TATUR ESTIM8UR report

The previous post promoting the Tatur Estim8ur had poked a little fun at my friend Michael Stelly, indirectly referring to him as the slowest runner, all the while comparing him to the fastest runner Hayley. Well, as it turns out, Hayley was the 2nd fastest runner, and Michael helped at an aid station so we'll never really know this day how slow he would have been. But Mike, thanks for your help at the 2nd water stop.

Friday found me out on the course at Chandler Park with Brian going over some fine details. Saturday, I ran with my RunnersWorld friends as they kicked off the fall training session. It was a short run, with most going 5-6 miles. The balance of the day was spent back at Chandler Park tying ribbons, pouring Pillsbury Gold Medal flour into arrows on the road to mark turns. Brian was the cone-meister and he placed around 400 orange cones out there to direct runners. It was a long day....no, make that a long HOT day.

7:00 am came soon enough Sunday morning. I was up at 4:00 and at the park at 4:30 checking course markings....yes, some were vandalized. I also had volunteered to ride my bike ahead of the lead runners to make sure they found the correct turns. My fear with that was that some of the course was off road, albeit on grass and fairly flat. I was just not sure that I could ride a 6 minute mile if I came to an incline, but actually, it turned out to be no problem at all.


Kara Cassel led the race from start to finish, and my friend Hayley pictured above with Stelly was second. Girls rock!At the point where the race went into the rocky trail and between the huge rocks and bluffs, I turned my bike around and returned to a busy intersection to direct traffic and fell more into the spectatur mode.

Now despite running a fast time, Kara did not finish in the top ten as the winners were those who finished closest to their predicted finish time. Hayley did nab a top ten, Hayley's mom finished top 10 in the 4 mile division,as did Sandra (pictured above) and Wade. The winner in the 4 mile distance predicted their time at 40 minutes, a 10 minute mile pace. Now this race was ran WITHOUT watches or Garmins, anf the winner finished just 0.05 of a second over her time. That's not half a second, that's 1/20th of a second!! AMAZING!

Just as amazing was the winner of the 8 mile. My friend Tom Dorothy finished just 5 seconds under his predicted time.Not bad for an old guy!

I had awesome help at the aid stations. I know I will miss out on thanking everyone, but here goes.Don't know the names of these two princesses, but they met the runners before they hit the water stops with better than curb-side service.And while the aid stations were not the usual all-you-can-eat buffets like they are in our trail runs, they were still adequate.Glen was nominated for the Dork award.Quite a crew at the start/finish area. Between timing, directing traffic, and recording runners and numbers, it was a busy place. Thanks to Charlotte, Susan, Kathy, Bob, Terrie, Dana, and another Terrie.


Since this race was early Sunday morning, the party atmosphere was not in full swing as evidenced from a sober looking Kurt sitting on the tailgate. Ya know, we need a good breakfast beer. Thank you Kurt and Shelley, Glen, Dee, Michael,Vicky and Katy for your help at the aid stations, Michael Whitten, Loring Zeff, and Roman for your help in sending runners the right way on tricky turns. No one got lost....or at least if they did, they were discovered by the next day before the vultures got them. ANd last, thanks again to Stelly for letting me gank some pictures from his Facebook. Same goes to Terrie. Is it steeling when I thank you for what I swiped?
Seems even the ones who were neither fast or accurate had a good time though.

We'll do it again next year, but at a different and maybe harder course.

Borrowed post from RunnersWorld and TATUR

I would love for ALL of you to join us this Sunday morning for a very unique race: The TATUR Estim8ur. This race has a lot of characteristics that you may never experienced. First off, it is at Chandler Park in west Tulsa. I betcha most have never ran at Chandler Park, and will be amazed at the awesome views of downtown Tulsa and the Arkansas River valley.

Secondly, the fastest runner in the raceis no more likely to win than the not-so-fastest runner.In this contest, you run your choice of distances: either 8 or 4 miles. The course will be very well marked....no danger of getting off course. The course is accurately measured using a Garmin GPS device. The catch is, you have to estimate your finishing time before starting, and the winner is the one who finishes closest to his or her predicted time.
Click here to see who's registered and their predicted times.

Now so the sneaky overachievers do not do their "homework" and do some extracurricular preparation, the actual course will be kept secret until the morning of the run (7:00 am this Sunday).Of course, no one will be allowed to wear their watch or Garmin. Also, cameras and Ipods will not be allowed as they often have a clock feature. (In other words, no cheating!)

