Wednesday Night Run 6-1-2011

Hello ORC,

The Thrashers are on their way out of town but our Wednesday night runs are still here and running strong (pun intended).  Virginia Highlands Summerfest is here again this weekend.  ARTlantis is on Saturday at the druid Hills Baptist Church.  Downtown Atlanta restaurant week continues.  If you want to see vintage Italian motorcycles, they are being featured at the Museum of Design Atlanta. 

What else is going on this weekend?  Anyone want to share?

Here are some local races, one of which is sold out so you will have to watch from the sidelines until next year.  The Va-Hi Summerfest 5K is this weekend.  For our trail runners, there is the XTERRA trail race in Jackson.  And for our triathletes, there is the Sweetwater tri in Lithia Springs.  A swim in some cool water sounds real nice during this how weather.

This Wednesday you will be running route 6.  It's the elephant run as named by Gail.  There are the challenging hills of Delano, the grind up Rogers, and of course climbing up McClendon.  The link to the route is at the bottom of this e- mail. After the run it's off to Mojo's Pizza for food, drinks and trivia.

Enjoy your run Wednesday night.  Thanks for making the Oakhurst Running Club one of the friendliest running club in Atlanta.

Corny

http://oakhurstrunningclub.blogspot.com/

http://oakhurst-running-club.googlegroups.com/web/Route+6.pdf?gda=aw3RAkAAAABX1J9qhvqHbbbNJKzo8aYdKyDM846hp3A1P4vLgp_wE3PNLSJDWxDtttThEJZz0tZtxVPdW1gYotyj7-X7wDON

Local Races This Weekend

Saturday, June 4

Virginia Highland Summerfest 5K & Tot Trot, Virginia Highland (Sorry, it’s sold out so just cheer and watch out for the traffic)

XTERRA Georgia Deep South 9.3 Mile Trail Running Race, Jackson

River Run for Hope 5K/10K/Mile, Roswell

Sunday, June 5

Sweetwater Triathlon (200y/10mi/5K) & 5K Run, Lithia Springs

Harris Jacobs Dream Run 4 Mile & 2K, Dunwoody

Jogger confronted by angry driver

I can understand car vs. bike.  But this makes for an incredible and concerning story, from The News Star online…

Jogger confronted by angry driver

12:00 AM, May. 30, 2011

Written by Staff Report

A confrontation on a Ouachita Parish roadway Sunday morning landed a Monroe man in jail on several charges, including aggravated assault with a vehicle.

According to an arrest affidavit, the victim called Ouachita Parish Sheriff's deputies to the intersection of Stubbs Richie and Stubbs Vinson roads after several confrontations with Conner Harris, 107 Hideaway Drive, Monroe. The victim told police that he was running on the shoulder of Louisiana 594 near McGowan Road, in the opposing lane, when he was forced to jump off the road to avoid being hit by a pickup driven by Harris.

Read on here.

Make Every Minute Count

Tips from Runners World online for maximizing your workout…

Make Every Minute Count

Runners are a time-crunched crew. Too often, we push back our speed, fitness, or weight-loss goals when life gets in the way. The focused workouts in these pages are designed to make you faster, stronger, and fitter in however many minutes you can spare. By Liz Plosser

From the June 2011 issue of Runner's World

THE BUSY RUNNER'S GUIDE TO GETTING FASTER

Developing speed is ideal for time-pressed runners because getting faster requires short, targeted efforts. "Quick bursts improve your ability to produce energy without using oxygen while strengthening muscles, all of which help improve your speed," says Jason Karp, Ph.D., an online running coach in San Diego (runcoachjason.com). If you're new to speedwork or coming back after a layoff, reduce the number of intervals in the following workouts by half and add more time to warm up, recover, and cool down. Add an interval every other week until you're up to speed.

Read on here.

