Share Your Squiggy Stories!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Squiggy Classic Inline on March 16, 2009 at 9:24am

Lots of marathon and ½marathon pictures here http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=4594071

Pictures from Time Trials here http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=4589880

Enjoy and if you find a picture you like - please do buy it! :-)

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ken on March 16, 2009 at 9:30am

I skated the Squiggy for the 3rd time yesterday and it was the best! Great weather and organization. Thanks to all for making my day.

On my first loop as I was passing the finish area, I was doing some crossover around the left 90 degree turn when the spectators began to cheer loudly. My first thought was they were being respectful of my advancing years. The cheers got louder. Then I thought my crossovers must be in better form than I'd judged them to be.

Then the ego baloon burst! A couple of youngsters, 9-10 years old, skated by me like I was standing still and I knew who the cheers were really for. A bitter dose of humility is hard to swollow, but good for the soul. Thanks for the Kodac moment, and ... LezSk8!

Ken

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ken on March 17, 2009 at 7:07am

Thanks for your encouragement Christine and for your helping your friend through her loss as well. That great! Even though I was a few minutes slower that 2007, I was pleased due to my lack of training this year. A PB wasn't going to happen, so my goal was to have fun (and I did!) and use it to help chart future training. It's all good, so LezSk8!

Ken

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Thomas Stergar, II on March 17, 2009 at 3:13pm

Squiggy 2008 was my very first race, so this year at Squiggy was my racing anniversary, but this post is hardly about me. Most skaters that have ‘been around’ know Bob Harwell. We call him many things…but one name is ‘Awesome Bob’. Here is one example why.

I was barely hanging on to a great pack of experienced racers all the way up to finish. But with less than 1000’ to go, my right quad cramped big time (yeah, yeah I know. I can hear the pity party through my broadband connection…). Bob looked back and saw that I had dropped and he slowed down to let me pass. 50 yards from the finish he sprinted, passing me saying, “C’mon! This is what they’ll do to you in every race!”.

I guess you had to be there but it is a great Bob (and Squiggy) story. The folks I train with know how cool this is. I'm sure he takes just a little pleaure in waxing the younger guys, but down deep, he does this kind of thing because really is a team player and likes to share what he knows.

Many thanks to the Squiggy folks and the Planet, but especially Bob, Craig, Lin and all of the folks here in Indy (too many to mention) that love to go fast.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Hoffmonster on March 17, 2009 at 3:59pm

Squiggy 2009 was awesome!
1st, Let me say that it was a very well organized, well run event.
Improvements?? Everyone can improve, so making them in the case would just improve whats already pretty kick butt!
Great Job Birgit, Jessica, and all the great volunteers!
I'll be back next year.

Skate in the dark:
The skate in the dark was just that... It was very dark once the clouds came.
we set out with several in tow, at a pretty slow pace..
we did not even get to the main trail before we had... SNAKE!!!!
A two foot long cotton mouth decide to cross the trail at the worst possible time...Everyone managed to get by without issue. Excitement over.. Or was it?
We headed out on the trail, once again a nice easy pace.. 2-3 minutes in... a wild boar got spooked out of the bushes and decided to run along next to us for a moment, before hitting the gas crossing in front of us, and smashing through the underbrush.. OK, now that was interesting.. better keep your eyes open!!!
I saw no other animals after that because it was just too dark.. the crew I wound up with did not have a headlight, but that did to stop us from picking up the pace. It was B. Harwell, Brian Oswald, Tom G (I think) we wound up skating it pretty darn fast, quite exhilarating to skate that fast in almost total darkness.
probably not the smartest thing to do considering the animals we saw earlier. it was awesome and I would do it again!.

Time Trials.
Renee C, Brian S., Hernan D., and I skated together.
We had a great start running a 20 mph pace without issue (I posted the pic of the TT garmin data back on Sat)
the really fast kids went by us like we were sitting still pretty early on. So there was only one team to catch.
At some point we lost Brian S off the back, I had no idea as I was leading when all that happened.
We only needed three across the line together, so we pushed on.
We were running about 21/22 mph.
We did go by the Asphalt Beach team of Bob H. Jessica W, and Steve L. Still keeping a solid pace.
I finally had to roll out and let Renee up front.. Heran told me to tuck in behind and we'll push Renee, and skate as a big unit going in.. Well he and I tangled feet and he went down, and I almost went with him but saved it.. Rats, Renee kept going and I waited to Hernan to get up and we would just have to go catch Renee.
We did, and finished all in one piece with a time of 21:25 19.7 mph.. we lost some time with fall but not enough to change the outcome any... It was really, really fun, but it I had to do it over again, I would plan a little better to use or strengths, and weaknesses in a more efficient manner.

Props to Alex Fedak... Not only did he win it and set the record, he even beat that team of three young guns
all by himself.

Race day:
There and ready to go...
I was glad to see them wave the start.. it would have been pretty chaotic had they mass started it.
Pretty routine, I tried to stay up front for the most part, the Akana Girls, Daniel M, and I led most of the race.
We picked up some of the Elite masters guys, they worked their way into the pace line.
For the most part I would let in anyone that wanted to, or who I knew was working. the asphalt beach guys got up and rotated
through a pull or two. a few others did short pulls, But for the most part it was those two Akana girls, Daniel and I that did most of the pulling.There were several (4-5) very young girls who were slapping, pulling, pushing and elbowing their way in, generaly causing problems.
A total distraction, and big part of why I lead so much.. that hurt me in the end..
Pretty uneventful, no big issues other than the slow pace and the girls fighting with each other..
I think we had another 3-4 minutes we could've shaved off had we gotten away from them but no one wanted to get up front and sustain a pace fast enough to drop the young girls. When it came to the last mile or so there were a lot of games being played, the pace went to crawl a couple of times.
then a couple folks dropped the hammer and it was on.. I was there but really was not in a good position to gain much.. I was tired and would have to settle for a half hearted pace and get across the line on top of my skates. 1:22:40 2nd in 40-49, 3rd overall Adv men. still got beat by all those girls though..:) I think it could've been a lot fast, but racing is not always going as fast as possible.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sarah P on May 6, 2009 at 10:00am

My first skate marathon. I practiced 3 times and got my time down to 1:42 at the end. Birgit rode a bike to pace us during practice and we skated behind her. I had no idea how hard it was going to be and I got pretty winded. I had to wear a bandanna over my face since I have asthma and the pollen was really bad. It really helped with my breathing, since the bandanna kept the air moist and I was not breathing in dry air. I had a lot of fun and I got in better shape. I have never been competitive, always had a hard time doing sports, but this is one thing I could actually do well. Before this the longest I had skated was 10 miles and that was even a new high for me.

P.S. I heard the snake was a rattlesnake. I stopped to look but it slid away.

• ▶ Reply

▶ Reply to Discussion