Man Flu & Drinking While Running

Man Flu Noun: Similar in appearance to a normal headcold, however in the presence of testosterone, the symptoms compound exponentially.  This epidemic is often presented with “I think my body is rejecting itself”, “I have a case of the ouchies”, and “why won’t you just take care of me”-itis. 

I’m sick.  More specifically I have a case of the man flu (a head cold).  I will almost always admit that I am the stereotypical guy and I don’t respond very well to being sick.  I essentially piss and moan about how I am in the worst pain ever and no one understands.  It’s a pleasure to be around me, I’m sure (that is, more than normal).   Of course, since I can barely keep up with my own bodily functions (read: more discharge from my face than a weekend with Paris Hilton), I’m not running.  And that is getting in my head.


The “rulebook” says that you should run through a head cold and stop for a chest cold – but I’m being ultra cautious.  I caught it from my son who has since developed a pretty bad cough.  The reality is that, while a head cold will slow me down for a day or two, a chest cold might knock me out for a week.  I’ve missed two days thus far, so it is definitely time to get back on the horse and test it out.  Which I will, right after I check that this spot I have on my chest isn't ebola......

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On my Turkey Trot 10K Race Report, JnetRuns commented on me carrying a handheld while running.  She said something like this:

So, I'm going to try to answer this with as little innuendo as possible.  (Who am I kidding, hold on, you’re about to ride the 7th grade maturity level bus. For brevity sake, I’ll mark all “that’s what she said” with three asterisks like this - ***)  The answer is yes, I can drink liquid at about any speed*** but it didn’t happen naturally, it honestly took a lot of practice***.  The trick for me is to get a bottle that you can squeeze vs one that needs to be sucked***.  You can generally squeeze into your mouth while still breathing through your nose*** and then swallow after your mouth is half full and taking in a deep breath***.  Don’t fill your mouth so full that you have to gulp twice*** otherwise you’ll need to breath in-between and the likelihood of choking is much higher***.

I will say that during my 17:59 5K, I tried to drink a cup of water at about the half-way point and totally spilled it all over myself like an idiot. What didn’t go down the front of my shirt certainly went up my nose***. :)

Mesa 10K Turkey Trot Race Report!

One of my favorite sayings is "even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while".  I suppose that for my turkey trot 10K where I PRd by 3 minutes, you could easily say that while I wasn't blind but my hands are hairy I certainly had a bit of luck on my side.

Time: 36:47 (PR by 2:57!!)
Pace: 5:55 / mile (10.15 mph)
Place: 29th out of 2668
AG Place: 7th in the impossible 30-34 age group

Like I mentioned in my 5k/10k racing advice post, I've done the Mesa Turkey trot 3 of the last 4 years. It is a VERY well put on race - one of Arizona's oldest going for nearly 40 years.  Of course, with that kind of stellar coordination, the fast racers always come out.  I seriously have NO idea what the deal is, but last year had two Olympians running and this year had no fewer than 3 people going sub 33:00.  It's probably because of the prizes.

You see, while some races give out trophies, Lap Dances, plaques, medals, or even beer mugs for their age group awards, the Mesa Turkey Trot gives meat for all of the winners. Lots and lots of meat.

Mmmm, tastes like winning

As per my own advice, as soon as I got there and got checked in, I headed out for a warm up mile.  Nothing too fast, but just fast enough to remind my legs what running feels like.  I had done 8 miles the day before with some fast strides at race pace, so I wanted to see if I had any residual fatigue left in them. (I would have liked to go a bit shorter, said no man ever.)  Just like the dolphin trainers at Sea World always say, everything felt good so I was ready to roll.

I got lined up 2 rows back from the start when all of a sudden a big group of kids pushed their way to the front pushing me back further.... then another group of moms/dads/kids all with matching shirts.... and some local cross country kids.... and so on and so on.  Before I knew it, I was easily 10 rows back.  While normal competitive Adam would have used the pint sized turkey trotters to pole vault to the front, I tried to grit my teeth and remind myself: This is just a turkey trot, this is just a turkey trot...