Not So Local Races This Weekend

Saturday, May 28

Holly Springs 6th Annual Memorial Day 5K & Fun Run, Holly Springs

Sutallee Trace Trail Challenge 4 and 10 Mile Trail Run, Canton

2nd Annual All American 5K, Peachtree City

Monday, May 30

Atlanta Memorial Mile, Kennesaw

Celebrate America 5K & 10K, Alpharetta

Wednesday Night Run 5-25-2011

Hello ORC,

It is starting to feel like Atlanta Summer.  It is Memorial Day weekend.  That means it is the 23^rd Annual Decatur Arts Festival.  The pools also open up this weekend.  Shawn Mullins will be at Eddie’s Attic this weekend.  The Decatur Library is having their annual Spring book sale.  Big Tex cantina opens this Friday.  There is Jazz Fest at Piedmont Park.  The Atlanta Caribbean Carnival is at John Calhoun Park on Auburn Av.  Park tavern has the Brews, Bans, and BBQ Fest.  Meanwhile at Zoo Atlanta is Brew at the Zoo.  MondoHomo is back in east Atlanta.  Yes, there is a lot going on.  You’ll find us in Decatur Sq with little dude and little lady dude snacking on treats or getting misted.  If you are travelling this weekend, be safe.

What else is going on?  What do you have to share?

For a Memorial Day weekend, there are not many races going on.  Looking at the Run Georgia calendar, there is nothing close.  Peachtree City on Saturday hosts the All American 5K.  On Sunday in Kennesaw there is the Atlanta Memorial Mile.  In Alpharetta is the Celebrate America 5K and 10K.  Even though it is in Alpharetta, they have a great course to set a 10K PR on.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, you will be running route 13.  The route goes up the hard flat of Oakview and hits the hills of Spence/McDonough.  The link to the route is at the bottom of this e- mail.  After the run it's off to Mojo's Pizza for food, drinks and trivia.

Thanks for making the Oakhurst Running Club one of the friendliest running club in Atlanta.

Corny

http://oakhurstrunningclub.blogspot.com/

http://oakhurst-running-club.googlegroups.com/web/Route+13.pdf?gda=lSQNH0EAAABX1J9qhvqHbbbNJKzo8aYdbtRwzvmcOOO9H-w7QjaoTNMauZfeP2VUhote_RWBRRRTCT_pCLcFTwcI3Sro5jAzlXFeCn-cdYleF-vtiGpWAA

Eat Smart and Run Hard

I am terrible at eating breakfast before a morning run, maybe at most a gel, yuck.  But there are others out there that do, from Running Times online…

Eat Smart and Run Hard

5 easy breakfasts to fuel your racing

By Jackie Dikos, R.D.

As featured in the Web Only issue of Running Times Magazine

We all have different preferences when it comes to race-day eating. No matter the food preferences some simple facts remain. Eating breakfast tops off glycogen stores; increases blood glucose, energizes working muscles; and makes us more alert and prepared for good racing.

Here are some example pre-race breakfasts that can work well for most runners eating about 2 hours prior to race start.

Read on here.

Jogging Through Time: 3 Heart-Pumping Memoirs

Running books from NPR…

Jogging Through Time: 3 Heart-Pumping Memoirs

by Liz Colville

May 19, 2011

Running has plenty of tomes: the indispensable cult classic Once a Runner by John Parker; The Perfect Mile, Neal Bascomb's bestselling book about the quest to break the 4-minute-mile barrier; the textbook-like Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger; the young women's staple The Complete Book of Running for Women by Claire Kowalchik; and the inspirational What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, in which novelist Haruki Murakami abandons magical realism to describe the joys of his favorite sport. And those are just five. In short, who needs another book about running? This spring, three more runners from starkly different backgrounds answer that question, and prove that there is always something more to say about this odd and entrancing sport.

Read on here.

Surge

There was a drink called Surge way back when and tried to compete with Mountain dew as the cola that had the most caffeine.  But I digress, from Runners World online…

Power Surge

A well-timed burst of speed zaps the competition.

By Ed Eyestone

From the June 2011 issue of Runner's World

The fastest races are run with even splits. Indeed, world records reveal that, statistically, fast, steady speed yields the best performances. So if the guys with the records are running PRs off evenly paced races, doesn't it make sense for the rest of us to use that strategy? It depends. Some races demand a tactical rather than time-trial approach, where occasional bursts of speed can separate you from your rival and give you an advantage. Here's when—and how—to surge.

Read on here.

Does Form Matter?

From Runners World online…

Does Form Matter?

More runners than ever before—from elites to midpackers—are talking about running technique and debating its importance. Which begs the question: Should you change your form? That depends...

