Average Joe vs. Olympic Pros

[Flatlander]

Go for it! Maybe just choose the distance you enjoy the most.

[MooMoo2]

Originally Posted by petrw1

Get someone to scare the out of you just before you start and the adrenaline rush will dramatically boost your performance.
...
Maybe through hypnosis train yourself to be deathly afraid of the sound of a starter pistol.

I think anger might be a better emotion than fear, but that would probably make me run the first lap too fast. I was a bit scared of the starter's gun when back I was a nine year old, and that didn't help - I was too afraid to move for half a second or so after I heard the "bang".

Two good reasons for you to participate:

1. Set a new "slowest" record. Some sports show will use a shot of you just as ABC's Wide World of Sports (RIP) used that shot of the ski jumper going off the side of the ramp. Everlasting fame!
...
2. Set a new record for the purple-dinosaur division -- but only if you run it wearing a Barney suit.

**
Sounds nice, but I don't think I'd even be in the camera after the first half lap since it will almost certainly be focused on the leaders. On a more serious note, the race officials probably won't even let me wear a T-shirt and basketball shorts; everyone there will be wearing college/pro track uniforms or speedsuits.

Maybe just choose the distance you enjoy the most.

I like any event that's between 200 meters and one mile (1609 meters). It's a pretty broad range, but my friends wanted me to run the longer events because they get to see me out there for a longer period of time.

I suggest the 800m distance, since that gives you a good shot to avoid the acute embarrassment of being lapped by the Pros.

Getting lapped in the 1500 isn't a big concern; you just need to run 1100 meters faster than 3:40, and I've done that a whole bunch of times already.

**edit: I might decide to get a cow avatar instead of a Barney one. It fits my username better.

[petrw1]

Originally Posted by MooooMoo

**edit: I might decide to get a cow avatar instead of a Barney one. It fits my username better.

How about ...

[petrw1]

Originally Posted by MooooMoo

**edit: I might decide to get a cow avatar instead of a Barney one. It fits my username better.

OR ... a Cow-asaki

[MooMoo2]

Originally Posted by petrw1

OR ... a Cow-asaki

Looks nice. I can't get the avatar to animate, though.

[mdettweiler]

Originally Posted by MooooMoo

Looks nice. I can't get the avatar to animate, though.

Did you just "save picture" on the thumbnail, or the one that comes up when you click on it? If you used the thumbnail, then that won't work since the thumbnails apparently have animation removed.

On the plus side, though, since the avatar's effect is essentially the same even without the animation, it's probably better to not have it animated since animated avatars (especially fast-moving ones) tend to chew up a lot of CPU time that could be much better used on crunching, in my experience. And since this is a DC forum, that *is* somewhat important to many of its readers.

[petrw1]

Originally Posted by MooooMoo

Looks nice. I can't get the avatar to animate, though.

I think it is as mdeit.... said

Another....

[MooMoo2]

Originally Posted by mdettweiler

Did you just "save picture" on the thumbnail, or the one that comes up when you click on it? If you used the thumbnail, then that won't work since the thumbnails apparently have animation removed.

Yes, I just clicked "save picture" on the thumbnail. Oh well, I'll just leave it as it is with no animation.

On the plus side, though, since the avatar's effect is essentially the same even without the animation, it's probably better to not have it animated since animated avatars (especially fast-moving ones) tend to chew up a lot of CPU time that could be much better used on crunching, in my experience. And since this is a DC forum, that *is* somewhat important to many of its readers.

What about animated smilies?

[mdettweiler]

Originally Posted by MooooMoo

What about animated smilies?

Well...some of those are funny enough to be worth making exceptions for. Though, usually if I'm going to be hovering on a page with animated smilies for a long time (say, if the rest of the post is very long) I'll hit the Esc key to stop the animations in their tracks, both to save CPU time and so that they don't distract me from trying to read the post.

[MooMoo2]

Update: I've decided to run the 400m based on my practice times. I'll still be competing against elite runners, though - last year's winning time was less than a second slower than the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist.

Basically, I chose not to do the 800 or 1500 meter run because my 2:10 and 4:30 estimates were looking too optimistic. I thought that 2-3 hours a week of physical activity would be enough to maintain a fast pace if the race is only 2-4 laps, but that wasn't true. My 600 meter time in practice was 1:34, but I couldn't come within six seconds of that time after trying it again a few minutes later.

On the other hand, I didn't pick the 200 because I spend more days doing distance runs than practicing sprints. The 400 meter, however, does offer a good balance between the short sprints and the middle distance events.

What's interesting is that I'll have the opposite disadvantages of the average American. A random guy at the mall will likely be too fat to run fast, but I'm way too skinny (110 pounds, or 50 kg) to sprint well, and I have almost no upper body muscle mass. My practice time for the 200 a few days ago was 25 seconds, which would put me 50 meters behind Olympic champion Usain Bolt. Oh well, too late to train for that now.

The race will be at 5 PM California time on Saturday, so the link to the results should be up sometime before Monday. Wish me luck

edit: I just realized that this is my 400th post. Seems to be a good time to talk about running 400 meters.

[cheesehead]

Originally Posted by MooooMoo

Wish me luck

edit: I just realized that this is my 400th post. Seems to be a good time to talk about running 400 meters.

It's a sign, Moo. All of mersenneforum.org is wishing you luck! It'll be great!