So….a reader requested a list of area adventure & fun runs within a 2-hour driving distance and, I was like…sure, no problem. Then I spent like four hours compiling this list because there are so many! Who knew? Now we all do.

Whatever trips your trigger (mud, color, girls-only, seriously tough, etc.), there’s a race for you nearby. Heck, there are 5 cool ones right here in Erie!

BTW — there are many more races in PA, Ohio & NY…I just stuck to the ones that I felt were within an easy driving distance. If I’ve left any off the list, comment below or email me at zipdang22 at aol.

Erie

* Jog ‘n Hog — Presque Isle State Park – June 15  (Run 2 miles, eat pepperoni balls, run back 2 miles)

* Erie Day School Fun Color Run & Walk — Camp Notre Dame in Fairview — June 15 (color run/walk, not timed, very family friendly)

* 3 Mile Isle – Presque Isle State Park – July 27 (Three-mile obstacle/adventure run)

* Beast on the Bay - Presque Isle State Park – September 7 (Erie’s biggest obstacle course — 4, 6, 8 and 12-mile options)

— Join the ERC Beast Team

* Zombie Run (this is LAST YEAR’s info) — Frontier Park – Date TBA (I think it’s 10/12) — 5K Zombie Run put on by the Erie Playhouse

Pennsylvania

* Mud on the Mountain — Seven Springs, PA — May 11 (7.7 mile/26-obstacle mud/adventure run)

* Dirty Girl 5K — Pittsburgh, PA — June 8 (5K mud run that caters to women)

* Project Mud — Wampump, PA — July 13 (5K mud run)

* Run for Your Lives —  Wampum, PA — August 3 (5K obstacle/zombie course)

* Muddy & Messy 5K — Conneaut Lake, PA — July 27 (5K mud/adventure run)

* Warrior Dash — Long Pond, PA — Aug. 24 (3.32-mile mud run)

* Gladiator Rock ‘n Run — Export, PA — Sept. 7 (5K mud run)

* Savage Race — Albrightsville, PA — Sept. 14 (4-6-mile mud run)

* Hardcore Mud Run — Phillipsburg, PA — Sept. 28-29 (6.5-mile obstacle course with 18 to 20 obstacles -hardcore)

Ohio

* Warrior Dash — Butler, OH — June 1-2— (3.2 mile mud run)

* Cleveland Challenge Urban Adventure Race — Cleveland, OH — June 8 (5K “Amazing Race” style scavenger hunt race)

* Dirty Girl 5K — Cleveland, OH — July 20 (5K mud run that caters to women)

* Color Run — Cleveland, OH — Sept. 21 (5K “color run”)

New York

* Kiss me Dirty 5K — Kissing Bridge Ski Resort — June 1 & 2 (5K mud run  for women — men can race in drag!)

* Holiday Valley Mudslide — Ellicottville, N.Y. — June 15 (3.5 or 5.4- mile mud run — no shocks, no fire, no barbed wire)

* Color Me Rad — Darian Lake, NY — June 22 (5K color run)

* Tough Mudder — Andover, NY — July 27 & 28 (10 to 12-mile obstacle course – hard core)

* Color Run — Buffalo, NY — Aug. 17 (5K “color run”)

* Hardcore Mud Run — Swain, NY — Aug. 17 (6.5-mile obstacle course with 18 to 20 obstacles, hardcore)

* Run For Your Lives — Batavia, NY — Aug. 17 (5K obstacle/zombie course)

* Tough Mudder — St. Clairsville, OH — Aug. 24 & 25 (10 to 12-mile obstacle course – hard core)

* Dirty Girl 5K — Buffalo, NY — Sept. 7 & 8 (5K mud run that caters to women)

* Muddy Viking — Bemus Point, NY — Oct. 5 (Four-mile mud run)

Well, well, well…..Erie kicks arse! Our area is nicely represented at this year’s Boston Marathon coming up on Monday, April 15.