By Peter Vigneron

From the June 2011 issue of Runner's World

One of the problems with sports, not least running, is that when something incredible happens, it is often hard to understand why. Still, people try.

Soon after Ryan Hall became the first American to run under 60 minutes in the half-marathon, in January 2007, sportswriters began offering opinions about his stride. The magazine Marathon & Beyond wrote that Hall was "a study in minimalism. His legs, slender and long, appear to float, rather than churn." Outside said Hall was a "loping wolfhound in a field of shuffling terriers." When Hall later won the 2007 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, Los Angeles Magazine wrote that he was "fluid" and "rhythmic." In 2008, just prior to the Beijing Olympics, Runner's World profiled Hall and wrote of "the immaculate nature of his footfalls."

To journalists, at least, Hall's form is fluid, floating, immaculate—maybe even perfect. But recently, the elements of his form have attracted additional attention. In April 2010, two students from Peter Larson's biology class at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire went to the Boston Marathon, where they set a high-speed camera alongside the course at mile 17.5. Hall was competing in the race, and the students recorded as Hall and a thousand other runners made their way to the Newton Hills.

Read on here.

Fidgeting Your Way to Fitness

I enjoy the thought of this, from the NY Times…

May 11, 2011, 12:01 am

Fidgeting Your Way to Fitness

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

If work is interfering with your plans for a workout today, perhaps you should drum your fingers against your desktop in frustration. Doing so may help, in some small way, to maintain or augment your fitness, at least according to a study published last month in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

The study examined the role in physical fitness of “incidental” physical activity, which involves any movements that are not formally exercise. Also called “activities of daily living,” they include walking to the window, bobbing your foot as you sit, pulling weeds in the yard, chopping onions for dinner and similar movements. Once, people accumulated large amounts of this unplanned exertion, since the world contained fewer cars, offices, elevators and takeout options. But levels of incidental physical activity have fallen sharply, and the amount that any one of us completes varies widely, since some people naturally fidget more than others and some have more physically demanding occupations, like nursing or mothering small, caroming children.

Read on here.

Wednesday Night Run 5-18-2011

Hello ORC,

So what’s going on this week/weekend?  The Brick Store Pub is having a yard sale and pancake breakfast.  They will be selling old glassware and other goods from their beer vault.  There will be Martinis in the garden at the Oakhurst Community Garden Project.  Roxie Watson (it’s a band) is playing in Decatur Square on Saturday night.  On Sunday, Avondale Estates is closing down their streets and opening them up for foot and bike traffic.  It’s like Atlanta Streets Alive but for Avondale.  That’s a lot of stuff and I haven’t even left Decatur/Avondale Estates.

I may be getting this information late; congratulations to Emily and Ian on the birth of their child.  Hope everything is going well, rested, recovered, and enjoying parenthood.

What else is going on?  Care to share?

There are a couple of local races this weekend.  In Grant Park is the geneRACEtion 10K & 2K.  I am not sure how I feel about the title.  I guess it is catchy.  In Atlanta and Freedom Park are the Atlanta Mission 5K and the William Dillard Foundation 5K Walk/Run respectively.  There is a trail run in Paulding, Dirty Spokes Mt. Tabor Trail Run.

This Wednesday you will be running route 10.  The run hits Rockyford, Hosea, Tupelo, and the rolling hills of Spence/McDonough.  Watch out for traffic at intersections.  You can see the map through the link below. After this 5 miler it is off to Mojo's Pizza for food, drinks, and trivia.

Thanks for making the Oakhurst Running Club one of the friendliest running club in Atlanta.

Corny

http://oakhurstrunningclub.blogspot.com/

http://oakhurst-running-club.googlegroups.com/web/Route+10.pdf?gda=kD5eK0EAAABX1J9qhvqHbbbNJKzo8aYdQAKLUIfH6uF3UPF5u7KH5NYTmJ10onBJPR398DLgjmhTCT_pCLcFTwcI3Sro5jAzlXFeCn-cdYleF-vtiGpWAA

