Response to Comment: Chickamauga?

Anonymous said...
"I am scheduled to run the Chickamauga this November and want to know what you think of it. I have run Nashville and Chicago and am now interested in something less crowded."

Reflections on Chickamauga:

Numbers. Chickamauga is considerably less crowded than the gigantic marathons. Last year I think that there were somewhere in the neighborhood of 300-400 runners in the marathon event. There is also a 10-mile event hosted the same morning (10-milers start slightly later). Despite the low number of runners, I never felt completely alone as I was either running with someone, near someone or behind someone. I talked with a few different folks along the way.

Course. As far as the course goes, a majority of it is a double loop around the battlefield. There are some small hills, which will be a change from Chicago, but maybe less troublesome than Nashville (which I don't have experience with, but I hear has some hills). Unlike the two biggies you've done, this race is a nice pastoral run through a historic place. As you might expect in a small race, there weren't any clocks on the course, and I don't remember if there were people calling out splits. However, there were mile markers at each mile (just make sure you don't confuse the 10-mile race markers with the marathon race markers, which I did for the first few miles).

Crowds. There won't be any roaring crowds. However, if you bring your family and/or friends with you, the course is such that they will be able to see you several times. My husband and his parents were able to see me 10 times throughout the race. That definitely was a positive driving force towards cranking out the miles. This year, I've convinced a good friend of mine to run Chickamauga as well, so her family will be cheering too. So, if you decide to run Chickamauga, you'll probably see the same six wild cheerleaders throughout the course. Some folks complain about the road conditions, but I didn't think they were troublesome.

Restrooms. Others complained about the lack of portalets, but the park wouldn't let the race folks put many out on the course. However, at the start, restrooms were plentiful. There were portalets outside. More importantly, there were ample restroom facilities inside the church at the race start. Real restrooms with sinks - this amenity is a definite plus in my book.

Food and Amenities. The water stops on the course were every couple of miles. Last year they used plastic cups. Hopefully they'll use paper this year. The post-race food featured pizza, cookies, hot beverages and probably other things, but I didn't really partake of much so I can't fully elaborate. I know they had a plentiful amount of pizza.

The one thing that bothered me about the race was a snafu with the finishing times. There were no chip times. I think they may have confused me with someone else who had a similar last name, so my name didn't appear on the official times. If you're worried about BQing here, that may factor into your decision.

I've never done the large races so I really can't compare this race to a Chicago or Nashville. Being a general misanthrope, I gravitate towards these smaller events. Overall, I'd recommend the race to someone who doesn't mind running alone for bits at a time and doesn't need the uproarious crowd support.

In the Heat of the Moment

Summer is definitely in full swing. Tonight's run consisted of a tough 6x800 workout. Some of my intervals were right on line, others not so much. However, I suspect that my Garmin might have been slightly off due to tree cover and that my slow "laps" were on the portion where there was a long slow uphill. The last interval, quite plainly, sucked. Since I'm not aware of a local track, I do these sessions on a decent stretch of quiet street. Unfortunately, I can't find one 800 meters long that doesn't have hills around these parts. The other runs have gone fairly well this week despite the heat. My biggest problem has been increasing my fluid intake to accommodate the warm temps.

Tomorrow after work I'll venture out to get new shoes. I rotate two pairs. Both current pairs have over 300 miles and I'm starting to get achey in places. The running shoe guys light up when they see me because they see dollar signs.

It has been a year since I first purchased the Garmin Forerunner. Using it, I find that I've run nearly 1,800 miles in the past year. Not bad. Oddly enough, I've probably run more miles than I've been behind the wheel of a car in the past year.

Professionally, I'm entering the cycle of the discouraged once again. I'm lacking activities to keep me fully occupied. I like to be busy all the time. I feel like the character played by Steven Root in Office Space. Someday I'll achieve balance.

Current music selection: Pink Floyd, A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Off My Rocker

The End of Bird Island, Sunset Beach, North Carolina











After a glorious week at the beach, I've returned to posting on this blog. Husband and I spent a week in a rented beach house at Sunset Beach, North Carolina, along with his parents, his sister, her husband and their two young daughters who are 6 and 3 years old. Needless to say, if husband and I had any ambitions of having children, these thoughts were squashed by a week exposed to the environment of the child. Both nieces are adorable, unique and fun. However, on a beach trip, everything winds up revolving around the children's mealtimes, temperament and sleep patterns. Their parents continuously looked weary and aggravated. At moments husband and I went against the grain by venturing out alone past dinner to ride go-carts. The go-carts are one of my favorite elements of a beach trip. For some reason I enjoy the reckless abandon of whipping around the track without regard, the gas down all the way the entire time. We also engaged in what is by far my most favorite beach activity: sitting in rocking chairs on the porch and listening to the ocean swells murmuring in reply. Despite the fact that husband is diligently studying for the upcoming bar exam, I requested a standing date each evening on the porch to rock the night away. Another great part of the trip was frolicking in the surf. The weather turned out to be absolutely perfect and the water temperatures were quite comfortable.

I managed to get some good runs in while at the beach. Mostly I ran the streets on the island of Sunset Beach. I did have one brief sojourn to visit some friends just north of the sandhills in North Carolina, where I had a good morning stroll along some country roads. My final run at the beach, I ran down to an area known as Bird Island. At one time Bird Island was once only accessible at low tide. Seemingly symbolic of our modern times marked by human impatience, some humans have filled in the passage to Bird Island now making it accessible at any time. My trip to the rocks was indeed at low tide though. I found a decent-sized sand dollar out by the edge of the island which is a rare occurrence since the area was made more open to visitors.

Last week's running mileage totaled 32 miles. I wimped out of my long run on Sunday and only did 9 miles, but I felt fairly dehydrated (not enough water on the trip back from the beach on Saturday).

This week's running schedule looks something like this:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 5
Wednesday: 7 or 8
Thursday: AT (6x800s)
Friday:Rest
Saturday: 5
Sunday: 10-12.

Music of the moment: The Eagles, The Long Run

Things that Make You Go....

Haven't posted in a few days. Did okay on last week's schedule in terms of total mileage (38) but I only ran a 14 miler on Sunday. It was actually nearly 14.5, but.... I'm trying to be more flexible about my schedule.

This week's running schedule is supposed to be something like this:

Monday: 5
Tuesday: 8
Wednesday: 5
Thursday: AT (3 miles @ 85%) (5 total)
Friday: Off
Saturday: 10
Sunday: Off

Total: 33 miles

Well, the schedule already got goofed up by weather. I didn't run Monday due to storms, so everything's shifted. Yesterday we got a horrendous thunderstorm just as I was coming home from work. Luckily I had gotten up early to run. Tonight, hopefully we'll have a reprieve so I can fit in 8 miles.

In other matters...

There's a man that I see nearly every day in the train station on the way home from work. The man has a MAJOR comb-over. I'm wondering what self-respecting barber willingly cuts a man's hair into a comb-over style? Do men have to pay their barbers extra for this cut? I think it really takes courage to ask the barber or stylist: "Please cut it short on the sides, and let the left side grow out to about 12 inches to cover my head." I once knew a man who had a comb-over wrapped around his head like a turban. My mother married (and subsequently divorced) a man with a comb-over. I still don't have the courage to ask her if she found it attractive.

I love getting comments. Thanks to most who send me comments. I received a comment today from an ad. That's a first. If you're not an ad, feel free to send me comments. If you're an ad, I'm not interested.