A 2023 Notthatlucas running wrap-up

Mrs Notthat and I basically stayed the course in 2023, with our running resumé looking very much like 2022. We did take a few trips (some planned, some not so planned) that cost us a few weekends, but still managed to be around a lot running events.

Let's start with some fairly boring details.

Mrs Notthat

• Total events participated in (running or volunteering): 39
• Total Byxbee parkrun events: 34
• Total Brazen events: 3 (Coyote Hills, Rocky Ridge, and Quarry Turkey)
• Total other events: 2 (Wharf to Wharf and Xterra Lake Tahoe)
• Total miles run: 120.8

With regards the Byxbee parkrun events, Mrs Notthat ran 33 of them - for one she only volunteered. For seven of those she ran, she also got a volunteer credit (parking marshal, first timer's briefing, or tail walker).

Me

• Total events participated in (running or volunteering): 47
• Total Byxbee parkrun events: 39
• Total Brazen events: 4 (Coyote Hills, Bear Creek, Rocky Ridge, and Quarry Turkey)
• Total other events: 4 (Schoolhouse Rock, Western States 100 [volunteer], Wharf to Wharf, and Xterra Lake Tahoe)
• Total miles run: 99.1 (Seriously? I couldn't find another 0.9 miles to run somewhere?)

With regards the Byxbee parkrun events, I ran 23 of them - for 16 I only volunteered (course marshal, time keeper, and RD [eight times!]). 

The event that wasn't

One race that's left out of all of this was the Brazen NYD event, which is the one Brazen event that I've never missed since it's first one in 2010. Sadly, the ridiculously wild winter weather forced that event to be cancelled due to mudslides, flooding, and extensive trail damage. The Brazen NYE event was allowed to happen the day before, but the rangers quickly regretted that as the weather rapidly got out of hand.

Picture by Nywdlab (not his real name) from the Brazen 2022 New Year's Eve event. That is not supposed to be a creek crossing.

Picture by Nywdlab (not his real name) from the Brazen 2022 New Year's Eve event. At least the trail (if you can find it) is paved at this point. That bench got little use that day.

So it was wise to cancel the race set for the next day.

Some Byxbee parkrun stuff

Byxbee parkrun continued to be our primary running event. (Click here to read my thing all about parkrun.)

In 2022, they had 52 events and averaged 61.1 runners per event (3175 total) - two events had over 90 participants. 

That changed a lot in 2023 - there were 53 events and an average of 100.1 runners in each (5305 total) - one soggy event only had 27, but there were a stunning 39 events with over 90 runners and 31 over 100, with two topping 140! 

This increase meant the event had to add a few more volunteers to keep things flowing - there are now 14 to 15 volunteers for each event. Fortunately, the parkrun community has stepped up and managed to fill those spots.

From July 22 - "two two" day where we are encouraged to wear tutus!

I finally reached my 50 run parkrun milestone in April (Mrs Notthat had hit it in November 2022, and will likely hit 100 in 2024). I likely won't get to 100 until 2025.

The other milestone we hit was the 25 volunteering one. We take different approaches to volunteering, with all of mine being with no run credit, while nearly all of MrsNotthat's were done so that she could get both a run and volunteer credit (as mentioned earlier). I'm currently more focussed on hitting the 50 volunteer milestone (I'm currently at 41) than the 100 run one.

Me as the far course marshal, with the Duck of Turnaround.

One of our goals is to run a few other parkrun events around the country. While Byxbee is the only parkrun in California, there are 64 others scattered around the country. And MANY more around the world. It would be fun to see how some others do it.

Some Brazen Racing stuff

One afteraffect of the pandemic is that Mrs Notthat and I have gotten a bit lazy when it comes to trail races. Many require us to get up very early to drive an hour or so to get to them - the pandemic eliminated that requirement and we really got used to not having to get up absurdly early on weekends. 

But, man - there is nothing like the atmosphere of a reasonably large trail race, with the stresses and anticipation of longer distances and challenging terrain. Byxbee also has a great atmosphere, but it's much more casual and low key. And sometimes it's nice to stretch out to a 10K or fight through some hills.

Fortunately, Brazen has several events that are reasonably close to us, which still means getting up a bit early, but not that much earlier than Byxbee. And we are able to get our large trail race fix. 

It was weird how that cranberry smelled like mayonnaise.

In addition to going to a few of their closer races, we drove to the legendary Rocky Ridge event - home of one of the toughest Half Marathons around (we ran the 5K, which is also pretty tough) - since it was Brazen's 300th event!

Mrs Notthat, our daughter Weird Haired Mom, her boyfriend Nhoj (not his real name) and his Oscar the wiener dog, and me. And we even spelled "300" correctly!

Brazen doesn't (at least publicly that I know of) track milestones. 

But I have a spreadsheet.

When I heard that The Canadian (Enirehtak, not her real name) had managed to finish her 300th Brazen event, I decided to go see how many Mrs Notthat and I had done. Counting the 2024 New Year's Day event, I've been at (either running or volunteering) 194 events (17 as a volunteer), and I have a reasonable chance to get to 200 in 2024. (This is out of 307 events they have put on. Mrs Notthat is up to 168.)

The other runs

As always, volunteering at the Last Chance aid station at the Western States Endurance Run was one of the highlights of the year. 

Eidnam, not her real name, getting the Last Chance Car Wash experience.

A surprise event was what we will always think of as the Ringo Starr 5K. We drove up to Lake Tahoe to see Ringo and his All Starr Band for a Friday night concert. Because I can't help myself, I poked around a bit to see if there were any running events going on, and indeed, there was the Xterra Lake Tahoe 5K on Sunday!

Mrs Notthat and I both won age group awards (the pint glasses). I am not going to mention that, as it turned out, everyone that ran the 5K ended up winning an age group award. 

And for the first time in several years, we ran the Wharf to Wharf race in Santa Cruz. Mrs Notthat manage to talk Anrapa and Immas (not their real names) into joining us!

The four of us along with nearly 16,000 others playing at the Capitola Beach!

And lastly, The Canadian talked me into running the Schoolhouse Rock 5K on the Sunday after having run Byxbee parkrun. This was hard for me, but really fun since we got to see several Byxbee regulars there as well!

The Canadian and I before we started at Schoolhouse Rock 5K.

Wrapping up (finally)

All of our runs were 5Ks, except two 10Ks for me and one for Mrs Notthat (I will always consider Wharf to Wharf to be a 10K, even if it is slightly short). My hope for 2024 is to add a few more 10Ks, and maybe even a Half Marathon or two, to the mix. I'd love to recover some of my lost "speed" as well. Those kinds of goals require more training than I've been doing, and now that I'm retired, I'm hoping to be able to do that necessary training.

Although sitting in a recliner and watching game shows is pretty attractive…

That's it - move along…