Here are the  hometown (and near enough for us to claim them as ours) runners who’ll be going the distance in Beantown:

 The Boston Marathon, like a lot of big marathons, offers a runner alert function that sends either emails or texts regarding the progress of runners during the race.

ERC St. Patrick’s Day race director, Jim Lang, offered this preview of the race shirt. Rejoice — no gold this year! (Thank you, Jim).

Check it:

Note that this proof is short-sleeved, but the race shirts are actually long-sleeved.

The race is this Saturday at Presque Isle State Park’s Rotary Pavilion. There’s a 5K at 9 a.m. and a 10K at 10 a.m. Run one or run both and earn that “distance festival” on the race shirt.

Day-of-Race entry is $20 and you’ll have to buy the shirt separately (if available). Remember to bring cash or check because the ERC doesn’t take credit/debit.  (Please, please, please, ERC…..invest in a little cell-phone credit card swiper or something, nobody carries cash these days!)

Race details & application here.

Worth Reading

* Who in your life has an eating disorder and what can you do about it? It’s more common than you think, especially among runners and, it’s not just women.

* Eggs got a bad wrap years ago, but they are seriously one of the best things you can eat (yep…eat the WHOLE thing, even the yolk, that’s where all the nutrients are!). Shape magazine gives you 20 quick & easy ways to cook them.

* 6 tips for running with your dog (I just bought a gentle lead to try with Sam. I will report back!)

* 5 things to do on a treadmill, besides run on it.

* What’s the optimal running cadence? Find out here.

Video of the Week

T-shirt of the Week

What every woman wants to wear to the weight room:

Available here for $26.96

Events

Looking for a new challenge? Try the Presque Isle Light House climb on Monday, March 9 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Join park staff for a chance to climb the 78 spiral iron steps to the top of the tower. There’s no fee, but registration is required and space is limited. Participants must be at least 44 inches tall to climb the stairs. For information and registration, call Brian Gula at (814) 217-9632.

See what else the park is offering in March (some fun stuff) at Matt Martin’s NWPA Outdoors blog.

Also…..don’t forget that Yoga, Pilates & More is offering another runner’s workshop on Saturday at 11 a.m. This workshop will focus on the lower limbs and, really, is there any part more important to a runner?  I found Elyssa’s last workshop to be really useful & informative.

Worth Reading:

* Knee trouble? Lots of great info about it at Athleta.

* Ever wonder what happens to your body during a 30-minute run? Wonder no more.

* 12 salads worse than a Big Mac (not sure I agree, but….)

Video of the Week

Did she seriously just as Mo Farah if he had ever run before?  Props to Mo for being so kind and gracious to this obviously clueless and completely unprepared reporter. Sad, sad, sad, lady.

You know Runner’s World’s Mark Remy was going to jump all over this opportunity, right? Click & enjoy!

 T-shirt of the week

Eco-tank available here for $30.

Itching to start racing? Get an early start on spring race season at the March Forth Against Crime  5K on Sunday at 9 a.m. at the Rotary Pavilion.

Proceeds benefit the Erie Crime Victim Center (a very worthy cause) AND…Erie Runners Club members receive a $2 discount on the $20 entry fee.

The premium is a knit hat and the organizers promise a roaring fire to keep you warm after the run!

Not enough to get you there? Consider this….you’d have a chance to support, cheer on, and encourage kids who are trying to get their lives back on track using the tool we ALL know has kept us sane — Running

We have participating with us again this year a program called Juveniles on the Run, where a group of juvenile offenders have been physically training with their parole officers to run a 5K.  It provides them with a sense of accomplishment as well as discipline (and health, of course), and was a huge success last year.  I believe we have approximately half a dozen juveniles who will be racing this year.

That makes me want to race AND bring my cowbell, but then…you know I’m a sucker for newbies.

The race application can be found here.

