Race Etiquette

It is officially race season. A few weeks ago, Fitzprado and O'Miedema ran the Achilles St. Patrick's Day 5K and next week is Harry's Spring Run-off. The Go Girls will have a number of runners participating in Harry's SRO: Nana, Mariana, JaJa, and yours truly (T). By now, some of us are old-hands at this race business, but some of us are relatively new to the game. In fact, Harry's SRO will be JaJa's first race and Mariana's second! So, as we begin the race season, it is perhaps a good idea to review race etiquette.

There is no real "official" rule book governing race etiquette. But there are a lot of social norms. It's a wise idea to respect these norms. It shows that you are part of our community, our secret society, so to speak. Plus, you will avoid newbie mistakes. Oh yeah, we will judge you if you don't follow race etiquette. So govern yourself accordingly. :)

The Race Shirt Norm
In most races, you will receive a race shirt in your registration kit. Do not wear the race shirt before you have finished the race. That's right: do not wear the race shirt IN the race. You have to earn the right to wear the shirt, and you earn that right by finishing the race. Plus, it's bad mojo to wear the shirt before you finish. You're tempting fate, and we don't want to run near people who do that sort of thing.

You will see lots of people who do wear the race shirt in the race. These people are dabblers, not runners. True runners know the rules.

The Starting Position/Corral Norm
Most races use corrals. That is, the starting area is divided off into sections (or "pens", as the farmer in me likes to think of them) that are labeled according to your expected finish time. Go to the corral that best reflects what you realistically believe your finishing time will be. Do not place yourself in a corral closer to the start line than you should be.

In order to understand this norm, it is important to explain the idea of "chip time". In each race, runners will receive a "gun time" and a "chip time". "Gun time" refers to the time it takes a runner to complete the race, from the moment the gun (or horn) sounds to the moment the runner crosses the finish line. Gun time is used to establish your ranking and determines the winners of the race. "Chip time" refers to the time it actually takes a runner to run the race. Each runner receives an electronic chip that is affixed to the runner's shoe or ankle. When the runner crosses the start line, the chip is activated and begins timing. The chip subsequently records the time when the runner crosses the finish line. Chip time is what most of us are interested in. Most of us know that we are not contenders for a prize. We are racing against ourselves. Chip time is all that matters. Since chip time does not depend on how far back you begin the race, there is no need to crowd up near the front of the pack at the start line.

There is important etiquette at work in the corral norm. Slower runners who begin too far up in the start corrals get in the way. They create bottlenecks. Faster runners have to move around them, expending precious energy. Plus, who wants to spend an entire race being passed by people? It's more fun to start a bit further back and reel other runners in. It's energizing to blow by other runners as you move through the race.

There is one exception: if you are an age-group contender, then you should place yourself in good position in the start corrals. However, let your competitiveness be tempered with a realistic sense of what you believe you can accomplish in the race and what your fellow competitors can accomplish.

Where do I wear my bib?
You will receive a race bib in your registration kit. The race bib has your race number on it. Pin your bib to the front of your person, not to your back.

Nothing says "rookie" like wearing your bib on your back!

Slowing down in the race
Suppose you are midway through your race and you want to slow down or even take a walk break. What do you do? Move off to the side of the road or trail, raise one of your hands in the air, and then slow down to walk. This alerts other runners coming up behind you that you are about to slow down. The signaling thus reduces the chances that someone will bump into you from behind if you suddenly slow down or stop. It is also courteous since you move yourself out of the way of other, faster runners.

Tying your shoe laces in a race
It happens. Your shoe lace comes undone midway through a race. Rats! Well, it is better to stop for a moment to tie your errant lace than to risk taking a nosedive as your come into the home stretch. Just remember to follow the etiquette norms about slowing down in a race: move off to the side, race your arm, and then stop. Your fellow racers will thank you.

Norms for water stations
Most races have water stations. The water stations often distribute both water and Gatorade (or a similar product). There are a few things to remember as you approach the water station. First, be careful. The road is often slippery (or even icy) around water stations because of the water falling out of cups, etc.