Although, I did ask the group of shirtless cross country kids how fast they were looking to go (as they were commenting on each others chest hair shave job - no lie) to which the alpha male immediately spouted off "sub 33" with a smerk and a glance top to bottom sizing me up.  Fine, I'll stay where I was.

Miles 1-2: As I stood at the starting line, I was NERVOUS. I was set to be one of the top 50 finishers and I was sweating like I was worried about not finishing. That's what he said. No matter how experienced I get, it happens to be before almost every single race.

Once the race started, as expected, I zigged and zagged past all of the rather ambitious people who started at the front.  Not exactly running tangents, but it did force me to start off a bit slower.  My goal pace was 5:59/mile which would put me at a 37:11 finish. Mile one went by without a hitch and mile 2 felt almost easy. I had a quick flash of fear about blowing up and walking at mile 5, but I decided to roll with it.  It would make for a good blog post either way.

Picture courtesy of Missy - NO clue what mile this is at but 

based on the look on my face, let's assume mile eleventy-billion

Miles 3-4: The start of mile 3 was a gradual downhill which had me running something like 5:10 pace. Not good. If I ran that for very much longer I'd end up crapping my pants like that one guy in the picture we've all seen. So, I pulled it back slightly and crossed the 5K mark in 18:30 - my second fastest 5K ever.  I really need to run more 5Ks.....

When I turned the corner at the start of mile 4, I saw something that I didn't think I would see.... Alpha male sub 33:00 cross country dude!!  Of course, there was no way that I wasn't going to pass him.  So, even though I only said 10 words during the race, those 10 words were all to cross country dude. "Keep it up dude, 33 min is right around the corner" as I blasted by him.  Hee hee.  Nothing spells motivation like r.e.v.e.n.g.e.

I was really starting to feel the burn in my lungs around the end of mile 4. In fact, I don't really remember a lot from that mile. Hmmm.  I'm sure I did fine.

Miles 5-6: Ok, here is when things get a little fuzzy.  I know that I continued to hold pace, I remember grunting a lot, and with about 3/4 of a mile left, my hands started to tingle.  (So, basically like prom night all over again.)  I knew that I would be close to a good finish but for some reason my oxygen depleted brain thought that I would finish around 37:30.

I did start to sprint with everything that I had with about 3/4 mile left - running around a 5:20 pace.  Honestly, that probably means that I could have pushed a bit harder on the other parts, but I'll let it slide for now.  But, with a few sharp turns, I had finished.  PR!

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Finally, here is a picture of me at the finish.  There is a funny story about it - taken about 5 min after I had finished.  I'll admit I was staggering around because I really like to capture how I was "feeling" having just crossed the finish line (read: tingly).  I found a guy who seemed competent enough and asked him if he would take my picture...... nothing.  He looked at me and shook his head no.  REALLY??  NO??  At a turkey trot?  Random.

Not to be discouraged, I went a few more people down and asked an older guy who seemed friendly enough.  He sort of looked at me and said "sorry son, I'd really love to but I am vision impaired and am afraid I wouldn't take it right." GAH!  STRIKE TWO.  Thankfully, the vision impaired dude's grandson said that he would take it.  He had to have been about 10.  Grabbed the phone like he had done 10,000 times before and snapped the below.  Third time is a charm.  See??  Blind squirrels do find PRs once in a while!

Funny Foto Friday: Calories and Childcare

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving - and for the non-American blog readers, I hope that you had a good Thursday!  Since my last pre-turkey trot post I've turkey trotted (race report SOON!), ate my fill of turkey and wine, and battled all of the day after Thanksgiving shoppers. Read: I need a nap.

