Kasha and Kiwi Run Daytona

This month, our Month of Many Mini Marathons stunt has been something else! Tybee was the usual cold weather hometown half. Hilton Head was an unexpected PR. And Daytona, well Daytona. Wow!

Kiwi and I packed up and headed south last Saturday. We arrived in the midst of Budweiser Speedweeks, 8 days of preliminary racing before the Daytona 500. The whole city was packed! We found our way to packet pick up and our hotel. Everything was pretty uneventful.

Except the weather!

Except the weather. Packing to race in Florida, at the beach; I had my usual running clothes packed.

Bad idea....

I woke up on race morning at 4:45. We had a 6:30 start scheduled and I had to get inside the speedway and park. The weather when I left the hotel was 37F/2C with a 12 mph wind. Yuck. I was wearing shoes, socks, compression leg sleeves (first time), the usual shorts, long sleeve shirt, and a headband. I had a throw-away t-shirt with me. My gloves? ...still with Lily from Tybee! I was not prepared for this and it wore on me a little bit.

Also, I still hadn't decided "how" to run this race. Clearly, there were a lot of photo ops, and I was looking forward to those. But I've only really ever raced for time. Would today be different? My indecision was definitely taking a toll. I left my beachfront hotel and headed for the speedway. At 5:30 I passed the turnoff to Starbucks. I wanted to go, but Kiwi told me not to and I'm glad I listened. As I made the turn toward Gate 40, traffic stopped. 3 lanes crawled into one gate, with one person checking tickets for 1400 runners, their guests, and any speedweek tailgaters who happened to be coming in at that hour. I'd been to the speedway once before but never got my bearings. Or so I thought. Once I was inside, about 30 minutes later, I had no problem navigating the tunnel, infield, and parking. I really tried to ignore the cold and headed for Pit Road. Kiwi was on one arm and my handheld on the other.

I wasn't the only one feeling the cold. Those around me were huddling to stay warm. I pulled my tshirt over my race shirt and thought back to the bridge I'd crossed getting to the beach a few times. ...with the wind what it was supposed to be; I couldn't run with just the race clothes. I moved my bib to the tshirt and it became my new uniform.

At 6:30, officials were clearing the roads and getting the last few runners to the line. At 6:45, BOOM!!! Fireworks! 6:45 on a Sunday morning in what may have been the current fullest campground in the state! But the sleeping race fans continued to snore. Off we went! As I crossed the start line, I still wasn't sure how to run this. I was cold, it was early, there would be wind, I just pr'ed, it wasn't going to happen again so soon. I watched our pace car (We had a pace car! How very NASCAR! Loved it!) leave Pit Road and head onto the track. For about a quarter mile I was so happy! I'd wanted to do this! To race at Daytona! And here I was, on the speedway, racing!!!

Other runners began to fly up the steep turns to take pictures. Some got stuck and crab walked back down. I tried to take a self photo, still unsure if I should be focusing on racing faster. Then I heard "I'll take yours if you'll take mine!" I yelled "sure!" and swapped phones with another runner.

Enter Nicole.

We took each other's photos. Mine really captures how I felt to be there! Then we started running and talking. Nicole told me she was on week 5 of 6 (5 half marathons, 6 weekends of races in a row) and I told her this was my 3 of 4. Thus, she was trying to stay slow. Her slow was my usual pace. We started off again, wandering between 10-11 minute miles. Nicole is from Florida and runs. (In case you missed that.) She blogs. She can run and talk at the same time! She told me about Half Fanatics, Detroit Marathon, her work as a pastry chef, her blog TheSweetMile, her half pr (she's right in front of me with a very low 2 hour!) and how she was planning on breaking a 5 hour marathon soon.

I told her about my year of marathons, my blog, and Kiwi. We raced together toward the huge bridge separating Daytona from the beach. Her friend was looking to break a 1:30 and we passed him at the one hour mark. He had 4 miles to go and plenty of time. Plus, he was about 5th from the front. Enter the bridge! I tend to walk up, power down. Nicole uses the opposite approach. So here we split up, and I caught her again about 1.5 miles ahead, on the beach. The beach was lined with race flags, race cars, and a retired driver or two.

