The Blast

I made a mistake last weekend. I was going to bring the camera to the Hyde Park Blast bike race on Saturday night. I didn't want to deal with it and therein lies the mistake. I wish I had visual documentation of how cool this race was. So you have to deal with the photo the brightroom folks took of me at the 4-Mile foot race they held in the morning. Sorry.

First, the race report. This was the third or fourth time I've run this race, but the last attempt came in 2005, I believe... so it's been a minute. I ran that race with Erica and it's the closest I've ever come to losing to her. I almost started walking up the hill on Handasyde (an incline that comes a little after Mile 3 of the race... it's notoriously brutal). So 2010's version was a little different due to a course change a few years ago and it's been hotter than hell as late.

So 8 a.m. rolled around Saturday morning and temps were already reaching into the upper 70's with some pretty high humidity. The glaring sun didn't help matters, but the gun went off and so did we. I had an idea in mind of what I wanted to run, but I had forgotten my watch and there were no mile markers on the course, so this one was up in the air... I just went by effort... and it was hard. I thought I'd have to throw in the towel a couple of times but I managed to bring it home in 25:29. About 30 seconds off what I was looking for, but it'll have to do... mostly because I'm not running it again... at least not for another year. It was the first race where I was pretty positive that I was going to puke or fall down when I crossed the finish line. I did neither which was a bonus but all it means is that I apparently didn't push it hard enough. My sister and a couple of her friends ran and did well, so we met up after everyone had finished and ate some donuts and drank some beers (sorry Meg... the picture was too good not to include).

Erica had a baby shower that night for a friend so I headed back down to meet up with my sister and Dan for the elite 5K race and the final men's bike race that night. They ran the 5K on the 1mi criterium loop and they were fast. 14:44 fast... which is still almost two minutes off the WR. Scary. Shortly thereafter, the bike race started and it was amazing to say the least. We set up camp on the south side of Hyde Park Square and you could literally stand right up against the course and these bikes would come flying down Erie Avenue before slowing for the turn. They went about this for an hour and a half. The race itself, as a runner, is still not anything I understand. A race should be the first one to the finish... bottom line. Apparently it's not like that and I don't know how to explain just how it is. But I do know it was awesome and if there's a race near you, attend it and thank me later.

So it was a good weekend. Now onto the 4th. More good times ahead. I also included a little oil spill calculator. I hate how quickly we Americans forget about shit solely because it's not in our backyard. I'm guilty as charged so this is me not forgetting. Not forgetting to try and do something different. I've said it before and I'll say it again... we're smarter than this. We're not this selfish. This is not the only way.