Happy Halloween!

What to blog about on Halloween... hmmm... I know - horror movies! Yeah, you wouldn't think there would be any horror movies involving sports, but you'd be wrong:

• Graduation Day (1981): After a high school track runner, named Laura, suddenly dies from a heart attack after finishing a 30-second 200-meter race, a killer wearing a sweat suit and a fencing mask begins killing off her friends on the school track team one by one. The suspects include the track coach Michaels, Laura's sister Anne who arrives in town for the funeral, the creepy school principal Mr. Guglione, and Laura's strange boyfriend Kevin.
• Undead Pool (2007): A girls' high school team is having a competition. Aki persuades her friend Sayaka to join the swimming team. However, a mysterious virus is spreading throughout the school. After Aki discovers the incident and tries to tell other people, she is killed. The swimming team takes up the challenge to cope with it and begins the fierce battle.
• I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer (2008): A cricket team are dismissed by a moustachioed serial killer with a razor sharp cricket glove and an arsenal of sharpened stumps. One by one the killer exacts revenge for the torment he endured 20 years earlier.

Graduation Day made money ($250,000 budget and $23+ million in sales)... I think our next "fundraiser" should be writing a decent horror movie... I mean you can't get much creepier than Schenck or Dorothea Dix in the dark! Or maybe we can write it about a group of runners that gets lost in a corn maze and is forced to wander around for hours and hours... oh wait, that happened to this poor family!

10/29-30 Race Reports

Exciting weekend of racing for Team RRO / FASTcoaching:

• John Garrity completed his first full Ironman this weekend at Beach2Battleship, racing in grueling conditions to finish in 14:25... CONGRATS CONGRATS CONGRATS WAHOOO! Marty killed the half distance, finishing in 4:37. I'm not sure how either placed in their age groups, etc. (they don't have those results up yet)... but y'all ROCK! (live results)
• Jeff (4:27), Jen (4:12), and Kory (2:59) ran AWESOME at the Marine Corps Marathon this morning. (live results)
• The E3 Cross Country Challenge went GREAT this AM as well. Despite the "challenging" course that Sean and Gavin laid out (thanks guys for making us run up a huge hill to the finish and sticking a hay bale right at the top of the steepest section), Brian Fowler had no trouble running an "easy" 6min pace, winning the Men's 8K. Tim G. and Keith were 2nd and 3rd respectively on the men's side. Jennifer Hannen ran a strong race as well, walking away with 1st place in the Women's 6K, while Rita and I battled it out for 2nd and 3rd. John R. (4th), Gregg S., Mark N., Mike C., Matt M., and Sara P. ran strong races as well. Auden (I think I spelled his name correctly) was first in the fun run... he is quite the runner... and Lauren Stephenson was 2nd. NICE JOB and THANKS to everyone who came out and volunteered. I'll post more complete results and some photos soon!  

Time to gear up for City of Oaks next weekend!

Weekend Outlook

Ready... set...GO!

• Beach2Battleship is this Saturday... good luck to John G. (racing the Full Ironman) and Marty G. (racing the Half Ironman), as well as our friends from the NCSU Tri team!
• The Marine Corps Marathon is on Sunday... good luck to Jeff, Jen, and Kory!
• And, the most AWESOME cross country race EVER is on Sunday... the E3 XC Challenge is at Dorothea Dix (10AM for open races, 11AM for kid's fun run).

There are some other races going on in the Triangle this weekend (Anna's Angels and Monster Dash), but none of them are nearly as cool as the three listed above. For World Record Friday... Stefaan Engels completed 20 Full Ironman's in one year (2007-2008), while James Lawrence completed 22 Half Ironman's in one year (2010). And, in preparation for the E3 XC Challenge... now that's a hay bale:

Who Wins?

A vampire, werewolf, and a zombie line up at the start line of the E3 XC Challenge on Sunday... who crosses the finish line first?

