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100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission
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So here's how to race the First Annual 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k. Entry is open to all registered users on Slowtwitch, regardless of participation in the 100/100 challenge.

  • Between March 14th and March 29th, participants may either A) time themselves on a 5K course, measured as accurately as possible, or B) enter an organized 5K race. (Or a disorganized one, if that's what's offered in your area.) Feel free to organize a small event with other participants, if you know any.
  • You will allow yourself ONE attempt: that is, you make the decision before you start that this is the race. No do-overs if you're not happy with how it's shaping up. This goes for solo time trials and actual races.
  • Running on a track (indoor or outdoor) is permitted.
  • Outdoor (non-track) courses can be loop or point-to-point. Solo time trials should ideally minimize crossings of busy roads - I don't want anybody to get splatted on account of trying to save time. Ideally your selected course should be as flat as possible. Large losses in elevation on point-to-point courses are NOT permitted for solo efforts or organized races. You may select your route based upon prevailing conditions for the day (e.g. choose your direction on a point-to-point course based upon wind direction). You may feel free to run uphill on a point-to-point, but if you do, you're just showing off. No credit will be given for this. It will be assumed that everybody's results were achieved on the fastest route that could be arranged.
  • Treadmill runs are NOT permitted. Sorry. We're trying to replicate an actual race as much as possible.
  • Submit your results to STvirtualrace at gmail. I think that you all know that there's a "com" after the dot, but I'm being paranoid about spam. (Slowman - sorry if the "ST" borders on trademark infringement, but "virtualrace" and "virtual5K" were already taken, and I was running out of ideas.) Everybody please use this address only for submission of results. Any other communications (questions, suggestions, etc.) either post on this thread or PM me.
  • In order to keep the data entry as simple as possible, please submit in the following format:
  1. ST user name
  2. Finish time
  3. Sex
  4. Age (optional, but I'd like to do age group rankings for those who do submit)
  5. (Also optional) BRIEF description of the type of course: e.g. "solo loop course," "group indoor track," "organized point-to-point race," etc.) Remember, this will be going in a free text field in a spreadsheet, so lengthy descriptions might mess up the formatting. Save your detailed race reports for the thread in which results are posted.
  • Please try to keep your results to yourself until the full results are posted. Ideally, everybody will be doing their individual efforts in a similar "fog of battle" to what we experience in actual races.
And finally, a word about honest reporting of results. Prior to this year's 100/100 challenge, I would not have considered a competition that relied upon honest self-reporting of results to be possible. I think that this winter has shown that such a thing can happen, and can be quite enjoyable for the participants. We are members of a community here, and our reputations are important to us. For most of you, providing accurate results will not be any sort of an issue.

For those of you who do feel the temptation to fudge the numbers a little, just remember this: 1) You will be messing up the event for everyone else to a greater or lesser degree, and 2) this could prove to be the first of a long series of questionable moral and ethical decisions you will make, leading to the day years in the future in which your career and family life are in tatters, and you find yourself in a seedy motel room with a dead prostitute, a bottle of gin, a gun, and a profound sense of regret and despair. Do you want that to happen? Of course not. So don't falsify your results.

Everything perfectly clear? Good. Operators are standing by.

[Edited to add "sex" to submission requirements. Actually, that last sentence sounds a little weird, but I'm gonna leave it as is.]

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Over 4.5 years bike crash free.
Last edited by: xraycharlie: Mar 14, 09 13:41
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [xraycharlie] [ In reply to ]
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Awesome, thanks for organizing this. I am running a 5k in Boston next Sunday so pretty close to the end of 100/100. I am going to reduce my mileage a bit this week to give it a fair go on relatively fresh legs. You'll have my email Sunday or Monday.

Thanks again.



Portside Athletics Blog
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [xraycharlie] [ In reply to ]
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Need to get this stickied.

