Dash

You may or may not remember that awhile back some of the Clevelanders and I were getting ourselves all fired up about something called Warrior Dash.  Well that was this past weekend and since nobody else has bothered to mention it, and I am in the middle of two loads of laundry I figured I would report.

First, because I like posting gross photos online I should mention that I wound up not doing the Dash.  Not because my running hasn't been up to warrior levels (although that is the case) but rather due to injury.  During a hard fought soccer playoff game I rolled my ankle and after getting up the next morning, flying to Tucson, AZ, driving to Mexico, walking around, playing two games of beach soccer (as goalie -- but still not smart), standing around at a three hour concert and stuffing myself with nothing but tacos and taco relatives, my foot looked like this:

Note the swelling has pretty much engulfed that knobby ankle bone. Cankles! That purple business wrapped all the way around my foot. I got quite a few funny looks at the pool.

Upon my return to the U.S. of A. I was diagnosed with a sprain, got a prescription for steroids and a cool air/gel cast.

The following weekend (June 19) was the Warrior Dash. And while I had to decline participation I did make the trek to Joliet, IL and got my T-shirt (which Andy B. promptly stole to add to his stash of my belongings he's collecting), my furry warrior helmet, my free beer, and some samples of sunflower seeds.  More importantly I was a spectator which meant I got to hold everybody else's crap, motivate both friends and strangers with vocal abuse and take photos.

Everyone in my Warrior posse (4 of 5 are Mile Challengers) did well.  They conquered the run, the mud, the hills, the cargo net, the fire, the hay bail mountain, giant puddles and more mud. I was impressed.

My spectating was mostly at the fire jump and the mud crawl portions.  Pretty entertaining.  In the mud people lost shoes and then had to fish for them in the muck, got shirts stuck on barbed wire, tackled friends and threw mud bombs at strangers.  Here's Andy taking care of the mud:

It's like he'd done it before.  All business.

Anyway, perhaps the Warriors have better insight but from my angle it seemed like a good time. Well organized, cheap beer ($1!), turkey legs, music, a place to recycle your muddy footwear and general fun all around.

Here's the Cleve gang after their 3.17 mile, obstacle-filled feat. Accomplished, muddy and happy:

Everybody's a winner! Nice work, Warriors.

Pro available here: http://www.brightroom.com/view_event_photos.asp?EVENTID=63849&PWD=

Mmmmm, Pickles

Meant to post this awhile ago, but got distracted and saved as draft. Anyway, better late than never I suppose ...

An interesting article from the NYT on a study done about drinking pickle juice to prevent muscles from cramping: Phys Ed: Can Pickle Juice Stop Muscle Cramps?

Nature Of A Different Status

Since my bird post is still appearing as the last thing posted, I thought I'd add a bit of an opposite view of nature that I experienced. Not as cheery as the birds but sometimes the whole yin/yang thing takes over I guess.

This tale begins this past Sunday when I went out for a row with some of my rowing chums. We had some heavy rain in Cleveland Saturday night into Sunday and when this happens the debris in the Cuyahoga gets pretty bad. Everything from every storm drain, creek, roadway, etc. winds up in the river. So it's tree branches, bottles, basketballs, chip bags, hats, logs and plenty of other goodies. Most are just gross, but the big stuff is also rather unpleasant for the rowing shells if you don't see one and there is an impact.

So this particular day there was a lot of stuff out there. At one point we were coming up on a section of river that was like a minefield of debris so we had slowed so we could ease through without destroying the equipment. Up ahead we see something floating that doesn't look like the usual log or garbage. As we pull up alongside we discover this mystery object is an enormous, fat, bloated, and very dead raccoon. It smelled pretty bad and looked even worse.

We carried on and about 10 minutes later we come up to something else big and out of the ordinary in the water. This one? A dead deer floating along.

I can sort of see how a raccoon might get trapped in a swirl of water in some pipe or something and wind up in the river, but the deer has me stumped.

So there you go, two different tales of nature along the Cuyahoga ... the living and the dead.

The Birds

Not really related to miles, and especially not to running (since I am way behind in that category), but while rowing this spring I've seen a lot of birds.  I don't know if there are more than prior years or if I'm just noticing more, but I had a mental list going then decided to actually put it all down for whatever reason.

And for those of you who may row or formerly rowed, I am well aware that I technically shouldn't be looking out of the boat, but sometimes there are breaks and I check out my surroundings.  And I've also been a coxswain a couple of times which makes for good viewings.

Anyway, here's my list of feathered friends I've seen this year while rowing:

• Blue Jay
• Wood Duck
• Rock Pigeon
• Great Blue Heron
• Canada Goose
• Ring-billed Gulls (one impolitely pooped on me)
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Turkey Vulture
• Grackle
• Mallard Duck
• Sparrow
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Robin
• Starling
• Tree Swallow
• Great Northern Loon aka Common Loon (this one was in Craftsbury, VT, not Cleveland, OH)

And that's your nature report for today. Keep on milein'.

Another Done

Kudos and Congrats to Runner_Steph who has hit mile 365 and then some. All miles tallied via running and a half marathon completed in the process.

Challenge Met!

I can't decide if I'm a creep for even talking about this.

Before I get started I just want to say that I bought a new mouse for my computer. One of those "Magic Mouses" for a Macintosh. It's pretty awesome.

Now on to my running story.

I'm out running. I figured with Warrior Dash less then a month away at this point, it's time to get serious. Having not run since last Tuesday I figured an easy two miles would suffice for the day. I'm about three quarters into my jog when I look across the street and see an abandoned BMX bike on a tree lawn (for all you non-Ohians, a "tree lawn" is the grassy patch between the sidewalk and the street). I think to myself, "Someone must be getting rid of a BMX bike, maybe I should stop and take a look."

Just as I'm about to commit to go check out the condition of the bike, I look about 6 feet back from the bike. There, about two feet from away from the side of an apartment complex, is a female of undetermined age, pants around knees, full squat position.

Now there is only one explanation for one this girl was doing:
1.a. Taking a shit.
1.b. Taking a piss.

I know that's technically two things but they both fall in the over-arching category of "going to the bathroom in public."

As a member of the human community with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), I am fully aware of the sudden, and often overwhelming, urge to take a shit at any given moment. However, I have NEVER just up and squatted next to a building and taken care of business. Sure, I've peed outside countless times. But this girl had her head down, she looked like she was in it for the long haul. I'm pretty sure she was dumping.

So that was one of the weirdest thing I've seen in a while. It sure does make a mundane run a bit more interesting.

Challenge Met

I'm happy to say Bill and Berto have met the challenge. We're not even halfway through the challenge and these entrants all ready did it.

Congratulations!

Total For All Activities - 5/15/2010

Challenger	Mile(s) Logged	Days Left	Mile(s)To Go	Current Rate	Required Rate
Bill	458	230	-93	3.393	Challenge Met
Berto	387	230	-22	2.867	Challenge Met

Total For Jogging - 5/15/2010

Challenger	Mile(s) Logged	Days Left	Mile(s)To Go	Current Rate	Required Rate
Berto	373	230	-8	2.763	Challenge Met