I saw the following on Facebook yesterday which attempted to walk through various activities that you could do to burn off the Thanksgiving calories.  The intent was great but as I look down the portion sizes they seem to be a little "off". ONE roll? Half a cup of stuffing?  I suppose that is valid if my two year old is trying to burn off what he ate!

If you only eat 6 oz of turkey on Thanksgiving you're doing it wrong

Basically take these and multiply by 3

Finally, since that wasn't "truly" funny, here is a little diddy about taking care of kids.  How do you think I've been able to manage all this time!? Although, I do have a lot of left overs....having a babysitter that would work for food would be pretty nice right about now. Happy Friday Saturday!

Turkey Trot 5K/10K Racing Tips

In the United States, tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  It’s a day for quickly saying what we are thankful for and then slowly over-indulging for the next 5 hours with a combination of turkey, pie, and football.  It’s essentially America all wrapped into one glorious food coma.

While I am not sure if it is because I’m fully embedded within the runner culture, but Turkey Trot 5Ks and 10Ks have also become a vital part to many people’s Thanksgiving Day routine.  Not only runners, but many non running family members will lace up whatever non-heeled shoes they have and enjoy in some free watered down Gatorade and a cotton T-Shirt with a turkey on the front.  In fact, for 3 out of the last 4 years, I’ve done a turkey trot 10K.  Race reports here here and here if you are interested (last year I was super sick so didn’t go).  This year I’m not only planning on doing the same 10k, but am also planning on RACING it.

Me after my current 10K PR of 39:44 two years ago

Since so many people are racing shorter distances in the next few days, I thought that I would put on my coaching hat (taking off one of those helmets with a beer can on both sides which is what I usually wear) and go through some of my tips for racing the “shorter” 5k and 10k distances. In short, just like peeing after hanging out with Snookie, it’s gonna hurt.

Of course, if you’re just cruising around with the fam or easy running as part of a training run, just do that.  This advice is mostly for people who are really going after it – regardless of how fast “going after it” might be.

Warm Up!!!!!
Start out by warming up for 0.5 miles (less experienced runners) or a full mile (more experienced) before the race. Do this basically as close as you can to the start w/out missing it / not getting lined up right.  Throw some 10 second bursts (3 is a good number) of nearly sprinting in there to get your legs fired up and reminded that they're about to move FAST.  Don't be jerky with your pace, try to speed up in a smooth fashion over the course of 5 seconds and then hold it for another 5.  If a 5K or a 10K is pushing as far as you’ve ever ran, just do some brisk walking for 5-10 min.  The trick here is twofold.  First, you are much less likely to injure yourself with warm muscles.  Second, muscles burn LOTS more fuel (skittles) when they are cold so warming them up is going to preserve as much gas in the tank as possible.

Race!!
Race strategy for 5Ks is interesting.  You have to get past the fact that feeling out of breath by the mile mark is normal, only because you'll be done in 20 minutes or so after that. I find that splitting the race into 3 mile races is the way to go. The first mile is always a bit choppy, which is why I always like to start out a bit slower than normal (10ish sec/mile tops, but slightly more if you're inexperienced with racing 5ks).  I use this mile to really focus in on my pace – comfortably hard or about 90% of all out sprinting. I try my best to not get frustrated by grandma in jeans that lined up in front of me.

The middle mile is usually the worst.  You're already out of breath, but you're not half way done yet.  For this mile, the strategy should be finding your "goal" pace and holding it. By now you should be running among people your speed so use them as pacers.  I'm pretty focused in when I race, so I don't chit chat.  But, if that helps you, now is the time to talk!

That last mile is great because you know that you only have X min left. Of course, great in the "if I go any faster I might cough blood" kind of a way.  At this point it is all about tricking your brain.  Get into a rhythm of counting your steps to 10, alternating between lengthening your stride slightly and shortening it slightly - basically anything to take your mind off of the hurt!  Most people are really tentative this last mile. You should essentially feel like you're sprinting the last half a mile!  If you're not completely gassed at the 2.5 mile mark, you're not running fast enough.

