Tap N Run 4K Ft Lauderdale - December 6, 2014

On December 6, 2014, Husbeast and I chose to spend the day participating in the Ft. Lauderdale Tap N Run 4K for the second time. We has participated the year before with a run club that I had been quite active with, and although I was no longer a member of that running club, we were looking forward to a nice day being active together.

We got to the event really early, anticipating that the event would be just as crowded (if not more crowded) than the year before, but apparently we really didn't need to give that much preparation time. Instead we took the time to get a wonderful lunch together at the Himmarshee Public House. Unfortunately, our lunch was so awesome, that when it came time to actually start this race, we were both so stuffed that we felt like we had lead in our bellies. Running just wasn't happening.

So we walked. And we laughed. And we enjoyed the gorgeous weather. And took joy in watching the other participants engage in all sorts of costumed shenanigans.

At each kilometer we were treated to a glass of local craft beer, which was nice.... particularly when races usually serve flavored water that is marketed as beer but more closely resembles horse urine...

By the second kilometer, my stomach couldn't handle any more carbonation or hops, so we just continued through the event.

I don't really have much to say about this event, actually.

It was an untimed fun run event that we had done before. It was more fun with a larger field of participants, and certainly more fun when we were part of a large group of friends participating. We got decent beer and a decent lunch, but the course is the exact same course that all 5k races in Ft. Lauderdale follow, and was the exact same as last year.

We both feel like we've grown out of the party scene in South Florida, so we begged out of the afterparty before we even got a drink at the bar.

I think for a one time event, this was great (see the report from last year), but not really a repeat event for us. We wont be back next year.

But we did have fun together, we got a couple of great photos, and we spent the day enjoying the outdoors, so all wasn't for naught.

Wrapping up 2014, ringing in 2015

Happy 2015! As I sit here thinking about all of my accomplishments of 2014 and planning my goals for 2015, I am reminded about how far behind I am with my blogging and my race recaps from the previous year. If you will allow me, I'd like to skip ahead to my yearly wrap up and goal setti
ng for 2015, then return to finish blogging about the last few months of 2014. It will be a little disjointed, but to me, it seems to make sense.

The number one goal that I had in terms of running this year was to have completed 520 miles. For some more experienced runners, this might have seemed like a really lame goal, but it was just slightly higher than the goal of the year prior, and considering that I spent the last half of 2013 injured, setting this nominal goal for 2014 seemed doable. At the end of the day though, I hadn't counted on being sidelined with foot complications, and this goal was just not attainable.

After calculating and recalculating my tally for the year, I finished having traveled 323.11 miles.

In some respects, I am happy that I was able to do this much, and in other respects, I am saddened that I set a goal and wasn't able to meet it. I hate not finishing what I started, and it feels like I have let myself down. Husbeast keeps telling me to open my eyes and see all that I did manage to accomplish this year instead of what I wasn't able to accomplish... so here goes.

This year, (although I haven't finished blogging about all of them), I completed

• 15 half marathons
• 2 10K races
• 1 6K race
• 2 5K races
• 1 4K race
• 1 race that billed itself as a 5K OCR but came up lacking

and the most important distance race of my life...

• My dissertation was completed and successfully defended, earning me the title of "Doctor."

I also was able to check off another 6 states in my quest for running a half marathon in each state of the United States (KY, TN, MS, AR, LA, UT).

As I think toward next year, I have one goal... and that is to finish what I started last year and reach that number of 520. This year, I will do it.

Tap-n-Run 4K - December 7, 2013

I had hoped to have written this entry before New Years so that at the start of 2014, I would have all the race reports from 2013 races completed and I could start the New Year off with a bang. Unfortunately, I couldn't seem to get out of my way. I've been wicked depressed since starting to see the new doctor, and while he has cleared me to no longer wear the boot for every day activities, it has just been a rough month for me. I'm still out of commission on the running, but I began today with a much needed bike ride. Not quite as long as I would have liked for it to have been to get my cardio back up to speed, but it's a start after being completely so limited since the first week of December.

Which brings me to the report of my final event of the 2013 year, a 4K "beer run" in Ft. Lauderdale on December 7, 2013... just 6 days after space coast, and 4 days after being put into a much more limiting walking boot. I know many people will read this and groan that I wasn't following Dr.'s orders or that I wasn't truly taking a break, but this was actually BEFORE he told me to completely rest the foot. He even said that I could do it as long as I walked the whole thing, at a leisurely pace and didn't add any extra distance to the race itself. 4K is less than 3 miles. And 5 miles is the 10,000 daily steps that Dr.'s recommend for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. So I made the choice to participate. Maybe not the best of choices in retrospect, but I'm not upset that I did it... and I didn't actually cause any extra pain or damage to my foot... so all was good.

Tap-n-run is a 4K race that is being put on throughout the country. What makes this race different than most other shorter distance fun runs is that at every kilometer, participants stop to drink 6oz of beer. I am not a huge beer fan, but husbeast and I thought it would be a lot of fun. He chose to run it, while I chose to take it nice and easy with my friend Allison from Karma Athletes. She didn't want to drink much, so at the start line I chugged the beers for me and gave the other to our Karma president, Danny. And we set out.

Of course I was in my boot, but once I got my momentum going, I was actually going at a nice clip. It was really warm out, and I was exerting myself dragging along that bum leg, so I quickly worked up a sweat. At the first kilometer, I drank both beers for Allison and myself. We were having a good conversation throughout, and the time flew by. It also was really cool that we would overhear people talking about that "beast with a boot" as we were passing them on the course. Although I had been feeling like a failure for letting my foot get so bad and having to go for a followup and all the crap I was going with, it really felt good to hear others taking encouragement from seeing me out there and commenting on my determination.

If there is one thing I hope to leave as a legacy when I am gone, I hope that it is my determination and the fact that I have been able to inspire others to create change in some way. And the motivation, along with the playful banter with Allison really kept me doing

At the 2K mark, I again drank both beers, and I was starting to feel really full. And maybe a little buzzed. At 3K Allison drank hers leaving me with only one beer to drink, thank heavens! I didn't think I could drink any more beer without throwing up. the pressure in my stomach was unreal. And soon we were coming into the chute for the finish line. Ray was there waiting at the finish line where he had been helping to hand out medals since he had finished. He gave me my medal and we went off to the after party for our final beer.

It was a good day but we were home and in bed by 6pm because I'm not a youngin like I used to be. Hammered, I went to bed and slept like a baby.

The next day, I tallied my mileage for the year, and realized that I surpassed my goal of 312 miles for the year by a LOT.

2013 Final Mileage= 472.43 miles.

Once this foot injury heals, I'm aiming my sights a little higher. 520 sounds like a good goal, no?