Women runners: Note that this Thursday, Aug. 11, is a meet-and-greet at the Glenwood YMCA for the Girls in Motion program (I blogged about it earlier. Read it here). Here’s the info:

GIRLS IN MOTION

Fitness, Fun & Friendship program for girls in 5th-8th Grade

Meet & Greet

Aug. 11, 6-7:30

Program runs Aug. 16-Oct. 1

Hey Girls! We can’t wait to encourage you over the next 7 weeks as you (and a Y volunteer) train your way to completing a 1-mile or 3-mile run/walk at the Her Times event on Saturday, Oct. 1.

Each week, we’ll spend some time talking about topics that you care about and then we’ll hit the streets (or the track) for a workout!

Through it all, we hope that Girls In Motion helps you to see what we see – strong, confident girls – and make some new friends along the way.

Tuesdays beginning Aug. 16, 6-7:30 p.m. Cost is $15. Open to the public. Fee includes t-shirt and 5K race registration.

Sign-up by calling the Glenwood Park YMCA at 868-0867.

Adult Female Volunteers are needed! Call Michele at 868-0867.

Program held at the Glenwood Park YMCA, 3727 Cherry Street. www.ymcaerie.org

Notes on the Erie Marathon from the race directors:

Erie Marathon at Presque Isle

2011 News — August 3, 2011

We hope everybody is having a great summer!  Erie has had some warm weather this summer like most other places in the US.  However, Mother Nature is thinking of us already as we had a low of 63° F  last night.  The “extended forecast” for race day is a morning high of 61° F – sounds chilly right now but it won’t come race morning.

Here are a few interesting registration trends so far:

• 55% of our entrants are female – go girls!
• More than half are registered for the full marathon vs the half marathon or 5k
• 50% of entrants are between the ages of 35 and 54 as well as 50% between 20 and 39.  The largest age group represented is 40-44 at 15% of total
• 33 of the USA states are represented so far

 

If you have yet to sign-up to participate this year, you can do so at:  https://secure.marathonguide.com/register/ErieMarathon/ at the incredibly low price of $50 for 26.2 miles or $40 for 13.1 miles.  This rate is good through August 1st 11:59 PM.

We spend zero dollars of your registration fees on advertising, promotion, or applications because we have you out there to spread the word – thank you.  You, as satisfied customers have us ahead of last years registration pace by 51% with 53 days to go until the gun goes off.  We anticipate the final growth over 2010 numbers to be about 30% when all is said and done – returnees tend to register early.

For course maps, registration lists, FAQs and  more 2011 race details, visit our website, www.eriemarathon.org.

We are making it a bit easier for the family and friend spectators this year as we have rented The Cookhouse Pavilion that is located at miles 5.5 and 18.5 on the course.  This is only about 0.2 miles from the start/finish line.

See you in September,

Jan and Mike

By Christine Vassen

As we left Theressa’s for our longest run to date, I was definitely in the wrong mindset for a long run.  First, I couldn’t get the number out of my head — 22 miles. We were going 22 miles. TWENTY-TWO miles.  I couldn’t quite wrap my brain about the mileage.  I almost asked Theressa whose brilliant idea it was that we trun for 22 miles, but I knew the answer was that I had mapped out the training schedule.

We were following the training mileage, so despite the hot and the sunny weather off we went determined to see how 22 miles felt.

Less than 1/4-mile into the run, I knew we were in trouble. Out comes a small dog – yapping away at us.

If you’ve read our blogs posts — you know I’m the dog person.  I talk to the dog but generally fear the smaller dogs.  My logic is the big dog will quickly kill me but the small dog will take a while to bite me enough times to get to my throat.  Remember, we run on back country roads so the dogs have no fear of traffic and generally roam free.  I screamed like at 2-year old, who had never before seen a dog.  Theressa just shook her head and told the dog to go home.  I knew we were in for a weird run if I was flipping out over a dog at 1/4 mile.

At 1/2 mile, Theressa yelled “SNAKE!”

I said, “What?”

“SNAKE!”

