Giant, Running Tomato Sightings!

Or, “The Roseville 6.23 K Race Report.”

Or, “What... we WEREN’T supposed to dress up?...”

Steph (my sister-in-law), her friend Amblyn, and I got up early to get ready for the “623 Walk / Run” in Roseville MN. It was a 6.23 kilometer run to support the 623 school district (about 3.89 miles). I laid out my outfit:

Clothes, tomato costume, newspaper to stuff the costume

It was a point-to-point run, so we showed up at the parking lot at the finish so we could be bussed to the start. Here’s Steph and I on the bus:

We got to the school at the starting line, got registered, and I starting turning into a giant tomato. Here’s a pretty fun sequence that starts with me trying to find the head hole of the outfit:

Stuffing newspaper down my back:

Stuffing my front with a lady laughing in the background:

One of the more awkward photos of me, ever:

Amblyn crumpling up some paper for me:

Finally, I had to stuff all my extra clothes in my outfit as well. I stuffed my pants, my hoodie, and my race shirt in my outfit:

I stood up and jiggled my belly around:

I WAS READY TO RACE!

We all stretched for a bit, and people kept walking by and laughing. Why?

Everyone loved the outfit! Middle school kids would ask what I was doing. I told them I dressed up as a tomato to have some fun. They were perfectly satisfied with that answer! I was saying “hi” to everyone, and making everyone’s day!

We got outside just before the race was to start, and I snapped a photo of the girls...

...and they snapped an awkward one of me:

Yeah, do you see all the people behind me wearing LOTS of clothes? It was lightly raining, breezy, and 34 degrees. I didn’t know if my body would stay warm enough (I wasn’t worried about my bare legs - that’s not a problem for me).

I lined up with the girls near the middle. Here’s the pack in front of us:

And here’s the pack behind us:

And we were off! The race had begun. I said goodbye to the girls and started moving up. People were laughing at my outfit, and the younger kids that were racing thought it was awesome! I passed a group of 3 guys, and they said, “Whoa, we can’t let that tomato beat us! I mean... I just dunno what I’d do!” I laughed and waved. It was a good time.

The only problem was that the newspaper and the clothing in my outfit were trying to slip out. So I had to run the whole race holding the waist-band tight to my body so I wouldn’t be littering for 3.89 miles. My hands were just in front of my pelvic bone, and my elbows were pumping forward and backwards in the manner that my hands should have been. It sure was horrible running form. I was just taking it easy, trying to have fun.

Mile 1: 6:06. “Whoa. That was pretty fast.” I tried to slow up, afraid that I was going to crash in that outfit before the finish. I still felt pretty good. Right around the “mile 1” marker, I grabbed my camera (which I was running with) and snapped a photo of me hard at work:

Mile 2: 6:03. “WHOA. Ease up, big fella.” How was that faster than the first mile? I was actually doing pretty well in all that fabric and newspaper! Then, we turned into the wind. And guess what? That suit QUICKLY turned into a parachute. D’oh. The wind was a slap in the face. I knew I was slowing up. As we crossed a street to enter a park, one of the volunteers said, “Hey tomato, watch out for ‘nibbling squirrels’ in the park!” I laughed.

Just before the next mile marker, I heard my name being shouted from up ahead. It was Coach Jeanne from Charities Challenge! She was SCREAMING, “Go Steve Stenzel! Yeah! It’s tighty-whitie man! Go Steve!!” And a few feet farther, I heard Coach Gary shouting. I smiled to both of them. Thanks Jeanne and Gary!

Mile 3: 6:46. “No surprise.” That wind took its toll on me, and the whole thing was getting a little heavy. No worries, though. We turned a corner, which led us up this 3 block hill. Oww. Stupid hill. One final corner, and now we were headed back to the finish. Surprisingly, I held off all sprinters at the finish. I figured someone would out-kick me in that outfit, but no one got me.

Last 0.89: 5:23 (6:02 pace)

6.23 kilometer run (3.89 miles)
Total: 24:20
6:15 average pace

Placed 12 out of 427

As I was coming to the finish, people started seeing how I was dressed, and they LOVED the outfit. The announcer laughed and shouted, “Here comes the first place tomato!!!” I kept the outfit on for about 10 minutes while cheering for others, but then it got too chilly. So I pulled my pants, hoodie, and shirt out of my costume (it looked like I was giving birth to them). And then I pulled off the outfit. I must have ran pretty hard, because I had sweaty boobs (and pokey nip-nips):

A few minutes later, Amblyn came to the line:

And Steph was just a few minutes behind her:

(Sorry for the un-sexy photo, Steph. My bad.)

We went inside to stretch and get some food. We drew for door prizes, and we ALL WON! Steph and I got sweet, sweet mugs, and Amblyn got a new calculator:

We took off, and swung by a RedBox on the way home so the girls could rent some stupid chick-flick:

(In fact, they’re watching it in the other room right now. Gross. I hear kissing.)

That’s it folks! I fared pretty well in that race for being the only one dressed up! And why did I run as a tomato today (you might be asking)?? Well, Fred Durst said it best when he said this:

“I did it all for the nookie votes
The nookie votes
So you can take that cookie your vote
And stick it up your, yeah! cast it over here
Stick it up your, yeah! Cast it over here
Stick it up your, yeah! Cast it over here”

Last week, I was thinking about running this race as a NORMAL HUMAN BEING, but I decided to dress up in an effort to get your vote for “Best Endurance Blog of 2008.” So if you think I’m worthy, please cast your vote over here: http://www.everymantri.com/everyman_triathlon/best-sport-endurance-blog.html

Thank you!! Happy weekend!

p.s. Those 3 guys from the start of the race that didn’t want to get beat by a tomato,... well,... they got beat by a tomato. I was cheering at the finish line after I finished, and they came in a few minutes later saying, “Shit guys, that tomato totally owned us.” Ha! Good stuff!