If you are one of those who would FALL DOWN if you don't glance at your wrist every 4th stride,
we will allow you to take a sharpie and draw a watch on your wrist so your universe will not implode.

So you may ask: How will I know how fast I will go if I don't know what the running surface is? Good question! Below are pictures of all the different running surfaces you MAY be running on at the Estim8ur.There may be a little mud (very little) some pavement (mostly asphalt) some grass, some leaves, some dirt trails, some dirt trails with rocks (very little of this, but the section is FUN!). Much of the race is on paved park roads. And yes, there are a few short difficult sections.Gotta make it interesting!

So set your alarms this Sunday, eat your Wheaties, drink your coffee (or energy drink),lace up those running shoes and join us. With a 7:00 am start, you can get your race in and make it to church afterward if you like. Bring a lawn chair or two, bring your Frisbee (there is a disc gold course at Chandler Park.) Take part in Tulsa's only estimated time race, get a great tech shirt, and maybe take home first prize!!

5.3 miles Monday

Took my running buddies to Turkey Mountain for some miles on the trails. Rocky and Jake were stoked about getting out, and drug me UP Lipbuster at a record pace. Best hillwork I have done in quite a while.They both took several swims, which might have helped with the "smelly dog" syndrome but they traded that handicap for some stinky water odor. Not sure which is worse.

Rocky is all smiles. He loves to run, but likes lounging in the water more and more as he has gotten older.

A nice reflection across some scummy water. I declined joining my boys for a dip.

Shake it off, Rocko!

We did some serious bushwhacking at one point. That's what I get for letting my dogs pick their trail.

Ended up at a creek I had never been to. Added eleven (11) ticks to my count for the year. Three of them managed to set their teeth in me, and one took some blood with him when I pulled his embedded ass out of the back of my knee.

A pic of the sign showing the plans for the lower parking lot/rock climbing wall/restroom/amphitheater/handicap trail. Still not entirely sure progress is the best thing.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday

A quick rundown on the weekend....have to start on Friday. I drug myself out of bed EARLY (read that 5:00 am) to go to the health zone to do a spin class. 45 minutes of HELL,pedaling faster than should be legal, except for the times when we were supposed to crank up the resistance, stand up, and MASH. I was in the back of the class, so I had the luxury of occasionally cheating just a little. During the times that we were supposed to hover just an inch off the seat, I am pretty sure I did a fair acting job. Slacking off a tad on the resistance also was also pretty easy to do, but I bet a dozen donuts that the instructor sees and knows all those tricks. Still, it was a good workout and my legs were wobbly after that.

Friday night, I agreed to do a 5K where the proceeds went to St Francis Hospital to benefit kidney research. Dana had a "great" idea to RIDE to the race, and then ride home. Hmmm. A year ago, she would have NEVER agreed to something like that. So, we rode 9 miles to the start line, hung around, chatted with friends, even drank a half a bad beer....all before the race.The 5K was a slow easy jog for me....I have no biz-ness running 5Ks with my PF acting out at times. I ran with a friend who wanted to take a couple of minutes off her time, and we enjoyed an easy run. (Proud of ya, Terrie!)

Our ride home was a little scary, since I thought the paved bike trail was lit most of the way (it was not) and the half moon was far enough west that against the east side of the Turkey Mountain bluffs, it was pitch black. But, we made it home and it was a good adventure.

Saturday morning, the alarm went off at 6:30....just enough time for me to meet my road running friends for our Saturday morning run, and I hit snooze, or at least I thought I did. Two hours later, I saw that I had missed my run by over 90 minutes! Figured I would catch some ribbing for it, and I did, but I still headed out to meet my friends for breakfast at IHOP.

Then, the rest of the A+ day was spent with Dana garage sale-ing. Nothing like spending 35 bucks for some crap that we'll sell in a garage sale someday!! Spent Saturday night at the movies....see post below.

Sunday, I actually rolled out in time to run with a big crowd of trail runners.We broke off into sub groups which was good since half of the group was frothing at the mouth waning to run sub 7s or some ungodly pace.I needed to run how I felt (slow), and Brian, Kathy, and Lisa hung with me (thanks) and we made around 5 miles. Love the Oklahoma Rock!

