I had intended to get this posted ages ago but have spent the last two weeks in burning in Bureaucratic Hell. Each year, when you renew a Russian work visa or residency permit, you have to do a crapton of medical tests which include HIV, just about every form of VD, leprosy(yeah isn't that a bit archaic) ,TB,and a drugs test. In the past, this has been a fairly simple streamlined procedure I have been able to do inside an hour or so at my local clinic near the house and a convenient 400m walk from the indoor track where I workout. All the docs you need to see are there and you just go down the hallway to visit each one and get your tests done. In a couple few days your medical certificate is ready and you are set for another year. Well, this year, I went to my friendly neighborhood clinic after a workout at the end of February as it was time to do my meds about 6 weeks before the actual visa extension. I was told as of Feb. 1 they no longer have the authorization to do this as they do not have the new blanks that immigration is now demanding and it all has to be done in the state clinics . F#CK! State clinics suck because you can't make an appointment and you just have to show up and get in the queue. Translation-major time killer and lots of ass chasing. I also knew that the whole process could take upwards of 2-3 weeks even if I was good about going to one clinic after another. It now involves going to three separate clinics (VD,TB,and the narcotics clinic)to have it all done. You have to start at the VD clinic then collect your results a couple days later and then hit the next 2. It's a goddamn nightmare. Oh and in Russia, you can usually pay a "fee" to get out of crunches like this, but this time was a no go since three different clinics are involved. I would have happily paid a nominal"fee" to avoid what's been 2 weeks of ass chasing and major disruptions in my routine. Juggling ass chasing and spending hours at clinics with work and training has been a royal bitch and the result has been sleep deprivation much like I had when I worked shifts and I now feel like hell.I'm sick of waiting hours to have blood drawn and to pee in a cup. I finally finished this mess yesterday and now my visa renewal has to be rushed to make it by the mid April deadline. Nice! I fly out for 100k Euros on the 25th but was assured I'd have my paperwork back long before. So, that's what I've been doing since the March 8th 4k.
So, back to the race, by the time the Women's Day 4k rolled around, my legs were feeling the stress of high volume+ the 2 previous races earlier in the week. I took the whatever approach here. The wind was howling and temps hovered at -10-12C. Air temperature wasn't so bad, but the WIND was horrible. I ran a good 6k in my warmup and was still not "warm" because of the wind. I was considering just running in my subzero jacket form Running Skirts because it's the only thing that can keep the damn wind off my neck, but Coach took it just before the start and immediately gave it back after the finish to prevent serious freezing of ass. Last yr, I was 14.49 on this course also after the tiring double earlier in the week. We were off and right into the wind! My pace was definitely in get stuck mode and stuck right around 3.40/km I really wasn't up to picking it up with the wind but rather just kind of el stucko. I ended up 4th in 14.30 cutting 19 seconds off of last year's time despite nasty conditions. I was a bit surprised when Elena Sipatova http://www.all-athletics.com/node/145760 (this is her race she helps put on actually)handed me one of the slips of paper they give to people for the awards at the finish . I had thought this year they were only doing top 3 or at least that's what I had read, but they actually did top 10 women. They had us wait a little bit before they did the awards(no time for a cooldown) so I was uber glad Coach at least had my jacket as they told us not to leave yet(uhhhh not to even get some clothes on in the locker room??). We all just kept moving to avoid freezing. Running ok standing-cold BRRR.
This race had a record turnout this year. Although it was on a holiday, I have to say, I was a bit sad. The state of serious racing in Moscow is about to head south I'm afraid as are many others. The March 8th race was always the season opener and one of the Luzhniki races. The Luzhniki Marathon has always been about the third weekend in May and the summer cup series runs from June-September. All of these races have been quality events especially the summer series. They attract top runners and less serious runners as well. The organizers have always done the best they can given the resources they have had, and no, I'm not going to lie, the prizes have been quite good especially in recent years. I first started running the Luzhniki races as a young grad student in 1998 and was hooked.
