So I ran Berlin and then proceeded to do nothing for a long time.
Then I signed up for the Avenue of the Giants Marathon with some Iowa friends, got really sick in February (woah, vertigo!) lost all my fitness, but ran the half anyway, despite having a long run of 2 miles. Gorgeous course. The half is totally PR material. I recommend it whole-heartedly.
I organized a team for the Epic Prelay from Portland to Eugene. It was a gorgeous course. I can't recommend running in Oregon enough.
I was going to do the Ragnar Pacific Northwest Relay, but on short notice I got flown to Australia for an interview (for a job I didn't get, but free trip to Australia!).
Here I will gently suggest that you avoid doing Ragnar races in the future. As a relay veteran, I have done two Ragnars and many independently run relays. If you haven't heard, they started a new relay in Colorado, which runs the course of a long standing relay (simply named The Colorado Relay) in reverse. In fact, the Ragnar race organizer was given a free entry by The Colorado Relay as a courtesy, ran the race, and then a week later began the plans to poach the course.
My Ragnar experiences do not trump my independent experiences in terms of organization or support (in fact, Ragnar's Great River Relay has been my worst experience), so this is not a case of the better man winning, simply bullying by a larger organization. There is room for other relays in Colorado (Epic has a new one as well - they developed a unique route and picked a weekend that doesn't overlap with the long established weekends of other races in Colorado). So on principle, I will not be organizing any more Ragnar teams. There are plenty of great races out there without the Ragnar label, so go do those!
Sorry for the diversion! Anyway, it is all moot, since I am moving to Ireland! So I am guessing there will be no relay for me in the near future, but Dublin Marathon 2012? Anyone?
8 comments:
Damn I miss seeing your smile.
I am here! Welcome back to Blogland.
1. The long run of 2 miles is the best workout! Did it work for the half? If so this is a revolutionary plan! And what about 5 miles for the marathon?
2. No problem, in italy the Ragnar doesn't exist and it is also difficult to find a relay race.
3. Dublin Marathon. Why not? The only problem is that we have to do the long distance runs also in august and here it's very hot. I will talk about it with my usual runmates Giorgio and Massimo. For now I have already planned a 5 km in Cardiff in march.
BK,
1. Well I finished, but it was my slowest half ever. But at least the scenery was nice!
2. I am going to have to work on finding a relay in Europe!
3. You are going all the way to Cardiff for a 5k?!
Third!
I'll not heed the call for Dublin, but there's enough of an Irish ex-pat community here that I have had a few verbal race reports.
All the best for your move!
I will go to Cardiff for the rugby match Wales-Italy (march 10, 2012) so I take the occasion to run the Cardiff Park Run 5 km on the same morning.
http://www.parkrun.org.uk/cardiff/home
When I go abroad I always try to enter a local race.
Congrats on the move! Congrats on scoring a free trip to Australia!
You get more comments after not posting for a year then I get posting once per week...
Anyway - how about the Dingle Marathon instead? Super scenic but very hilly during the second half. Right now an Ireland visit is on our agenda for fall 2012. I guess you could just run the half...
Wow, Ireland! Lucky you. I went there in 1989, prolly before you were born, and have meant to go back every year since, but haven't done it yet.
Sigh.
Hey, here's how observant *I* am: I didn't notice the 2010 date on that last post until you said in this one that it'd been over a year. That's me in a nut(waitforit!)shell.
In honor of Ireland, my suggestive comment will be in the form of a Limerick:
Danielle doesn't like Ragnar Team and
Suggests that they're some kind of demon
But in Eire there are men
So perhaps now she can
Trade "Se-attle" in favor of "Se-Men".
Best I can do on short notice.
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