Dana and I had planned on riding around 15 miles, and eating lunch along the way at Tin Star, but Sandra had other plans for us. She called to remind us that the Tulsa Tough Townie ride was at 1:00 and we had just enough time to sign up and ride and we would get a shirt and a finishers medal for the low low low price of $20 each! (woo hoo) The Townie was an 8 mile ride in which all ages and abilities were welcome, through a lot of the nicer older historic areas of Tulsa. The streets were closed and the ride was very well organized. Turned out to be a cotton T-shirt, and a very modest dog-tag medal.But the ride was a lot of fun and over 1000 peeps rode. More eating, some beer, yada yada yada.

Finally, I made it over to Chandler park to finish measuring the course for the TATUR Estim8ur.This is a race of 8 or 4 miles depending on how much you wanna bite off. Runners will be stripped of all timing devices, and they have to predict their finishing times. Every runner will have their predicted times posted on their backs so other runners can look and guess if they are ahead or behind where they should be in relation to their own estimated time. This is a race that anyone can win. We make it a little more difficult by keeping the course a mystery. There will be no real clues in this post, other than to say that you will see several different running surfaces.(For the right money, I might be swayed to divulge a few details of the course though. TZ needs some new shoes!)

Well, that work is done, and I am here blogging, and I keep hearing a noise in my attic. I am thinking raccoons? Possums? Something big for sure. More on this later, I hope.

UP

Dana and I went to see UP Saturday night. Click here for movie trailer. Seems we are pretty much caught on movie watching, although we have yet to see The Soloist which has been highly recommended. This seemed like it might be a kids movie, but I don't think I saw a rug rat in the house. This was an artsy sort of a film, and the surrealism and escapism appealed to the wandering side of me. How many times I have wanted to ride a wad of balloons to a land far far away. Ed Asner played the grumpy yet sentimental Carl Fredericksen, and I identified with him,AND NO, not because he was an little old gray haired man!!! (Ok maybe a little) All in all, I recommend this movie. Seeing it in 3D is quite the bonus as well. Also, we were treated to a short animated cartoon of sorts before the show which was creative and touching as well. (Quit smirking! I have a sensitive side too!) And no, Bobby, this was not a remake of that film you were telling me about from the 70s.

Well, I'm off to bed....get to play on the trails on Turkey at 8 am, and then at Chandler Park after that.

The work of a serial killer

I felt the need to discuss a series of killings in our area the past few months. Several lives have been taken, some execution style, some more brutal with loss of limb and decapitation, and some so nonchalant that the killer truly seems to have absolutely no conscience at all.

This killing spree started in late February when on a Saturday, a homeless victim and an adolescent (maybe related) were decapitated, and then dumped in a ditch in west Tulsa. Not much was made of the story, and it seemed that the victims were hardly even missed.

There were a few other single murders about a month later that had enough undeniable similarities to the February murders, it became apparent that this was the work of a serial killer. One expectant mother was crushed when she accidentally came in contact with the murderer. Another unfortunate victim was savagely dismembered while begging for food. An athletic male who was doing some climbing was sighted about half way up his decent when the killer made his way down to him, grabbed him from behind and put him in a death grip, and then sent him to his death by throwing him into a body of water below. All of this has went virtually unreported.

Just this past weekend, the killer raised the bar to new heights, killing several more victims who merely crossed his path. Again, many of the killed were needy victims looking for their next meal. One of the deceased was impaled with a metal dagger, one was beat to death with a hammer, one was set on fire and burned to death. Another was picked up hitchhiking, and then thrown from a car window while traveling at a high rate of speed.

Again, this crime spree has not been brought to light by the media because of the low status of the victims, although the killer has bragged about his tally like a gunfighter of old who put notches on his belt for every man gunned down. Right now, the death toll stands at 23, and the killer shows no signs of slowing down.

What should be done about this killing spree? Some might find it deplorable that deeds like this go unpunished, while some (myself included) think these murders are justifiable homicide. You see, the killer in question here.....is me. And the victims.... TICKS!

Got the mowing problem fixed!

It's been so wet lately, and my back yard loves it. Getting it mowed has seriously cut into my running and biking time, and here it is a long weekend with 3 days to play. I had to come up with a plan, and indeed I did just that.Not only will these guys keep my yard nicely groomed, I don't have to slave away pushing a mower, running to the gas station to buy gas, and weed eating is a chore of the past.They're kind of cute, and after mowing season is over, I hear they are good to eat!