8.2 miles - Judd's Bridge August 26, 2006 8:30 am. 60 degrees, Rain |
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It rained this week.
It might have been more pleasant if we'd called off the race, but if you don't run in the bad weather, you don't really appreciate the good weather, do you. We got a lot to appreciate this week.
Young Graham Keggi ran like a winner in the rain, splashing himself to almost a minute and a half gap over second place Jeff Sheldon.
Among the women, Pam Quist enjoyed a modest two minute gap over Eunice Bussom, but it was a popular two minutes, as eight people finished between them. Behind Eunice, three more women finished in just two minutes.
Sore legs this week ?
The Fossil warns us
that there are some physical dangers to running in the rain, mostly related to
what happens when your shoes get wet. The simple one is
that your feet get wet and are more prone to blisters.
There's another, more complicated danger, though, and it's related to high school physics. So, here's a science lesson.
Think of a pendulum, a weight swinging on a string. If the string is longer, then the pendulum swings more slowly.
This isn't quite true. What matters is the center of gravity of the thing that is swinging. If it is farther from the pivot point, then it swings more slowly.
This happened to you in the rain on Saturday. Your shoes got wet and made your feet heavier. This moved the center of gravity of your legs farther down. Since your leg swings like a pendulum when you run, this made your legs more slowly, but it also made it harder for your muscles to move them. The combination of these made your muscles work at a different pace and a different amount than you are used to working.
So, many of us have sore legs this week.
What to do about them? Let them rest a bit. Take it easy if you're sore, and avoid rubbing sore muscles. The soreness is likely to be a lot of micro-tears in the muscles, and rubbing them just keeps the tears from healing. Rest, and be fresh for next week.
So says the Fossil. Remember, his advice is worth what you paid for it.
Safety
Safety is important to us, as we don't run on closed roads and generally like each other.
It is safest if we face traffic as much
as safe and possible. (on the other hand, avoid the inside of sharp, blind
curves.) Also, it is much safer if we are all
on the same side of the road,
instead of making traffic drive between runners. 
Fossil has three rules of running:
Be safe
Have fun
It's sometimes more fun if you win. Set goals you can realistically achieve.
Be nice to the drivers. For the most part, they like us, and they are proud to have us running in Roxbury. Smile, and, if you wave, be sure you use all five fingers.
This week's pictures
Up top, we Charlie
Euston checking to see how hard it is raining. 
Then we have a shot of last week's women's winner Eunice Bussom, second place this week. She was going so fast that the camera could hardly focus.
Then we have four cyclists, under the triathaloning tutelage of John Hirsch, who didn't think that eight miles running in the rain was enough, so they are about to set out for a lap or two on the bicycle. For them, a lap is 27 miles.
Then we have three three Demings, Chris, his brother Larry, and Larry's daughter Amanda.
Along the side of the results we have a couple of people trying to straighten the posts in the parking lot. Next is a shot of two Mark's one's a LoSacco and the other's a Zerbe.
Third in that column are the three Neils ladies, Lili, April and Katie. Then at the bottom a new sign that recently appeared on a tree near the start-finish line.
Way at the bottom, notice the Dragon is back. There are sea slugs in Santa Cruz, but no dragons.
The Roxbury Races are now listed on the Internet both on RunningInTheUSA and on HiTekRacing.com
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Created August 25, 2006
