FINISHER’S MEDAL RACKS

Fed up with having all of our hard-earned marathon finisher’s medals stored in old shoe boxes, I was determined, somehow, to build an affordable medal rack to hold and display at least one year’s worth of medals. The costs of nearly every rack that we saw online were beyond ridiculous, and they only held 4 to 6 medals. Way too small for our need! So the only option was to think of a way to build one that would hold at least a year’s worth of medals without breaking the bank. 

Shortly after having a light bulb moment, a vision of exactly what I wanted, and then measuring our bedroom’s brag wall, I made my way to Home Depot to scout around and hopefully find and purchase what I thought would be matching wood and pegs for my imagined design.

As soon as I spotted the lone-standing red oak 1 X 4’s, I knew there was no need to look any further. And right across the aisle were bunches of 3’ X 1/4” oak rounds, exactly what was needed for the pegs that would eventually hold some of our medals.

The hardware to attach the planned hand-crafted rack to the wall was an easy find, thanks in part to the friendly Home Depot associate that pointed me in the right direction.

Once home, I laid out all of the materials across our queen sized bed. Our brag wall is a rather large wall that faces the foot of our bed.

Now for the hard part, measuring and then cutting the pegs with a dull carpenter’s saw that has been in my tool collection since bread was first sliced. Purchased in the latter sixties, that particular hand saw has never been sharpened. Shame on me!

With nothing to use as a work bench other than two flimsy lawn chairs, I was surprised at the accuracy and professional look of the 2 ½ inch pegs. Admittedly, I did have to use an old rasp to smooth off the ends.

Then there was the wall measurement, keeping in mind that both racks had to be the same height and the same distance from our large Mickey, Minnie and Pluto poster-picture. The four-foot length sections also had to be perfectly level. Only because of my past employment as a carpenter, going way back to the latter 60’s, did I have a carpenter’s level, the kind with the little bubbles.

Using my modern-day rechargeable drill, a gift from my youngest daughter, drilling the bore holes that would hold and secure the wooden pegs was relatively easy. Same with the screw holes, all six of them, three on each piece of 1 X 4.

Attaching the “his & her” racks to the wall took both our efforts. Janet held the wood racks in place while I attached them to the wall. The end result, we think, was more than acceptable.

So what’s one of the first things we now see upon waking every morning? First hitting our eyes every morning are some of the fruits of our chosen active lifestyle, our running, biking and swimming medals. We look at them as on-the-spot, instantaneous, morning inspiration – as well as magnificent memories.

TORREY PINES RACE FOR RESEARCH HALF MARATHON

TCPalm.com voted the Race for Research as the “Best New Local Race on the Treasure Coast” in 2010!  The Race for Research also won the Reader's Choice poll for “Best Local Race,” local meaning the Port Saint Lucie, Florida Treasure Coast area.  All things considering, I rated this event 3.5 stars out of 4.  No event is perfect!

One of the pluses of the March 19th race was the early start for we slow pokes.  With the regular field of runners starting their 13.1 mile journey at 7 a.m., any runner or walker that anticipated their finishing time to be over three hours was allowed to start one half hour earlier.  More than likely, the early start had something to do with limited duration of road closures – or maybe the high costs of renting the few Jiffy Johns that were situated along the course. 

Anyway, I was one of the estimated 25 to 30 participants that took advantage of the early start. 

The earlier start rendered a cooler run with less time in the sun, a big plus when running and walking in South Central Florida.  Starting earlier also meant running directly towards the setting Super Moon during the first mile and a half.

Torrey Pines Institute For Molecular Studies

Even though I was the very last runner out of the starting blocks, it didn’t take long before I was leading all of the other early-start runners.  A typical mistake of inexperienced runners and walkers is to go out too fast in the very beginning.  Doing so just about guarantees a slower pace later on in the race.

Somewhere between mile 4 and 5, the overall winner of the half marathon, a 39 year old male, passed me like I was standing still, and he started his run ½ hour after I began mine.  Talk about fast versus slow, that was a textbook example.

