Cinderella 5k - Race Report

The challenge of Disney race weekend isn't in the races, it's the stress of getting up so early every day.  For the Cinderella 5k, the alarm went off at 5 am Friday.  Race start was 6:30.  

Just after dawn

My big concern was parking, but it was easy.  Everyone parked in the big lot at Epcot, with marshals directing us to fill all the spaces.  The security fencing of the starting area meant we had to take the long way around to get to the start, but for us there was plenty of time.  Runners arriving closer to the starting time should find it easy to make it in time, since the parking was so well arranged.  

There were five corrals, leaving at 8-minute intervals.  Jen and I were in the last, so the winners had arrived back by the time we headed out of the corral to the starting chute.  

Everyone dresses up

Most everyone was dressed up.  There were plenty of skirts, themed costumes, including ball gowns in the Cinderella style.  Jen was in her Miranda dress.  I wore the gray shirt provided for the half, with the pink sash that we got for racing the half as a team. The sky was cloudy, gloomy in the morning mist, as everyone got under way. 

Skirts, dresses

 The course is one lap of the international lake area of Epcot, and back to the parking lot.  They had a few Disney princesses on the course for photos.  Princess Atta was there.  We didn't stop for that.  There were line-ups at each of the characters for the photo ops.  The whole course is wonderful scenery.  You are racing around the world!  Better off to bring a camera and do it yourself. It was cold before dawn but warmed up nicely by the time the race started, making the weather fine for both skimpy outfits and full-coverage costumes.

Must stop for photo opportunities

The race expo was on Thursday.  I got a tube of liquid Body Glide which should work well with my wetsuit.  I also got some min Body Glide sticks to use on Sunday for the half. I bought Jen a shirt with glow-in-the-dark fairy wings.  It's lovely, but would likely work better with reflective paint instead.  Maybe it's good for both, I haven't seen it at night. The shirt for the 5k was only cotton, and a dark navy which I'm unlikely to wear. I didn't see anyone wear it for the race.  I wore it for the day at the park after the race on Friday.  It was okay that day.  Run 5k slow and easy, then walk the Magic Kingdom park for 10 hours.  Glad I'm not racing Saturday.  Jen is on her own for that one.  

Saturday, the alarm was 3:30am for a 5:30 start.  This after getting home at midnight.  Racing the 10k and the half gets Jen a fourth medal for the Glass Slipper Challenge.  She raced in the Miranda dress again.  The 10k goes from Epcot parking, out to the main road and back, then the same loop of the international area as the 5k.  I walked her to the corrals, then went out to the road with my cowbell.  You can always use more cowbell.  There was 5 waves again, with a couple thousand people each, so I couldn't find her in the crush of people at all.  She was an early wave, so after the last wave went by me, I was just in time to make it to the finish to see her come in.  

What a great set of races.  Everyone is there to have fun and is infectiously happy.  There's none of the usual race talk of times and PRs.  Dress up and smile.

Homeless Jesus in CANADIAN WINTER

Homeless Jesus is cold in winter so he hibernates

Jen brushed his head off to make him feel better

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/02/28/a-homeless-person-turns-out-to-be-a-jesus-sculpture-and-not-everyone-is-happy-about-it/

Why can't they make a decent lamp

How hard is it to make a decent bicycle light?  It needs to be easy to use, and durable enough to survive frightful Canadian conditions.  I've gone through many headlamps over the years.

For a long time, I kept to the Cat Eye brand.  About 5 years back, they started to disappear from stores, and I would have to ask for them to be ordered in. This is a good one of theirs that lasted me several years.  

Cat Eye headlamp

Eventually the switch quit operating.  That's a common failure mode.  I had two, and they both had the switch go bad. 

The new big name in headlamps seems to be Blackburn.  Here's the first of theirs that I got.  It had no water resistance.  On a rainy day it would quit working due to water getting into the mechanism.  The switch was small and hard to operate when wearing gloves.  

Blackburn

That turned out so poorly, I went back to Cat Eye.  I don't have a picture since the quick-release failed and it went skittering down the road.  That's the next-most common reason for failure -- having it come off the mount and smash itself on the pavement.  I didn't like the lamp anyhow, because they went with the modern practice of adding features by using multiple presses of the switch. For a headlamp, these are on steady, or on flashing for choices. I don't need that.  Does anyone really use a flashing headlamp?  Isn't that annoying in the dark?  Don't you need a second lamp to see by at night? 

The computer chip decides what to do when you press the switch.  Turning on and off requires push-and-hold instead of just a click.  When the battery gets low, as well as going dim, the operation gets erratic, so that the power switch stops working, or goes into some strange mode where you have to hold forever to keep the light on, or it only comes on some of the time, or it comes on but in flashing mode.  The chip doesn't get the power it needs, so it goes brain-dead.  You pressed the button? Let's spin the wheel to see what happens next! How it got like this is that management insisted that the engineers change something.  Continuous improvement is a great idea, except that when you already have something that's excellent, you are likely to make it bad by insisting on change for the sake of change.  It's essential to be sure you have an actual benefit from doing a modification. They were the leader in bike lamps, and engineered themselves into selling crap.  The taillight on my cruiser is a Cat Eye.  I have to lean on the button for several seconds hoping it will turn off. Can't use gloves either. Stupid engineers.

This lamp was from Gotham (now known as Fortified).  Rugged like a tank, except that the solid case made it a nightmare to change the battery.

The Gotham defender

I needed pliers to unscrew the containment vessel, and couldn't get it back together.  The battery pack was a flimsy thing like the cheap $5 flashlights that are so common now. Tough as steel outside.  Cheap crap inside. The LEDs were in a strange array that didn't direct a lot of light onto the road.  I ride at night for my commute, so I don't want it just so drivers can see me.  I need a good light so I can see the road.  It's a complete fail.

Stores are selling LED flashlights for about 5 bucks nowadays, so I thought that if I could get one of them secured to the handlebars, it would work well.  I found this angle bracket that seemed to fit the design idea.  It didn't exactly fit the lamp or bar, and I had to wrap it in electrical tape to stay in place.  That made it tough to get the lamp off to change the battery.  The battery packs in them aren't very sturdy, and didn't stand up to more than a couple battery changes. 

This is what I have now. It's another Blackburn.

Blackburn Scorch

This one is rechargeable.  I didn't think I would like that idea, since if you forget to recharge, you're out of light.  It's working out fine.  I take it off regularly anyhow, so putting it on the charger daily isn't something I forget to do.  It is really bright.  It's got that stupid multiple-mode feature like Cat Eye tried, except these guys did a good job with it.  With this one, after 20 seconds, it knows that your next click is to turn it off, so that's what happens.  You don't have to cycle through the remaining modes to get it off. Click on.  Click off. It has a dim mode that I use sometimes in the daytime if it's cloudy out.  The switch is big and gives a solid click when pressed.  I like that.  Not only can I click it using gloves, but I can feel that it switched, so I don't need to check to make sure it's working. Hopefully the battery lasts a few years for me.  The case is thick aluminum, so it will stand up to being dropped.  Anything the matter with it?  It was really expensive, almost a hundred dollars; certainly the most expensive headlamp I've ever acquired. The mounting uses a rubber band to secure it, making me worried what I will do if the band breaks.  The recharging attachment can be jacked in the wrong polarity, in which case it doesn't charge.  I also worry about the charge cable breaking.  The lamp itself is working out well enough that I bought a second one so both my commuter bikes have one. At least that gives me a second charge cable in my spare-parts drawer.  Hopefully it lasts the winter.  The weather is sure testing it this year.

Hurray for lifetime warranty

I bought the Kurt trainer because the reviews described it as one of the most durable units available.  I had proven that I was going to spend hours and hours riding through the winter, so it made sense to get the model that would last for years.  Other hydraulic units had complaints of oil leaks.  Hydraulic seemed to be agreed to be the best resemblance of road riding.  My previous stationary bike used magnets, which worked really well, but for a replacement, I was ready to step up a level, since I was way past the fad stage, and knew I would be spending many hours on it.

The Kurt trainer

It's been about 10 years using it.  Thousands and thousands of simulated kilometers.  Last winter I was reading someone's blog, and the writer commented on how quiet her trainer is. I don't remember it ever being quiet.  The sound of the chain running through the derailleur has always been loud.  Well, not really loud.  Outside you don't notice, but in the quiet basement it's really noticeable.  So anyway when I read that, I thought, man this thing is noisy.  It's so loud I can't hear the chain in the derailleur anymore.  Plus, it's grinding something.  I can feel the vibration in my feet.  I took the bike in and had them change the bearings in the bottom bracket where the crank meets the frame, and that didn't help, so I'm sure it's the trainer.  