How. Cool. Is. That!!!

A quick history lesson:

NASCAR stands for National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing. Back during prohibition, guys would take cars to the beach, sand them down, lighten them, remove everything they could, and try to make them faster. Why? To outrun the feds with a load of liquor. The original speed tests were on the beach. The fastest cars and the drivers with nerves of steel then headed north. Once prohibition was over, the need for fast cars was gone, but the desire was too deep to toss. Thus, NASCAR was born. They moved from the beach to the speedway and have been racing there ever since.

So here we are, running from the speedway to the beach and back. To know this meant to know you were racing through history.

On the beach, I got a great photo and we headed onward.

Back toward town, we turned off of International into one of the most beautiful parks I've seen. Everything was so lush and green. What a sight! Back onto the Boulevard and toward the speedway. A few more great pictures, and toward the finish line.










 Nascar Dr with the Daytona Beach Sign





 

 We made it!








Our finish line? The actual checkered black and white line on the track. So cool!

So we tracked down Nicole's friend who not only beat his desired PR time and placed in his age group, he beat driver Jimmie Johnson by seconds, keeping him from placing in the top 3 of his group. We pointed out that he beat Jimmie Johnson at Daytona and not many people can say that!

Side note- 4 NASCAR drivers and one sportscaster raced with us. And they all posted great times. Sure, driving is a skill, arguably not a sport, but your body cannot handle the stress of 200 mph for 3 1/2 hours if it is not in excellent shape. All 5 proved themselves athletes by any standard that morning.

Kasha, I'm bored. 

What? Why, Kiwi?

You've been talking for a hundred thousand years. 

Well, it was a really good day. And we still have more to tell.

But I wanna play app. Can we tell it later? PLLLEEEAAASEEEE? 

Okay. I suppose it is a long story. Wanna put up the last two photos from the morning?

Sure. 

KIWI UPLOADS:  

... I suppose we'll finish this later.

Kasha Writes For The Savannah Morning News

Hi. This is Kiwi.

Today Kasha is in the newspaper.

And online videos.

And drinking coffee.

You can see her here at:  Savannah Morning News

Be sure to comment and tell them how much you like her, because then she'll write more articles.

She is working very hard this week on the Daytona Race update, so that is why I posted this. I hope you like it.

LOVE KIWI 

Kiwi Defines EVERYTHING

Welcome to Kiwi's Dictionary!

These are words. And other stuff. But I made them clarified for people who aren't me. 

Here you go! 

LOVE KIWI

AnAcaciaTree- this is how you say Kasha's name. Like the tree. Kay-sh(uh). It is also the online branch (branch! tree! ahahaha) of TheKashaShow Productions.

Cert- cert'ed, certification. Either a course that has been checked for distance, or Kasha's personal training cert. She is a Certified Fitness Trainer.

Chomp- a running food, usually square, the consistency of a gummy bear.

Client- people Kasha trains in the gym or runs with. 

Coffee- coffee-time, Kasha usually drinks this cold, for caffeine. She also drinks hot chocolate a lot. But a lot of our stories are at Starbucks cause we go there a lot. And a LOT of Kasha's treats are coffee. Remember from the first line in our first post, this is a story about coffee.

Comments- we love them, because then we know you only think we are a little awful. 

Corrals- starting sections by speed. This helps line up racers so no one gets run over or runs over another racer not moving at their speed. Not all events have a corral start. 

Dopi- Kasha's music shuffle. ...spell ipod backward. 

Electrolyte imbalance- when you run, you sweat. This takes salt and water out of you. But you drink water and that puts the water back inside you. Then there's not enough salt. That makes other things imbalanced as well. This makes cramping, throwing up, etc. 

Email- you can follow us through email. Go sign up -----> over there. It's easy, cause I made it. 

Endorphins- addictive chemicals produced by the body during exercise. Kasha is an endorphin addict. That should be a word. Endorphin plus dope.... endo-doper... endoper! ENDOPER!!!

