It's Unofficial: I'm Faster Than I Am Old
Yes, for the first time ever in about a half dozen tries, I've run faster than my age in the Bolder Boulder. That means that my finish time in minutes for the Memorial Day 10K running race was less than my age in years. Unfortunately, I have no proof.
It seems that the officials of the second largest running race in the country decided to test out a new electronic timing system this year. And, oh, the servers weren't big enough, insufficient bandwidth, incompatible formats, some such excuse. Around 50,000 people (they still can't figure out exactly how many) finished the race, and none of those folks can get their results. Those results do exist somewhere, never fear, and we will get them eventually.
The missing results, by the way, should include the new Guinness world record for hula hooping. Congratulations to our own Betty Hoops, who hooped the course in about an hour and a half! I'm betting that Betty's abs are stronger (and more sore) than the belly dancers who entertained (as they always do) along the course.
I don't mean to cast aspersions on the race director or officials. By and large the race is very well run. Waiting a couple of days to get your results is not as bad as, say, what happened to Jack Lowe. He collapsed of massive heart failure halfway into the race. Even though the paramedics were to him within two minutes, there was nothing they could do. So, I suggest that those of us who are waiting impatiently for our mile splits think about Jack Lowe. We should also remember the races held before the Internet, when if we were lucky we could ask the race director to send us the final results in the mail.
Speaking of the new timing system, I have a suggestion for the folks in charge of the professional race. I sat in the stands and watched the elite women's race. The Channel 4 broadcast was shown on the stadium video monitor. However, the audio couldn't be heard well in the stands, and the video seemed to spend almost all of the time focused on the race lead with no explanatory information. For next year, how about putting up the names, teams, and most recent mile splits of the runners on the scoreboard? That way, those of us watching the race live will have some idea of what is happening.
It seems that the officials of the second largest running race in the country decided to test out a new electronic timing system this year. And, oh, the servers weren't big enough, insufficient bandwidth, incompatible formats, some such excuse. Around 50,000 people (they still can't figure out exactly how many) finished the race, and none of those folks can get their results. Those results do exist somewhere, never fear, and we will get them eventually.
The missing results, by the way, should include the new Guinness world record for hula hooping. Congratulations to our own Betty Hoops, who hooped the course in about an hour and a half! I'm betting that Betty's abs are stronger (and more sore) than the belly dancers who entertained (as they always do) along the course.
I don't mean to cast aspersions on the race director or officials. By and large the race is very well run. Waiting a couple of days to get your results is not as bad as, say, what happened to Jack Lowe. He collapsed of massive heart failure halfway into the race. Even though the paramedics were to him within two minutes, there was nothing they could do. So, I suggest that those of us who are waiting impatiently for our mile splits think about Jack Lowe. We should also remember the races held before the Internet, when if we were lucky we could ask the race director to send us the final results in the mail.
Speaking of the new timing system, I have a suggestion for the folks in charge of the professional race. I sat in the stands and watched the elite women's race. The Channel 4 broadcast was shown on the stadium video monitor. However, the audio couldn't be heard well in the stands, and the video seemed to spend almost all of the time focused on the race lead with no explanatory information. For next year, how about putting up the names, teams, and most recent mile splits of the runners on the scoreboard? That way, those of us watching the race live will have some idea of what is happening.
posted by insomniac | 10:55 PM
2 Comments:
well.done.
i think beating your age means you won a free dinner or something at BD's Mongolian!
so, you have THAT going for you... which is nice!!
I guess since Mongo's closed down, that's good (me being vegetarian and all).
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