For 10ks, the strategy is the same, but think of the race in 2 mile chunks instead of 1.  Don't start out TOO easy for too long, essentially try to be at "goal" pace by the start of mile 2, but still ease into goal pace like squeezing the toothpaste out of a tube.  Instead of sprinting the last half mile of a 10k, really open it up for the full last mile.  If you're used to racing half marathons or marathons, these races are SHORT, so the tendency is to not push as hard as you are able to at the end.

Oppsies :-(
If your goal is to run the entire race without walking, really fight the urge to walk and instead dial back the pace slightly.  With 5Ks and 10Ks, they are so short that any walk breaks will lower your overall pace quite a lot (vs a marathon where it is really easy to make up for walks through waterstops).  But, if you know that running the entire thing will be a challenge, plan on having walk breaks a specific time.  5 seconds? 10 seconds? 30?  Whatever it is, know beforehand because no matter what you're likely still going to be breathing hard when you start running again.

Post Race!!

Find the closest person you can in spandex and spray them with the bottle of champagne that you've been carrying this entire time!  Done!

Prioritization

Oh Hi.  Remember me?  I am that guy who blogs boring hilarity using running as a means to and end for snark and wit.

I’ve only had a handful of blog posts in the last 2 or so weeks and even missed not one but TWO funny foto Fridays!!!  This is unprecedented people.  It really is.  It is interesting to me how, just like unhealthy habits, getting out of the blogging routine is EASY.  First it is “well, if I goto bed now, I’ll get 6 hours of sleep. I could blog...zzzzzz”  but then it becomes “well, Bill Cosby says cake is flour, milk, and eggs... basically breakfast so it can't be THAT bad for me”...

To be clear, I have guilt about not blogging.  The best kind of guilt.  The kind that you can’t really complain to anyone about because they’ll look at you funny and question how you are able to put your pants on without catching your junk in the zipper.   “Oh yes, please tell me about how you’re not able to share your ‘story’ with the internet world”

So, over the last two weeks, I’ve had to do a bit of prioritizing.  It is interesting how, with very little time, the cream rises to the top. Now, before you jump down my throat about family, God, reruns of the Brady bunch, etc these are my running related priorities.  Everything else is firmly squared away right behind that episode where Greg Brady finds some pot.  Here is where things have seemed to shake out over the last few weeks:

• Actually running
• Coaching other people to run
• Tweeting about pooping
• Making money to be able to afford more delicious running shoes
• Talking/blogging about running

So, essentially I’ve prioritized actually running above talking about running.  So, I’ve been running 55 miles or so a week for the last month.  Overall it’s been going really well and I’m hopeful for at least a minute off of my 10K PR on Thanksgiving.  I figure that I ran 6 miles in 6:30 pace yesterday, so I should be able to do at least 20 seconds a mile faster than that during a race!!

Is it just this time of year or is everyone eyeballs deep, using a snorkel to breath?

How young is too young?

Wrong kind of too young.
Still can't believe she dumped Justin Beiber :(

First, about ME....  Yes, I am still running a pretty solid 55-60 miles per week, training for the Shiner (Beer!!) Half marathon on Dec 16.  No, I didn’t actually shave a patch of hair off of my leg in my Betty Tri Kit review. Yes, I would have if the picture didn’t turn out right. Yes, now that it is cold I did shave some of the hair around my nipples so that my nipple tape would stop pulling them out.  Now that we have that out of the way.....

A week ago I was in Dallas helping cheer at the DRC half marathon.  (Before the half marathon I ran 15 miles in 7:21  pace just so that I could think “Oh, you’re tired? That’s nice, I ran further” as they went by.  Isn’t that how you cheer?)  It was just like any other half marathon that you’d been a part of before.  A skinny Kenyan was leading at mile 10, I saw two running Elvi who, after me telling them that they looked good said “thank you, thank you very much”, and overall people were pushing it hard.

