Race Recap: Sayville Running Company Run to the Brewery

Shockingly, I actually ran a race last weekend. Considering the lack of training that I've been doing - and by "lack of training" I mean "none" - the shocking part is predominantly the fact that I made it the full ten miles without collapsing. It's also shocking that I didn't collapse after the beers that I consumed post-race, but we'll get to that later.

Blue Point Brewery is probably one of the best sponsors of local races on Long Island than any other brewery on the Island. It has developed a pretty loyal following among triathletes and runners that I know, simply because they are at the center of every great post-race party. Now, on to the recap!

Pre-Race

You had the option of picking up your packet - or the packets of others, they aren't too strict on security here - on either Thursday or Friday or directly before the race on Saturday. If you picked it up at the Sayville Running Company prior to race day, you were given an extra raffle ticket as well as the enjoyment of wandering around their giant tent sale, spending money on things that you probably don't need but buy anyway "because they're on sale, duh."

We picked our packets up early so that we wouldn't have to worry about it Saturday morning and went straight to the parking lots designated for the race. Since there isn't enough parking at the brewery itself, they have various parking lots within a half mile walk of the starting line, so it's not like you're really hiking to the start. We slyly parked at the Patchogue Y (no line in the bathroom!) and walked down the street to drop our bags off in the tent and head to the starting line, which is pretty much right outside the brewery.

Piece of cake.

The Race

The race itself is ten miles long and takes place on the flat, flat, flat streets of Patchogue, Blue Point and Sayville. It winds through the neighborhoods, meanders along the Great South Bay for a few and then takes you parallel to the train tracks for the stretch back to the finish, roughly a half mile from the Brewery. As far as races go, this one is pretty boring. It's essentially doing a training run through your neighborhood, only you don't know any of the houses and aren't quite sure where you are going. There is literally nothing interesting to see, unless you are a real estate agent and like to see the local property listings in different areas.

However, the course is flat and it's long enough that not everyone and their grandmother can do it, which is nice. It's capped at 1500 entrants - mostly because of the free beer - and it sells out pretty quickly. Ten miles is a decent distance - or at least a distance that gives some people pause. I mean, another 5k and you've got yourself a half marathon, so it limits the applicant pool a good deal.

Neither SJ or I had actually trained for this race, and I literally hadn't run ten miles since the Philly Marathon - not at once, I mean hadn't run ten miles IN TOTAL since then, so this could have gone horribly wrong for the two of us. But, seeing as how we are both so awesome, we started at a decent pace and kept it up for just about the whole run. There were a few times during the course where we slowed down and grabbed water or Gatorade or took a potty break, but we weren't going out there to crush it so neither one of us really cared. . I mean, really, we were only doing it for the free beer, so the whole running thing was just a bonus to make us thirsty to drink more beer.

Post Race Party

Seeing as how the whole point of this run is to get back to the Blue Point Brewery, the post-race party is one giant party. They stick a big tent out back of the actually brewery and set up their portable keg system (which is awesome and I wish I had one) and everyone goes to town. There was a live band, so much food you didn't even know where to start and everyone was hanging out and having a great time. If it wasn't for all the spandex, you would never know that thousands had literally just run ten miles in the (slight) rain and mid-twenties temps. It reminded me a lot of Aspen, a place where the beer flows like wine.

There were plenty of bathrooms, which is always a concern for any after-party that involves unlimited beers, and at some point there were raffles that were drawn. The crappy part was that you had to be present when they drew your number, which, considering the number of people inside the tent, the live band playing and the general overall noise-level, I'm amazed that anyone even heard them draw the tickets. I, for one, didn't even know a raffle was being held - but that could be for multiple reasons, and they all begin with Hoptical.

The beer is open till noon, and after that they brewery is actually open so you can move inside to order food and have some more beers. There isn't a limit on the amount of beers that you can take each time you go up to the beer truck, and the line is pretty long if you are a middle of the pack finisher, so it's best to stock up. Or just stay until the lines thin out and then take as much as you want so that you have multiple back-up beers for when they kick you out!

Wrap-Up

There is absolutely no reason to do this run. It was absolutely horrible. Don't sign up for it next year, regardless of what you hear from friends or relatives. They clearly don't know what they are talking about.*

Just finished ten miles - now it's time to start they party. At 9:30am. 

This is what happens after ten miles - and an equal number of beers!

