• An exercise in calculating degrees of appeal •
[2½ MIN READ]
Loving running in community as I do, I see certain races stand out, particularly the half and full marathons; because they’re magnets for Shawmonters. Naturally, Philadelphia’s belong on the list, simply because they’re right in our collective backyard. Unfortunately, they’re kind of big. That’s a bit of a turn off for me because I was born in and raised on smaller, regional marathons. Another turn off is the cost of staying overnight. Who’s rich enough to afford all the races and the associated commuting and housing costs? Fine, some are (Just read the Whoz Doin What feature of the weekly Run Report to get a sense), but I’m not one of them. All this means I’m not committed to specific races year in and year out. This spring, for instance, no marathons had enough degrees of appeal to catch my attention, so I hadn’t been training with one in mind. Actually, I had been ramping up my long-run distances as if I had one, but didn’t.
Folks who follow the SRC Facebook group noticed a 03’31’F request from a Shawmonter seeking passage to Rehoboth for Coastal DE Running Festival’s marathon, 04’16’U: It piqued my interest (Accessibility: 1 degree of appeal. Size: 1 degree of appeal.). For the race to really seize my attention, there were a couple other conditions it needed to meet. First I determined that registration was still open (Vacancy: 1 degree of appeal). Then I wanted to have more than 2 20-mile runs under my belt: A comfortable 24-miler on 04’01’S did the trick (Preparedness: 1 degree of appeal). Next I learned another Shawmonter had a place down thereabouts who had room for me (Housing: 1 degree of appeal). Then I learned how many other Shawmonters would be around because they were doing the half on 04’15’S (Community: 1 degree of appeal)
Closing in on a definitive decision, I realized that this would otherwise be the first spring in 10 years of marathoning that I had none. Coastal DE would take care of that (Streaking: 1 degree of appeal). My transportation still needs fine-tuning, but it’s close (Travel: 1 degree of appeal). Aside from the cost of the race, then, is just the cost of the accommodations. SRC Bud, don’t kill me on that, please (Affordability: 1 degree of appeal). So many degrees of appeal: How could anyone say no?
-CtCloser (Calvinthe) “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue
FINE PRINT
¶Text by Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-published: Facebook Shawmont Running Club (// RUN REPORT), Shawmont Running Club website, Ruminations by CtCloser.
Postscript: Coastal Delaware Running Festival II
Updated: 2023’04’26’W (Postscript)
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