User Error

Monday evening I went out to run a 5k, dutifully warmed up, and then started my tracking app. I pushed myself but felt slow and was surprised at how difficult the whole effort felt. I was displeased with my finishing time and figured I must have walked more than I thought and been slowed down by the humidity. Not every run can be great, so I let it go.

Today I realized what was going on. I'd left my app settings to measure distance based on a constant speed of 16:40 min/mile (which I use for walking around my office sometimes) instead of GPS tracking and ended up running a 4.25-mile "5k." Counting warm-up and cool down, I did 4.9 miles total.

That would explain why it took me nearly an hour. Good to know. And I'll not make that mistake again.

Race Report: Dash Down Greenville 5k

The Dash Down Greenville 5k takes place before the annual St. Patrick's Day parade and starts and end on the parade route. The announcer said that over 6,000 people registered for this year's race.

Yet AGAIN, Run Project only offered unisex t-shirts and yet again let me order an XS at registration but didn't ever provide any XS shirts. At early packet pickup, they didn't even have any youth larges but said there would be at race-day pickup.

I parked and walked about a mile to the start, loved walking in the street with traffic because the barricades for the parade forced it. I was indeed able to get a youth large shirt, and it fits me mostly well, except for the part where I have a decidedly mature bust.

The morning was cold and windy with the wind chill just barely above freezing. The course was unremarkable. I was there alone, so I was kind of bored with the whole thing. One runner passed me with Flogging Molly playing from a speaker in his backpack, and I wish I'd been able to keep up.

As much as they'd been talking up the free beer at the finish line, you'd think there would have been something more palatable than PBR. But the event raised over $16k for the NT Food Bank, so yay charity.

I won the Instagram contest and got a check for a hundred bucks. I think I was the only one who entered.

I thought about spending it on another Run Project race, but there's only one that promises women's shirts, and it's in July. Which is unbearably hot.

The Problem with Color Runs

I’ve been wanting to write a piece on how terrible color run events are vis-à-vis cultural appropriation, but desi writers have already done it much better than I could, so I’m largely going to quote and link back to them.

“Come uncultured, leave uncultured, that’s the Color Run, promise,” writes Nadya Agrawal at Brown Girl Magazine blog.

Color runs are 5k events at which participants wear white and run, walk, and dance while being dusted with colored powder, followed by a festival with more color throwing, music, and dance.

“That would’ve been an original idea if Indians hadn’t been doing it for hundreds, if not thousands of years,” Agrawal points out.

The practice comes from the springtime Hindu festival called Holi. “And at Holi, we don’t simply throw colors in each other’s faces,” Agrawal says, “it’s a place to play with people you love and revel in the vibrancy of spring.”

Prerna Abbi writes, “I’m a big fan of interfaith literacy as a vehicle for appreciation. But sometimes appreciation can turn into appropriation, and it’s important to know the difference.” (emphasis mine)

In order to determine which one the events promote, Abbi asks:
“When people go to The Color Run, do they learn about the story behind Holi? Do they learn about how this festival brings people together across faith, class, and other social lines? Do they walk away appreciating that Holi is a significant celebration for Hindus around the world? Do they know about Holi’s influence on the event at all?”

The events are undeniably appropriative. Does the value of introducing millions of people to the sport of running outweigh the impact of whitewashing this Hindu celebration, doing nothing to promote desi culture, and making obscene profits for ignorant white folk? I doubt it.

What can we do about it? We can keep writing, keep talking, keep informing our friends, and suggest alternative fun runs that feature other amusing gimmicks such as foam, zombies, obstacles, costumes, black lights, and more.

We can hope that the events will inspire some people to learn about Holi and cultural appropriation and work to make better choices in the future, as was the case for me. I didn’t think much about signing up for a Graffiti Run because it sounded like fun, but I didn’t enjoy the event because it was crowded, overpriced, and an ugly course. I later learned more about Holi and had the pleasure of attending a local Holi event, which—in stark contrast contrast to the “fun run” it inspired—was an indescribably joyful experience and for me a pivotal moment during a severe bout of depression.

I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to properly appreciate and celebrate Holi. And I hope you’ll try to do the same.

Onward and Upward!

This is a July 15 post from my fundraising page that I'm just now getting around to cross-posting on Blogger.

I've reached 33% of my fundraising goal and recruited friends and family to volunteer with me at other races to earn an additional $400 that has yet to post to my account, putting me at over 50% of my goal!

In other good news, I had the opportunity to participate in the 8th annual Race Against Misogyny and Sexism 5k, benefiting SafeHaven of Tarrant County, a domestic violence charity, and I took second place in my division!

Thanks to your help, I am well on my way toward my final goal for beating blood cancers!

I'm less than 7 weeks out from my first half marathon in Disneyland!

On and On

This is a July 11 post from my fundraising page that I'm just now getting around to cross-posting on Blogger.

Despite wrestling a mysterious knee injury that even my doctor was unsure about, I'm still running. Sunday last week I laid down 8 miles, and it was mostly horrible, but I finished it. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to an early morning 5k race and then returning home to run an additional 5-10k since I won't have time the rest of the weekend to get in a long run. The knee pain is still there, but with the aid of a brace, it's not surfacing until later and longer mileage each week.