Not too far into the race (on track for a 1:30 half), the normal fasties were going by: Skinny dude, skinny dude, girl in sports bra, dude, 10 year old girl, skinny dude.... wait, what?  A TEN YEAR OLD GIRL was on track for a 1:30ish half marathon.  Turns out, she was 12, weighed likely 70 pounds, and my grandpa would say was “knee high to a grasshopper” as he trailed off talking about how expensive gas is now a days.

The Welsch Sisters

Not 2 days later, the New York Times ran an article about the girl and her little sister!! The half marathon I saw wasn’t her first rodeo – she had ran a number of race before, like 90 races, and raced them FAST.  A lot of them were trail races, triathlons, etc, but that is a LOT of racing.  So, of course, the question needs to be asked....  Is she too young to be racing that far or that much?  Since I’ve been a parent for a whole 2 years, and am obviously an expert on early pubescent adolescents, why wouldn’t I weigh in!?

So, I’m honestly a bit torn.  Obviously her parents are trying to nurture their gift – because they certainly do have it (1:30 half marathon, 3:45 full marathon).  And you can hopefully assume that the girls do enjoy running.   But, just because they are good at something doesn’t mean that they should eat, sleep and breath it at such a young age.  I have to think that for every Tiger Woods playing golf on Johnny Carson at the age of 3, there are 100 kids who have a golf club slammed into both of their left hands only to consider themselves failures because they didn’t end up having sex with 11 hostesses at Denny’s.

Are this girl’s parents any different than a soccer mom/dad making their kid practice for 90 min every night so they can get on the BETTER club team?  Mmmm, probably not.  But, I would argue that long term running can be a bit harder on your body that some of those other sports.  Little growing bodies need to be protected – I think?  What do YOU think?

Betty Designs Tri Kit Review

Running is my sport. There is no doubt about that.  When I dream, I don't dream about dunking a basketball or hitting a home run, I dream about smacking Meb Keflezighi on the ass, giggling, and then racing him to the finish in a 5K (winning, of course). But, during the winter, I do bike and swim. Not as much as I should to be a "good" triathlete, but enough to save my knees from the pounding that running "offers".

May this picture haunt your dreams

As it were, Betty Designs caught wind of my cross training habit and thought that I needed a bad ass Tri kit that made me look as bad ass as I feel in my head. If you either are run only, or haven't heard of Betty Designs, they offer unique, edgy and custom kit designs for swim, cycling and triathlon, in addition to a bunch of Men's and Women's cycling, triathlon and swim apparel. I honestly thought that they only made girl stuff (which, 80% of their stuff is girl stuff read: booty shorts) but they do have a few sweet guy things as well.  Betty has designed race kits for triathlon champions and teams such as Michellie Jones, Heather Jackson, the Zoot Sports Ultra Triathlon Team and the Nytro Women's Triathlon Team. (None of which are hard on the eyes....)  They also are one of the leading companies in custom kits as well.

When I first slipped the tri kit (outfit) on, I quickly realized it was the real deal. It was light weight and fit very true to size.  It was snug enough to make sure that sweat and water wicked away but not so snug that I wouldn't be able to father any additional babies.

It had a solid half zipper to let my main hair catch some breeze and rubber grips along the bottoms of the shorts so that they don't ride up and turn into a thong.  But, most importantly, they had just enough of a padded chamois in the crotch so that I didn't feel like I was wearing a diaper but still protected my giblets.

The shirt was a bit short when I'm running so it rides up a bit. BUT, I have a pretty long torso and most tri / spandex shirts do that to me.  So, I guess this one is no exception.

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One of Betty Design's latest campaigns is "where do you wear your Betty?"  Where ever she lets me? Well, I had essentially wore mine everywhere - so I decided to capture some pictures. I've worn it running twice (no chafing, stayed cool) and have wore it biking a handful of times (Chamois is nice, but not SOO thin that it causes issues). I haven't had a chance to take it in the pool yet, but based some "trial testing" below I think it'll do just fine.