Last year, new organizers came in and did a decent job especially with the summer cup. They were still working with the person who had been the main organizer of these events since their inception in the late 90s. Well, unfortunately, this person has been shoved aside this year and the Luzhniki races and summer cup will be no more after 16 years of quality events! The other issue, is that folks on high refuse to close city streets to traffic. Are you kidding me? In any other big city around the world, they can do it so what's the problem with Moscow? We aren't some small rathole in the sticks! Can you imagine the reaction if London, Berlin, or Chicago just up and cancelled their marathons??? Get real! This is clearly an indication of things going all to hell. So, in order to have a reason to train and stay motivated post 100k Euros since we are losing our BEST QUALITY PREMIER RACES in Moscow, I am just going to have to race more in Latvia because at least in Latvia, they still know what quality racing means! I am tentatively planning to run the Rezekne Half on April 6th, but it's contingent on my being able to take care of a few things here and finagle my timetable so as not to have to miss tons of work. I need to work now while I have lots of work because come July, work tapers off and can get inconsistent til the fall. So, I've signed up for the 5k here in Moscow on April 7th as a backup if I end up not going to Rezekne. Meanwhile, it's high volume, ass busting training, and loooooong runs 40+km or so at weekends.
Pix Maria Shalneva:
trying to "warm up"
hiding under my hood because it was freeezin' in the wind!
PINK hey -it's WOMEN'S DAY have to be girly!
Elena Sipatova at the finish handing out cards to top10
So, back to the race, by the time the Women's Day 4k rolled around, my legs were feeling the stress of high volume+ the 2 previous races earlier in the week. I took the whatever approach here. The wind was howling and temps hovered at -10-12C. Air temperature wasn't so bad, but the WIND was horrible. I ran a good 6k in my warmup and was still not "warm" because of the wind. I was considering just running in my subzero jacket form Running Skirts because it's the only thing that can keep the damn wind off my neck, but Coach took it just before the start and immediately gave it back after the finish to prevent serious freezing of ass. Last yr, I was 14.49 on this course also after the tiring double earlier in the week. We were off and right into the wind! My pace was definitely in get stuck mode and stuck right around 3.40/km I really wasn't up to picking it up with the wind but rather just kind of el stucko. I ended up 4th in 14.30 cutting 19 seconds off of last year's time despite nasty conditions. I was a bit surprised when Elena Sipatova http://www.all-athletics.com/node/145760 (this is her race she helps put on actually)handed me one of the slips of paper they give to people for the awards at the finish . I had thought this year they were only doing top 3 or at least that's what I had read, but they actually did top 10 women. They had us wait a little bit before they did the awards(no time for a cooldown) so I was uber glad Coach at least had my jacket as they told us not to leave yet(uhhhh not to even get some clothes on in the locker room??). We all just kept moving to avoid freezing. Running ok standing-cold BRRR.
This race had a record turnout this year. Although it was on a holiday, I have to say, I was a bit sad. The state of serious racing in Moscow is about to head south I'm afraid as are many others. The March 8th race was always the season opener and one of the Luzhniki races. The Luzhniki Marathon has always been about the third weekend in May and the summer cup series runs from June-September. All of these races have been quality events especially the summer series. They attract top runners and less serious runners as well. The organizers have always done the best they can given the resources they have had, and no, I'm not going to lie, the prizes have been quite good especially in recent years. I first started running the Luzhniki races as a young grad student in 1998 and was hooked.
Last year, new organizers came in and did a decent job especially with the summer cup. They were still working with the person who had been the main organizer of these events since their inception in the late 90s. Well, unfortunately, this person has been shoved aside this year and the Luzhniki races and summer cup will be no more after 16 years of quality events! The other issue, is that folks on high refuse to close city streets to traffic. Are you kidding me? In any other big city around the world, they can do it so what's the problem with Moscow? We aren't some small rathole in the sticks! Can you imagine the reaction if London, Berlin, or Chicago just up and cancelled their marathons??? Get real! This is clearly an indication of things going all to hell. So, in order to have a reason to train and stay motivated post 100k Euros since we are losing our BEST QUALITY PREMIER RACES in Moscow, I am just going to have to race more in Latvia because at least in Latvia, they still know what quality racing means! I am tentatively planning to run the Rezekne Half on April 6th, but it's contingent on my being able to take care of a few things here and finagle my timetable so as not to have to miss tons of work. I need to work now while I have lots of work because come July, work tapers off and can get inconsistent til the fall. So, I've signed up for the 5k here in Moscow on April 7th as a backup if I end up not going to Rezekne. Meanwhile, it's high volume, ass busting training, and loooooong runs 40+km or so at weekends.
Pix Maria Shalneva:
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