Author Archives: crossn81

Million Dollar Marathon

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Would you like to win a million dollars for running a marathon? How about any money? Many of us are content to win some type of door prize or age group award at local road races. Like me you probably don’t think about making racing a career.

For the elite athletes it is quite different. Many get paid to simply race. But they also get extras, including special hotels, food, post-race amenities, their own aid stations, and much more. When I volunteered at the Chicago Marathon I got to see the elite athletes and their aid station (see picture). Payouts are based on overall finish times, with bonuses for breaking records – American, World, and Course.

The upcoming Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon has a listing of their payouts:




Did you notice at the bottom: New [World] Record Bonus – $1,000,000. Even the first place prize money is far more than any other major marathon.So who is running? There is a link on the marathon page, but it is blank. Their News Page announces that Haile Gebrselassie will be racing. He seems to be the only household name, another name I saw a lot in the press releases is Willy Rotich. Gebreslassie would have to break his own World Record to earn the million dollar prize.

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Minneapolis: A First Run

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A nice easy run is a good introduction to any new city and this was no different.  After spending too many hours in a Penske moving truck, towing a car with my wife driving behind me, it was nice to stretch my legs out Sunday morning.

We arrived on Saturday evening and were able to move our stuff into our new apartment.  We knew coming up that we would be living in an extended stay hotel for a few weeks while the landlords finished doing some remodeling, but we really liked the location and they made it financially worth the wait.  So we’ll be staying in the suburbs until everything is ready to go!

We are spending today relaxing and lounging around the hotel, we’ll hang out with our friends and attend an evening Church service with them.

Running

It was a little chaotic trying to pack everything that we’d need for 3 weeks and at the end we were just throwing stuff into bags and boxes, so I had a little trouble finding some of my accessories for this morning.  When I looked at the temp it was a mild 35, so that is pretty nice for running.  Last week temps here were below freezing with the wind chill.

I had trouble finding my “warm pants,” you know, the thin ones! It turned out ok and I may have been a little underdressed upstairs (I was warming a tech shirt with a t-shirt over it).  The slight wind was a little biting, I also couldn’t find my hat, but my ears didn’t mind too much.  I scoped out the run on Google maps to get an idea of the neighborhood and then relied on my Garmin (I haven’t written about it yet, but soon will) to  actually measure the course.

It turned out that it was fairly hilly, so that was a little surprising. I did a nice easy pace and finished the 3.78 miles in 30:07 which is an 8:04 average.  I haven’t imported the workout so I’m not sure of the elevation gains and losses, but the hills weren’t little molehills!

Snow

There is lots of snow and slush! The roads are pretty much clear but the sidewalks haven’t been plowed to the cement.  I tried to run on one and changed my mind since there wasn’t lots of traffic and the roads were clear! It seems like the primary and secondary roads have been plowed to the surface while other roads and a lot of parking lots have only been plowed to make it passable.

These are just a few of my first impressions!

Welcome!

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Welcome to my new site. Many of you knew me as Anderson Runner at Run Central Indiana. Well I moved for a job and am no longer living in Central Indiana. I should have known better than to create a blog with a place name in it!!

I guess when I started, it was just for fun and informational purposes for fellow runners. Now as I’m moving I want to keep writing about running. There are lots of great sites in the blogosphere that deal with running, so I’ll be honest and say that many of them are better, smarter, and better researched than mine. But I want to keep writing about my running experiences, running, and life in general. RCI was almost strictly “professional” and became a little more personal as time went on. This blog will be more personal although I’ll still blog about broad-based running topics, with others filling in the remainder of my time.

When I first started RCI in May of 2007, I was in the midst of a job search. I was scouring the countryside for a position that would increase my skills, be challenging, and impactful. That also meant I had lots of free time to research and write my posts. I’m not sure what kind of time I’ll have now that I’m employed again, so we’ll see how this goes!

To those of you who have followed me to this site, thank you and I look forward to continuing our web friendship!

Best of 2007: Race Event

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This is my personal opinion and only based on the events that I attended. What do you think was the best overall event you attended in 2007?

This is another tough category. Again in no particular order.

  1. 500 Festival Mini Marathon – while I’m not a big fan of this event since I’ve never raced well and don’t like 35,000 fellow runners, they put on an excellent event.
  2. Drumstick Dash – this was a fun and festive event with lots of activities for every age and competitive stripe. I enjoyed this event.
  3. PopWeaver 5K – this is always a fun event with the Popcorn Festival and a year’s supply of popcorn. There is also always good competition and lots of high schoolers.

Honorable Mentions

  1. DINO Races – These are fun no matter what, but more fun if you do a bunch of them, win a pair of shoes, or just like to get muddy!
  2. Run the Mounds – This is a tough 5 miler with good post-race food and lots of running friends.

Yesterday’s Workout

I hit the gym for an easy 30 minutes on the Elliptical machine and then 5 minutes on the stair climber. It was fairly enjoyable for a gym workout! After 15 minutes on the elliptical, the machine flashed and said pedal backwards! I tried it for 5 minutes, that is a weird feeling to “run” backwards. It definitely works a new set of muscles, I might try it more often.

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