*This is totally not true. I just don't want to advertise the fact that this race is amazing because it already sells out in less than a week so I need to add to the number of people looking to sign up. But in all honesty, this is one great run, and I highly recommend it! While the run itself is nothing to write home about, it's flat and a great training course. If you are looking to do a spring half-marathon or marathon, then this is a great gauge at your fitness level. And the after-party is really a great time and one of the best reasons to do the run. Even if you don't drink or are the DD, there is so much great food and so many fun people to hang out with that it's easy to have a good time. And the great thing about a run like this is that everyone is there to have a good time - and runners are some of the best people to hang out with. By far. And even if you're not a runner and just an athletic supporter, you can come volunteer and drink and hang out afterwards for generously donating your time - but even that gets filled quickly so act fast next fall!

Snow-pocalypse Part II

We had another snow storm up here in the northeast. Everyone naturally freaked out and decided that the end of the earth was coming and they needed to prepare themselves by buying everything on the shelves in the supermarket. It was like mass chaos around the entrances and exits of grocery stores. Police were called. The National Guard had to bring in tanks and helicopters to control the rioting.

By this morning, all major roads were cleared and everything was back to normal.

I hope all that bread and milk doesn't go to waste.

Getting in Line

I don't make New Year's resolutions as a general rule, mostly because I don't really feel the need to make arbitrary rules for myself. If I really want to do something then chances are I'll do it, and if I don't do it then I probably didn't want it that bad to begin with. And some things, like trying to stop biting my nails, are just unrealistic so I don't even bother - if I could stop biting my nails I would have done it a long time ago. But I digress.

However, I have vowed to get back in the pool and spend more time with the black line. And I mean actually get back in the pool and swim - not just swim once a week and give myself a pat on the back for getting wet. I plan on making chlorine my everyday scent. I plan on turning my hair green. I plan on embracing my goggle marks. I plan on swimming so much even Missy Franklin would be put to shame - alright, that last part's a lie, but I do plan on making swimming my new priority.

I spent so much time last summer focused on running because of the marathon that I let both my biking and swimming take a serious backseat. Now that I'm back on the triathlon bandwagon and have left my marathon days in the past - at least until Boston training comes around next year - it's back in the water to get some serious gills. I've made it a point to swim at least twice over the past few weeks, and I hope to slowly increase both the daily and weekly yardage as I start to get my form back. The last thing I need to do is go in a bang out 6,000 yards and destroy my shoulders - so this is me, easing back into it.

Pool. Chlorine. Black line. Wall. Flip turn. Oh, hair ball! Repeat.

I'm not a huge fan of swimming, per se. I always feel so much better after I've done it, but I don't particularly enjoy the actual activity of swimming. It is far and away my least favorite of the three, but it's also something that I've done the longest. Every since I can remember remembering thing, I could remember swimming. It's a love/hate relationship. Swimming is a finesse sport, and finesse isn't something I do particularly well. I don't think anyone has every looked at me and said, "Oh yeah, she's got finesse". It's more along the lines of, "Hello, bull-in-a-china-shop alert!". I am not smooth. I am not graceful. I am not elegant. You want to see smooth? This is smooth:

I do not look like this. I don't look like an active drowning victim, but I definitely don't look like that.

So making this a priority is not something that I am necessarily looking forward to. However, in the long run (ha! pun NOT intended but so good!), I also know that being in the front of the swim pack puts you in a much greater advantage over the rest of the field than trying to play catch-up, so if my obsession with the black line pays off with front-of-the-pack views in the bike and run, then I guess I'll have to just dive in (that pun was intended).

The Arrogance of the Athlete

With this whole Alex Rodriguez situation unfolding around us, punctuated by the fact that I just read a great book titled Wheelmen, that could only be described as a "companion story" to It's Not About the Bike and Every Second Counts, Lance Armstrong's two "biographies", I can't help but think about the role that doping plays in our sporting society, and it plays a larger part than I think many people realize. Doping is prevalent in every sport, regardless of the mainstream status of that sport. Don't think so? Just read this article. 

This is not meant to be an argument for or against drug testing - at this point, it's a part of our sporting culture regardless of whether or not you think it's a basic violation of personal rights or that it's creating an atmosphere of "guilty until proven innocence". And frankly, if you aren't doping then you have nothing to lose by submitting to a drug test and everything to gain. If you aren't doping, then you should welcome drug tests for the simple fact that they catch the cheaters - or at least they do in theory.

As a college athlete, drug testing was an inevitable part of my five years (yep, five - thanks medical red shirt!). I signed waivers declaring that I was okay with being tested - and I was. As a women's lacrosse player, I hardly ranked high on the drug tester's list of "people who are possibly doping" - you were more likely to bust college athletes playing sports like lacrosse, field hockey and volleyball for recreational drug use than you were for doping. It was a necessary evil, but one I didn't think much about because of the sport I played.