-Jot
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [xraycharlie] [ In reply to ]
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Do you want to place bets on how many questions there will be regarding technicalities? Like, if I stop and tie my shoes does that mean I need to start over because both feet were on the ground? If I don't have to start over, can I deduct the 20 seconds it took for me to tie said shoes from my final finish time?

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce
Last edited by: JenHS: Mar 9, 09 13:21
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [JenHS] [ In reply to ]
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Not going to make a guess, but seems pretty simple.

Just like a race, you cross the mat it starts. You go the distance it stops.

Do whatever you want, elapsed time is all that matters.

I expect bonus points for making everyone else feel fast when the results
are finally posted. :)

-Jot
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [JenHS] [ In reply to ]
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Everyone is going to show up beside a wind farm in Alberta or Kansas and pick the windiest day possible and run this 5K with a tailwind. I remember the day when I road my bike from Banff downtown to Calgary downtown in something less than 3 hours including all the stop lights when I got into Calgary. There was this ridiculously huge chinook that blew us back. I was passing 18 wheelers on the trans canada riding uphill as I scooted by on the shoulder...it was just insane...most of the time I saw 40-60 kph on my computer!

You guys need a day like that for the 100/100 virtual 5K race.

I might walk 5K and post my time, and although 2 legs will never leave the ground, at least I will have a benchmark 5K time for the season from which I will only get better. Of course, I don't know if this race allows walkers. Most events do, but 100/100 is clear that walking is not permitted to qualify, so I don't think my 5K walk attempt should qualify in the event results. But you are the organizer and can choose to be be inclusive or tell walkers to get lost. Even though I am currently a walker, I think you should ban us from your event :-)

Actually I just realized that I have a 19:30 on ice and snow as part of my winterlude triathlon split:

http://results.sportstats.ca/...PAUL&city=OTTAWA

Can I enter this on account of having a broken ankle, or does it have to happen in the window at the end of March? Of course, if you let mine in, you will open the floodgates for dumb questions.

I figure this is my chance to get back with dumb questions, cause usually I am fielding them :-)
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [gamebofh] [ In reply to ]
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You'd think it was simple but with this crowd it never is.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Dev, in recognition for your work in organizing the 100/100 (and fielding all of the goofy questions), and in honor of your Admiral Nelson-esque finish to the challenge (struck down on your own quarterdeck before you could see it through), I will grant you, and only you, an exemption to the time window specified. Seriously. Least I can do to say thanks for organizing this thing.

All of the rest of you guys, just bear in mind that I'm not granting any additional exceptions, regardless of whatever damage you do to yourselves. (Don't want to encourage that sort of thing.)

And just to head off some additional questions:
  1. You are not required to have one foot off the ground at all times. So feel free to race walk, take walk breaks, walk your dog, or whatever all else. Just bear in mind that it will be assumed by everyone that you have put in your best effort at a fast 5K.
  2. iPods are allowed, unless you have trouble dealing with the traffic conditions on your selected route while wearing one. Anybody who is creamed by a car while wearing an iPod or other MP3 player will be retroactively disqualified.
  3. To make the whole age group thing easier, just enter your age on the day that you do the race. I haven't decided yet whether I'll be going by 5 or 10 year increments, and might not decide until I see how many entries there are.
  4. Traffic control will be provided by the internet police.
I should also probably inform you all that my wife, who will be providing technical support, is teaching a Microsoft Excel class in a few weeks, and will quite possibly be using our data for instructional purposes. So if at some point in the near future you get this strange feeling that you're just part of the problem, it's probably true.

-----
Over 4.5 years bike crash free.
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
I figure this is my chance to get back with dumb questions, cause usually I am fielding them :-)

LOL

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [JenHS] [ In reply to ]
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Are you in? With confirmed entry, you are allowed one bizarre hypothetical question concerning a confluence of events that is statistically unlikely to happen between now and the end of the universe.

So far, that's the only thing in the virtual goody bag.