So, what do I mean about wearing mine everywhere?  The other day I was out of town so I decided to do a bit of a indoor triathlon.  A little swimming, a little biking, and a whole lot of running.  What could be better? Naked 5K.....Beer Flavored skittles...  Nothing!

First things first, you don't want to pull a muscle because they are cold.  So, I wore my Betty in the hot tub.  Not only was I feeling suave in my sweet tri kit, I was giving all of the retirement ladies the one eye.

Baby, I've got enough fashionable spandex and 3 feet of love for the both of us
Also? Always wear protection

Next up: wearing my Betty in the pool.  After getting my love muscles warm in the hot tub, the pool water was mighty cold.  So, since I was making up the indoor triathlon rules as I went, I decided that some simulated swimming would be best.  Nothing says "I'm a real man" like kicking around in some 3" water.  But, just like I've always said, 3" is just fine - you just need to know how to use it.

It can't be the shorts that make my butt look big, can it?

Flip turns can be a bitch.  Do you think a swim cap is saving your head? No. Wear protection.

After a quick dry down and slipping on my shoes, my Betty and I were off to the gym.  Unfortunately, they didn't have any spin bikes like other indoor triathlons, so I wore my Betty on some recumbent bike.  Now, most people would say that the padded shorts weren't needed on this kind of bike because of it's wide seat. Obviously, they've never had numb giblets before.

Lord knows how safe the gym equipment was, so I made sure to have protection. Safety first.

Just like NASCAR, only less mullets.  Same amount of beer.

My crotch?  Glad you asked. Not a chafe mark on it. Thank you very much tri shorts.

Finally, the run.  Honestly, even though the shorts are made for biking, I LOVE running in the Betty kit.  The top is so cool it almost feels like I don't have anything on (which is always a good thing).  I was really surprised at how little I chafed.  It seemed like the shirt and shorts were compressed right where I needed them to be to avoid hot spots.

While on the run, the kit stayed super cool (No comment at the look on my face)

Can you believe that the lady in the gym looked at me funny?  I must have had a booger in my nose

Cranking out some 6:00/miles. 

Lady and her husband were probably STILL staring at me. They must have liked the outfit

After my hard indoor triathlon, (first place, what what???) as is always often the case, I needed to head to the office and do some thinking.

Pic was totally staged, I normally have a phone & am humming the ghostbusters theme

Usually have the helmet on though

Finally, I needed to put the Betty Designs tri kit to the ultimate triathlete test.  Removing all the hair from my body.  Legs?  Yes.  Arms?  Yes. "Other"?  Don't worry, no hair there to start with.  Let's just say that the tri kit passed this test with flying, skull and butterfly colors.

How many minutes do you save in T2 if you loose 5 pounds of body hair?

Funny Foto Friday: Undecided Voters Brain

First things first, scroll down, or click previous, or click refresh like 12 times to up my hit counts (as if I cared about that) or click here and check out my NYC Marathon Post.  Essentially, with as bad as NYC is, should 50,000 runners be tromping through the city throwing their fully charged cell phones and fresh clean water in the storm victims faces?  “Look at me!  I’m running, listening to my ipod, and live tweeting all at once!”

After much (very very serious) thought, I’ve decided that if the Race director and the Mayor of NYC decided to cancel the race, I support that.  If they decide to have it, I support that as well.  The fact is, no one has a nonbiased (read: not media influenced) view of the ENTIRE situation like they do.  So, if they think the city can support it and it would be a good “suck it Sandy” show of rehabilitation – fine.  If they think that the city isn’t ready – fine.  I've heard rumblings of people hating on the runners for running.  Not their fault.

ANYWHOOO, today is Friday. I’m (mostly) on vacation, so that means.... you get herpies a whole lot of funny in picture form!

