Sunday, September 6, 2009

Top 20 Signs Your Are Training (Too) Hard for Your Next Ultra - WINNERS!!

Firstly thank-you to everyone who entered URG's First Contest "Top 20 Signs You Are Training (Too) Hard For Your Next Ultra". There were so many funny entries and it was hard to choose just 3 to add to the "Top 10" list so ultimately I decided to change it into a "TOP 20" contest. Well that didn't make my life any easier because now I had 13 winning entries to determine instead of just 3.

So without further ado the winners are......... in no particular order................just kidding-

Top 20 Signs You are Training
(Too) Hard for Your Next Ultra
#20. you leave drop bags beside your bed for late night snacks. Derrick
Note: Thanks to Derrick who sent me this line as an idea for an "URG".
I thought it sounded like the start of a Great TOP 10 List.

19. you find yourself asking strangers in the grocery store to pace you through the frozen food section.

18. you insist your family uses headlamp light exclusively after Dusk.

17. your dog thinks it is so cute the way your feet and arms move when you sleep.

16. you've used your new altimeter watch to chart the elevation climb from the basement to the living room to the bedroom and have set a PR on the course...3x's

15. you wake your spouse up every night shouting "GU, more GU, I need more GU"

14. 3 days before the race you try to convince yourself that a quick little 50 km run couldn't hurt and might actually loosen things up.
 
#13. you swear your trying really hard but you just can't come up with an entry for this Top 20 List. David
 
#12. your friends and family stage a running intervention...before you get outed at iRunFar.com like DK . Sara & EJ

#11. you wax your chest hair to improve the signal of your heart rate monitor. JD 

#10. you start getting really tired of eating all the time. Sara

#9. your mother is trying to figure out what she was eating while pregnant to have such a crazy kid(s). Anonymous

#8. you set 3 alarms for your race and wake-up before any of them go off. Ron

#7. when your coach tells you the 3 Day Rock and Ice Ultra is a good idea and you agree with him! :)
 Aaron

#6. You refuse to buy the latest Garmin GPS watch because the battery life is ONLY 20 hours; JD

#5. you spend more time getting your gear ready for a long run then getting ready for a wedding, including your own. Derrick & Sara

#4. you don't think of yourself as behind schedule until you've seen the 2nd sunrise. Lakewood

#3. When your work schedule changes and the first you do is, request vacation time to cover planned races,
next you see what other races you can attend and then you tell your wife you don't have enough vacation time booked to attend the Cousins Wedding! Ron

#2. you realize that SLEEP is cutting into your RUNNING time!! Bryon

#1. you never leave the house without a piece of toilet paper in your pocket!! Evan


Thank-you again to everyone who entered or who thought about entering or who meant to enter but never got around to it. I hope we can all get together and do this again sometime.
EJ

5 comments:

Derrick said...

" The two criteria of a winning entry was it had to be FUNNY and it had to be RELEVANT to the query, IE. Is it a sign that you are training hard or too hard for your next ultra? For example let's take Derricks entry of "you take the cell phone with you for the sole purpose of ordering pizza during your long run". Is it funny? Yes. Is it relevant to the query? No. Now some of you may disagree however I don't think that calling for pizza in the middle of a long run shows that you are training hard or too hard for your next ultra so that one was out. Sorry Derrick."

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Oh, I don't know there EJ...I think if you're training hard for an ultra you constantly think about food, which is why the cell phone call to Papa Pete's Pizza is required! Can't believe you didn't give it to me!?!?! ;) Oh well.

Great list! Fun stuff.

Eliza Ralph-Murphy said...

I knew you were going to give it to me for that crack at your entry. I did understand the jist of it that you are really hungry all the time but it could also be that you just have bad eating habits and get your pizza fix away from home where Sara can't see you. I did think it was really funny though and wondered if anyone has actually done it...as in order food from the road/trail and actually received delivery?

Derrick said...

I do remember reading about Dean Karnazes reportedly ordering pizza or some other fast food and having it delivered to a street corner during a long run. I've never actually done it myself though;)

BTW...Pizza is GOOD FOOD! For the record I had to pry Sara away from going to Bubba's for Poutine last night;)

Eliza Ralph-Murphy said...

"Pry her away from going to Bubba's for Poutine",
That is soooooo FUNNY. You two are just so hungry it is making me laugh:)

Sara Montgomery said...

That is SO NOT TRUE!!!