Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Raleigh Beach 5k – 2018

Raleigh Beach 5k – Runologie

This was at Dorothea Dix, same park as last race, but a different course through the park. Middle of the pack for dudes of my age group but I don't feel too bad. The times of the top finishers were under 23 minutes -- faster, I think, than the other races I've run. This Runologie series looks like it's a cut above the races I've done up 'til now, competiveness-wise.

I felt like I ran well for me, considering the weather (hot) and course (bit on the hilly side). Still, I had a goal of getting at least one kilometer under 5 minutes, and my best was 5:12. I made an effort to watch my heart rate during this one to see if staying around 165-170 bpm made a difference. (Going to want to start monitoring earlier next time and try to get to 170 faster. Based on average bpm for the race, I must have kept a lower rate for the first few klicks.) 

Posting just the participation medal, the post-race selfie was a horrorshow.

Next race is a 4-miler, first of that distance, at same park Fourth of July weekend.

Race 1 - "Decem-burrrrr Dash" - 12/3/16 - 29:10
Race 2 - "SPCA Hot Chocolate Run" - 1/15/17 - 28:25
Race 3 - "I Heart 5K" - 2/11/17 - 26:58
Race 4 - "Running Over Cancer 5K" [official results] - 3/12/2017 - 25:32
Race 5 - "Racing for Rescues" - 5/7/2017 - 25:03 [official results]
Race 6 - "Run the Quay" - 6/3/2017 - 25:11 [official results]
Race 7 - "Decem-burrrr Dash" - 12/2/17 - 24:43 [official results]
Race 8 - "SPCA Mutts & Marshmallows Hot Chocolate Run" - 1/13/18 - 26:27 [official results]
Race 9 - "Cary Greenways 10K" - 4/24/18 - 55:48 [official results]
Race 10 - "Racing for Rescues" - 5/6/2018 - 26:19 [official results]
Race 11 - "Raleigh Beach 5k" - 5/27/2018 - 26:49 [official results]


Friday, May 11, 2018

What's The Craic? The Blindboy Podcast

The Blindboy Podcast on acast


Podcasts are all the rage but, though I've tried a few, I've not been able to make time to follow any on the regular ... save one: Blindboy's podcast.

Blindboy, as you may know, is one half of the the Rubberbandits. He's a self-described gas cunt with a bag on his head who may, or may not, get one out of every three facts wrong; however, he's the only podcaster who's engaged me. For all the faults with the medium ... why these fuckers can't just write it down is beyond me ... Blindboy's got it down, pretty much out of the gate with episode one, which I've linked above. The thing's evolved a bit, for the better, but I think you'll get the gist of it and some benefit from starting at the beginning.

For me, part of the pleasure is listening to the Limerick accent, it's the icing that gives the cake that extra bit of appeal. An accent isn't content in and of itself; content carries the weight, but there's something about listening to his Limerick vocalization over soft jazz tinkling that's very relaxing. Most podcasts, I'm five minutes in wishing the fuckers had just typed up their thoughts, or transcribed and edited their session, on account of their vocal tics irritate me or it's just taking too long to get to an interesting point and I could've scanned in a matter of seconds instead of sinking minutes into determining if anyone's going to say anything interesting or not. Now, there are folks on twitter as brilliant as they come, and I appreciate their insights, but I'm just not able to make it through hour long podcasts of even my online favorites discussing something fascinating. They're fantastic bloggers and twitterati, but podcasting is, sorry to say, not their strength.

Blindboy does interviews, reads short stories, engages in a bit of foolery, and shotguns hot takes pretty consistently. The main thing though is he's a compassionate, vulnerable lad with an inquisitive mind, an interest in language and history, a passion for art, and a gift for the gab.

Stream "Horse Outside," see if your local library or bookstore has a copy of The Gospel According to Blindboy to check out, and give Blindboy a chance by telling your smart speaker to play the Blindboy podcast, or whatever you have to do to queue one up. Let me know if you do, and if you like it, or not. I'm also open to suggestions if there are other podcasters who are out there getting it right.




Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Racing for Rescues 5K 2018

Sigh. Slower than last year. I'd be less aggravated if the finish line photos looked OK, but instead of an athletic runner crossing the line of a race in triumph, I look more like a knock-kneed smuggler trying to sneak a sack of potatoes under his shirt through a border crossing.


Don't think I can blame the new course for this year's race, if anything I thought the hills at Dorothea Dix park were a little less daunting than the ones at the Cary Soccer complex. I think I slow up a bit in the last kilometer to gather steam for a final push, but I wait too long to actually go all out to the finish. Next race I'm to try to do a brief bit of steadying at the end of the 4th klick and start the 5th with more pace and basically go all out the last 200 meters or so to ensure the tank is empty when I cross the line. Resting up to push hard the last 100 meters isn't working.

Race 1 - "Decem-burrrrr Dash" - 12/3/16 - 29:10
Race 2 - "SPCA Hot Chocolate Run" - 1/15/17 - 28:25
Race 3 - "I Heart 5K" - 2/11/17 - 26:58
Race 4 - "Running Over Cancer 5K" [official results] - 3/12/2017 - 25:32
Race 5 - "Racing for Rescues" - 5/7/2017 - 25:03 [official results]
Race 6 - "Run the Quay" - 6/3/2017 - 25:11 [official results]
Race 7 - "Decem-burrrr Dash" - 12/2/17 - 24:43 [official results]
Race 8 - "SPCA Mutts & Marshmallows Hot Chocolate Run" - 1/13/18 - 26:27 [official results]
Race 9 - "Cary Greenways 10K" - 4/24/18 - 55:48 [official results]
Race 10 - "Racing for Rescues" - 5/6/2018 - 26:19 [official results]


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