Wait, my kid puts car keys in his mouth. Maybe he is undecided on the election too!!

I'm basically 100% against pet costumes unless they are hilarious like this one.

Also, just like parents do, here is my son dressed up as a pirate.  I swear to god, I had to keep the wenches away from him with a stick.  Don’t hate the pirate, hate the game.  ARRRRRRRRR

 "Arrrggg, maties. Time to swab my diaper and shiver my blanket"

"So, you're telling me that if I wear this I will get CANDY?  I'm okay with that"

Getting his learn on in preschool. Head of his class? Meh, maybe.

Hanging with 4 other women? You betcha. 

ING New York City Marathon?

With running, just like life, there are lots of things that I consider “bucket list” items.  Things that I want to do before I hop on my unicorn and fly off into the sunset. (Heaven has always sounded like a great acid trip to me.)  A few that I can rattle off rather quickly might include:

• Qualify / run the Boston marathon – Will do that in April!
• Visit a first growth Bordeaux vineyard – Hmm, does $4 grocery store wine count?
• Run a naked 5K
• Be one of those male cheerleaders that hold up girl cheerleaders by their crotch

Of course, other than Boston, there are other Bucket List race locations.  The one that is on the top is probably the ING New York City Marathon.  The only issue is that it is a lottery.  You cast your stone into the proverbial well and see if it is picked up by a subway rat and carried to NYRR headquarters.  So, that is exactly what I did.  But, in spite of 2012 being the year of the Lottery, I didn’t get in.  Bummer.  

Ah, but others DID get in! This weekend, 50,000 or so of them are planning on strapping on their orange ING hunting vests and cranking out 26.2 hilly miles while trying not to get peed on.  Unfortunately though, you might have heard about a “little” storm wreaking a “bit” of havoc on NYC.  The one that closed the stock market for the first time in like 100 years and flooding the subways?  Yep, that one.  But, The NYC Mayor said yesterday that the marathon WILL be held as planned.

As you might expect, the interwebs are a buzz asking if they should even bother with the marathon given the cleanup that is required.  In short: I do think that it is the right thing to do....maybe....Ugh... - I'm honestly really torn. And here is why:

First, economic benefit.  I just saw an article that initially there was to be a $340 million impact as part of the marathon.  A large percentage of that will go to put people who had their lives disrupted back to work.  But the reality is that not all hotels even have power to be able to support runners - or employees.... So, is there much benefit?

Also, volunteer resource availability. when I think to the people who assist with the marathon, there are few people that would actually intersect with the people who would be helping to clean up.  Also, the PD / FD can only do so much cleaning themselves.  However, I did hear that the race is going to hire private contractors to help with security, so maybe that isn't an issue anymore?

Finally, there is the "feels right" factor.  I can't quite decide if having the race "feels right" quite yet.  Either the runners will help bring even more focus on the area and will help with the recovery...or they'll get in the way. But, I can say, if I had gotten into the lottery?  I'd be there trying to run.  But, that is just me. My house isn't flooded, on fire, etc.

Those are my thoughts.  What do you think?  Yes? No?  

HOWEVER, the race is still on!!!  So, as part of an Orange Up campaign ING has a "pop up finish line" in Columbus Circle tomorrow and the ING Runners Nation On The Go truck will be there during the morning giving away freebees. Soooo, if you ARE there and racing, go check those two things out for sure.

This guy probably was just randomly walking by....

I was sent a few ING Orange Up glasses and shoe laces to give away.  Let me know if you'd like a pair!  Now, they might make everything look a bit like that episode of Seinfeld where there was a big orange neon sign outside of the apartment, but they are basically indestructible.  Seriously, I gave them to my son and he didn't break them after a LOT of trying!  So, let me know if you'd like to sport your orange and participate in the Orange Up campaign!

Sun never sets on cool

Cooking up a pot of orange