Login

A Catchy Con

In 2020, FanX Salt Lake (formerly Salt Lake Comic Con) got cancelled because cramming thousands of people into an indoor space was frowned upon during COVID’s most spreadable spell. However, last fall the con happened, and of course we had tickets. How did it feel to place my body in crowded hallways and exhibit halls after 18 months of staying at least six feet away from the one-person crowds at the grocery store? How did others feel about having their bodies packed into hallways and exhibit halls? Read on and all herd attitudes will be revealed.

Although masks were required at FanX Salt Lake, which was at least as protective as a fortify spell, being in those throngs of people made me uncomfortable and anxious. Was this because of the ongoing threat COVID’s Delta variant posed? (Omicron was just a twinkle in its hosts’ RNA at that point.) Was my apprehension due to the lingering misgivings associated with avoiding people for a year and a half? Or had the crowd calluses I’d built up for years to protect myself from the claustrophobia and irritation kindled by swarms simply softened over COVID’s isolation?

William Zabka
William Zabka, the villain from The Karate Kid, now anchors the Cobra Kai series with his awkward, outdated coolness.

How about the masses? Were they willing to put past precautions aside? According to FanX organizers, ticket sales for the 2021 event were within 5% of those from non-pandemic years. (That’s a real term now?) There seemed to be less attendees than normal, but there were thousands more than I’d seen over the last 500 days, so I felt like I was roaming the corridors of Gideon. We were surprised how filled the exhibit hall was, not much different from a typical Friday afternoon at this convention. Yet, the Grand Ballroom was much emptier than usual. Were attendees reluctant to sit close to others, or were the panels just less interesting to most?

We didn’t stay at FanX for an extended time as we were worried exposure to hundreds of people might ruin an upcoming trip to Hawaii, but we were around long enough to get a picture with William Zabka, do a little shopping, and attend the Cobra Kai panel from an empty corner of the ballroom.

This was our shortest FanX experience of all time, but I’d like to think it helped me acclimate back to normality. And yes, hairying up my feet, stringing the One Ring around my neck, gluing on hobbit ears, and adventuring around a massive conglomeration of booths and people all fit under my banner of normality.

Rachel March 8, 2022 No Comments

Reflections on the R.A.C.

Last fall, our weekly running group, the Run Around Club (R.A.C.), hit its double digits. The task of keeping this group going, literally and metaphorically, has largely fallen to Jason and me for most of its years. Given that and the 1,800-2,000 miles the organization has spanned, a decade seemed something worth celebrating… I think you can sense where this is going.

the R.A.C.
I have so many memories of smacking asphalt with these folks.

The formation of the R.A.C. back in September of 2011 resulted from a conversation we had with friends and family members at a party about sustaining exercise motivation. The company concluded that weekly runs together might provide enough positive peer pressure and enjoyment for healthy habits to be developed and kept. After that discussion, the R.A.C. came into being with the idea that we’d take turns organizing these weekly runs to spread the responsibility amongst us. However, over time, most in our group became less eager to take on their share of the coordinating. The ball others dropped, I picked up and continued playing with though. At one point, I realized Jason and I were the only ones keeping the R.A.C. operational, and my frustration almost led me to throw in the sweaty towel. Instead, after some internal debate, I consciously accepted the duty and took full ownership of the R.A.C. along with Jason.

Ready, set, run!
The kids exhibited a wide range of race enthusiasm from comatose to pee your pants.

Why was I willing to do that? The makeup of the R.A.C. has shifted over its decade, but the essence of it has remained. The encouragement, the comradery, the giggles, the thoughtful and ridiculous conversations, and the friendships and confidence built over many miles have all endured. Whether it be laps at the rec center during winter’s dreariest months or our annual dash up the mountain to Stewart Falls, the R.A.C. connects, inspires, and strengthens. Over the last ten years, I’ve seen multiple members go from their couches to running their first half marathons and believing in their capabilities. That’s why I decided it was worth utilizing some of my planning mojo to insure the R.A.C. lived on.

We are the champions!
And the winners are…

As with the regular undertakings of the R.A.C., arranging its anniversary celebration fell to Jason and me. (Okay, mostly me.) With the help of an illustrator, I created custom t-shirts for attendees made of fabric soft enough for my picky standards. We rented a pavilion at one of our regular running spots and ordered catering from Café Rio. After dinner, we held a one-mile kids race with prizes for first place in both pre-adolescent and teenage categories. I also made a 10-minute video of the R.A.C. throughout its years using pictures and clips taken on our hundreds of runs. Aah… is anything sweeter than a sweaty memory lane?

