On February 24, Hyannis Half Marathon was run by SUPER VEGGIE GUY.
-Outfit consisted of Brooks long sleeve technical shirt which was free race shirt from 2006 Portland Maine Half Marathon, organic cotton t-shirt from Americal Apparel 'Powered by Veggies' (purchased through CafePress), old athletic pants, technical socks, home-made cape (made by wonderful crafty wife of Super Veggie Guy).
-1:37:10 official time, net (chip) time. I think my chip wasn't working, as I didn't start the race in the front row. So I probably was about 20 seconds faster than official time. Pretty happy with time, would've liked a bit faster, but not too shabby considering I was home sick from work only 5 days earlier.
-188th place out of 1824
-Got a bunch of 'Go Superman', 'Nice cape', 'Hey, a cape on the Cape!', one 'Yah Super Veggie Man', twice 'Go Captain America', 'Go Veggies', one group of giggly teenagers 'Yay Vegetables!!!!'. Around mile 10, after I passed another runner he said, "Oh man, Super Veggie Guy, that's awesome!" so I turned and gave him a smile and thumbs up. I was hoping someone would actually ask me about my costume, so I could explain to them how I was out to prove the animal protein and athletics myth to be false, and how one could be a (high end) athlete only powered by the plant kingdom. Alas, I received no such inquiries, so hopefully my good time and the outfit made the point to a few people. Maybe they just thought I was being funny (which was a part of it) and not trying to make a point about something.
-Saw the Hoyts while running. Pretty cool seeing them. Now I wish I had said something to them, something to the affect that they are inspiring to watch and I really support them. I ran past them and alas didn't say anything. Poop on me.
-Didn't see any other costumes. Most people were bundled up, saw one guy in shorts and a short sleeve t-shirt. He must've been cold.
-Before the race there was a young lady, mid twenties, standing next to me waiting for the race to start who said she was trying to qualify for Boston that day (she was running the full marathon). Just hearing her say that got me really excited for her. I saw her about halfway through the half marathon, so it looked like she was keeping up the necessary pace (Boston qualifying time for F18-35 is 3:40. If she kept up a 1:40 pace for the half marathon she should've easily made it). I hope she did!
-No free post-race beer like last year unfortunately :(
-Pretty chilly day, not much wind. I assume it is much windier off shore where the new Cape Wind Project is hopefully to go in soon, b/c hardly any wind even right by the water. I saw a couple signs in people's yards stating they were against the Cape Wind Project. I just don't get it. Why wouldn't anyone want clean energy? It will hurt the view? They like pollution? (In reality, there are certainly pros and cons related to the Cape Wind Project, and any wind power project. However in the case of the Cape Wind Project, all the positives greatly outweight the real negatives).
-Not to complain, but no free gatorade which I was hoping for. They did have free bottles of O-Water, which tasted awful. I wish now I hadn't drunk it so the plastic would not have been wasted. At least I saved the bottle for future regular water use. Bagels, potatoe chips, and free donuts from Dunkin' Donuts were offered. I ate two donuts; they were delicious. As I never eat donuts or other junk food like that, it was a real treat :)
-Fueled the night before by Thai Curry tofu from West Side Lounge and two Chimay's on tap. Morning of ate three slices of Seeded Whole Grain Piggy Bread. Piggy Bread just opened a store less than a mile from us in Davis Square, so we love to walk down there now and buy fresh bread. This time they wrapped the bread in not one but two plastic bags. I hate wasting plastic bags, so next time I'll just ask for the one bag. Maybe we can even bring these bags back to reuse next time.
-Big Thank you to all the volunteers, policia, etc. who helped put the race together. Great job as always.
3 comments:
What a great form of activism! Not to mention exercise. I've always been vaguely interested in taking up running, but can never muster the motivation. Maybe it's high time I went out and bought some expensive vegan sneakers to give myself the extra push (if they cost more, I'll need to use them often...).
Yeah Veggie Man! Excellent job. I'm sure you got some people thinking. And, rock on - your time was great!
OMG, I can't believe I'm just seeing this now!!! (How could I have forgotten to check your blog? I don't know!) This is awesome! And what a great time - good job :-) By the way, have we talked about the Sporty Vegans blog? It's a group blog to share some vegan resources and geek out jock stuff. Send me an e-mail if you want to be a contributor (there's link on my blogger profile & on my website ABOUT page).
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