Second, do not stop once moving once you receive your water. Move through the water station and stop at the side of the road or trail to drink if necessary once you are past the water station. Remember that there are many other runners coming up behind you. Coming to a dead stop in the middle of a water station creates a bottleneck and obstructs other runners.

Third, there are usually several tables with water and Gatorade, but most runners congregate at the first few tables. Run past the first tables and get your beverage of choice in the middle of the water station to save time.

Fourth, if you do not need water, run through the centre of the road or path in order to avoid the crowds around the water station.

Fifth, be careful about throwing out the water you don't drink! Don't just empty your cup unthinkingly...because you will likely give some poor, unsuspecting runner coming up beside you an unwelcome shower. If possible, try to water the grass, not your fellow runners.

Sixth, try to put your used cup in the garbage bins set up in the water station. It can be difficult and most of us toss our cups to the ground. But if you can hit the garbage, you make the job of the volunteers who clean up a bit easier.

Nearing the finish line
Give it all you have left at the finish line! Finish strong!

Etiquette for crossing the finish line
Look good and smile just in case someone is taking your photo. But more importantly, do not stop moving as soon as you are across the finish line. There are other runners coming in behind you and these runners are running hard. They could collide with you if you suddenly stop moving as soon as you cross the finish line. So slow it down to a walk, but do not stop moving.

Remember to have your chip removed
There are usually lots of volunteers at the finish line who will remove your chip for you. Make sure you remember to have your chip removed. No chip = No time.

Say "Thanks"
Races could not happen without an army of volunteers who do everything from pour water to direct runners along the course to removing chips from the feet of stinky runners. Take a moment to say "thank you" to these gracious individuals who make it possible for races to occur.

Cheer on your fellow runners
Once you are done your race, bask in the glory of the moment. Enjoy the feeling of crossing the finish line. But before you rush off to shower, if you have a few extra minutes, cheer on runners who are still running. Everyone hurts during a race: from the elites down to the back-of-the-packers. But elites hurt for a lot less time than those bringing up the rear. Take a moment to honour the people who do not win prizes and who do not finish with stellar times, but finish nonetheless. Take a moment to cheer them on and to encourage them as they near the finish line. Remember: the crowds were there for you. Be part of the crowd for someone else. It's part of what the community of runners is about: we support each other.

And yes, once you cross that finish line, you can immediately put on your race shirt. Wear it all day, if you like. You've earned it.

Upcoming Races

The Go Girls have made their first 2010 race appearance! On March 14, Mariana and I (T) ran the Achilles St. Patrick's Day 5K. We tore up the road and we looked good doing it. (Read the race report below!)

It's time now to look ahead to some great spring races. The following is a list of races in which members of the Go Girls will be making an appearance. We invite you to join us in these races or to come on out and cheer for us. Of course, this invitation does not extend to the paparazzi. Please let us race in peace! Sports Illustrated and National Enquirer, I'm looking at you! (I hate it when Sports Illustrated uses my photo in its swimsuit edition; it's so embarrassing.)

Currently, we have three races on our calendars: Harry's Spring Run-off; the Sporting Life 10K; and the GTAA Pearson Runway Run. Read on for more details!

Harry's Spring Run-off
The Spring Run-off (SRO) is a true Ontario classic. Held in Toronto's beautiful High Park, this race marks the official beginning of the Canadian Running Series in Ontario. The SRO features two distances -- 5K and 8K -- and the finish lines for both courses falls at the end of a rather brutal hill. Indeed, part of the charm and challenge of the SRO is the landscape, including the winding paths through High Park and, of course, the hills.

The other dimension of the charm and challenge of the SRO is the weather. As this race occurs fairly early in the season (the first Saturday in April), the weather can be beautiful and full of the promise of spring...or it can be brutal, as winter gives Toronto one last rather hard kick in the pants. I have run the SRO in ice storms, damp weather, sunny and gorgeous weather, and even weather that featured almost every kind of cold weather precipitation, including, at various times in the morning, rain, snow, freezing rain, and sleet.