The humidity is kicking my butt and slowing me down from an expected 13 min/mi pace to 16 min/mi, but I'm still getting out there. My first(ish) half marathon is the Disneyland Half Marathon on August 31, and I'm working my way up to 13 miles. I'd much rather sleep in every morning and quit entirely since I hate the heat so much, but I remember who and what I'm running for, and I remember the friends who tell me how inspiring my efforts are.

It's hard and it hurts and I keep at it.

Three Races and a Wedding, Part 2: Cinco de Muddo Race Report

Here's my Cinco de Muddo review.

I signed up for Cinco de Muddo this year because I had heard such good things about last year's event. I transferred my 9:30 a.m. Cinco de Muddo registration to noon when I signed up for the 8:30 a.m. Cinco de Miler so I could make it to both races.

Two days before the race, I received an email confirming that my noon registration had been changed to 11:30, a request I'd not made, and I sent out an email and a Facebook message to the organizers asking WTF was up. I got a response on Facebook with a direct email to contact but never heard back from anyone with Cinco de Muddo or host TNMRA about why I was bumped, whether there was still a noon wave available, and whether I'd be permitted to run it.

I was running late leaving Cinco de Miler because of the long walk back to the DART station and wasn't sure I'd make it in time to run. Thank Hermes for light traffic on the DNT. I arrived at the given address with 10 minutes to spare, spent another 5 searching for the entrance, paid, and parked. I caught the last shuttle from the parking lot to the event site, arriving at 12:05. I jogged up the path and asked if they'd still let me run. The waiver people said yes. The registration tent volunteer advised me to wait until 12:30 to run with 4 other volunteers.

I got my race packet, went to the bathroom, and heard the announcer call out that if anyone else wanted to run, they needed to jump on the course in the next 10 minutes. I didn't want to pay extra for bag check, so I pulled out my race t-shirt, dropped the plastic sack under a tree, and tucked the shirt into the back of my pants figuring I could probably run with it well enough.

I didn't want to wait around, so I jogged to and through the start line a few minutes behind a trio ahead of me and am pretty sure I was the last runner but for the volunteers running later. It was hot, dry, and dusty that afternoon, but I slogged through and soon caught up to and passed a few other runners. I completed most of the Cinco de Muddo obstacles but skipped a few wall climbs because I was tired, had nothing to prove, and wanted only to finish without injury so I could run again the next day.

The aid stations were nearly out of water when we approached, and the last one on the course was abandoned and dry. Between the heat and my own fatigue, the course seem to drag on under the Texas sun, and I looked forward to the mud crossings, even though they smelled awful. There were two nice and cool water slides (plastic sheeting and hoses atop dirt hills) and little cactus to dodge. I passed a dozen people because of the two obstacles I skipped and a handful of others because I'm a solid pacer before finally crossing the finish line to claim my medal, tepid beer, and warm tequila shot.

I asked a woman I'd passed back and forth on the course to snap a photo for me since I was alone and hadn't a camera, and she sent it to me by text message. How cool is technology? It was an alright little event, I suppose, but pretty lackluster to run solo. I'm glad it supported the Sharkarosa Wildlife Preserve. At least I got a medal.

Then I had just enough time to drive an hour home and clean up before the wedding . . .

Hell no, Survival Race

I saw a Groupon for The Survival Race 5k mud run and did a little research to help me decide whether to get it. I used to sign up for every race I had time to run, but after so many lemon events last year (from the Neon Splash Dash to Miles of Mud), I've been MUCH more selective with my 2014 race calendar.

I Googled "Survival Race reviews" and read one glowing blog review and clicked to the event's official website, which had this banner on its home page:

The banner reads: "The Original Family-Focused Obstacle Course & Mud Run, Conquering Obesity One Family At A Time!"

I also found "conquering obesity" listed in the event's mission statement. So that made my choice very easy. I will definitely not support anyone or anything waging war against people I love.

Dances With Fat blogger Ragen Chastain said it best:

We cannot separate people from their bodies and any war on people’s fat becomes a war on fat people. Luckily the first step of the solution is pretty simple – end the war on obesity. Right now. Then we have all kinds of options to make public health about providing information, access, and options without actively contributing to stigma, low self-esteem, and poor body image.

Lots of obese people enjoy mud runs, too, and I find it appalling that this event would overtly stigmatize them in its advertising. The Survival Race marketing team has clearly missed the whole point of racing and fun run events: In democratic America, PEOPLE conquer RACES, not the other way around.

The mud run market is hyper-saturated, with scores of obstacle course racing events scheduled in North Texas every year, so I'm not the least bit worried about missing out on one with a shitty slogan.

Ugly Sweater Run 5k

I ran the Ugly Sweater Run 5k at Fair Park over the weekend in Dallas with my brother. It was a pretty solid event benefiting Toys for Tots. The course was nice, the weather just a hair warm for running in sweaters, and the swag unique. Registration included an Ugly Sweater knit cap, a mustache tattoo, and two beers or hard ciders at the finish line. I happen to like the Angry Orchard Apple Cider offered at the Ugly Sweater Run and enjoyed the spiffy ugly sweater koozies. Parking was free, though a bit far from the start line, and this event was definitely worth the discounted $20 registration fee.

I did not make this monstrosity but bought it at a thrift store a few years ago. There are Santa worry dolls and plastic beads glued to it along with a plastic beaded wreath pinned to it and sequined Santa. I wish I had a better picture for you; it hurts to look at.