Category Archives: Etiquette
BORROWING BIBS
“Neither a borrower, nor a lender be.” -William “Billy Bob” Shakespeare
Let me get up here before I speak.
Well, the above advice from Polonius to his son Laertes in “Hamlet” (don’t be too impressed, I looked it up) not only applies to money, but seemingly also to racing bibs.
Earlier this month the man who supposedly won the Marine Corps 17.75K learned a “Hamlet-like” lesson. Gerardo Avila broke the tape, but it turns out he was wearing the bib that belonged to another person, Steve Henry.
Now this wasn’t some kind of dime-story thriller “switcheroo” plot or a sci-fi “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” tale turned real.
“MUSICAL CHAIRS” KARMA
Big chair… but not “the” chair in question.
Sunday afternoon I was wondering what the exchange rate is from karma to dollars.
Let me explain.
I often talk about “Cosmic Karma” and how the universe keeps track of your kind words and selfless actions, sort of like a bank trading in the currency of good deeds.
Yes, I just made a financial institutional analogy to “You reap what you sow.”
But like Bank of America, I feel I often do nothing but make deposits at the galactic ATM and get charged stupid fees if I want to make any kind of withdrawal. And let’s not even talk about interest.
So, let me talk briefly about my latest deposit. Read the rest of this entry
A GOOD SIGN…
That’s What I’ve Heard.
The other day I was thinking about who was the first sports fan to ever hold up a sign. For some reason I have this image in my head of some toga-clad Roman sitting in the upper deck of the Coliseum hoisting up a banner that reads, “Go Lions!”
As a whole, sports signs are a lot of fun. I enjoy watching NFL, MLB or NBA games and seeing all of the witty banter and biting insults that fans scrawl onto a big piece of over-sized cardboard. If you’re ever curious as to “Who really sucks” or wondering about the multitude of acronyms that can be created using just the letters “E.S.P.N.” you need go no further than scanning the stands at a sporting event.
RUNNING NUGGET: THE FORBIDDEN SHIRT
Hope you’ve got the right shirt on.
This past Sunday almost 20,000 runners tore it up along Pacific Coast Highway as they ran the Surf City Half & Full Marathon. And I couldn’t help but notice as I motored along with my running brothers and sisters that literally thousands of them were committing a huge fashion faux pas.
They were wearing the 2014 Surf City Marathon tech shirts given to them for the race.
That’s a no-no!
Now, the Surf City shirts were pretty sweet this year… yellow for the guys and pink for the ladies. That said, those are the only two shirts in the world that should NOT have been worn during the race.
You may think I’m crazy and wondering “Why shouldn’t someone wear the shirt given to them specifically for that race?”
Because.
RUN AND BE GRATEFUL
Meg Menzies
In the short time I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve had a lot of fun telling my personal stories, giving out hints, race reviews and poking fun at something I love so dearly. I prefer taking a light-hearted and humorous approach to this and life in general.
But there are some things that irk me, make me mad or in this case utterly friggin’ pissed off.
I read a news story today and it made me want to yell to the heavens at the top of my lungs.
Yesterday morning Meg Menzies was out for her daily training run when she was hit and killed by a drunk driver. CLICK HERE for the news story.
BREAK ON THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE
“Lead, follow or get (the hell) out of the way.” –Thomas Paine
NOTE: Read all the way through for a very helpful race hint that you won’t find in any other book or guide!
It’s like this, but minus the cars.
Today I feel the need to bitch a little, specifically about something that a certain group of racers does. I don’t know if it’s out of naivety, ignorance or simply not caring about your fellow runner (I suspect a little of all of them).
I’m talking about the “walking wall.” This is not the wall you hit when you bonk in a race. This is far far more frustrating.
This is when 4, 5 or 6 racers (almost always walkers) create a massive wall right in the middle of the course and move along at a snail’s pace, forcing the entire race to go around them. It happens occasionally in full marathons, more often in half marathons but this plague is quickly reaching pandemic proportions at 10Ks.
Am I overreacting? I mean, how bad can it be?
THE “NIGHT BEFORE” GEAR PREP
Dressed for success.
Tomorrow is my first race of 2014, the New Year’s half marathon in LA. That means tonight I get to go through my “night before race day” gear preparation. To non-runners who witness this ritual, it must seem like I’m experiencing an OCD episode combined with demonic possession. But to those of us who regularly run, the race prep is a sacred rite and part of the whole race experience.
Like the baseball players who don’t shave their beards during the playoffs or the football fans who refuse to wash their lucky jersey during a win streak (yuck), runners have their own superstitions or specific way of doing things that needs to be embraced… or at least tolerated.
EXPOS EXPOSED
Bibs, T-shirts and running stuff galore… just ahead.
On Saturday, I’ll be running my first half marathon of 2014. But before I can attempt to PR, heck before I can even head to the start line or lace up my shoes, I’ve got to take care of the first important part of the race experience… the runners’ expo.
And I love it.
Imagine all of the enthusiasm and anticipation (and swag) for a race stuffed into one place; that’s what a good expo represents. The great thing is that everyone who goes to a runners’ expo is either a racer or racer tagalong who is every bit as excited about running as you are (you are in the midst of your people). Typically scheduled for the day or two prior to a race, it’s the first taste runners get of the race to come as they file through to pick up their bibs, T-shirts, freebies, as well as sample the products of running vendors and get a sneak peek at races to come.
Mind you, all expos are not created equal. At some smaller races, their expo (if you can even call it that) might consist of a dozen tents featuring a few local vendors peddling forgettable wares. Rather, let’s ruminate about the big boys, the expos that accompany the large races.
Tripping The Kenyans 