If this is the "charm" of the SRO, why do people run it? Because it is a classic. Because all runners have a story about the SRO: the feeling of crossing that finish line at the top of that last hill, conquering the weather, moving up from the 5K to the 8K distance, the pancake breakfast afterward, and so on.

For my part, the SRO was the first road race I ever ran. As I lined up at the start of the 5K event, I tried to think "my goal here is to finish this race without having to stop to walk at any point". However, as I looked around me at the other runners and readied myself for the sound of the starting pistol, I could not help but think, "Screw it! I want to win!" A runner was born. I did not win the race that year, but I did place fourth in my age group--mostly because the weather was so bad that almost no one showed up! (It was the year that the SRO was hit by an ice storm.)

Recently, Harry Rosen became the title sponsor for the SRO and the race now benefits research for prostate cancer. Since Harry Rosen became the title sponsor, this race has affectionately become known as Harry's SRO. Plus, there are now prizes for the best dressed runners. For their part, many runners have stepped up to the challenge and arrive at the race ready to run in suits, including full tuxedos, with tails and top hats! It is great fun.

Harry's SRO takes place on April 3 at High Park, Toronto. For more details, visit the Canada Running Series website.

The Sporting Life 10K
The Sporting Life 10K is quickly becoming one of the most popular races in Ontario. After all, who wouldn't want to be part of the mob of runners who take over Yonge Street? There's nothing quite like hitting Young and Eligible, I mean, Yonge and Eglington, and seeing a mighty mob of runners filling the streets, while laughter and music rises above them.

Then again, looking at the above photo, it could be quite terrifying if you were standing in the path of all those runners. It's best to be in the heart of the pack of runners or safely off to the side.

The other wonderful thing about the Sporting Life 10K is that this 10K is almost all downhill. Almost all. There are definitely a few points where the course ascends rather than descends. The good news is that the descents out-number the ascents and there are lots of bands en route to keep things lively.

This year, the race ends at the Exhibition Grounds. This should be a great venue for the post-race party. The Sporting Life 10K takes place on Sunday, May 2 and the course goes down Yonge Street! For more details, see the Canada Running Series website.

GTAA Toronto Pearson Runway Run
This 5K event is my new favourite race. After all, what could be more fun than running a 5K on a runway at Pearson airport?!?

That's right. The race occurs on a runway at Pearson International Airport. Thankfully, someone informs the control tower that there is a race occurring on the runway so that the tower knows not to land any planes on the runway. But planes do land and take off on the runway right next to the race runway!

I can only wonder what passengers must think when they land, look out the window, and see people running around on the runway next to them....

My guess is that the folks on the Air Transat flight were thinking, "Boy, Air Canada sure has made a lot of cut backs. Now they are making people race to the plane for their seats!"

The Runway Run lets you get up close and personal with a few airplanes that are (safely) parked on the race runway. It's cool to be able to take a close look at the planes. Of course, someone makes sure that the keys are not left in the ignition of the planes so that no one can take off without permission.

Plus, as the photo below illustrates, it would be hard to climb into the plane to take it for a spin. It's a long way up to the cockpit.

The Runway Run is family-friendly and features a 2.5K fun run and walk for the little ones in addition to the 5K. And where do you run for this 5K? You start in the middle of the runway, then you run to one end of the runway, turn around and run all the way to the other end, before turning around and returning to the middle of the runway. They park a plane at one end of the runway to make sure that you don't run too far.

The really good news about the Runway Run is that you only have to race against the clock...and not the airplanes.