I e-mailed to Kurt and asked about getting the bearings changed.  I even sent a video where you can hear the roar.  They sent a whole new resistance unit to honor the lifetime warranty.  What a difference.  It's not just the sound, but it's easier to pedal, so I can use the whole range of gears again.  Thanks Kurt.

Running in the fall

Jen was in the London Lady's half-marathon, in support of the NICU.  

Support the NICU

She has that same preying-mantis tuck with her arms that I use.

Halloween is my favourite religious festival. 

My favourite religious festival

Dark Pumpkin

  

I have the privilege of being able to run with two of my children.  The oldest was here for a visit at Thanksgiving (Oct here in Canada).  We went for a short run together.  He settled into a nice easy 5-min per km so we could chat.  It was for him a relaxing easy pace.  I was completely red-lined.  Gasping for breath, I could barely spit out two words at a time.  

The last nice day

The forecast showed Friday to be the last nice sunny day of the year.  I took the day off work and went for a ride. It was surprisingly chilly in the morning, even with the sun, and I took the extra shirt from my pack and put it on, making it a triple layer. 

The road is still open

Here there be llamas

The corn fields have dried up to yellow.  In the morning my feet ached a bit from the cold, but by mid afternoon it was nice. I made it to the Pita Pit just as my daughter was starting her shift.  She made me my lunch.  

Mighty Niagara - Race Report

Took Friday afternoon off work so we could leave on good time to make it for packet pickup.  Brought the passports for the border crossing.  Welcome to the USA!  We made it with enough time to go to the motel first.  Then to the mall for our bibs.  The shirts are orange.  The next morning having breakfast at Dunkin Donuts I noticed that their company colours matched the race shirts.  They're not even a sponsor.  Mile 6 was presented by Tim Hortons cafe and bake shop. We didn't know our way around town well enough to be able to find one of those. Tim Hortons is the best! A common theme amongst runners we chatted with was a dislike of the new colours.  Maybe the medal will be blue.  That's why we signed up, for the blue medal that's shaped like a guitar pick.   

The alarm went off at 7.  I opened the curtains and just froze.  It was raining.  A solid drizzle enough to soak you in minutes, and light enough to be able to continue all day.  The last item on their FAQ was, "What if it rains". Answer: "You run in the rain".  Here we go. Running is the best!

Shirt with built-in mittens

Return of the ninja

I anticipated this, and had packed the ninja gear. I had the tights, but Jen was wearing shorts, so I wore my shorts too. Someone commented, "nice optimism with the sunglases".  Well, the idea was for the sunglasses to ward off the rain.  The hat works nicely for that too. I don't like the feeling of raindrops bouncing off my head or running down my face.  I've run in the rain before.  We were both at the porta-pottie when the starting horn sounded.  There's over a thousand people, so they were still streaming through the gate by the time we got over to the starting line.  

The volunteers were dressed for the rain

Fund raising for the hospice

It was quite a surprise to find myself warm and taking off my jacket after a couple miles.  We saw a "trample the weak" shirt, like at the Toronto marathon, so we struck up a conversation.  Turns out the shirt is from the Zombie Run.  This was her first half, as it was Jen's.  It was warm enough that the rain wasn't a problem at all.  Everyone was happy and running and we all had a good time.  By mile 6 I felt the pace dragging, and coaxed Jen into stepping the speed up a bit.  

The rain let up after an hour or so

Lake Ontario

She did well, and maintained a run right to the end.  Most of the run was along the river, with a view across the gorge to Canada.  Then we went through the old fort and past a lookout to Lake Ontario.  It's hard to imaging looking out at that, not seeing the other side, and thinking, "I could swim across this".  People do crazy things like run marathons, race Ironmans, and swim Lake Ontario. 

Mud on the legs

They had beer for us at race end!  The server asked Jen, "are you legal?"  "Sure" Jen responds.  "Are you legal here?" she then asks.  but no, Jen is 4 months young from the cut-off and gets passed over.  She gets a Dr Pepper and a water. and 2 chocolate milks.  Love that chocolate milk.  That's definitely my first choice of drink after a race. Chocolate milk is the best! Then beer. 

It looks like a guitar pick

The medal is orange. At a distance, it looked to me like it said, "Are you naughty?".