Running with the Buffaloes -- March 19

An Evening with Chris Lear
Thurs. March 19th, 7:00pm @ Bull City Running Co. -- Free!

Few books have covered the sport of running like Running with the Buffaloes and Sub 4:00. Chris Lear's experiences have provided him, and his readers, with intimate access to the training, strategies, and tragedies of championship teams, individuals (Olympians Adam Goucher and Alan Webb) and coaches. He’ll read from his books, answer questions, and discuss his experiences which will appeal to all runners – novice to competitive.

Chris Lear is the author of Running with the Buffaloes and Sub 4. He was also a screenwriter for the film Five Thousand Meters: Nothing Comes Easy. He achieved a 4:09 miler in high school and was an All-American at Princeton University.

The story of my first ever Krispy Kreme Challenge goes like this.

(Compliments of guest blogger, Mariana Byrd)

I run. I run fast. I'm passing people and I feel good. I feel ready to eat a dozen donuts. I love donuts. More specifically, I love Krispy Kreme "hot and now" donuts. My two mile run to the Krispy Kreme store on Peace Street in Raleigh is good and I get there ready to eat. Unfortunately, as I suspected, it is impossible to have "hot and now" donuts ready for 5,000 people to eat. I anticipated this, so it doesn't get me down, and I grab my box of a dozen glazed donuts and begin to eat.

The goal is to finish in 1 hour, so I estimate I have approximately 30 minutes to eat a dozen donuts, which would then leave me 15 minutes to run back two miles to the finish line. Doable, definitely doable. Especially because I estimate that I can eat 12 donuts in about 15 minutes or less.

I was wrong. Very, very wrong. I should have dedicated at least as much time to my donut consumption skills as I did to running.

I began eating the first donuts calmly. They were good. Cold, but good. I thought "no problem, slow and steady wins the race". Except the slow and steady doesn't apply to putting food in your stomach. Especially when you don't have all day.

After the 4th donut, I started squishing the donuts to get rid of all the air before I put it in my mouth. I had heard that this speeds up your time and at this point I was ready to try something. More so because all around me were people complaining about eating all 12 donuts.

All around me people were gagging, throwing up, chanting...there was just about everything you could imagine thousands of people doing while trying to eat a dozen donuts.

I felt myself slowdown while eating my 6th donut. Of course, this was natural because I never eat more than 6 donuts at one time. I kept going but it was slower. Around donut number 8, I began dipping the donuts in water. Not as gross as I imagined. It actually helped a lot. There was less chewing and more swallowing with the water dipping method. This worked well until they called "time".

Time? I wasn't ready to start running! I still had two more donuts left! I quickly realized that 30 minutes had passed and I had only eaten 10 out of 12 donuts. I had two options: 1) Stop eating and start running in order to make it in under an hour. But I couldn't do that, I signed up to be a challenger which meant that I had to eat all 12, or 2) finish eating the 2 donuts as fast as I could and start running knowing full well that I wasn't going to be able to run 2 miles in 10 minutes.

I chose option number 2. I ate as fast as I could all the while trying not to have it come back up again. I started running 5 minutes later and threw my empty box away (oddly enough, I wanted to keep it as a souvenir but we had to get rid of them). The first mile back was probably the hardest mile I have ever had to run. I wanted to run fast but my stomach wouldn't let me and I vowed not to throw up because then what's the fun in that?!

I made it back, running, not walking, which I was happy about. I was happy that I ate all 12 donuts, ran the 4 miles, and finished the race. I was not happy that my time was 1 hour and 13 minutes. But that has not yet convinced me to do it again next year.

The Krispy Kreme Challenge is a great run. I am glad that I can say I did it. Maybe one day I'll forget how it felt to eat 12 donuts and do it again to see if I can finish in under an hour. I know it's possible, hundreds of people finished in under an hour...they must be good, very good. How about you?

a few shots from last saturday!

Thanks to everyone who came out, and thanks to Matt for the goodies and gear!

Run with a Rep -- Join us tomorrow!

A.K.A. Free stuff!
Join us for our regularly scheduled run tomorrow morning (Saturday 1/24) at 8:00am. Our local rep for CarbBOOM sports nutrition, Balega socks, and CRAFT Performance Apparel will be here with samples, wear test gear, and free fun stuff!

Confessions of a Fat Runner

This article appeared in Newsweek last month. I was reminded of it in light of the first meeting of our women's beginner running clinic this past Wednesday. Over 35 women -- of all ages, shapes, and stations in life -- braved the cold to come out and, well, run. Before we hit the trail, I asked each of them why they had come, what brought them here. And I appreciated their candid replies: many of them do not like running.