I’m grateful for my running buddies, the beautiful trails we’ve traversed, the habits we’ve fostered, the conversations we’ve had, and the muscles we’ve earned. May the pavement be ever at your feet and your friends ever alongside you.

Rachel February 27, 2022 No Comments

From Set to Crack

Running can’t replace sleep. It’s not an equivalent exchange. Jason and I tested that law again last fall on the Bonneville Salt Flats while partaking in the Dusk to Dawn Relay. Yup, they still can’t be swapped. How was our second experience the same and different from our first Salt Flats all-nighter?

Squad camp
Cots, full coolers, lounge chairs, and snacks galore- what a luxurious encampment!

Jason and I were more ambitious with our team size this time. Signing up for a six-person team rather than an eight-person meant a greater commitment to laps. Others seemed less committed though, and we didn’t have a full crew for our Na Squad until six weeks before the race. We eventually attracted an incongruous but genial assortment of teammates ranging from teenagers to senior citizens and from ramblers to sprinting veterans. Other crews may have come upon their participants easier for the number of total runners appeared to have doubled from the race’s inaugural year.

Bonneville Salt Flats
The Bonneville Salt Flats are 12 miles long and five miles wide.
No such surplus!
Unnecessary jumping is the perfect way to waste energy before pulling an all-nighter.

The race loop was exactly two miles long this time. Between 8:04 p.m. and 7:06 a.m., the duration of the event, Jason and I both ran six laps. The total miles of our associates varied from eight to fourteen. One of our teenage teammates simultaneously “pulled a muscle” and “got a blister” in the middle of the night making him unable to circle further. Yeah, basically he didn’t want to run anymore. I was certainly not our fastest runner, but I was unfailingly consistent with no “pulled muscles.” I completed all but one of my laps between 19 and 21 minutes.

our squad at sunset
Thanks Stacey Marble for the cool silhouette shot.

Our team again broke up responsibility for chunks of the night to pairs, so sleep was still technically feasible, at least on a small-scale. For the second time, Jason and I took the slot no one wanted, which was the two-hour block between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. All our teammates snoozed during these hours. We didn’t mind the quiet until we tried to wake up a replacement at the end of our window. No one was particularly interested, and it took a lot of effort to get our next looper in place.

the dusk dash
As its name suggests, Dusk to Dawn starts promptly at sunset.

How did our team do? We placed 3rd amongst the six-person teams, but there were only four of those. Out of the 15 total teams in all three divisions, we came in 7th. Robust averageness? That’s what we are all about baby! We finished five laps behind our division winners. During our first attempt of this relay, our eight-person team completed 59.85 miles. We were hoping to beat that number in 2021. With 64 miles, we did it!

the handoff
Speeds varied considerably amongst out teammates, but we always had someone at the start line ready to continue our forward momentum.

How was the setting? Besides the company with you, the spaces above you are the best thing about this race. Again, we saw Saturn and Jupiter and a million glimmering jabs. The moon was an enflamed sliver that appeared just an hour or so before sunrise. The sunrise itself was a bit disappointing, far from the vibrant, multicolored marvel we witness on our first Dusk to Dawn. Perhaps this was the doing of the pervasive wildfire smoke, or perhaps we just lucked out last time with a rise above standard.

done grinning
That’s a smile of success or at least of completion. Thanks Stacey Marble.

Just how flat were the Bonneville Salt Flats? The salt was more compact this time, less like a Slurpee and more like packed dirt. That meant the difference between salt making its way inexplicably into every cranny and it remaining mostly where it should. It was colder on this occasion. At two points in the night, I got so chilled my body decided it was quitting the warmth game. Thanks to blankets, three jackets, and intermittent running I survived anyway.

The Na Squad
No sleep and all salt makes Jack a brisk boy.

There is something magical about running by yourself on a curious bleached plain with only the crunch of your tennis shoes against the salt to interrupt your contemplation of the innumerable flickering stars webbing the blackness above you. That stillness is only heightened by its contrast to the lively sounds surrounding the start line. Not everyone in our group immediately praised the enchanting perks of this relay though. One of the teenagers complained that we had misrepresented this race to him. Apparently, he didn’t think it would involve so much running. Hmm… what else might be the primary focus of an 11-hour race? Jason and I expected a lot of laughs, a lot of salt, a lot of steps, and not a whole lot of sleep. Our expectations became reality; that was an equivalent exchange.

Rachel February 16, 2022 No Comments
 Categories

Recent Posts

Recent Comments
Blogroll