Well, depending upon their age, vampires can be pretty fast, reaching speeds upwards of 120-200+ mph. Werewolves are slower, ranging in speed from 20-40 mph, with differences depending upon the form the Lycan take. Zombies, however, are very slow because dead things can't run fast. So, the Vampire would clearly win (even if he was running the 8K and the rest were doing the fun run). The Werewolf would be next across the line, followed by the Zombie. And, presumably, a human would finish in the top 3 :-)

Environment

Running is environmentally friendly... right? Or at least not environmentally unfriendly. I mean, I throw out my GU wrappers. A while back, Runner's World investigated the carbon footprint of runners - nearly 5500 lbs of CO2! Travel accounts ~4500lbs (with the majority of this being attributed to flying to races), and gear accounts for the remaining bit (and I personally think that some of their figures are conservative). Want to figure out your carbon footprint? At least we're not as bad as the Olympic torch!

Education

Want to get smarter? Run more. At least, that's what recent studies have found. Running stimulates the brain to grow new neurons / grey matter in the hippocampus. This is the part of the brain used for contextual memories (both in time and space), and is critical for "fluid intelligence" (our ability to reason and problem-solve). In fact, going for an AM run improves blood flow to the brain, as well as relieve stress and anxiety... a good way to start any test. That and sleeping, breathing, meditating, eating complex carbohydrates, and laying off the drugs also help.

Don't fret if you're injured and can't run. Any form of aerobic exercise improves intelligence (so long as you're not studying while you doing it... dang it... the only way I could stay awake while reading text books was on an exercise bike). Yoga also has beneficial effects, although weight lifting doesn't.

Exercise - Greenways/Trails

In preparation for the upcoming E3 XC Challenge, I decided to make it a theme week! Namely, the posts this week will be related to the three pillars of E3 (now doesn't that sound zen) - Exercise, Education, and Environment. In my opinion, the triangle-area is pretty active as a whole. I attribute this in part to the number of great places to run, ride a bike, etc.

• Capital Area Greenway System: This network of public paths/trails snakes its way throughout Raleigh. The concept began in the early 70's to conserve "green space" in the face of rapid growth and urbanization. The plan has developed into a 69-mile, 3700-acre system and continues to grow. More information, including maps of current/plan greenways can be found here. My favorite section of the greenway is the one by the Art Museum because: (1) it has cool stuff to look at along the way, (2) I laugh every time I read the "reduce speed" signs painted on the greenway in the wrong order (I start at the top line and read down because that is the way I'm used to), and (3) it is conveniently located near my favorite coffee shop. However, it is kind of hilly, so my favorite "less rolling" option is the "Shelly Lake greenway" (which is conveniently marked in quarter- to half-mile intervals). Here's a little tip - if you get board running in 2-mile circles, you can always try looking for the "loch ness monster" that lives in Shelly Lake... at least this is what I do because if I were a fresh-water dwelling cryptid, that's totally where I'd live!
• Umstead Park: Pat Price pretty much summarized running in Umstead in this post. My favorite section of Umstead is about a half-mile stretch of the Bridle Trail where it takes a bend between the Old Reedy Creek Road gate and the water fountain. Why? It's one of the few flat spots in Umstead and there aren't as many big trees, so the sun peaks through. If I were going to take a "rave run" picture of Umstead, this is where I'd take it... in fact, I pretend I'm a Runner's World photographer every time I get to that one section.
• American Tobacco Trail: The ATT is part of a national effort to utilize old railroad corridors for "alternative transportation" and recreation... why waste perfectly flat, cleared trails?!? Eventually, the trail will span 23 miles from New Hill, through Chatham County, and ending in downtown Durham. Currently, Wake County has 6.5 miles open, Chatham County has 4.7 miles open, and Durham has 7.4 miles open (totaling a little over 18.5 miles - map). The ATT is mostly flat (although it looks slightly uphill to me no matter which way I run), and the surface is mostly packed dirt, with some paved sections. Most of it is conveniently marked in mile to 1/2-mile increments (making it convenient for tempo runs), and there are three main trailheads. My favorite part of the ATT trail is by the "swamp" close to the 1-mile marker because I think it looks prehistoric and I like to either pretend that I'm an archeologist (if it's an easy run) or that dinosaurs are chasing me (if it's a tempo run).
• Dorothea Dix Campus: I would be remiss if I didn't include the site of the upcoming E3 XC race in this discussion! And, Dorothea Dix is a nice place to run because there isn't a lot of traffic, there are a variety of surface options (road, field, etc.), and you can kill a lot of time taking random roads. However, it does kind of have that Shutter Island feel to me.  

So, in conclusion, the triangle-area has a lot of great greenways and trails to run on... and I pretend a lot of random things when I run :-)