C-arr-nival of the Arr-unners

Arr! This here be the Pirate's edition of the Carnival of the Runners. Arr!

Why Pirates, ye ask? Well, because this past fortnight has seen this week's author, The Pirate, bein' a lazy bastard after runnin' his marathon, so all of his readin' and writin' is akin to an act of plundering on the high seas of the runners' globe. And now he'll stop dropping his g's, or he be risking the wrath of the bonny lass Lynne Truss. What kind of pirate is The Pirate, ask ye? Why, a rum runner, of course!

The big item on the Pirate's radar this week was the Queens Half-Marathon, part of the NYC Grand Prix series. This race attracted 2618 runners, among them Chelle, Derek, and (I believe) Pete. Chelle breathed the rarified air of the sea and posted a personal record time, but due to a wrong turn is wondering how solid that time is. Like her coach, Pirate sez not to worry about it, in Queens there are no shortcuts! She did beat Carnival of the Runners' founder, though, even with him running his best half marathon in five years! Way to go, ye dogs!

Unfortunately, not everyone could run the Queens Half. All Brooklyn could do that Saturday was go out for a jar of pickles and kick out a 5K in the process. And Riona, in training for her first marathon, lives just about as far away from Queens as you can get! But she's got a good start and racked up her first race!

First mate Seebo struggles with limitations his body puts on his times. To which The Pirate sez: Listen, mate, maybe you're not a top-of-the-line racing regatta, maybe you feel like you're "just" a swift-sailing schooner, but when you're passing dinghies, like the Pirate, all they sees is yer wake. Well, maybe yer biorhythms will get you straightened out.

Or maybe Seebo could take some tips from Publicist-turned-Pirate Pete, who truly knows the meaning of "aaaarrrr!": his training apparently involves some kind of secret Seal torture method. (Don't miss the older posts there too!) The Pirate now sees that Seals are as bad as big white Whales.

On the other hand, Seebo could try a whole new style: Ken's entry about his 3:29 time in the Zurich Marathon credits the POSE method of running. Speaking of changing tack to a new course, Debra is very happy with chi running helping her get over some plantar fasciitis.

Running on the sea is always a battle. You're either battling the elements, mental exhaustion, or factory presets. Somehow, though, when a mate is battling his/her own sea serpents and giant octupii, seems like there's always another Beast that can put the smaller problems in perspective. Beast's entry, about last month's Ironman Arizona, is monumental enough to include here.

By the way, mates, if any o' you scallawags are, like Beast, Triathletes, or do some bicycling for cross-training, or even simply do cross-city runs as part o' yer training, like The Pirate does, you mayhaps will appreciate this truly electrifying bicycle dragrace shot by Lucas. Be warned, tho...here be a big file size!

That's all for this week from The Pirate. T'anks for readin'!