Facebook- Kasha does not have a profile, but she has a page. That's like what businesses and community have. ...cause I made it.

Fans- what I have lots of, cause I'm awesome. What Kasha has none of, cause all the cool people are busy loving me!

Fast- this is relative. To some, it is a 5 minute mile. To others it is a 5 hour marathon. Fast is feeling the wind and knowing you're giving it all you have in any single moment. A great runner knows how personal "fast" is and never looks down on anyone else's Fast. 

5k- a race covering 5k/3.1 miles.

Fleet Feet Savannah- Kasha's shoe store. Also Kasha's gu store, sale shirts store, and info gathering store. If you have a running question, they have the answer. 

Flying- the ultimate Fast. A lot of Kasha's races involve periods of flying.

Fone- how I spell "phone" sometimes. 

Full- full distance marathon 26.2 miles/ 42k

GPS- global positioning system. Some watches have GPS. I have GPS. But Kasha learned to run without it, so she doesn't use it too much. 

Gu- this is a brand of gel. Gel is a substance the consistency of toothpaste with about 100 calories of carbs for eating while running. Kasha says gu when she means gel.

Gym-work, Kasha-work- the place where Kasha traina clients. Also known as Nonstop Fitness in Sandfly.

Half- half marathon 13.1 miles/ 21k

Halver(s)- the people running a half.

Handheld- around here, this means the hand-held water bottle Kasha wears. You can see it in pictures, attached to the outside of her right hand. Kasha is left-handed, so watch and water go on the less useful side.

Help- what I do for Kasha. What Ultra crew does. What readers do. Anyone can run. No help needed. but when you turn it into an enterprise, you will fail without Help.

Hill- to Kasha, this is even the slightest increase in altitude. Like, if she can see a slight "up" it is a hill. She is from a swamp. On an island. Islands are sea level and swamps are flat and hot, but never hilly. However, she has the ability to run them pretty well. We don't know why. That just goes in the luck column. Kasha calls bridges "hills" sometimes. 

Home Base- a collection of places Kasha calls home. Skidaway Island is where she sleeps most nights, out of The Landings and inside The Landings. Sandfly is where she trains clients. Savannah is where she gets... stuff... it's the city. Home Base is this conglomeration. 

TheKashaShow- This. This whole endeavour is TheKashaShow. I run it, Kasha "runs" it. Ahahahahahah! I'm so great. How did she do this without me?? 

Kasha- she runs a lot. She drinks coffee. She writes the blog and trains clients. She also reads and makes crafts and is pretty good at kindergarten homework. She speaks Spanish and sign language and one time she decided to run a marathon every month for a year...

Kiwi, KIWI, Kiwi Taper, Kiwi Fone- I am Kiwi! I am Kasha's phone. I use the italics. Sometimes I write whole blogs, sometimes I help, sometimes I am in time out. 

LOVE KIWI- Kiwi's (my) sign off.

Month of Many Mini Marathons- February 2013. A half marathon every weekend. 

Nu Blu- my cousin. Kasha has a lot of sisters. One of them, Tiffany, has a phone. His name is Nu Blu Pritty Fone. ....he was new and blue and pretty when we got him. I helped name him. Can you tell?

Pace- also called speed, how fast you're going. This can be a treadmill setting. Ex: 6 miles per hour. This can be pace per mile. Ex: a 9 minute mile.

Pacer- a friend, runner, other racer who keeps you moving at a particular speed. This helps the runner use less energy and focus on the run. Kasha likes to pace for others and have others pace for her. Both are great.

Packet Pickup- the day and place you go get your race bib (number), shirt, etc. Usually the day before a race, sometimes immediately before an event.

Portapotty- bathrooms set up at races and sometimes along the course. Kasha has a love/hate relationship with these. All runners do.

PR- Personal Record, a best time in an event. Called PB, personal best (that means peanut butter to Kasha) in other places, it is a celebration no matter what you call it. 

Salt- what distance runners often need more of. What the average American usually needs less of. 

