sitting in traffic for almost 30 minutes waiting to park), and then later running into Will with my parents at mile 9 and spending some time talking to them (that’s where the picture above is from). My total running time (according to my watch) was 1:53:34, which was about where I had aimed to be. It’s a good thing I took a small break at mile 9, because the last 3 to 4 miles was essentially into a 15+ mph headwind, with stronger gusts. I finished strong and feel pretty good about the result, considering my training wasn’t great.

It’s a nice, very flat course, with a super-fast downhill finish. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a half-marathon to do. I will probably look forward to doing it again next year.

Luckily, these aren’t my stories. After all, who would want to tell about the time when you went for a run and wound up running for a mile with a rabid fox attached to your arm? Ouch.

Then there is running as art — literally. I actually think this is kind of a cool concept, where someone goes sprinting through an art gallery every 30 seconds. (Yes, the runners get paid for it.) But then again, I’m not sure it really causes me to think any deeper about running, motion, or whatever else it is trying to suggest. It’s definitely not something timeless (though it is certainly something that could be replicated almost anywhere, if you had an underground tunnel to get back to the starting spot).

I get to add my own tale (hopefully not bizarre) this weekend. Yes, my half-marathon is this Saturday morning. The weather is supposed to be wet - high 50s and scattered rain. I think I can live with that, but hopefully the rain will be gone by then. We’ll see.

You made it to the finish line once again. (As I noted earlier this week, Emily was going to run the New York City Marathon today.) But this time, you absolutely blasted your personal record by almost 20 minutes to finish unofficially in 3:47:18. As we can tell from the splits, you held on well through the end and really kept up the pace through the finish line. Great job — wish I could pull a time like that.

Go get some deserved rest and plot your next move. Hopefully, you’re not too worse for the wear after today’s effort.