Head to Head to Head

Looks like we have another entrant in the DoppelLaufer Virtual 5k Challenge. dwm082 a/k/a Don threw his hat in the ring yesterday.

Here is the new lineup:

With his weakness for ice cream and potato chips I really don’t consider Don much of a threat, unless of course Ben & Jerry’s sponsored his race and is offering free samples at the finish line. He does seem to have won the heart of our head cheerleader, but I think that’s only because his profile picture hides the spare tire he’s carrying around his waist from eating all that junk food. I also think that’s a rug on his head.

Don’s running in the Mississippi Mudds 5k in Buffalo, NY. Looks like it’s FL vs. IL vs. NY with state pride on the line.

Jim has graciously offered me a few training tips. Apparently applying a thick coat of Icy Hot to the nipples, upper thighs and groin area just before the starting gun virtually guarantees a PR. Makes sense, I think I’ll give it shot.

The shenanigans are escalating here.

I picked up my race packet yesterday at Track Shack. I’m bib # 1363. They were having a 20% off sale so I picked up a new pair of Asics. This will probably be the pair I wear in the Space Coast Marathon. I broke them in this morning.

2010 DoppelLaufer Virtual 5k Challenge

What is this nonsense, you ask?

Well, the bar room brawl started here:
http://community.active.com/thread/91383/proper-running-form-i-give-up/0/0

and then tumbled into the streets here:
http://community.active.com/thread/91449/doppellaufers-good-natured-taunting-and-race-reports-thread/0/0

It all began with an innocent comment to JimDo64 on the CoolRunning forum about how evenly matched we seem to be based on our race PR’s, followed by a not so innocent threat to shred his half marathon PR come October.

Gradually other similarities revealed themselves, apparently including a sense of humor.

JimDo64 - Nemesis
(actual size)

Your Intrepid Blogger

“It’s like we’re living in alternate universes,” says he.

“Or like we’re doppelgangers,” I say.

Wherein he proceeds to lecture me with a long winded diatribe about the etymological origins of doppelganger, culminating in the declaration that we are actually DoppelLauffers (literal translation – Double Runners) and that one of us must therefore be evil.

What nerve!

This will all culminate in a clash of titans Saturday morning, a virtual head to head 5k. I’ve registered for the Track Shack Celebration of Running 5k in Orlando and he entered the Joshua Kurby Charge for the CHARGE 5k in Carol Stream, IL.

Winner gets bragging rights and first crack at being the evil/fun half of the doppel pair.

With any luck we will both break through 24 minutes for the first time.

Stay tuned!