However, now that I'm out of college and competing in triathlons, drug testing has taken on a whole new meaning. I went from playing a sport that was low on the totem pole of drug testing because, let's face it, lacrosse players are more concerned about where their next thirty rack of Natty Light is coming from then meeting their dealer for their latest ass injection of HGH, to one where performance enhancing drugs are a true factor. I like knowing that the major players in triathlon are being drug tested, and not just during Olympic years. Athletes at the elite level in all major triathlon disciplines - sprint, Olympic, half and full Ironman distances - are tested if not regularly, then at least randomly enough to not know exactly when and if they will be tested. Even though I am not now, nor will probably ever be, on the same level as those competing at the professional level, it's nice to know that it's not because they have better drugs than I do.

But are we heading in that direction? Triathlon, and professional triathletes, are still relatively new compared to other professional "leagues". It takes money to dope, and the more money that professionals earn - through sponsorships and race winnings and appearance fees - the more disposable income they have. This might translate to flashier cars and bigger houses, but it could also easily segue into doctors and doping regimens, especially if those sponsors expect you to podium and those appearance fees hinge on your race results. It's frightening to think, but it's not an unlikely trend, especially for events as physically punishing as the Ironman distance race.

After reading about what can only be described as the biggest sports conspiracy and cover-up if not ever, then at least in our generation, it's hard to separate the two very different, very polarizing faces of Lance Armstrong. On one hand you have Lance Armstrong the cancer-survivor and subsequent cancer-crusader, the incredibly dedicated and highly regimented endurance athlete and by all accounts great hands-on father to his five kids, with Lance Armstrong, the narcissistic, pathological liar, the arrogant playboy and the willing cheater.

He's wiping away the tears of sadness brought on by getting caught. 

Arrogance at its' finest. 

The lengths he went to defend himself from his detractors is almost absurd in hindsight, and his fall from grace has been neither elegant nor remorseful. You could even say that he is more arrogant now that he has finally admitted - or at least acknowledged - his past drug use than he was in the years leading up to it. His lack of contrition when it comes to his past drug use to win the Tour de France is appalling, and his half-hearted apology on Oprah was stilted and indifferent. To say he lacks remorse over his discrepancies is giving him more credit than he deserves. (For a more detailed look at Armstrong's transgressions, read the USADA's cycling investigation and reasoned decision here.)

And that's what I don't get about Alex Rodriguez - how he can look at the downfall of so many popular athletes who have lied about using performance enhancing drugs, only to be found out later and subsequently demonized:

Marion Jones was stripped of three gold medals and two bronze medals - two of those medals (one gold and one bronze) were earned for her role in relay competition, meaning that all three of her teammates on those relays were forced to return their medals as well. Imagine the excitement of winning a medal in the Olympics, only to have it stripped away for something you had no part in years later. Talk about a slap in the face to her teammates - the very people who stood by her. At least in Armstrong's case, his teammates were probably doping right along side him for his seven victories and are thus equally guilty (I won't get into the discussion of whether or not those teammates were forced into doping or did it willfully to stay on the team - that's a whole other story).

The story is still out on Barry Bonds and his steroid use, but I would imagine that, as a whole, the general public with some knowledge of the situation believes that he is guilty of abusing steroids during his career. However, the very fact that it was never proven that he took steroids and yet he is still considered a cheater should raise very large, very bright red flags.

Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers faced a 50 game suspension for an elevated level of testosterone in 2011, fought it, won on a technicality in 2012 and then two years later was found out to still be using steroids! He got off on a technicality and then had the audacity to continue using performance enhancing drugs and was suspended for the remainder of the 2013 season.

I could continue for another ten athletes just off the top of my head, but would rather not. You can look up doping scandals here if you have five hours to kill - or are just looking for something to do while pretending to work.

In the case of Alex Rodriguez, all the facts are against him, and while he doesn't have the smoking gun of many of his former teammates turning against him and providing insider details, there is the testimony of Tony Bosch - founder and owner of Biogenesis. You can argue that Bosch isn't exactly the best character witness, considering the numerous times his story has changed, but when you are dealing with illicit and banned substances, is anyone really a good character witness? How many morally, upstanding citizens do you know that deal in illicit drugs? Lance Armstrong was considered the savior of cycling, the hero of America and we see how that's turned out. Even the most seemingly upstanding people have their flaws.

See kids, this is what a cheater looks like!

There is also the fact that Alex Rodriquez himself isn't exactly clean. He denied for years that he used performance enhancing drugs before finally admitting it on national television (Armstrong must have thought this was a good idea, seeing as how he went on Oprah to "confess"). And really, if Bosch is such a bad guy, why was Rodriguez so involved with him? Why were they in constant contact with one another? Upon hearing the outcome of the arbitration panel, Rodriguez claimed that it relied on the "hearsay testimony of a criminal" - but Rodriguez himself is an admitted drug user! Here pot, I'd like to introduce you to kettle. Rodriguez, you have admitted to using performance enhancing drugs - which are illegal in the United States - in the past, so does this not make you a criminal as well? Why are you so much better than Bosch? Because you play baseball? Because you are the user and not the seller? I don't understand.