Sharks- things in the ocean that try to eat you while you try to tri. Also called "seaweed."

Split/splits- breaking (splitting) a run or race down into kilos or miles to see how each one went. Were they even, did you speed up, etc. 

Sub- under anything. A sub-10 is a mile faster than 10 minutes. A sub-2 half is a half marathon under 2 hours.

Race- an event. Anything from "I'll do this cause I feel like it." to "I'm gonna train for years and have the perfect race." Racing can be expensive with travel, entry fees, clothing, gear, etc. See "Run" for alt explanation.

Race Day- what Kasha lives for.

Recovery- period of time when you body comes back from the latest endeavor. Kasha sleeps very hard over the next 36-48 hours anytime she feels tired, and that keeps her at a very limited recovery period. 

Run- one foot in front of the other, with the two not touching ground at the same time. Nothing needed. No shoes, no music, this is the least expensive sport out there. Period. (See Race for alt explanation.)

Running Food- anything eaten while running. Gu, chomps, etc.

10k- a race covering 10k/6.2 miles

Taper- running a little or a lot less to be ready for a race. We have Taper Week and Taper Day. For distances 13.1 miles and under we only use a Taper Day now. But the drop off of endorphins can be very obvious in Kasha. Fast talking, shaking, crying even. This is a literal drug withdrawal. We know this and plan our day to only be around people we need to. ...even the kids she babysits know Taper Day is Kasha-is-weird-cause-she's-excited-and-didn't-get-to-run-today.

Temperature- Kasha's current home base is in Georgia, United States. That means we use Fahrenheit  for our temperatures. But we have a lot of readers from other parts of the world (thank you!) and we are gonna get better about writing both temps, because when Kasha says "it was 42 and freezing!" That sounds like crazy to people who live where 42 is death-hot.  (For our US readers= in Celsius just remember, 30's hot, 20's nice, 10 is cold, 0's ice.) We love our readers and want to write clearly. Well, clearly as a Fone and a runner can....

Trail run- dirt, gravel, shell. Not concrete or asphalt. An unpaved surface.

Tri/triathlon- an event consisting of 3 sports, most frequently swim, bike, run; of varying distances.

Triathloony- a person who does tris.

Tri-day- the day of the triathlon. 

Twitter- I signed up for Twitter and didn't tell Kasha. It was funny. We're at TheKashaShow. Come find us!

Ultra- ultra marathon, a running event lasting longer than 26.2 miles. Usually starting at 31 miles/50k or a timed race, such as 6, 12, 24 hours with the winner being the one covering the most mileage.

Ultra Crew- a person or group that helps an individual runner during an ultra marathon. They prep food, water, bike along, etc. ....We've even had ultra crews for 5ks. 

Water stop, water station, aid station- water, gel, and/or medical help depending on the distance and duration of a race. Coming in for a landing at a water station, always make eye contact with the person holding it out and reach out your hand. If you can't manage "thank you," manage that eye-contact-head-nod. Because the person handing you water is a VOLUNTEER. They are either skipping their weekend run or got up early TO HAND YOU WATER. They are "helpers." ....and races don't happen without Helpers!

What We Planned- to run a half or full marathon every month for the year that Kasha is 29.

What Happened- We're halfway through month 5 and we've run one marathon, one ultra marathon, and 4 halves. We started a blog as a journal, but now we're at 2250 page views and hearing such great feedback.

What We're Gonna Do Next- Just keep running, just keep blogging, just see what the next mile brings. Thank you so much for being a part of this endeavour. 

LOVE KIWI

A Hilton Head Half Best and Dangerous Thoughts...

Hi. 

I'm Kiwi.

I'm famous around here for not being Kasha.

Everything is better when I tell it.

So I will tell you Hilton Head Half!

(Besides. Kasha is asleep. She sleeps a lot in between races right now.)

Saturday was Hilton Head Half Marathon.

