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Catching Up - Skirt Chaser

I’ve been so busy I really haven’t had a chance to report on one of the races I did about a month ago. On Valentines Day Erica and I ran in the "Skirt Chaser 5k" in Tempe AZ. The premise of the race is this...the females get a 3 minute head start on the males. Hence..the skirt chaser. What better way to celebrate Valentines Day than a friendly battle of the sexes right! 3 Minutes is a lot to make up in a 5k (3.1 miles), but I was up for the challenge. I really didn’t expect to make it up. My strategy was to just run as hard as I could and hold on for as long as I could. It didn’t take long for me to start passing some of the women but they were the slow ones and Erica is not slow. I knew I would be running harder than her but I started to think that even if I run hard enough to catch her, she would have more left in the tank to kick it in than I would. Needless to say it was never an issue. I was able to make up 2 minutes but still finished a minute behind her. Single runners were encouraged to wear a sticker to mark their singleness during the run and at the after party. The men may have been handicapped in the run by starting 3 minutes behind but they were given the advantage at the after party of 2 free beers AND 2 free glasses of wine given to all runners. This may have helped out the dateless males of the group. Oh by the way, one guy did pass Erica right at the finish line. He was wearing a skirt…I’m not sure he understood the rules.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dad’s Birthday. It got me thinking about how my parents influenced me early on that incorporating exercise into your life is important. Growing up my Dad was a “runner”, most likely a child of the running boom in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I always remember him coming back from his runs in the morning as I was getting up and getting ready for school. Saucony Jazz was his running shoe of choice. For years he wore a Busch light (or maybe Natural Light) running jacket and a white Olympic hat during the cold months in Michigan He owned a valuer jogging suite replica of those worn by the USA in the 1984 Olympics. I vaguely recall one time running about a half block with him while my Mom waited at the driveway so that I could turn around and run back to her. I was not an endurance athlete as a kid. I enjoyed team sports, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer and a little football. As a result I viewed running as a way to get in shape for those sports. We had a large block around our house that was about a mile. I would run that and that was it. It wasn’t until I met Erica that I realized that running can be “fun”. My Mom was a phenomenal tennis player, one of the best in the state of Michigan as a kid. There is also a legend that she scored all 48(?) points for her team in a basketball game in high school. I remember going to the racquet club with her and playing in the daycare center while she had her weekly tennis games. She even used to “Jazzercise” when that was hot in the 80’s. I believe she might even have been an instructor. Maybe that’s why I have an affinity for wearing fuzzy leg warmers when I’m working out. It is through their example that I was exposed to fitness. I guess you can truly say it is in my blood.

Reflection

I just returned home tonight from an incredible 10 days training and learning about diabetes management and performance at the Diabetes Training Camp in Tucson AZ with the Triabetes Team captains. I had no plans of posting this evening. I opened my e-mail to start catching up after being away only to find it filled with thoughts and reflections from my teammates on last weeks events. Diabetes, particularly type 1 (Insulin Dependant), is like a fraternity. There is an instant bond as a result of knowing that they "get it". They understand. I hope to update what I learned and more on how the camp went in the next week or so. We had the fantastic privilege of working with Rick Crawford from Colorado Premier Training. (more on that in future posts) Rick also writes for Velo News. Below is a link to his article this week about his experiences at the Diabetes Training Camp. I read it tonight and just had to share.

http://www.velonews.com/article/89008/