A light drizzle and intermittent wind made for a damp and slightly chilly morning, at least for this Floridian blooded transplant. Nothing like last year’s 5K that was about as cold as I’ve been including time spent in New England or colder climates. Something about the wind chill last year froze me to my core and I just never could get warm. Today though once we started running I found myself warming up — might have been the running jacket I opted not to shed. Nonetheless, a nice morning 5K successfully completed, day 1 of the four day Dopey Challenge at the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend.
I’m constantly amazed at runners who blow past photo ops along the course. I can understand if the lines are overly long, the thought of queuing constantly for a quick pic weighing on you. But at some stage you really need to grab at least one photo with a character, a background, a moment. Otherwise, why are you running this event? runDisney races are expensive. There are FAR cheaper entry fees and events if you’re looking for a clock time record. That said, I do want to run between the photo stops so I understand some of the voiced runner frustrations regarding walkers five abreast blocking paths or in the wrong corrals for start times. As annoying as the corral system is with its delayed wave starts prompting some later corrals starting 45 minute or more after the first wave, the theory is that this should ensure the course is open and runners of comparative paces are moving at a relative flow. Like anything, when there’s a mismatch between times it creates logjams and confusion. In a race, it means a whole lot of ducking and weaving around slower runners for faster people which is frustrating for the faster runners and for the slower ones too — it just makes for an unpleasant experience. It’s hard to be passed and it’s hard to pass. It’s just… awkward. And that ducking and weaving takes a toll physically and mentally. I’ve heard it referred to “pinballing” as you bounce back and forth trying to get around folks. Me? I always think of it as “Millennium Falconing” as a tribute to the backwards and forwards flying shot of Han and Chewie’s Corellian Freighter in the Star Wars saga.
But getting back to the photos — we’ve paid so very much to run these races and part of the charm and fee is to have these experiences along the race course. So running past them seems like a waste of money. But then I’ve always been frugal… which is a polite way of saying I’m incredibly cheap. I’m going to try and maximize my fun for the dollars I’ve spent. To me that’s just good sense but to others it’s crazed. Sure, sure. When I went to my ten year high school reunion eons ago and figured that the $50 ticket price required me to have at a minimum 10 mixed drinks to cover my costs, that might have been a recipe for disaster. But 10 Gin and Tonics later, did I care? Who remembers? (Actually, I do… I was fine after a good night’s sleep).
These posts are ever more rambling and incoherent. Lots of digressions and tangents. Almost as if the prose requires ducking and weaving to understand… say, maybe this all ties together after all! Or is that just the refuge of a desperately underslept and chaotic guy?
Meantime, here’s some shots from today:
