Thursday, May 2, 2013

Low-Cost Racing and a Look Back in Time

Posted by CheapRunnerMike

Last week CheapRunnerMichelle passed on some details to me about a race on Mother’s Day being put on by MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op). They are offering 5K, 10K and 15K distances and the cost is only $15…a great deal! MEC are offering 4 races in our town this year and they are doing the same in cities across Canada. Here is the description from the MEC website;

The MEC Race Series is designed to keep costs low for runners in our community. A registration fee of $15 gets you a measured and certified route, professionally-timed results and fun times at the finish line!


MEC Race Series

I have registered for the 15K while CRM is going to do the 5K with my sister. It’s always nice to have a race to look forward to, especially when it comes at such a good price. What do you guys think about “no frills” races? Personally I am happy to just run with nothing more than a timed and measured route and can give up a medal here and there. I like the bling of some races, but this is a great option as well. There are other movements out there to provide low-cost racing for the masses such as Parkrun, but they have yet to really break into the North American market. If you are interested in low-cost running, you can always find out if your town has a local running club, they are usually plugged in to what’s going on. I’ll be sure to provide a review of the race and let you all know how it went.

Changing gears now to volleyball. I play in an indoor beach volleyball league here in London and my team made it to the final night of the playoffs on Tuesday. We had to play the third place team in the semi-finals (we had finished in second place for the season) and we beat them 2 out of 3 games, then moved on to the finals where we faced the first place team. We were able to knock them off in 2 straight to win the championship…all in all a good season! We decided to take a team photo afterwards to capture the memory and I flashed back to the last team photo I took for volleyball way back in 2007. How’s this for a then and now?


Beach Volleyball Team circa 2007

…and the 2013 Champs!

Yes, that really is Chris Farley me on the left in the first picture. And yes, the two lovely ladies are the other Cheap Runners. As CRM lamented upon having this picture resurface, “cotton tank tops/t-shirt...what were we thinking?” (major bonus points for anyone that recognized the Grubwear logo)

With the return of some warmer weather I have been able to ride my bike to work this week…though I may need to take a little break now. I was just down the road from the office yesterday about to turn onto the bike path through the park when I checked the path to see if anyone was coming. It was clear one way, but there was another cyclist coming towards me. I began my long, slow turn to fall in behind him and made the cardinal sin of not double-checking that the other direction was still clear. Of course, it wasn’t. Two more cyclists coming right at me, absolutely nowhere to go but down. I slammed on the brakes and executed a perfect bail-out slide. I went down, one cyclist avoided me easily, and the other cyclist was almost able to come to a complete stop. His bike stopped right in front of me, but he kept going a bit…I put my arms up and made sure he stayed safely on his feet. The other two cyclists were completely unscathed. And in a truly Canadian moment, they were the ones apologizing to me haha. I told them that it was completely my fault for the rookie boneheaded move I made. After assuring each other we were all fine I got up, dusted myself off and (slowly) set off for home. All I had to show for my spill was a scrape on my elbow and a funky limp…though I’ll probably have a sweet hip bruise in another day or so. At least I looked good wiping out, here’s the cool new Diadora bike jersey I picked up for $20 at Sport Chek on the weekend.


Pre-spill. At least I look like I know what I'm doing?

Anyone else have any spectacular wipe-outs they have lived to talk about?

 

 

6 comments:

  1. OMG Mike, that could have been serious! Glad you are okay!

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  2. Wow! Glad you're okay, brotha:) And the before & after pic is amazing! so proud of you.

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    1. Thanks Em...glad you'll be joining us for the MEC race!

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  3. Sounds like you have a few battle scars. Great job! Ha! But really, I'm happy everyone's okay and the guys were cool about it. Stuff just happens sometimes and I'm glad they gave you a break.
    The one & only time I took a spill off my bike clipped in was at the start line of the CA Classic a few years ago. Everyone suddenly stopped and I couldn't unclip fast enough. It was a very slow fall since I wasn't going fast at all. Think slow motion. My husband saw everything from the sideline, came over picked me up and sent me on my way.

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    1. Cuts, scrapes, bruises I've got them all...Michelle keeps telling me I'm falling apart. Those clipless pedals can be tricky, that's for sure...and The starting line of a big race can be a dangerous place to go down, good thing the Hus was there to get you back upright :)

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