Local Races This Weekend

Saturday, May 21

geneRACEtion 10K & 2K, Grant Park

Atlanta Mission 5K, Atlanta

Dirty Spokes Mt. Tabor 4.0 Mi / 8.0 Mi Trail Run, Paulding

Moving Towards A Cure 5K Run/Walk, Stone Mountain

Trot to Clot Hemophilia Walk/Run 5K, Stone Mountain

William Dillard Foundation 5K Walk/Run, Freedom Park

Wednesday Night Run 5-11-2011

Hello ORC,

A lot of very cool local stuff going on this weekend in and around Decatur, first is the Decatur Garden Tour.  Then it is the 2^nd in a series, Decatur Concert on the Square, featuring The Damages.  Also on Saturday at The Marlay House is their street food event.  Not only will The Marlay House have their own Fish & Chips truck, also there will be Yumbii, Tex's Taco, Grace's Goodness, Westside Creamery and Tamale Queen.  A little farther out in our neighboring neighborhoods is the Kirkwood Spring Fling.  The fling’s musical entertainment features Drivin' N' Cryin'.  A little farther out in East Atlanta is the Brownwood Bike and Run fest.  So go out and enjoy yourselves.

What else is going on?  What events would you like to share?

On the race calendar is the requisite neighborhood festival 5K with the Kirkwood Spring Fling 5K and the Brownwood Fest 5K in East Atlanta.  There are also races in Brookhaven (Bolt 5K), Georgia tech (Janeen’s Run), and Piedmont Park (5K Walk to End Violence Against Women).  If you want to run up some stairs there is the 2011 Fight for Air Climb at the Equitable Building.  For you multi-sport athletes, Callaway Gardens is hosting a duathlon on Sunday.

This Wednesday you will be running route 8, the East Lake Golf Course run.  The link to the route is at the bottom of this e- mail.  It's one of the oldest as in longest running routes I know of for the group. If there is a 5-mile race to be run, this would make a great route with the exception of maybe taking out the uphill on Garland Av.  In fact some promoter wants to have a 5-mile run in Decatur.  This route will be suggested.  After the run, it's off to Mojo's Pizza for food, drinks and trivia.

Thanks for making the Oakhurst Running Club one of the friendliest running club in Atlanta.

Corny

http://oakhurstrunningclub.blogspot.com/

http://oakhurst-running-club.googlegroups.com/web/Route+8.pdf?gda=YuPpQU

Local Races This Weekend

Saturday, May 14

2011 Brookhaven Bolt 5K, Atlanta

Janeen's Run 5K, Georgia Tech

Kirkwood Spring Fling 5K, Kirkwood Station

2011 Fight for Air Climb, The Equitable Building

5K Walk to End Violence Against Women, Piedmont Park

Brownwood 5K Run, EAV, Brownwood Park

Sunday, May 15

Callaway Gardens 5K & Duathlon, Pine Mountain

Running Boston Twice A Year

From Running Times online…

Gary Allen Loves Boston So He Runs it Twice Each Year

The 54 year-old Mainer runs it by himself on New Years and with everyone else on Patriot's Day

By Joe Wotjas

As featured in the April 2011 issue of Running Times Magazine

At 6 a.m. on Jan. 1, as most runners were still sleeping off their New Year's Eve celebration, Gary Allen was once again in Hopkinton, Mass., standing on the starting line of the Boston Marathon. And just like he's done for the last six years, the 54-year-old resident of tiny Great Cranberry Island, Maine, ran the course to kick off his year, this time in 3:19.

"It always seems like a really nice, symbolic way to start the year," he says. "It's the least crowded day of the year along a magnificent piece of road. And you can't believe you're doing it all alone."

The tradition began in 2004, when he and his family were in Boston for New Year's Eve and he had a 20-miler planned for the next day. That's when he began wondering what it would be like to run the marathon course instead. "I was pretty much done with having a few too many beers on New Year's. I wanted to do something special," he recalls.

So the next morning he was in Hopkinton, where it was clear and calm with a bit of snow on the ground. "The last time I had been there was in April for the marathon, so it seemed surreal," he says.

Read on here.

May is National Runners' Month?