Four or five minutes after the overall leader passed me, more and more runners began passing me, both male and female from the 7 a.m. group. 

It wasn’t until around mile marker 11 that my running pace was equal to the rest of the pack that was in my general vicinity. 

Crossing the Finish Line

At long last, no one was passing me – not until the last 1/10th of a mile, when a very fast young lady sprinted past me towards the finish line.  All I could think about was aggravating my left knee and lower back in a quest to keep up with her, or even beat her to the finish line.  She more than likely started her run with the 7 a.m. group instead of with me at 6:30 a.m., so trying to beat her at the risk of injury would have been unwise.

My finishing time of 2:35 was much faster than I anticipated.  After looking up my past ten years of half marathons on Athlinks.com, Saturday’s finishing time was my fastest in the past eight years.  I call that a good day!

What do they say about fine wines, they get better with age?  I should be so lucky!      

    

13.1 MIAMI BEACH

I never knew! I honestly didn’t! I never realized just how many party goers, or half drunken roisterers if you will, loiter in the streets of South Miami Beach in the early morning hours until I had to go to that area for a recent half marathon. I am not joshing you. There were literally throngs of loud-mouthed males shuffling along the sidewalks and in the streets, and countless females outwardly enticing the males with their tight skirts pulled half way up their asses. I tell you, it was a scene to behold. Quite frankly, I found the drunken, boisterous crowd to be rather annoying.

It was also annoying as hell not being able to find an appropriate place to park.

When I finally did find a place to park, or so I thought, the master meter refused to take my money or credit card. Never have I witnessed a South Florida master meter that didn’t ravenously gobble up my money. The meter had to of been dead.

Flustered and dispirited by the hassle of driving amongst drunks, and not being able to find a suitable parking spot, I seriously thought of jumping back on the northbound expressway towards home and sanity.

It was then that I learned of the whereabouts of an official Miami Beach parking garage – located within a stone’s throw of where my frustration level had peaked.

When my truck was finally parked, body properly hydrated and bowels and bladder emptied, I was ready to rock my little world by running and walking the 13.1 Miami Beach Half Marathon. The distance wasn’t new to me, for I’ve run many a half marathon in the past twenty years. It was the newness of the actual event that spiked my enthusiasm.

After hanging out with two lovely friends of ours for a short while, I skedaddled towards the rear starting line corral to join my fellow back-of-the-pack runners and walkers. The rear corral held quite a diverse group of people, some large, some small, some fast, some slow, some young and some old. I fit the latter.

In the dark of the morning right around 6:20 AM, the race was on. Interestingly, the starting line was right in front of Gianni Versace’s South Miami Beach mansion. If you recall, the 50 year old Italian Fashion Designer was murdered on the steps of the mansion in 1997.

Anyway, off to the races we went, into the wild blue yonder of South Miami Beach, McArthur Causeway, downtown Miami, back towards the beach via the Julia Tuttle Causeway, and then across the finish line where our Sunday morning journey began.

My finishing time was 2:42:48, not too bad for someone who mostly walks. I placed fourth in my age group.

As far as races and running courses go, in my opinion this is one of the better ones. Where else can you run or walk while enjoying the splendor of Miami and Miami Beach’s awesome skylines, not to mention the multiple fleets of expensive sail boats and yachts scattered throughout the progression.

The four tall causeway bridges were not a factor in my quest to run and walk the 13.1 mile distance in a respectable time. Instead, I looked at them as tall viewing platforms that enhanced the awesome 360 degree view from atop.

It doesn’t get much better than the 13.1 Miami Beach Half Marathon for fabulous views, interesting human diversity, textbook sub-tropical weather, and the delight of having chocolate milk handed to me after crossing the finish line. That alone was a nice touch.

I plan on doing this event again next year. But next year, I hope to have my soul mate and running partner, my lovely wife, running and walking by my side. Regrettably, she had to work that Sunday.

I missed her intensely the morning of March 6th, 2011.