Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Addicted to Running?

Runner's World online mentioned something about running addiction today in one of their forums. I found this kind of interesting and found a test to take to check to see if you are addicted to running. Believe it or not, I only scored 62 points "Fitness with a mellow bent". I thought maybe I made a mistake so took the test again and scored 75 points which is still "Fitness with a mellow bent." Maybe I am in denial? Should there be an intervention? Maybe I should attend an RA meeting? "Hello, my name is Andy and I'm a Runaholic."

An addiction self-test

Where addiction to running stands in your life

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the strongest, weight each of the following statements as they apply to you and your running. Then total your numbers and check the interpretations at the end of the test. Fill out the test in pencil, or make photocopies so you can retake it periodically.

  • ___Running is extremely important to me. I'm positive I'll be running for the rest of my life.
  • ___A day without a run is a day without sunshine.
  • ___If it becomes
    downright impossible to get my workout in today, I can always double up tomorrow.
  • ___Until I get my workout in, I'm a real bear Ä as in unbearable.
  • ___A little pain indicates there's serious progress being made.
  • ___If two aspirin/ibuprofen are good, four are twice as good.
  • ___Warm-up and cool-down are important, but it's what comes in the middle of a workout that counts.
  • ___As far as running goes, more is always better.
  • ___A string of running days must remain unbroken.
  • ___Quality without quantity is impossible.
  • ___Of course I know how many miles I ran last month_
  • ___Unless you've run a marathon, you're not a real runner.
  • ___The more marathons you've run, the more serious a runner you are.
  • ___Rest is for the weary, not for the strong.
  • ___Discomfort exists to run through, not to be an insurmountable barrier.
  • ___All my friends are runners, and I wouldn't consider befriending a nonrunner.
  • ___Many running-related pains can be gotten rid of by running through them.
  • ___If a shirt doesn't boast a race logo, it isn't one I want to wear.
  • ___It exhibits their inbred weakness if people don't want to hear my step-by-step re-creations of races I've run.
  • ___If I have a piddling injury and a sports medicine expert says I shouldn't run, it's obviously time for a second (or third) opinion.

Where does your total fall?

  • 161-200: Running addiction personified. Get help quickly.
  • 121-160: Leaning toward running addiction; beware.
  • 81-120: Neutral.
  • 41-80: Fitness with a mellow bent.
  • 20-40: Approaching terminal mellow; better sign up for a race.

Richard Benyo is editor of a new running publication, Marathon & Beyond, which debuts in January as a bimonthly published by Human Kinetics . Benyo has written 15 books on fitness, health, and sports, including Masters of the Marathon (Atheneum, 1983) and Making the Marathon Your Event (Random House, 1992). He has served as executive editor of Runner's World (1977-84) and is the veteran of 37 marathons. In 1989, he and running partner Tom Crawford became the first athletes ever to run in midsummer from Badwater in California's Death Valley to the peak of Mt. Whitney and back, a distance of 300 miles. He claims to be a recovering exercise addict.


Permission granted to redistribute, as long as you acknowledge the author, FootNotes and the Road Runners Club of America.

Complete Article-Running Addiction

Saturday, August 02, 2008

The Great Sandbagger 10K - 2008

This is a race where you predict your time. You can “win” this race by grossly overestimating how long it will take to run the 10K. Since we stagger the start times from the slowest predicted time to the fastest, usually the person with the largest positive difference between the predicted time and the actual time (lying) wins the race. Theoretically, if everyone told the absolute truth about how fast they planned to run the race, everyone would cross the finish line together, but that never happens.

There were 28 runners that participated. The course is an out and back and a bit hilly. I always try to predict my time accurately since I don’t want to win the atrocious trophy. It's some sort of tall clock thing and the winners have to add something to it. This year I predicted to run it in 41:15 but really had no idea if I could run it that time. Temp was 77F and humid and I was feeling decent, but after last week's disappointing 5K time I wasn't sure how I would run. Dan S., Phil, and MaryAnne predicted 43:00. I sort of liked the idea of being behind them and trying to pace myself by seeing them ahead and they actually started right ahead of me based on the staggered start. There were 3 people that started behind me. Dan L. started 45 seconds behind me, but I guessed he would pass me since I thought he would run a little faster than he predicted (40:30).

We can't wear watches during this race so I have no idea of pace, but I felt like I was starting out pretty fast. I could see Dan, Phil, and Maryanne cresting the first hill ahead shortly after I started. I was slowly gaining on them and Dan L. was gaining on me. At the turn around which is approximately 3 miles, I caught the 3, and Dan L. passed all of us. I kept my pace and then Phil sped up and we were passing back and forth with Dan L. Dan S. and MaryAnne stayed together behind us. At one point I had a surge and sped ahead and up the next hill Phil caught up to me. The rest of the way I stayed right behind Phil and Dan L. In about the last half mile Dan L. increased his lead on us and Phil a little on me. At the last 0.2 mi we had to run 2 times around the long driveway around the school. On the second loop I passed a bunch of people.

My sandbagging placement was 9th of 28 runners and my actual placement based on my time of 40:45 (a 9 second course record for me) was 4th of 28. I guess I was sandbagging just a little when I predicted my time since ended up passing 16 runners and was 30 seconds faster than my predicted.

This was a good "race" and I don't feel I quite went all out other than I probably started a little fast. It would have been nice to know my split at the half, but not wearing a watch kept it more interesting.