Race T-Shirts

I have a ton of race t-shirts. I purge my pile of them fairly often, but the collection grows. I was looking at a brochure recently from Campus Quilt, a company who will sew all of your race t-shirts into a quilt, and it occured to me I don’t recall ever having discussed the matter of t-shirts with another runner.

So, let’s hear it: what do you do with your race t-shirts? Has anyone made a quilt from them? Or something else? Let’s hear it.

Pace Tat Revisited: Part One

In a previous post, I discussed the Pace Tat, a pace temp tatoo. Well! I’m now happy to report that I have six shiny new Pace Tats in my possession to try out. I’ll report back when I know more.

Fight The Bonk: 12-Week Fitness Challenge Redux

I took on a mega-fitness challenge, but my timing sucked. As some  of you may know, when I’m not running, I am a literary blogger, author, editor and festival founder. Well, in the calm before the storm of the literary festival, in March, I took on a modified version of the Body for Life 12-week Fitness Challenge.

Well, that was kind of dumb timing. But, it had its good points. For one, I was working out and not stressing out through the festival in late May, which is also known as my busiest time of the year. But, it did lessen my workout focus in the week that followed, when I was planning for live stream author interviews at Printers Row Lit Fest. But, that’s ok.

A blog I really love is Slow Mofo, by John Frenette of HellaSound. One thing I like so much about his blog is that Frenette isn’t afraid to try new things and doesn’t blame himself when said new things don’t go to the letter. Because, really, what does ever go exactly as planned? Right.

So, with that in mind, I’m starting over. Granted, I’ve never really been in terrible shape but I’m in better shape than I was when I first started the fitness challenge back in late March. So, I’m not starting from the same place this time. So what? I’m starting again, in any case. Part of the fitness challenge is to photograph oneself at the beginning and end of the challenge. On my first time at bat with the challenge, I did Day Zero photos, and was shocked when my halfway point photos looked exactly the same. But, that’s also okay. I could feel a difference, and really saw a difference in my running economy, and that’s what counts.

And why, prey tell, am I doing this? Why not. I mean, really, why not? I’m active and in shape, but I think it’s time to bring it up a notch. I don’t want to just be fit, I want to be strong, have better running economy, expand my fitness activity horizons and be in better health. And, I don’t want to stop at the 12-week challenge. Nope. I want to declare this the summer of uber-cross training and of expanding my fitness horizons.

So, the new 12-week Fitness Challenge is on. It’s inspired by the Body For Life program, but I’m adding to it for variety. And, I’ll document it all here. Because, you know, why not?

Medal Worthy: CW-X for Breast Acknowledgement

I would just like to take a moment and thank CW-X for their print advertisement which states: While the rest of the world focuses on big breasts, most sports bras refuse to acknowledge them.

Rock on with your excellent sports suspension system bra, bonkfighter.

Link Love: ChicagoNow’s Pace of Chicago, an Endurance Blog

Yours truly is the blogger behind Chicago Subtext, a Chicago-specific literary blog on the ChicagoNow blog network, sponsored by the Tribune. But, perhaps of even more interest here is another blog on the ChicagoNow network, Pace of Chicago, an endurance blog by David Wallach.

Gear Check: Pace Tat

I just learned about the Pace Tat a “…a simple and convenient tool for keeping track of your pace. At each mile marker, simply glance at PaceTat to see if you’re on target!”, a “…durable transfer with all of your mile split goals printed in large font so that you can read easily while running” and “…beneficial to runners of any experience level and is available in 20 different finish times, including all Boston Qualifier times for men and women”…

Discuss. I like it in theory. Who among us has tried them out? Let’s hear it. Better yet, Pace Tat, I want to hear from you. I want to try this.

Fitness and Weight Print Ads

You know me, cultural critic of advertising’s messages and tools. Meh, I accept this.

What are your thoughts on Men’s Fitness’ photo list of highlights from fitness print ads? I like the Powerhouse Gym’s use of cranes, and The Fitness Company’s depiction of a gym lifting on a subway train. Both are about positive additions to one’s life and health and strength.

But the others, the Slim Fast disappearing act and the Weight Watcher’s wide door ads seem a little unsettling and, well, dangerous and mean-spirited, respectively. Where the gym ads are constructive and about strength, the weight-based ads seem to work off linking comfort/embarrassment and size. And, the Slim Fast ad was too close to the controversy several years ago around the ProForm collapsible treadmill ad which declared “Soon, you’ll both be taking up less space“… which I’ve always thought was in bad taste.

Anyway, the things to consider is that while Men’s Fitness lumped all of these ads together as “fitness ads”, a distinction should be made that there are weight loss ads and conditioning ads. Often linked, but still not the same topic.

Let us discuss.

Bling: Big Marathon Finisher Medals

I have now held a 2009 Little Rock finisher medal. It’s serious. Like Flavor Flav clocklace serious. Like most runners, I dig the bling.

So, for this new featue, which we’ll call simply “Bling”, let us begin with some of the larger finisher medals. Aside from Little Rock, which claims the biggest medal, the Quad Cities medal isn’t too shabby, either. The ING Atlanta is impressive if you’re into Georgia, and the Tupelo medal is nothing if not just intimidating enough to want to earn, especially if earned in tandem with the treasure map-medal from the Outer Banks race.

But surely there are more, dear bonkfighters. Which huge finisher medals do you know about, or better yet, which huge finisher medals have you earned? Comments and links to pics welcome.

Training: Marquis de Sade

Listen to me: This is called the Marquis de Sade for a reason.

I don’t endorse anyone who wants to do this drill more than, say, once per month, for the record. Let me just open by saying that. And then, only really do it if you really want to be badass and push the envelope and kick everything up a notch. Because that’s what it’s for; it’s hard work, but it’s really effective. So get your head in the right place before you try it, is what I’m saying. Here’s how it goes:

Run 400 meters at just under 5-K race pace; then easy run 400 meters.

Run 300 meters at one-mile pace; then easy run 300 meters.

Run 200 meters at slightly faster than one-mile pace; then easy run 200 meters.

Run 100 meters at close to all out (but still not quite a full sprint); easy run 100 meters.

Now do it twice more. Not enough? Not swearing up a storm yet? Then easy run 400 meters and do one or two more sets. But– and you must listen to me– that’s it. Nothing else. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

Race Profile: The Military Marathons

I’m not going to lie: I think the military races are badass. And, I can’t imagine I won’t feel badass after completing them all, which is a goal on the ol’ lifetime to do list. Here’s the scoop:

US Air Force Marathon, Sept. 19th: Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton OH
Race info and course map here.
Super-bonkfighting power: Aircraft flyovers during the race and deployed-location simultaneous races.

Army Ten-Miler, Oct. 4th, Arlington, VA/Washington, DC
Race info and course map here.
Super-bonkfighting power: Finisher coin in lieu of medal, course is a great tour of Washington, DC; it begins and ends at the Pentagon.

US Marine Corps Marathon, Oct. 25th: Arlington, VA/Washington, DC
Race info and course map here.
Super-bonkfighting power: Hills are ugly but early, course is a total tour of Washington DC and finish is at US Marine Corps War Memorial.