Saturday, May 25, 2013

What do I Wear - Help Please (and some fascinating info)

It looks a little cloudy. I'd take
that again.
Not so much this.


Losing some excitement for my favorite race.  It has been rainy and cold here for the past few days and the prediction for Sunday is no different.  The forecast presently says a high of 48 and a low of 37 with rain. We all know how to dress for cold and even prefer it for races but throw in the rain and in my opinion it just becomes miserable. Rain with warmth - no real problem but being cold and damp is just plain miserable. I have no idea what to wear. I have never found anything that works.

Suggestions are appreciated! 

I am planning on how to change and shower when I am done my half so I can go watch my friend. I talked her into doing this - her first half- and she is remaining enthusiastic. I have to go watch her and cheer her in.  I have a friend who is going to cheer me on. I gave her an out but she likes cheering at races and has many people to cheer for.  I don't expect my husband to go and that is truly just fine.
I'm in the blue shirt, pink hat.  Smiling. I am smiling 
in all the pictures from my first marathon. I had so
much fun!!!  I was great at finding Emily and Jameson
who were watching me too. I would see them before they would
see me.

Also I found the information below rather interesting. VCM has been posting lots of info on FB and the most recent one was about finalizing the results. I had no idea races went to this much trouble but I found some of the scenarios fascinating.


  • A runner is 1:40 at 10 miles (10:00/mile pace), 2:00 at 13.1 (6:30/mile for this 5k section), then finishes in just over 3:30 (7:00 pace the last half). We contacted the runner, and were told that he ran a friend through 10 miles, then picked it up to his normal pace the rest of the way. The chip data for him and his friend are the same at 10 miles. So in this case the huge negative split makes sense.
  • A runner has no start split, is 1:30 at 10 miles, 2:16 at 13.1, 4:00 at 20 miles, then finishes in just over 5:30. No start split was a tip off that this runner may have started prior to our 8:03am official start. The fact that the 10-13.1, 13.1-20, and 20-26.2 splits were all right on 15:00/mile, while the start-10 split was 9:00/mile, was strong evidence supporting our theory. When we contacted the runner he admitted to starting early.
The shame, the shame!  Glad they caught him.
  • A runner is 1:51 at 13.1 miles, then runs a 2nd half split of 1:23 for a total of 3:14. He is missing the 20 mile split and does not appear in video shot at the 22 mile mark or on the unpublished chip mat data at 21.5 miles. The runner has half marathon times from other races in the 1:45-1:55 range. It is the ruling of the judges that this is a bogus finish time and the runner did not run the entire course-the runner is removed from the results.
  •  Once again........The shame, the shame!  Glad they caught him or her.
  • A marathon entrant (not relay division!) posts a 3:20 finish time with a 13.1 split of 1:45. When reviewing the photos under this bib number the 9 and 13.1 mile photos are of a female and the 26.2 mile photo is of a male. Both runners are wearing the bib on a race belt. When we contact the entrant to determine what happened, we are told they decided to race as a relay instead of the entrant running the whole marathon and they exchanged just before the 15 mile mark. This is of course not permitted. The finish result is removed from our official results and the runners are banned from future participation in VCM.
  • I didn't know there were so many ways to cheat.
Last year VCM also posted pictures of bandit runners on FB and asked for help identifying them. They aren't fooling around!  So WHEN you come do VCM bring all your honesty with you!

12 comments:

Christina said...

I have no suggestion as to your what to wear question. But man, those are interesting tidbits as to how people cheat. Glad they all got caught.

christa said...

Who even thinks of that stuff? I'd say dress in layers that you can shed and pray it gets warmer and the forecast is wrong!

MCM Mama said...

I usually throw a windbreaker over the top of a lightweight long sleeve shirt. You can always take it off if you get too hot, but if you are cold and wet, it holds in the heat.

Hope it's not a miserable race!

Kate Geisen said...

When I did the nighttime half marathon, it was entirely in the rain and temps dropping from high 40's to low 30's. As long as I was running, my body was warm enough. You might think about light gloves and a hat.

Amy @ Juice Boxes + Crayolas said...

Whoa, I had no idea results were analyzed that closely! I would wear shorts or capris, a long sleeved shirt, throw-away gloves, and a hat--a must for me to keep the rain out of my eyes! If it's windy, a thin water-resistant jacket. Good luck!

PS: Love the smiley race pics :)

Jim ... 50after40 said...

I've seen posts like that from other races and always wondered why anyone would try those things? It's so easy to check splits. Good luck at your race.

Char said...

Wow I thought they'd just take the numbers from the chips at face value. It must be incredibly time-consuming to go through every single runner's results with a magnifying glass.

Jill said...

I don't know why people have to cheat; I feel guilty just cutting a corner in a race

I'm zero help on the wardrobe suggestion, I struggle with a 5 degree temp change. It always works out though...good luck with the race! :)

Amy said...

Wow! I had no idea people did this kind of stuff, and no idea race organizations had to waste time figuring things like this out - jeez!

I sure hope your weather isn't too terrible - damp + cold is indeed a bad combination. Whatever you wear make sure you've got a light rain-proof thing on top to keep you a bit dry! Good luck!

Kandi said...

I hope you figured out what to wear and that the rain didn't happen.
Very interesting about those race scenarios. I read a story a few months back about a guy who cheated and even created his own fake race. It blows my mind the lengths people would go to to cheat at a running race. I like to earn my results!

Cinthia said...

Running in cold rain sucks. I do it up here in Alaska, a lot, and I've never found a way to stay truly warm. Usually I opt for a windbreaker and arm sleeves, which I pull down over my hands when they become cold. Wet is wet, though, and if I don't keep moving I'm in trouble.
But wow, people cheating in a marathon. If the Vermont marathon caught a few it's probably safe to bet that there are a couple cheaters in most larger races. Really sad. I hope the laws of karma bite them all in the behind.

Johann said...

I have a wind/rain top that I wear in cold and wet conditions. I don't easily feel the cold and only wear tops like this if they have some good ventilation. Wind is my worst enemy! Here in SA they often catch cheaters like that. One year a Comrades gold medal winner was caught with his twin brother running the first half and then they swopped the chip and race number in a toilet next to the route. There mistake...they wore their watches on different arms and this was picked up in race photos!