Then I saw it.  Dirt road, hot day — the snakes were back out.  I’d forgotten all about them.

Great…. less than a mile into this run and I’d already been wigged out by a dog and almost stepped on a snake — wonder what the next 21 miles would bring.

Around mile 9, we’d seen definitely more than 9 dogs by that point.  And for some reason, I was in full dog phobia mode.  [Theressa] Actually, she was a little bi-polar.  One dog she screamed at and ran faster. The next dog she would be “oh he just needs some love”.  Then next she would yell at and tell the dog how much trouble it was in for coming out to see us.  I have a nice healthy respect for dogs; you leave them alone and they leave you alone.

Truth, I feared a dog would bite me, which isn’t on the training calendar.  One odd home owner came out and took into the house one of the three dogs that were galloping across their yard.  [Theressa] BIG DOGS! Silly me couldn’t figure out why Theressa had moved to the other side of the road and picked up the pace slightly; meanwhile I was asking her why he would have only taken in one dog.

Luckily, those dogs and many of the dogs are the route were familiar to us and we didn’t have any problems.  However, it did seem with each ‘woof’ I jumped out of my skin.  I wondered how many dogs lived on a 22-mile route. Twenty-two hilly country miles.

It was much hotter than we expected and the new route had some familiar, as well as some new hills.  We were not completely prepared for the heat but we were determined to go the 22 miles.  [Theressa] Christine has conveniently left out the fact that I was out of water very early in the run and had to beg for water.  It was so hot that I ponder how bad ‘country” ditch water was.  Thanks to the nice people in Beaver Center, I didn’t have to find out.

The end of the route found us back on more dirt roads.  Since Mother Nature turned up sunshine, there were more snakes out on the end of our run.

So, 22 miles contained eight snakes about probably 50 dogs.  [Theressa] If she only seen 8 snakes, she is lucky.  She missed SO MANY.  I was scanning her path as well as mine.  There was about a 2-foot snake right in her path at mile 21.  She never seen it until I started yelling to come towards me.  I fear snake more than dogs. Yep!  Even the harmless garden variety snakes that were sunning themselves strike me with fear.

In the end, we did it.

Step one of adjusting to summer weather has began.

TO BE CONTINUED…

All photos courtesy of MARK BOWEN STUDIO

OK…THIS is cool —

The Highmark QUAD games now have a participation level (two, in fact) for the kids — making this a TRUE family fitness event.

If you’re unfamiliar with the QUAD, it’s a four-sport event stretched out over the year.

The adult QUAD: 100-yard swim meet (fourth lengths of the pool) on April 11; 12-mile bike rid on July 10; 5-mile run on Sept. 11; 5-mile ski (or 2-mile snowshoe for “fitness” participatns) on Jan. 9, 2011.

The QUAD Cubs: 25-yard swim (one length of the pool) on April 11; 1/2-mile bike on July 10; 1/2-mile run on Sept. 11; 1/2-mile ski on Jan. 9, 2011.

The QUAD Lions: 50-yard swim (two lengths of the pool) on April 11; 1-mile bike on July 10; 1-mile run on Sept. 11; 1-mile ski on Jan. 9, 2011.

The kid’s levels are non-competitive, but all participants will get Quad Kids t-shirt and a medal for completing the event. And, those who complete all four events will get a Quad Champion Shirt.

Cost is $15 for QUAD kids for all four events or $10 per event.

Kid’s events will be held on the day of the regularly scheduled QUAD events, but later in the day (or swim session) to allow parents to participate.

According to the adult QUAD application, the YMCA will even be providing free baby-sitting during the QUAD events (yay!).

NOTE that parents or guardians who sign kids up to participate in the “Lions” or “Cubs” races must be present at their child’s event and you may be asked to volunteer (guard an intersection, hand out water, etc.), if necessary.

You can download a full QUAD Kids application here.

You can download a full ADULT QUAD application here.

You can learn more about the QUAD here.