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Over 4.5 years bike crash free.
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [xraycharlie] [ In reply to ]
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Since you are kind enough to allow walkers in the virtual 5K, I have no reason to submit my 19:30 from the winterlude tri. I will do my virtual 5K as a walker on Mar 22, one month after I broke my ankle. I won't get credit for covering this distance in the challenge, but it will give me something to shoot for.

As of this weekend, I did cover 2.5K 2 weeks after I broke my ankle(took me just under 40 minutes), so that's progress! My goal time is sub 60 minutes for 5K. I have a 1K course with a hill just near my house, so I can repeat it 5 times. Unlike running, the hill will not penalize my walking time as I will not be aerobically limited!

So based on the rules, I am in. I might end up submitting the slowest time of for the virtual 5K, but participating is more important that sitting around and feeling sorry that I can't run sub 18 :-).

Thanks for putting this on.

I now turn the floor over to other stupid questions.

Dev
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [xraycharlie] [ In reply to ]
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Alright, I'll play. I'm signed up for a 5k on the 22nd. This should be embarassing....

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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That's the spirit! I remember how psyched I was after my last major bike crash, with the resulting knee injury, to be able to walk downtown again. Very nice to be without crutches, though I was using a knee brace and a cool blackthorn walking stick.

Probably a good thing that I don't need to walk with a cane or a stick ordinarily. Too much temptation to whack people with it - and most of them would have probably deserved it, anyway.

Anyway, glad that you'll be joining us.

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Over 4.5 years bike crash free.
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [JenHS] [ In reply to ]
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Just remember: Go that way really fast, and if something gets in your way - turn.

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Over 4.5 years bike crash free.
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [JenHS] [ In reply to ]
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If you are slower than me on the 22nd, then that really would be embarressing!
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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I dunno, it is a really hilly course. :)

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [JenHS] [ In reply to ]
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Hilly like the K-12?

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Over 4.5 years bike crash free.
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [xraycharlie] [ In reply to ]
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Guess I need to find a 5k in Boston weekend of 3/21-3/22.

--
MyGearGarage - Track all your gear!
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [mrtrik] [ In reply to ]
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Or you can go with the solo time trial method. If you feel that an individual effort would not reflect your best abilities, I have already given the okay elsewhere for competitors to arrange to be chased by large animals.

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Over 4.5 years bike crash free.
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [xraycharlie] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah, I don't know. Something about pushing myself... I did find a 5k 3/21 nearby so I might sign up for that.

--
MyGearGarage - Track all your gear!
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [mrtrik] [ In reply to ]
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I'm doing a 5K on Saturday, but I'm planning to use it as a tuneup for my virtual race. Will do the virtual race on the middle school track if the snow melts soon and things aren't too muddy. Planning to take my finish time for Saturday's race and calculate splits, trying to lose a few seconds if possible. Alternately, if weather doesn't cooperate, I could just run the same 5K course again on my own - it starts just down the street from me.

I feel that if I'm proposing an imaginary race, I should do it on my own with only imaginary competitors. Also, I'll use whatever legal advantage I can in order to get the best results - in this case, keeping careful track of splits to beat.

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Over 4.5 years bike crash free.
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [xraycharlie] [ In reply to ]
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I think the fact that Dev asked the first dopey question is priceless......lol

Run 80 completed in some discomfort this evening. Left leg is not working too well and I'm a little tired...but i went out anyway. weeeee, weeeee, weeeee

Thanks Dev for the 100/100.
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Did anything ever happen with organizing a collective Ottawa-area 5K? I seem to recall some chat about it, but don't remember any details. I know of at least 3 ST members that would probably participate if there was one, though.

Andy
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [andy_l] [ In reply to ]
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Let me look into it. Either at the dome for a track session or I will map out a somewhat flat course in Kanata for all you jokers :-)
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Re: 100/100 Grand Finale Virtual 5k: Instructions and Results Submission [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Can we get a sticky on this?

-Jot
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