Other great features of the 2009 race included a fly-by of a Canadian Forces fighter jet from the Canadian Forces Base. I think we may have flown the Air Forces budget in this fly-by, but it was worth it!
Another highlight was meeting one of the fellows who helps to control the pigeon and seagull population at the airport. Birds are a big risk to jet planes. Pearson keeps a number of falcons around to help keep other birds out of the area (and out of jet plane engines). Pearson also has a few dogs whose sole job in life is to chase birds. Can you imagine how happy those dogs must be?!

Now, don't make fun of the falcon's funny little hat. It's regulation. I also am pretty sure that it's not actually called a "funny little hat". The hat is actually some sort of radio device. But I do know that the bird was NOT wearing a timing chip and did not participate in the race.


The GTAA Toronto Pearson Runway Run takes place on Saturday, June 17 on a runway at Pearson International Airport. There is free parking, to boot! For more information about the race, visit the GTAA website. To register, visit the Running Room's Event page. A word to the wise: this race fills up quickly. Don't delay signing up or you might just miss the plane, er, the boat.

It's Not Luck: These Girls Can Run!

The Go Girls established today that they don't need luck -- not even the luck of the Irish -- to do well in races. It's a good thing, too since we are a wee bit under-represented where the Irish are concerned in our membership.

On a cold, windy, and wet Sunday, two members of the Go Girls, Mariana Fitzprado and Theresa O'Miedema (both assumed Irish identities for the event), participated in the 11th Annual Achilles St. Patrick's Day 5K Run. Fitzprado and O'Miedema represented the Go Girls well, with finishing chip times of 28:36.4 and 28:19, respectively...notwithstanding the fact that Fitzprado ran with a sore knee for the entire race and lost her hat as she and O'Miedema came into the last stretch and despite the fact that O'Miedema ran with an untied shoelace for the last 500m of the race.

The race began and ended at Steam Whistle Brewery: a fitting host location for a St. Paddy's Day Race. There was live music, hot Irish chili, and, yes, beer...after the race, of course. We don't drink before races. Even leprechauns know that beer dehydrates you!

Fitzprado and O'Miedema established from the outset that they meant business at the race. They dressed for success. For example, Fitzprado wore a beautiful pair of almost new shoes:

Here is a "before the race" photo. (Yes, this actually IS the Before photo. Post sarcastic comments below.)

Note how cleverly both runners have neatly posted their race bibs to the front of their jackets. These runners aren't amateurs running with bibs pinned to their backs. Of course, after O'Miedema had (finally) managed to pin her bib onto her jacket, she decided to add a layer under her jacket, which meant removing the bib in order to unzip the jacket and beginning all over again. Sigh...


Here is a shot of the stylish timing chips worn by the runners in the race for timing purposes. Look closely. Closer. That's it: that black band thing around Fitzprado's ankle. That black band thing is not an electronic monitoring device mandated by the courts, but rather the timing chip assigned to Fitzprado for this event.




Before beginning the race, Fitzprado and O'Miedema took a short warm-up run. The weather was quite grey and (as you can see in the photos below) it was drizzling. Although the preferred approach to warming up was to find a coffee shop and have a latte (or a hot Toddie), our intrepid runners remained strong and tough. The photo below was taken shortly before the race began. Don't Fitzprado and O'Miedema look like tough Toronto runners? Don't they look stylish (for runners in cold, grey Toronto weather)? O'Miedema even wore a green cap in honour of St. Patrick's Day.

The race began and ended directly south of the CN Tower. This was quite convenient since the runners knew that, if they got lost, they could just use the CN Tower as a landmark to find their way back.

As the photo on the right illustrates, the CN Tower stood rather ominously above us as we lined up at the Start. It looked like a sullen grey sentry, standing over the runners...sorry, the dramatic Irish dynamics of the race seem to have caught up with me there for a moment. Perhaps I'll write a jig about it. Fiddle-dee-dee!

