1. Check out Tina's post about spandex and obesity. Let me know your thoughts, I'll probably post something about this later.
2. One of my yoga buddies, Peggy (who is so awesome), let me borrow a couple of vegan cookbooks. I'm not going vegan, but I'd like to try out some different recipes because there's a whole land of food out there that is different from the way I eat and I'd love to try all of them. So this morning, I made "Oatmeal Medley" from one of the books, of course I can't remember the title so I'll have to find it and give tell you about it.
Recipe -
2 cups of rolled oats
4 cups of water
1/2 cup coconut (it calls for unsweetened but of course, I accidentally bought the sweetened)
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
blueberries
Just cook all of the ingredients together on the stove for about 10 minutes. Add the blue berries and cook another 3 minutes.
It was delicious. I did add some honey which is not vegan, so whoopsy, but you get my drift. It was really really good and I kind of struggle with rolled oats, so I was pleasantly surprised about how delicious it was. I'll be discussing some other recipes on here as well. I also should've taken a picture.
obviously, this isn't my oatmeal and we'll just pretend that's what it looked like image source_______________________________________________________
Now to our main topic, Race Etiquette.
As I was running in Las Vegas, I saw a number of things that could have happened to make the race much more enjoyable for everyone involved. I was not upset because honestly, how do you know what to do if you've never raced before. And even if you have, if it's never been explained to you, then again, are you just supposed to use psychic powers? So I'm hoping this post will come across as something more helpful vs bitchy because I mean it all in a nice way.
1. Choosing a Corral If you're in a race that's actually big enough to have corrals, i.e. any RnR race, you have the option of choosing where you start. This may not seem like a big deal, but actually, it's huge in making sure that you are comfortable as well as others around you. And this goes to runners at all paces. Here are the issues if you sign up for the wrong corral -
You are rushing past every one in the first 3-5 miles. If you're in mile 5, and you're still running past everyone and weaving in and out of traffic, you signed up for the wrong corral. If you're in mile 5 and people are rushing past you still, you're in the wrong corral. If you're a 8 minute mile runner, please don't sign up for the 2:15 finish. You're going to be rude and weave in and out of everyone because you signed up to slow. If you're an 11:00 mile runner, please don't sign up for the 1:45 finish. And lastly, if you sign up for the pace you actually are, then start in your corral. If you get there and realize that your friend is in a different corral than you, you either need to run at the pace of your friend or not run together. 2. How to passHonestly, I'm not sure the rule for passing. The one thing I do know is that if you need to walk, then typically, you should be on the outside edge of the road so that you are not prohibiting people that are continuing at their same pace. So my assumption is that faster runners stay towards the middle. One thing that gets my goat is when people do a walk/run ratio and they walk in the middle. No, you need to go to the side and walk, out of the way of others. So the other side of that is this, if you are a faster runner - especially if you've signed up for the wrong corral - whizzing by slower people on the outside. It ends up being a cluster when it really could be a lot more organized if we all followed the same rules.
3. Finish LineOnce you cross the finish line, keep moving. Move out of the way until you get to an open spot. The fact that people got trampled at the RnR Vegas is so absurd to me because most of the hold up was that people were stopped in the road talking to other runners. One thing I will say, RnR typically has you take a pic with your medal after the race so that slowed the process way down. They need to fix that. But after I passed through the picture taking part (I went around the outside because I didn't want one) and people were still just standing there. I can see how people get frustrated but to get crazy and start trampling people, that seems a little wild. I guess people just felt trapped. I know that when I was walking through Mandalay Bay, I was feeling a little overwhelmed by the crowd.
4. ExtrasThis is a little bit of common sense, but don't push people out of the way. When I was running, someone pushed me out of the way. Not Appropriate.
Listen, I get that we're all competitive and we're trying to beat our times and all of that but people and how you treat them are more important than your time. Take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Why are you running this race? It's an extra curricular activity unless you're an Olympic runner and if that's the case, you're not running in corral 18, so let's get real. Sometimes, as runners, I feel like we get a little caught up in our time and lose sight of the fast that this is for our health and it doesn't matter at the end of the day. If you don't PR, you're not going to die. So, please be nice to others, stay calm and remember this is all temporary. You'll run a different race, you'll have a better time at some point, you'll get out of the crowd, you'll get your race t shirt and your medal, just chill. It would be a good time to practice deep breathing and meditation. :)
