In 2009 I had the awesomest job in the world: Zipline tour guide in Juneau Alaska. I also had some pretty sweet co-workers who decided to compete in The Fools Run. Only Fools Run At Midnight is an annual race celebrating Alaska's statehood. If you didn't guess already it takes place at midnight, and its a pretty epic event. Everyone who runs wears a costume (no theme, just "costume"). Any race that involves people dressed up and running around like crazy people at midnight is glorious and not to be missed.
To make things better, you could compete as an individual or as a "centipede." Centipedes not only run together, but must be connected to each other by their costumes. So the Alaska Zipline Adventure employees thrifty as we were, wore our work t-shirts, zipline helmets, and harnesses. We tied ourselves together by the lanyards on our harnesses to create a 9 person centipede. We were a mix of all genders, body types, and fitness levels.
Running a 5k tied to nine other people is crazy! Some people wanted to jog, some people wanted to win, I just wanted to come out unscathed. As long as I wasn't the one holding up the group, I would be happy.
We started the race at a dead run, surrounded by crowds of crazily dressed racers. As the race thinned out towards the middle, some people (boys) wanted to pick up the pace. Easy for their six foot four bodies in amazing shape to do! Apparently, the whole "you are only as fast as your slowest runner," concept does not apply to people tied together, nor does it register in the mind of an adrenaline charged man mid race. Each of the boys would take turns disconnecting their harness from the group, running to the front of the line, and literally pulling the group at the fastest pace they could maintain. It was terrifying, and exhilarating, and super fun. We ended up with a pretty decent time at the end (I forgot it now) especially considering the fact that nine people were tied together. The only downside of the night was that we lost to a guy dressed as an Extra Tuff. For those not fluent in Alaskan, this means he was dressed up as a giant brown rubber boot. Losing to him was not our proudest moment. But we did have an awesome night, and even landed ourselves in the local newspaper (grandma would be so proud).
We started the race at a dead run, surrounded by crowds of crazily dressed racers. As the race thinned out towards the middle, some people (boys) wanted to pick up the pace. Easy for their six foot four bodies in amazing shape to do! Apparently, the whole "you are only as fast as your slowest runner," concept does not apply to people tied together, nor does it register in the mind of an adrenaline charged man mid race. Each of the boys would take turns disconnecting their harness from the group, running to the front of the line, and literally pulling the group at the fastest pace they could maintain. It was terrifying, and exhilarating, and super fun. We ended up with a pretty decent time at the end (I forgot it now) especially considering the fact that nine people were tied together. The only downside of the night was that we lost to a guy dressed as an Extra Tuff. For those not fluent in Alaskan, this means he was dressed up as a giant brown rubber boot. Losing to him was not our proudest moment. But we did have an awesome night, and even landed ourselves in the local newspaper (grandma would be so proud).
The other day while reminiscing I remembered this race and the good ol days, and thought "time for a repeat." Thus the seed of my resolution was born. Twelve races, Twelve months.
Its the perfect way to keep things fun, and keep things moving. The training part will help me accomplish my weight loss goal, and the longevity (12 months) should help me maintain my goal weight once achieved.
I had a blogging friend name her blog that and she did complete the task and dropped 35 lbs in the process!
ReplyDeleteYou can totally do it!