Sunday, March 27, 2011

Sickness and Shtick-ness

Since I started taking multivitamins and eating mostly organic foods, the number of times I get sick per year has dropped considerably.  Usually, I only get sick twice a year: once during late winter/early spring and once during autumn.  For some odd reason, I didn't get sick this past fall, so I figured that I'd get sacked with a killer illness this winter.  That didn't happen... until Friday night.

My roommate has been sick this past week with a gastrointestinal bug and missed 1 1/2 days of work.  Friday night, I started feeling sick: strong bouts of nausea and frequent trips to the bathroom.  Thank goodness I didn't have anything planned this weekend.  On Saturday, I slept until 10:00, got up and ate a little bit because I was feeling slightly better, read for a while, then slept from noon until 5:00 in the afternoon, got up and ate a little bit again, then read some more (mostly blogs this time).  I'm feeling a lot better today.  I had the energy to go to church and go for a four-mile walk, plus do a little shopping at Target.  It seems like the bug didn't affect me as badly as it did Judy.

Being sick gives a person time to think about stuff.  Amongst wedding things and figuring out some logistics when my parents visit me next weekend, I thought a lot about running.  I thought about the goals I want to accomplish in my running life (I'll save that for another post), but also thought about what I want to do with my running this particular year.  I've given each year that I've been running a theme:
  • 2004 - The Year I Started to Run
  • 2005 - The Year of Firsts, Part 1 (I ran my first 3K, 5K and 4-miler)
  • 2006 - The Year of Maintenance (I did a handful of races, all 5Ks)
  • 2007 - The Year of Firsts, Part 2 (I ran my first 10K and half-marathon)
  • 2008 - The Wasted Year (I got injured in early July and lost a good chunk of my running season)
  • 2009 - The Year of the Comeback
  • 2010 - The Year of the PR (check my left sidebar... you'll see why!)
I thought about how much fun I had walking the Get Lucky 7K.  I enjoyed doing the race with my friends and wearing a costume.  Then, late Friday night, a thought came to mind:

Why don't you make every race like the Get Lucky?

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to 2011: The Year I Had Fun.

What I need to do is develop a shtick, which is a comic theme or gimmick, if you weren't familiar with the definition.  I need to be like this guy:

Rubber Ducky Man at the 2010 Boston Marathon
The guy behind the rubber duckies is Luke Eichten, and he's also a Minnesotan, like me.  You can check out his blog HERE and check out THIS profile of him courtesy of Twin Cities in Motion (his Q&A starts at the bottom of the second page).

The only problem is, I don't have any idea what I should dress up as.  I don't know if I should change my costume from race to race or stick with one thing.  For major holidays, I can certainly wear something related to the day.  But what about other races?

Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.  I saw a dollar-bin full of bunny ears at Target, but I don't want to look like the Playboy bunny (although I'm sure future hubs wouldn't mind, wink wink!). :)

8 comments:

  1. Glad to hear you're feeling better!!! I LOVE "The year you had fun" - I try to have FUN at every race - though I don't do it costumes, but sounds like something I could add.
    You could check out this post by a fellow blogger - I think a colored tutu for every season would be fun (even if it's August and not a holiday - it could be orange and yellow or something for the summer sun - hot glue some kiddie sun glasses on it).

    http://runtohealth.blogspot.com/2011/03/8-miles-and-tutu.html

    can't wait to find out what you decide on

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  2. sorry you got sick!! yes! have fun this year!! i like the idea of colored tutus! :)

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  3. A video camera and your best She-Ra (sp?) costume.

    (With that get-up you could still run a fast mile here and there if you wanted)

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  4. Hope you're feeling better!

    I like the way you are thinking - have fun with it! Can't wait to see what you come up with.

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  5. I saw a guy (and still have the video footage) finish the Boston Marathon in a pink tutu with matching pink, sparkly star wand. I love crazy outfits at races, especially when the race doesn't suggest it like most holiday runs do.

    Since we all know we love the "what are you running from" jokes at races, there's always the prison outfit, the all-black thief with ski-mask, ripped clothes like you just got attacked by a wild animal, or have the fire flags that wave behind you when you run.

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  6. hi> i created the invitations all on my own. Didn't use a pattern or anything. I did use a paper punch for the flowers on the bottom and hten i had a printing place print the vellum sheets. it was fun but glad its over!

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  7. I hope you feel better.
    What about a bat?

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