Throughout the Communist Era, the East German athletes were on drug programs that were unheard of in American sports. While steroids were a known entity to athletes around the world, the East Germans doped in a way that could only be called systematic and extensive. As world records fell and medals accumulated, suspicions rose but no proof of wrongdoing was ever uncovered, meaning that many of the medals earned during that twenty year period from 1968-1988 were never stripped. Are we, as Americans, turning into a society like the East Germans during this period, where every victory, every medal, every championship, is cheered and celebrated, with a blind eye turned to how it was earned, just so long as it's ours?

Here lies the biggest issue with performance enhancing drugs: you can't create a test for a drug that doesn't exist. This means that drug users and doping will always be one step ahead of those who wish to compete clean, to race unaided. However, until we as a sporting society choose to change, until we choose to turn our backs on champions who have turned out to be villains, until we choose to celebrate those who try and yet fail cleanly, rather than worship those that try and succeed under false pretenses - we cannot complain when our heroes let us down. They were only doing what we expected of them.

Reso-losers

It's that time of year again, folks. The time when everyone decides that this is their year. This is the year that they're finally going to lose those fifty pounds and fit into that pair of jeans they bought ten years ago in the hopes that they would some day get to wear them. This is the year they're going to run a 10k - or maybe even a marathon! This is the year to get back to their college weight - assuming they weren't an offensive lineman or put on thirty pounds when they came in freshman year. It's a new year, and a new you!

Congratulations! You are one of the 70% of people that make a New Year's resolution about health and wellness. You, and about 5 million other people in the United States, all hold a special place in the lives of those of us who actually go to the gym (or work at one) - mostly for the fact that we can't wait for you to leave. You with your khaki pants and Velcro shoes. You, with your sweatbands and cotton tee shirt, taking way too long with the dumbbells because yes, all you need to do to lose weight is pump out a few bicep curls and suddenly we'll forget about the fifty extra pounds that are packed solidly into your midsection because my don't your biceps look amazing. You, with your matching track suit from 1989 - which also happens to be the last time you worked out.

And then February rolls around, maybe it's snowing outside, the weather isn't super great and man this bed sure does feel comfy. Why don't I just hit the snooze button and settle down into this here down comforter for just a bit longer. Next thing you know, you still haven't run a 10k - so a marathon is definitely out of the question - those jeans are still hanging in your closet and your college weight is still, well, back in college.

I can't wait until February.

2013 - The Year in Athletic Pursuits

As I write this, I am currently still sitting in my sweatpants - and not because I am eager to pursue anything "sweat" related - and drinking my roughly fifth cup of coffee, as I let the day slowly unfold around me. I had plans to go for my first official run of 2014, and my first run since a short three miler at the beginning of December, but my laziness has taken hold of me on my day off and I haven't managed to work up the desire to go out in the cold, let alone change out of my pajamas. Instead, I would rather sit around watching various sporting events on television and justify to myself that by watching sports, I am indeed exercising. That first run of 2014 still may happen today - but it won't be long and it won't be pretty.

When the year 2012 turned into the year 2013, 365 days, 14 hours and 50 minutes ago, I promised myself that it would be full of adventure, full of fun and full of completing long-held goals. Contrary to popular belief, adventure doesn't have to be about world-travel or jumping out of airplanes - it can be as simple as embarking on a new job or career path, or setting lofty goals, or taking a calculated risk. With adventure comes some pretty spectacular highs, but also some pretty abysmal lows - that's what makes it worth it. I took some pretty big leaps in 2013, some of which worked out, some of which didn't and some of which are still in the process of unfolding.

Whether it was in my personal life, professional life or athletic pursuits, 2013 was an epic year. I celebrated my first wedding anniversary, I ran my first - and second - marathon, and qualified for Boston, I switched career paths and started a new job, I helped coach St. Anthony's Varsity Lacrosse team to a number four spot in the country and its' sixth straight Catholic League title, I joined the fire department, I qualified for the 2014 Age Group National Championships with five top ten finishes, I drank some really great beers, I trained hard, I PRed in a couple of different distances, I traveled, I relaxed, I gave myself time off, and, more importantly, I continued to grow as not just an athlete, but as a wife, a friend, a person.

Here's to 2013 and everything that it brought - the good things, the bad things and all the things in between. And here's to making 2014 - and everything that it brings to SJ and I - even better. . .