Hilton Head is an island about an hour away from Savannah. Kasha has only run one other race there. A 5k over the 4th of July 2 years ago. This weekend we went back there for race 2 in Month of Many Mini Marathons! Friday, Kasha was a spastic. She wasn't acting it, not verbing it. She WAS it. She nouned it. Spastic Kasha had to film some articles for the Savannah Morning News on fitness routines. A newspaper. Take some pretty pictures and answer questions, right? No. They also have a whole online section that is taped and played back. So she had to memorize a bunch of stuff. This was all on Taper Day. She's already a spastic on Taper Day. She got through the taping with minimal crazy (first article will be out soon, we'll link it), and went to bed super early. 

4:30 am. Rise and Shine! Instead of driving 50 miles each way 2 days, Kasha opted to get up early and claim her packet before the race. Not all races allow this. Hilton Head is special like that. About 3 miles from the race, she stopped for coffee. And hot chocolate. Which is a lot of caffeine and not food in her tummy, but that's what she did.

She found the race site, got her packet, and went back to the car. An hour later it was time to go. But it was cold! I didn't wanna run. I wanted to stay in the blankets. So I whined and whined and Kasha decided she'd rather run alone than with Whiney Fone for 13 miles, so she let me stay. Remember... squeaky wheels get to sleep in the warm blankets! Or something like that. 

Kasha headed to the start line. 

Here we go!

She always does well when she starts near the front, so she did that. From the start line they headed 2 miles out and back with lots of dead animal smells and lots of sun. She wore sunglasses. Back across the start line, and hitting under 10 minute miles! Yeah! Better than last week already!

When it is cold, she doesn't drink as much water, plus; remember she had a fully caffeinated tummy. This meant she didn't need water stations. She just kept going. The 5k-ers began to turn back, then the 10k-ers. The halvers were on their own! At mile 4.5 Kasha looked up. And kept looking up! That's a big bridge, she thought. 

....genius didn't know she signed up for the Hilton Head Half Marathon BRIDGE Run.

aaahahahahahaahhaha!!!!

But Kasha was happy. She walked up the bridge eating gu as the first half marathoner headed back over. Then she got to the downhill. A lot of runners hate downhill running because it forces their muscles to work differently. But Kasha has always been able to change her hill stride/gait completely for a controlled, but scary fast downhill run. She was born in a swamp in Georgia, so she should be able to run in humidity, but we have no good reason for why she can run hills. It doesn't add up.

So she flew down the hill and off into the park. Miles 5, 6, 7 were all under ten minutes and she got back to the bridge. Same plan- gu up, fly down. This time she concentrated so hard on her downhill flying that it carried her a good ways after the hill/bridge ended. 

Mile 10 showed 1:43 by her watch. The old record was a 2:14:17, and to beat that she couldn't slow down at all. So she didn't. Whenever she felt tired, she ran harder. Back into the woods where she could hear the finish line music and across a wooden boardwalk. Run, run, run. See the finish line! FFFFFLLLLYYYYYY!!!!

Pass the married couple.

Pass the old man.

Finish line!!!

2:13:04!

A minute and 13 seconds off the old record! 

Go Kasha!!!

As she crossed the finish line, a guy was waiting for her. She took out an ear bud and tried to catch her breath. 

"I watched you run down the bridge." He said.

"That was incredible." He said.

Kasha gasped a thank you and was excited her killer bridge flying was not all inside her head. 

Then she found water and came to get me to take a picture!

How cute is that for a new PR?

She almost looks nice. And normal. 

...I should check my camera settings...

So then we got in the car.

But Saturday was not over! 

Next we went to Bluffton, just down the road, where Low Country Ultras was hosting Delirium. LCU also hosted Kasha's 50k Ultra in January. So she went over to help out however she could.

We changed clothes in the car, and spent the next 4 hours checking off runners as they completed trail/path/road loops of 1.7 miles to compete for 6, 12, or 24 hours. Kasha's friend Gary was there, and he did 50 miles in under 24 hours. Wow! Gary's son, age 9, did almost 19! Oh, in only 6 hours. Knowing that makes Kasha very intolerant when grown ups whine about running for 20 minutes on a indoor treadmill. 

