Well howdy everyone. How have you been for the last couple of weeks? A little vacation to Budapest and London has left Joy And John spent! We discovered some interesting things along our journey which both of us have a favorite part of the trip. For myself, many of you will know that I like to travel with a pack. For the last twelve years I have traveled abroad with a boatload of fellow runners, walkers, and athletic supporters. For the first time I traveled with just my bride. Yep, two of us made for a different trip of sorts. No mass tours of a winery, no late nights with room-mates in dark century old bars singing Karioke or drinking excessive amounts of clear liquids. You know who you are when I curse you for the hangover or the sore feet.
For me I tried to make this trip something different. Usually 42.2 km is the guide for all reasons of travel. I changed it up this year and tried out my first triathlon of which I kept a closely guarded secret to my friends. Yes, I am a Tri-Athlete. In Budapest they do offer a different order of the usual tri events. Here it started with a little 42.2 marathon. Yep, why do all that other crap in the front end when you can start with the oldest race. Finished part one in a heat wave. I am pretty sure our race was in the neighbourhood of 30C. Too hot for me if you were to ask. But many of you don’t?
Our second part of the tri was probably the most grueling of the event. The Europeans don’t believe in the typical bikes for their reverse tri, so they allowed me to try their newest (and greatest invention) www.beerbike.hu. With a new premier and some fine lobbying we should be able to secure this new piece of technology in Alberta and increase the physical fitness of our swigging public. It is a beautiful sight when a beer bike rolls past with a hardworking team of athletes ensuring the finish line is not far off. (an aside, can any of my lobbyist friends work with the new Premier to make this a reality???)
After this long bike we finished the tri with a number of laps in the Gellert Hot Spa. Budapest is famous for their many hot pools as there is lots of sulfur springs bubbling up water and healing our sore muscles as we made our way to the finish line. Don’t all stand at once, I am a tri-athlete! Woo Hoo.
As for Joy, I think her favourite part of the trip is the fact that you order wine in small, medium, and large. Of course being a true athlete and supporter of diminishing the UK debt load, she stepped right in and ordered large every time. Long live the queen…and supporters like Joy who selflessly keep economies rolling with ample investment in the regional economies.
We did actually participate in the Budapest Marathon. You are quite welcome to look up our times but I will ensure that they are very unremarkable. If you have ever run 42.2 km on asphalt with the temperature hovering around 30C you will understand the need to slow down and ‘enjoy’ the experience. Joy and I both understand that sweating IS supposed to happen when you compete. For a few km’s we were not…
Here is a synopsis of the race:
The race had around 17,000 participants in the marathon, 30 km, eikeden, and 7km. We started in a concert of loud music with balloons, buffoons, and tom foolery along the route. A Rubik’s cube dressed participant, gladiator, superman, Pocahontas, and many others trained their eyes forward to ensure a finish line would be in sight. It was tough to tell if you were coming or going as there were many a switchback on the route. To my Lisbon Marathon alum…it was much of the same! The heat was immediate on the route as the race started at 10 am.
I took many a picture along the route, of Westies, of runners, and of the sights. I do believe Budapest is a wonderful city to visit if you want an experience of old Europe without the crush of the big cities. That said Budapest is a city of two million but you never got that feel.
I swore at a lady beside me when I saw the overpass at km 38. WTF were they thinking adding a FN hill at this point??? The worst part about it was the bar I stopped at for a drink. All I got at 40 km was a beer glass full of water. No beer until we got back to the hotel. Two down for me, one wine for Joy. Time to wash off the blood blisters, chafing, and unmentionables and get back to our true purpose: Drinking and eating with a free calorie race day!
My bride crossed the finish line, crying as I was, and upright. It was a very tough race, very hot, lots of asphalt, but luckily two stubborn Canadians that would not let the sweeper bus take us hostage.
As for heading back to reality it was the weekend of the Gorilla Run! We saw our Gorilla Run Girls and the rest of the entrants at our lovely Calgary Zoo for a 14 km trot around the zoo. We Kept our bums moving as the animals were very active in the dawn as that is feeding time! Have you ever been chased by a Timber Wolf or perhaps a Siberian Tiger? The race guaranteed that you will feel like the perfect appetizer for a lovely fall day if you didn’t keep moving. Luckily the cold morning air was a reminder that being still would not be a good way to stay warm. Kudos to the throngs of volunteers as they took care of us while feeling the crisp air. Special thanks to the Rudiak clan for all being out and about manning a water station and a lovely loop of a parking lot. Dan, you were drawn for a prize, too bad you left…
Our schedule will revert to a weekend 9 am schedule as well back to a Tuesday (Tri-It) and Thursday (Tech Shop) usual weeknight. Hopefully we will see some of you out with the VERY reasonable weekend start time. No more excuses from the interior design group…you know who you are!
It is amazing to see the agony and the ecstasy of a marathon that can happen in just one day. Yesterday we witnessed a loss of life in the Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon alongside two amazing competitors finishing the race at ages 100 and 80. On the quiet end, 80 year old Ed Whitlock finished the race in an amazing 3:15! Yep, some of us have done a half marathon in that time. I do recall racing him in 2005 at the young age of 74 when he dropped me like a lead weight at the 22 km mark. He finished disappointed at 3:02…the year prior he ran a 2:54. Wow! You would think he was the story but really it was an elderly man who shows how keeping your feet moving can be a moving experience. Thanks Adrian and April for forwarding the cbc link below.
I think there is hope for all of us to win your age category. You just have to keep going for many more years!
I mentioned the bus for the Budapest Marathon above. Here is what happens when you get on the bus and then cross the finish line. Thanks Greg!
A club runner in northern England has been stripped of his third-place finish in a local marathon after being caught hitching a ride on a spectator bus. Rob Sloan initially described claims that he cheated in Sunday's Kielder Marathon near Newcastle as "laughable," but was forced to admit his transgression following an investigation. Organizers say the 31-year-old former army mechanic dropped out of the race at the 20-mile mark, only to hop on a bus and emerge from a woodland area in the final stages to make the podium. His time was given as 2 hours, 51 minutes — 21 minutes faster than his previous best in the race. Dave Roberts, one of the marathon organizers, condemned Sloan on Wednesday, saying "it's as bad as drug-taking in my book."
Another good one from Greg. Now did they not say to Kathrine Switzer that her Uterus could fall out if she ran the marathon?
A pregnant suburban Chicago woman felt contractions a few minutes after finishing the Chicago Marathon and gave birth hours later to a baby daughter. Amber Miller was nearly 39 weeks pregnant when she started the 26.2 mile race on Sunday morning. The DuPage County woman tells The Daily Herald (http://bit.ly/qOFyh6 ) in a telephone interview from her hospital bed that her doctor allowed her to run half the race and walk half the race. Miller says she felt contractions after finishing at 6 hours and 25 minutes. When the contractions became regular she stopped to get a sandwich and then went to the hospital. Her baby girl June was born at 10:29 p.m. weighing 7 pounds, 13 ounces. Miller says she's happy but calls Sunday "the longest day of my life."
See you all soon,
John and Joy