The view from the start line. Fitzprado and O'Miedema managed to get fairly good positioning at the Start, although they were clearly some distance from the actual Start line. Thus, when the horn went off to signal the start of the race, nothing actually happened for about 20 seconds. Fitzprado and O'Miedema stood in place, waiting to move.
But once they got moving, they were a force to be reckoned with on the course. These two lasses kicked some asses by making lots of passes along the route. A runner here; a runner there; these Girls passed runners everywhere. With a shout "Hey" to Ray on Wellington Street, these two Girls were swift on their feet. And thus they ran, looking so fast and fine until appeared the Finish Line.

Finally, this is how we like to see our runners after the race: standing upright and still smiling!

Good job, Fitzprado and O'Miedema! You've made us proud! Just think what we might accomplish if we do some speed work and tempo training! Fiddle-dee-dee, indeed!

Race Preparation

It's the evening before my first race of the season. Tomorrow, I will be participating in the Achilles St. Patrick's Day 5K. There are two of us from the Go Girls participating in this event: Mariana and me. It will be Mariana's first "real" race. (Sure we did the Nike 10K, but we did not wear race bibs or even have timing chips. It was more of a big group run than a race.) She is ready for the race tomorrow, as am I. We should have fun...even if the weather remains as it currently is: cold, wet, blustery.

Tune in tomorrow to read the official race report. For now, I leave you with this image of my super-intense race preparation.

Naked Running!

Now that I have your attention (admit it: you want to know more about this naked running), I would like to draw your attention to the "barefoot running" debate.

Before we proceed to the discussion of "barefoot running" and "nakedness of the foot", however, it may be prudent to warn you that we will be discussing bare-naked feet below. If you are like Sam the Eagle, you may want to take a moment to compose yourself.



We're closing in on spring and spring means the introduction of new shoes, shoe reviews, and (if you are me) a deep-seated desire to buy one pair of the new Asics, Brooks, New Balance, Saucony, Nike, and Mizuno moderate stability models. How to choose my new kicks? According to some experts, maybe I shouldn't wear kicks at all.

Runners World recently profiled the two sides of the "barefoot running" debate. Some experts argue that our ancestors did not wear shoes and neither should we. Our feet are well-suited to running. What causes injuries is all the help we receive from well-meaning shoes. If we could just run au naturel, our highly evolved feet would protect us from injury and carry us where we need to go.


Feet: the original "green" vehicles.
















Others argue that feet running in today's urban environments generally need to be shod. Running on pavement that could be littered with broken glass and other sharp items, cigarette butts (some of which still smoldering), and the general garbage that builds up on our streets, not to mention running on all that hard concrete, is dangerous. Plus, as at least one expert, Kirby, points out, there is not a single study that supports the argument that running shoes do nothing to prevent injuries. Kirby comments that, "it's ridiculous to claim that running shoes are the cause of injuries." Instead, a more likely culprit is the act of running itself. Running on hard surfaces, hitting the ground with a force of two or three times your body weight, again and again will take a toll on your body.

Still, as Saxton points out, the shoe companies may be over-selling the ability of running shoes to protect our bodies from injuries: "Shoes might not be causing the injuries, but they're not preventing them the way the companies represent themselves through their marketing."

Some shoe companies have attempted to cash in on the barefoot running trend by creating minimalist shoes: shoes that have very little support, a flexible sole, asymmetrical lacing, and that therefore simulate as much as possible running barefoot. The curious thing (at least from my Dutch perspective) is that you still pay a lot of money for these "minimalist" shoes. You pay for a shoe that does nothing for you. Hey, if you are interested in that style of shoe and are willing to pay $100 for them, I have two paper bags for you to put over your feet. My paper bags ("natural feet running covers") will give you all the benefits of barefoot running, but with an attractive brown paper bag cover for your feet so that you will not actually have to touch the pavement.

As for me, I will stick with my Brooks, Asics, and New Balance moderate stability shoes. My feet are happiest when bundled into socks and tucked into shoes that keep out the snow, glass, and cigarette butts. Besides, when I wear my "Killer Kitty" socks, I feel Bad-Ass, ready to tackle anything!


The infamous "Killer Kitty" socks....they look more fierce in person.