Updated Placings in the Race

Nathan Rychlik : 12/659
Adam Cann: 22/659
Adam Slevin: 68/659
Eric Puglisi: 147/659
Melissa Kelly: 264/659
Ian Riley: 296/659

8/26 - Chiro-practical or waste of money?

I want to start out by reiterating how impressive Nate's run was on Sunday. I ran as hard as I could and finished with 7:08 per mile, while Nate, hampered by a mob at the start, still finished well under 7 minutes per mile.

List of Animals Nate Could Beat in a 5K:
Koala, Toad, Sloth, Minnow, Small Yappy-Type Dogs, Housecat, Polar Bear, Falcon, Me, Tired Cougar, Lazy Cheetah, Chester Cheetah, Shia LaBoeuf, Flea (the animal, not the bassist).

List of Animals That Could Beat Nate in a 5K:

Ostrich, Greyhound, Eagle (bald), Angry Giraffe, Cougar, Rocket-propelled Snake, Bol Weevil on Ice Skates, African Swallow, Shia LaBoeuf's Golden Monkey Army, Iron Man.


I ran 3 miles this morning after a heavy drinking night at the Phillies game yesterday (3-0 win over the Dodgers and Manny Ramirez). If I can get one online, I'll post a photo of the poster I made for Manny Ramirez (Manny Being Mopey). I won 25 bucks off a friend by correctly guessing that the gal in front was older than 23 and that her name started in the 2nd half of the alphabet (Vanessa).

I went to the chiropractor this morning for the fifth time since my rib slipped out of place. That's $100 I've spent so far, and although I feel much, much better, I think I'm going to cancel my next appointment and stick it out from here. If things go south again, I'll go to a real doc. Thoughts on Chiropractics?

For the Dreamer

What Do I Do.. Stop Go Fail Succeed? Live or Die? I Just Got To Believe

Believe its worth saving
And to get lost, lost in a day dream
So why hesitate
Take me to another place
So far far away
So i can get out of the dark
High speed, like I'm racing
It's like lighting, sky is blazing
But you've lost your way, You've been lead astray
Are there better days for my fallen dreamer

Calling a Dreamer Calling a Dreamer
You don't even sleep no more
You don't even dream no more
Dreamer
Why don't you just dream again

Believe In You
You Got Something To Prove
You're A Star
Watch You Shine Bright On Your Way To The Limelight
Finish Line
The Sweat And Tears
You Can Channel All Of Your Fears
Open Your Eyes
Your Eyes And It Will Be Alright

Calling a Dreamer Calling a Dreamer
You don't even sleep no more
You don't even dream no more
Dreamer
Why don't you just dream again

Strong Living at the 5K

I finished the LiveStrong 5K in 22:06.08. That is approximately 7:08 per mile. So if you subtract the amount of time I spent hurtling over and around walkers, most of whom failed to abide by the stay-on-the-right rule, I had a decent showing. My back hurt a bit during the race, and the muscles behind my right shoulder blade kept seizing up. Sunday night was much worse though, when the back suddenly sprung into a painful frenzy of muscle spasms around the separated rib. I'll get you for this, Armstrong...


Nate ran an awesome race from what I hear, so I think he deserves a big hand

(pauses for applause)

Eric and Adam ran good races too, you can read Eric's summary below this.

Summary of my thoughts during the race:

"There are a shit-ton of people here. I wonder where Eric and Nate are... HOLY CRAP I ALMOST HIT THAT OLD LADY! Where the heck did she come from?? Man, she popped out of nowhe... OH MY GOODNESS I THINK I STEPPED ON A CHILD... oh, whew that was close. They should really mark all little children with reflectors or just leave them in incubators until they're 15 or so... WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT! Didn't that woman see me coming?? Why did she swing that beefy arm into me??? Why are there so many people here? Am I in the right race? Where's Ian! Is that you god? Oh, no. It's just some guy that looks like Billy Zane. There's the finish line! I should sprint, but this little old lady keeps moving around! She's harder to pass than Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder, jesus. OK, almost to the finish line... oh wait, that's just a big arch of balloons, the finish line is another twenty five feet ahead! What a cruel trick! If I wasn't so damn tired I'd pop every one of the balloons on that ersatz finish line! Where the heck is the water? Where the heck is Teresa? Where the heck... oh, hey Melissa Kelly. How come you got to bring an iPod???

LIVESTRONG Challenge

5:00 AM the day started. Adam, Nate and I got up and ate some oatmeal and got on the road by 5:45. Teresa wanted to go with us so she was waiting outside. All before the sun really came up.

I already had my timing anklet on and number pinned to my shirt. I.....was....ready.

After sitting in 1.5 hours traffic, we arrived. At this point my stomach was completely in knots and I was extremely nervous. A lot of prep had some up to this and I wanted to do my best.

After a quick warm-up run, the three of us got into position near the front of the line. There were so many people there I could not believe it. It was really inspiring to see so many people come out to raise money for cancer research. I think overall the entire race raised 3 million dollars!

We were addressed by Lance himself and got us started. The cyclers left first, in different groups for the 100, 70 and 45 mile distances. Nate and I decided that we are going to do the biking next year and we are really going to go gun ho on raising money. $25,000 would be amazing.

So we started the race about an hour later because it took so long for everyone to get going. The frustrating thing is that we started in the middle of the pack so we were behind walkers and slow people, it took us about .25 of a mile to really get out of the crowd. Nate was like weaving in and out of crowd to get a head.

A man on a mission.

I took to the grass on the side of the course to get out of the congestion. My only comment is that next year they should really let the runners go first. I mean it only makes sense.

The first mile felt amazing. It was in the second mile that I started to falter a little. I felt really hot and I was getting psyched out because at that point you could see the leaders doubling back and it just made you wonder how much there was to go.

And in the moment where I made the final turn and saw the crowd of hundreds cheering and showering the Cancer survivors with yellow flowers, it hit me. This was a big emotional thing and I should soak it all in.

I somehow managed to find a burst of energy in the last 20 seconds of the race. I mean it wasn't much but I passed 3 of 4 people at the end.

Official results are not posted yet but I think my time was around 25 mins and Adam's around 23. Nate finished 7th (which is a HUGE deal considering how far behind we started) and I am sure he is sub 20 mins. He could have easily won the entire race. Great first showing.

We met up with the rest of the team afterwards and got some free food. All in all it was a great day.

Here are some pics and I will also post 2 videos and many more photos as they become available.

Till the next race!!!

Cheers,

e

*****UPDATE****

Times:

Nate: 21:00.3
Adam: 22:06.8
Eric: 26:30.3

Nate and Eric

Sunday is the first of many big days. The race might not be long but it is still the start of something big. The first race in the string of many.

Potential Races for Eric:

October 18th - 10K AIDS Run

November 23rd - Philadelphia Half Marathon

On the way.....

TriGuys

Today the TriGuys will all be in the same city. Race 1 on Sunday!