Dan, who dreamed and built the Ledesma Ultra, also ran the 24 hour race, logging almost 40 miles. Wow again! And it left Kasha wondering if maybe she could do that some day. Dan and Gary both have that "You can SO do this" mindset and she knows they would only stoke the crazy fire. But we will worry about that later.

Helping out was lots of fun. She got to talk to other runners, from 5k-ers to other ultra crazies and triatholoonies. (I made that up. But I think it is the best word ever and it will go in my Kiwi Dictionary very soon!) She learned to spot which runners were coming when, who wore what, and who ran together. It was fun!

THEN we went home. 

Back to teaching Kettlebell Hell classes.

Back to training clients.

Back to dreaming about the next race.

Back to getting other people's kids off the bus.

Back to Home Base. 

And it was good. :)

This weekend, we're gonna go to Daytona Beach for the Half Marathon, and we're both so very really super excited. Maybe that's why she's sleeping. She passed out from excitement. Yeah. That's probably it. 

LOVE KIWI

Kasha Runs Tybee and Kiwi Runs Stats

This past Saturday was the Critz Tybee Run Fest. Over Friday and Saturday, 5 events adding up to a full marathon. (5k, 10k, Half, 2.8, 1 mile.) I do the half. I've done the half 3 years now. My first season of running, Tybee only had a 5k and a half, so I did the 5k. That's back when I was doing them every weekend. So I suppose it was fitting that Tybee was the first event in our Month of Many Mini Marathons. (Kiwi made that up.)

Saturday morning was cold. C. O. L. D. Cold. I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't fall back asleep. Oh well, I needed an early start to get on island before they closed any streets. Up and going, we got to Starbucks at 5:45. It opens at 6. By 5:55, my barista handed me 2 drinks. A hot chocolate and a hot tea. I was gonna need both.

Onward to Tybee, the temperature was hovering around 32 degrees.

We parked in the same spot we always do. By the fence at Ocean Plaza, near the porta potties. I asked Kiwi to remind me in our next life to pick a sport/lifestyle without such intimate knowledge of pre-dawn, freezing temps, or porta potties. He shivered and went back to sleep. For the next 2 hours, we drank liquids and tried to sleep. Sleep never happened, but the time really flew. Around 8:10 it was time to go line up. I opened the car door and the alarm started blaring.

While I have no idea what I did, I do know that I'd already tied my key into my shoe. Which meant taking off my shoe, unlocking the door, and putting it back on. Kiwi whined that I woke him up and insisted that he was too cold to run. He said he would wait in the car. I told him I'd be gone for 3 hours and he mumbled, "good" and went back to sleep.

Start line temp: 32 degrees

Start line clothing: shoes, ankle socks, thin shorts, sports bra, long sleeve breathable shirt, gloves, ear warmers

Start line additional gear: hand held water bottle, 2 powerbar gels, sunglasses, Dopi (a music shuffle...spell ipod backward...)

Start line song: Crazy Train. They do this every year and I love it!

Start line cheering party: My sister Lily who just pr'ed in the 10K with a subhour finish, (also besting my 10k pr by a minute!) after working as a bartender the night before.

....we both skipped that whole lesson on "limits" in school...

Here we go!


Around the corner, down the long Butler Ave stretch. My legs felt thick, but I expected them to warm up quickly.

1 mile, 10:05.

Hmm.... slower than my pace felt. Keep going.

2 miles, 20:16.

What? Where is this coming from! Jacksonville's first few miles were closer to 9's. Why this pace now? On my home course, too!

I kept moving, slowing to a walk at mile 5 to eat gel. The gel helped, but I was still maintaining a 10+ mile.

Back down Butler into "part 2" and not flying, but holding steady. Here I saw Bandit. Bandit is married to Boston Runner from Jacksonville Race. Today Bandit was running to pace a friend aiming for a 1:30. When I saw him, he was alone, just enjoying himself. I yelled out and he turned around to run with me.

