Posted on by wzwiener

Reasons to Participate in Events

The upcoming Spring Fever 5K/10K  in Altoona, Wisc. is a good reminder to me about the value of participating in run/walk events.

One benefit is that they help to keep us motivated in our training.

That is a point that was shared about at an ITC running club banquet a while back by former Spring Fever race director Mark Wise.

As a long-time runner, Mark said that he often gets asked how he stays motivated in his training.

“Sign up for a race,” Mark says.

Doing so helps to keep us motivated, he said, by giving us a goal to shoot for. It also gives us a financial incentive because most of us don’t want to see our money (entry fee) go to waste.

In addition to keeping us motivated, participating in run/walk events comes with a number of other benefits as well. One of these benefits is that they can be a great way to meet people.

I have made many good friends over the years in the hundreds of run/walk events that I have participated in. At the Spring Fever run a number of years ago, in fact, I met a guy named Jeff Miller who is now one of my best friends.

Jeff and I met in the same way that I’ve met many other folks through running events. After running near each other throughout much of the race, we chatted a bit after crossing the finish line.

I don’t remember much about our conversation, other than that Jeff asked about what I did for training.

When I told him that I did a weekly long on Saturday mornings, he asked if he could join me sometime. I said sure and gave him my phone number, not really expecting to hear from him.

Jeff followed up, though, and I will forever be glad that he did. Not only did we hit it off as training partners, a number of other good things came from our running together nearly every Saturday morning for over a decade.

One of the first good things to come of it was that we discovered we had a mutual friend who also was a runner. Pretty soon a wildlife biologist by the name of John Dunn was joining us on our Saturday morning long runs.

The three of us clicked and it wasn’t long before others joined us. Pretty soon our Saturday morning running group consisted of 10 to 15 runners.

We added a Tuesday night track workout to our weekly training regimen and that served to grow our group even further.

For a good 10 or 15 years, our Tuesday night and Saturday morning training groups were a great place to connect with friends and boost our fitness.

As we have aged, our Tuesday night track session has fallen by the wayside and our Saturday morning long-run group has dwindled in numbers. But one thing has remained the same—I have stayed close friends with many members of our Tuesday and Saturday groups, especially Jeff and John.

We get together most every 4th of July and Christmastime to catch up with each other. We also meet up every few months to do the same over dinner.

For a number of years, Jeff, his wife Jeanne and I traveled to Jeff’s hometown of Peoria, IL to run a 4-mile and 15K race called the Steamboat Classic. One of our goals every year—besides having a fun time visiting with Jeff’s family—was to place in our age group because the prize for doing so was a nifty “wooden Illinois.”

While my friendship with Jeff and Jeanne was forged through running, it has blessed me in many other ways as well. None more so than a little over a decade ago when I went through a hard time in my life.

Next to my family, it was Jeff and Jeanne who did the most to get me back on my feet again.

Which is only fitting, I guess. Because it was through a running event—Spring Fever—where I first met them. A running event that I will forever be glad that I signed up for.

So if you’ve been thinking about signing for a run/walk event, I encourage you to do so. Not only will it help to keep you motivated in your training, it might just introduce you to a lifelong friend.

Posted on by wzwiener

Hydration is Good for the Nation

During a recent hot (85 degrees or so) and humid 9-mile run I found myself conjuring up some memories related to hydration.

One memory dates back to an event that I worked at a decade or so ago.

It was a “Safety Days” vendor demo that highlighted home and childhood safety products. A band called “McGruff and the Crime Dogs” played at the event and one of their songs was called “Dehydration is Bad for the Nation.”

This song popped into my head during the recent hot and humid run, probably because about halfway through it I was starting to feel pretty parched. The nearest water fountain—or “bubbler” as they are referred to by some here in Wisconsin—was at a park several miles up the road.

Fortunately I was able to make it to the park without any issues other than slowing considerably and sweating profusely. As I was rehydrating at the fountain I caught sight of another runner passing through the park, who turned out to be longtime friend John Konkel.

Our first and only topic of conversation was—you guessed it— the heat and humidity. John mentioned Grandma’s Marathon that was taking place that morning and how the last time he ran there it was a “black-flag” event.

An event that is black-flagged means that it is cancelled while a yellow flag means to proceed with caution and red with extreme caution.

John’s mention of Grandma’s brought back another memory I have related to hydration.

The last time that I ran Grandma’s—also my last marathon—I don’t believe there was yet any kind of flag system used for rating distance-event weather conditions.  There also wasn’t near as much knowledge about the importance of staying hydrated.

As I recall, it was a sunny, fairly warm day—probably in the low 60s. Besides that I don’t remember much other than that I finished the marathon and the last few miles seemed to take forever.

Back at my motel room afterwards, it wasn’t long before I had a splitting headache and was throwing up. I spent a long, miserable afternoon lying in bed with a cold rag on my head while learning a painful lesson about dehydration.

A couple of my takeaways from that unpleasant experience were that the marathon is not for me and that it’s important to take in fluids during a distance event.

During my last warm-weather race—the Steamboat Classic 15K in Peoria, Ill.—I stayed hydrated by doing something that I never would have dreamed of doing back during my more competitive days of running. I took the time to stop at the water stops and take in fluids.

It’s something that I’d never done before because I always figured that I’d lose too much in the way of finishing time and place.

What I found out, though, was quite the opposite. Whatever time and place I lost by stopping to take a drink, I more than gained back after I resumed running. Taking the time to stay hydrated, I learned, can definitely save time in the long run.

More importantly, I’ve learned that staying hydrated can save a lot of suffering. Not just in running but in life. As anyone who has been dehydrated can tell you, it is not a pleasant experience. Not to mention that it can lead to a whole host of health issues.

McGruff & The Crime Dogs are right–“Dehydration is Bad for the Nation.”

It’s almost always a good idea to take the time to take a drink of water.

Posted on by wzwiener

Celebrating Our Freedoms Through Running

This year I did the fourth 4th of July run of my life.

In Minnesota I have run the Langford Park 4-Mile in St. Anthony Park, the Firecracker 10K in Excelsior, and Grandpa’s Run for the Walleye 5K in Cross Lake.

Now I can add the Mondovi EMS 5-Mile in Wisconsin to the list of 4th of July fun runs I have done.

When I say “fun run” I can just hear a chuckle from Landon, one of my former co-workers.

“Huh,” he chuckled, when I invited him several years ago to a fun run that I was helping to organize through the ITC running club that I am involved with. “Fun and run do not go together.”

I totally understand why running is probably not on many people’s list of fun things to do on the 4th. If you’re not trained for it—and oftentimes even when you are– running can be pretty painful.

This can especially be the case when the weather is nasty, such as on hot, humid mornings like we had this year on the 4th.

Despite the steamy conditions, however, running the Mondovi EMS 5-Mile was a great way to kick off Independence Day. And a very fitting one as well.

Some of the many things that running on a regular basis helps to give us freedom from are obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, anxiety, dementia, and depression.

Another thing that participating in fun runs can help to give us freedom from is loneliness, which many reports have found is a significant problem for many people these days.

While it’s certainly possible to participate in a running event and not talk to anyone, my experience has almost always been quite the opposite. At most every running event I have participated in over the years—and there have been hundreds of them—I have almost always made some new acquaintances and/or reconnected with some long-time friends.

While running is not a cure-all for any of the above-mentioned issues, it definitely can be very helpful in giving us freedom from them. That is why I plan to keep running and walking for exercise on a regular basis for as long as I am able to do so.