Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner II: The Revenge

This time, it’s personal.

OK, I’ll admit that I’ve fallen behind on my Haiku-a-day project. I have anexcuse…I was mentally preparing to run in the Pro Footbal Enshrinement Festival (take a breath) 2 mile race today at 8:20 AM.

All in all, I think I did pretty well. I beat my time from last year, coming in this year at 18:43:90. The otter’s sister beat me by about 20 seconds, and the otter herself beat me by about 50 seconds. That’s OK…I wasn’t racing them; I was racing me. Oh, and some guy who ended up beside me at the end. Beat him too.

There were some minor problems. I didn’t notice the bathroom situation this year, as I didn’t have to use one, but other things were odd. After we walked to the starting line, the organizeers dove a car onto the track to show off their mascot, Pigskin. The car was only going about 5 MPH, but it was still dangerous; there were 882 runners lining up, some with headphones. Oh, and because the brakes were bad, those of us without headphones (mine were still turned off) were treated to a long, consistant, whining squeal.

Also, there was no “On your marks, get set…” type of warning. We were all standing around talking, then suddenly, the airhorn went off and we were running.

Besides these problems, it was a good experience. The weather was nice, the track was clear, and the runners were courteous, for the most part.

That last hill is still a bitch, though.

The Bad News is…

…that the landlord checked out the drip from me ceiling, and it’s leaking from the tiolet bowl upstairs. So my bathroom is a biohazard.

The goodnews is that my sickness seems to just be a case of the flu. And when you can say “The good news is that I have the flu,” you’re right where I am.

The otter’s letter…

The otter just had a letter printed in the Repository, too!

More restrooms for runners in Hall of Fame Festival races
Tuesday, August 7, 2007

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Festival races were great this year, as always, but there definitely could have been more restrooms for the runners and for the spectators.

For a race this popular, the site could have used twice the restrooms, if not more.

Runners don’t ask for much as far as equipment to compete, but adequate facilities without excessive lines before and after the race are a must.

The Otter

Congrats!
(No…It doesn’t say “The Otter” on the letter…I changed her name to protect her identity. Which you already know if you clicked on the link and saw her name.)

A letter to the editor

I got a letter to the editor of my local newspaper published.

From the Canton Repository:

Restrooms inadequate for two festival races
Friday, August 3, 2007

Last Sunday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Festival 2-mile and 5-mile races went off very smoothly: The rain of the weekend gave way to a sunny morning, the temperature was ideal for running. The community came out to watch and cheer the runners on.

There was one problem, though. For a race that 1,447 people participated in, I counted 12 portable restrooms in two locations.

The lines for these restrooms were so long that many runners who had spent the morning hydrating missed the starting horn for the 2-mile race. I would hope that next year, the needs of the runners were considered in this matter.

JASON ROBERT NOVAK,

PLAIN TOWNSHIP

Editor’s note: The Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce said this issue will be on the agenda of the planning meeting for the 2008 races.