Having someone else pace you can be the best thing in the world. All the effort you put into holding a speed, keeping your shoulders out of your ears, breathing, etc; becomes simple when someone else tells you to do it. Because no brain power is going toward those things, you can just run. Bandit stayed with me for about a mile then wandered off to finish his run. About this time, Lily showed up again. I tossed her my gloves and she ran for about a quarter of a mile with me.

That got me to mile 10. 5k to go! I was at around the 1:45 mark, which is funny, because in Athens that meant a definite PR. Now it meant giving it everything I had just to break even. I wasn't sick or injured, but it wasn't a perfect race. I kept going, picking off runners as I moved, drinking water-gatorade-water at station 12 before heading toward the finish line. While I wasn't flying, no one passed me and I kept picking off the ones in front of me.

Finish Line!!! I ran with everything I had, head down, feeling my muscles ready to quit. ...you have about a 2 minute maximum sustainable effort period, I was betting on it to show up.

It did, for a 2:21:57 finish.

Overall personal record? Nope.

Course personal record? You bet! 2011 was a 2:33 and 2012 was a 2:37. (Still my slowest half ever.) I beat my Tybee best by 12 minutes! Win!

I gathered some snacks for Kiwi and headed for the car pretty quickly. It was still very cold and I was exhausted.

Back at the car, Kiwi was awake and happy about his breakfast bars. He knows they're one of those things I won't eat. I gave him my finish time and he started happily calculating stats.

I got into the car just in time for electrolyte imbalance to hit. Ouch! I drove back to Starbucks and requested salt with (not in) my tea. That calmed my muscles enough to go to the drugstore for pedialyte. And that helped with everything else. We drove home, took a shower, and crawled into bed. Over the next 24 hours, I slept for about 16.

1 down, 3 to go.

Reader Question: Kiwi (music) or No Kiwi

Ann Marie asks:

Have you seen races where no Kiwi (music) is allowed? I signed up for Myrtle Beach and the homepage says "The USATF has amended their ruling on headphones and ipods. For safety reasons, the Myrtle Beach Marathon does not permit running with headphones and ipods. " I don't think I can make it without my tunes. Any advice?

But I Love My Music, Mr Director!

....the rule originally stated that no USATF sanctioned event allowed headphones. It has since been amended to leave that decision to the race director. 

Yes, Myrtle Beach bans headphones.

...officially speaking.

I found this review from a runner. (Paragraph 4.)

It has been my experience that the rule is largely unworkable. If you aren't vying for prize money, as most of the general field is not; it doesn't seem to matter. 

Why Is This Even A Rule?

First- safety. You need to be able to hear directions (water here, gatorade there & full marathon left, half marathon right), cars approaching (Myrtle Beach Marathon is NOT a closed course. There WILL be cars), and other runners about to throw up on you. This is MBM's reason for the disallowment. And it is a good one.

Second- winning. Before headphones helped us drift into our happy pace and happy place, cutting off the outside world, they were radios. Communication is a no-no. If the runner next to you had a coach in his ear, he would have a much easier time knowing when to push, when to hold back, etc. This is why you will never see the cross country kids or elite runners with headphones. It is an automatic disqualification for prizes.

How Does This Apply To Me?

Learn to run without music. Horrible. What if begins to rain? Gonna keep an electronic thing in your ear? No... it goes to your pocket! Try a lap around the block. It is possible. But you could always...

Hide it. Wear a soft headband (ear warmers in winter) and pull it over your ears. Tuck the cord down your shirt if your music is on your hip. Music in your hand? Wait til you get going to plug in. On your arm? Wrap the extra cord around the device and lace the cord behind your ears. I've seen them through hair, hats, ponytails, etc. Cordless headphones that are obvious? I'm not sure on that one, but Kiwi suggests a race day costume so crazy no one will pay attention to your head.

Ann Marie, we hope this helps! If we can clarify anything or answer anything else, let us know! And good luck at the race! Kiwi and I are looking forward to hearing how it goes!!!

GOOD LUCK ANN MARIE!! LOVE KIWI

Got a question? Send it to Kiwi. We'll answer it, or make up something awesome.