I saw that May is National Runner’s Month and after doing very little research, I found out that it is just a marketing campaign for Dick’s Sporting Goods.  From the Times Union online…

May is National Runners’ Month? April 27, 2010 at 6:38 am by Colleen Morrissey Wheatley

Have you caught the commercials that May is national runners’ month?  I have heard it a few times and wondered what that means exactly.  After a brief time on the interwebs, as a colleague refers to it, I found it is just a marketing campaign by Dick’s Sporting Goods.   Not that it is such a bad thing – they are sponsoring a series of races and will have expert tips on the web site by Bart Yasso and Dean Karnazes, but it isn’t any sort of official designation.

Read on here.

Good Sugar Reputation

From the NY Times…

May 4, 2011, 12:01 am

How Sugar Affects the Body in Motion

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

Sugar is getting a bad reputation. A cover article in The New York Times Magazine several weeks ago persuasively reported that our national overindulgence in fructose and other sugars is driving the epidemics of obesity, diabetes and other illnesses. But that much-discussed article, by the writer Gary Taubes, focused on how sugars like fructose affect the body in general. It had little opportunity to examine the related issue of how sugar affects the body in motion. Do sweeteners like fructose — the sweetest of the simple sugars, found abundantly in fruits and honey — have the same effect on active people as on the slothful?

A cluster of new studies suggests that people who regularly work out don’t need to worry unduly about consuming fructose or other sugars. In certain circumstances, they may even find the sweet stuff beneficial.

Read on here.

Wednesday Night Run 5-4-2011

Hello ORC,

Belated happy May Day and Happy Cinco De Mayo.  As I was coming into work I started to see the Cinco De Mayo signs.  Some places that are the furthest thing from a Mexican restaurant is really pushing their Cinco de Mayo.  I wish I could have taken a picture; their decorations were over the top.  Mother’s Day is also this weekend.  On Saturday is the Atlanta Indie Market in downtown Decatur.  Also on Saturday in the Square is the 3^rd Annual Decatur Green Fest.  If both of these things are going on, Decatur square will be busy so how about Art-B-Que in Avondale Estates in the RAD area.  What can be better than art and barbeque?

And here are 2 great things that will keep me busy this weekend.  On Saturday are the BeltLine Bike Tour and SoPo Bike’s Broken Hearts scavenger hunt fundraiser.  I know the irony that this is a running group and I’m talking about biking; consider it cross training.  It’s a small plug for the volunteer work that I do.  So please come out and ride the BeltLine and tour the neighborhoods.  And then ride Broken Hearts to support a great organization and have a lot of fun at the same time.  If you have any questions about either, ask me.

There are a couple of local races this weekend from Atlantic Station for the Komen race for the Cure to Tucker and the Tucker Road Race.  On Sunday there is even a triathlon at Chastain Park.  It’s a sprint distance tri.

What else is going on?  What events would you like to share?

Wednesday you will be running Route 9, the Lake Claire run.  It's a nice run with some long hard flats.  The link is at the bottom of this e-mail, hopefully it works.  After the run it's off to Mojo's Pizza for food, drinks and trivia.

Enjoy your run Wednesday night.  Thanks for making the Oakhurst Running Club one of the friendliest running club in Atlanta.

Corny

http://oakhurstrunningclub.blogspot.com/

http://oakhurst-running-club.googlegroups.com/web/Route+9.pdf?gda=ewBanT

Local Races This Weekend

Saturday, May 7

Komen Atlanta Race for the Cure 5K, Atlantic Station

IOCC 5K, Atlanta - Century Center Office Park

FODAC's Run, Walk N' Roll, Stone Mountain

Swift Cantrell Classic 2011, Kennesaw

Tucker Road Race, Tucker

Sunday, May 8

Chastain Park triPATHlon Sprint, Chastain Park

Naked Bandit Marathoner Tased

From Cincinnati.com…

Naked Flying Pig runner arrested

8:40 PM, May. 1, 2011

Written by Paul McKibben, pmckibben@enquirer.com

 

Cincinnati police say they arrested a central Ohio man who was running naked in Sunday’s Flying Pig Marathon and tased him when he wouldn't comply with their orders to stop.

Police charged Brett S. Henderson, 35, of St. Paris, Ohio with public indecency and obstructing official business.

Police say Henderson was told to exit the race and get in a police car but he refused, running around an officer and continuing to run in the race. Eventually, Henderson was instructed to get in a car or he would be tased. Henderson kept on running and an officer tased him.

Read the article here.