In the past, it has been uncomfortable, even painful, inconsistent, and unsatisfying. But in the same breath, they offered some glimpse of an explanation for their lack of enjoyment: trying to keep up with their husbands, or an unrealistic training plan, or an idea of how fast they "ought" to be running. It became tiring and demoralizing. Left unchecked, running can often become more about external expectations than about internal motivation. When this happens, it is easy to forget why we run.

An excerpt from the end of the article:

"But this is the beauty of the run: a mile into a good one, you stop caring about what anybody thinks. Push past the pain, ignore the passing cars, and soon you arrive at a place where your head is clear, your breathing calm, and the cares of the day fade away. This is why we run, all of us—the thinnest and the fattest. This is why we race. This, and sometimes there's free beer at the finish line."

At this particular station in my life, running has become more about my mental health and less about physical achievement. I do my best thinking when I run. Occasionally, I tackle some of the world's crises. While I admit it has been pride-swallowing to know that my pace per mile is a good bit slower that it was a few years ago, I enjoy my run -- indeed, cherish it -- for other reasons now (but I still enjoy the beer at the finish line).

I Don't Like Recycling.

It's something we all do, even more so this time of year. It's easy, simple, just open the door and go, but still, I just don't like recycling my runs. I like options. I like choosing from a number of routes, or better yet, to try something new... to get lost. For me as a runner, I feel like a hamster on a wheel during this time of the year, caught in a vicious cycle of the mundane. The options are limited: do I run it regular, backward, for time, maybe throw in a fartlek? It's still the same.

But things are changing, the sun is now working with me and on March 8th time will too. I can't wait to spring forward and re-acquaint myself with a number of my favorite routes. Until then, I guess I could get up early to catch a couple extra rays of daylight... but, you know, March 8th really isn't too long to wait.

Ho Ho Holiday Hours

Friends,
We wish you and yours a wonderful holiday.
We will be closed on Christmas day and the day after Christmas. We will be open on New Years Eve from 10a-3p and closed on New Years Day. In between and afterwards, we will resume regular hours. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Merry Christmas and Happy 2009!

Women's Beginner Running Clinic Starts January 14th!

Whether you want to get into shape (new years resolution?), improve your current fitness level, or simply work on walking or running consistently and taking some time out for yourself, this clinic is for you!

Select from different pace groups, each one progressing throughout the 12-week clinic. Benefit from the camaraderie and energy of your group, and meet new walking and running buddies! Experience how fun and rewarding walking and running can be!

WHO? For women 18+ interested in achieving fitness in a group atmosphere and having a whole lot of fun!

WHAT? A 12 week clinic to help you comfortably progress to walking or running at a pace that is right for you and achieves your goals. Weekly group walk or run in a
pace group that is right for you, and discussions with local experts on training, injury prevention, nutrition, shoes, safety and much more! Each week includes a 20-minute fitness talk, followed by a group walk/run, and weekly work-out schedule.

WHEN? Wednesdays, 6:15-7:45pm, January 14th – April 1, 2009

WHERE? We will meet at Bull City Running Co. Group runs will be on American Tobacco Trail and surrounding neighborhoods.

COST? $75 for 12-week program
Registration is non-refundable; Limited to first 30 participants.

TO REGISTER: stop by the store or email us: bullcityrunning@gmail.com

oh, the weather outside is frightful...

ok, so it's a little nippy out these days. many of us a) decide it is simply too cold to get out of bed, b)decide it is simply too cold to get off the couch, c) decide it is simply too dark to run outside, or d) all of the above.

if this is you, here is your gentle prodding: come run with us! we don't have a delightful fire, but we did have donuts and coffee on saturday morning...'cause america runs on dunkin. or something like that. that was a completely unsolicited plug, by the way. but apparently dunkin donuts coffee just beat out starbucks in a national blind taste test.

anyway, as a reminder, here are our group run times:
tuesdays @ 6:30a
thursdays @ 6:00p
saturdays @ 8:00a

in other news, we now carry the Brooks Trance 8, which just made WIRED magazine's top gear picks of the year list. The Trance 7 won Runners World's Editors Choice Award and the Trance 8 has the same stellar features with a green twist: BioMoGo, the world's first biodegradable midsole. check it out!


also, new updates to the Mizuno Wave Ride and Wave Inspire just arrived (so the older models are on sale!)

Giving Thanks

For your support, your referrals, and your friendship, we are thankful.
Bring in this coupon for 15% off any regularly priced item.
(Or, save a tree and just mention you saw this on our blog!)