By David Freeze
My Expose of Running Fanatics!
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that October is the best month for runners, and especially those who want to be runners. This column will describe some funny excuses, obsessions and truths once those runners become addicted and it’s sometimes funny to hear what becomes important to them. We will briefly go inside the lives of those who may ascertain the day by what their GPS watch reports to them after their daily run. After all, can you really start the day without cadence data or blood/oxygen stats, or imagine no altitude, barometric pressure or VO2 Max readings? These definitely aren’t the people who had to google how far a 10K is and previously picked their exercise shoes by color.
So here we go, a little about those of you who might be considered obsessive runners. Your browser history includes things like the “best anti-chafe cream”, “tempo versus threshold run” and “how long it takes for toenails to grow back.”
You spent more time choosing your next pair of running shoes than you did your last car.
Your idea of a relaxing Sunday begins at 6am with a 20 miler on the way to your next marathon. With a lot of history in this area, I justified it by knowing that nothing else will be harder for the rest of the day.
You use the term “fartlek” without giggling and with a straight face. Fartlek is a Swedish term for speed work, another thing that serious runners are addicted too. It means running even faster than usual with the intent of hurting more now so that you will hurt less later with conditioning.
Your laundry has to be washed because it smells of sweat, but you can’t wash your running shoes because the glue might break down in them and therefore shorten their life.
Your vacations are often “racecations,” meaning that the time away is all planned around a significant big race, preferably a marathon, and the big week involves at least one all-you-can-eat pasta dinner. In my experience, the post-race food consumption was even more.
A broken phone is fine, but a malfunctioning GPS watch is a full-scale tragedy!
You keep a pile of running shoes near the back door, unable to part with them until they have run their last mile, mowed their last lawn and in my case done their final barn work.
You save dozens of race shirts, some for sentimental reasons like first race, first nationally known race, longest race and some of the better logo designs. The shirt drawers have to be culled several times a year and it hurts, even though you would never wear most of them again.
Running is your favorite subject to talk about, and you look for the opportunity in every chat and conversation to use your amazing ability to transition into “running talk” regardless that you forgot to notice that no one asked.
You have come a long way from that first ever race when you got your commemorative T-shirt and immediately put it on, signifying to everyone around you that you were a race rookie.
November racing will slow down some following the busiest October ever with six races that will be completed on Sunday. There is still time to meet us at Catawba College on Sunday afternoon, October 25th, for one of our oldest and most festive races, the Rotary’s Spooky Sprint 5K and Fun Run. Race time is 2pm, at the Catawba track. Stay around for the costume contest for all participants. The 5K uses the Grants Creek Greenway, a shaded part of a fast course.
First up for November on the 14th is the Clean Water 5K and Fun Run at Grace Lutheran Church, sometimes known as the Hushpuppy race. The best hushpuppies ever are served postrace, and all proceeds go to digging wells for clean drinking water in underprivileged areas.
Next is the Girls on the Run 5K at Salisbury Community Park on Saturday, November 21st, while celebrating those girls who participated in the fall program that builds esteem and confidence along the way.
Finally, on Thanksgiving morning, November 26th, The Forum hosts one of our largest 5K’s as a holiday morning tradition to burn some calories early in the day. Proceeds go to Prevent Child Abuse Rowan.
Look for these and other races and events ahead at www.salisburyrowanrunners.org
