I’ve been getting quite a few e-mails lately asking me if it’s too late to enter the 2009 Shave Your 5K Challenge and as you might have guessed from the title of this post it’s not too late, it’s never too late. I was going to respond to all your e-mails individually but frankly that sounded like a lot of effort, so instead I’m writing this post to answer your questions which has the added benefit that I don’t have to come up with a real post for today.
Here is a list of the most common inquiries that I’ve been receiving, or frequently asked questions if you will:
Q. Is it too late to enter the SY5K?
A. No. There are no time restraints for your running your Stubble Time or your Smooth Time this year. The only requirement is that you complete them both by January 1st, 2010.
Q. Isn’t that a time restraint?
A. Shut up.
Q. If I submitted a Smooth Time to you last year and I want to use that for this year’s Stubble time do I need to e-mail you to tell you that?
A. No. If you ran a Smooth Time last year and sent it to me you are automatically entered in this year’s SY5K, whether you want to be or not.
Q. If I didn’t run Smooth Time last year can I use last year’s Stubble Time as my Stubble time for this year?
A. No. That would give you 2 years to shave your time which is not the point.
Q. I ran a 5K with a friend at their pace, can I use this time as my Stubble Time?
A. No. You’re missing the point again, we’re not trying to determine who the biggest sandbagger is, we’re trying to see who can legitimately improve the most.
Q. I haven’t run a 5K yet, can I use my 5K split from my marathon as my Stubble Time?
A. No. I highly doubt that you ran the first 5K of your marathon the same way you’d run a 5K race, but if you did I would have loved to watch you from miles 20 through the finish.
Q. It seems from this here list of FAQs that your answer is always no, is that true?
A. No. If you look closely you’ll see that one of my answers was “Shut up.”
At some point I’ll tally up all the results that I’ve received thus far and get a list of entrants posted. In the meantime, if you have any questions that have not been answered above then please feel free to e-mail them to me. Then when my inbox is sufficiently backlogged with SY5K questions I’ll do another post just like this.
I'd like to enter! I wish I had entered last year (my 1st 5k) because my time was much slower (thus a greater chance of winning, buahahahaha). Anyway, my stubble time from 2009 is 27:45 from Roses en la Playa 5k. I guess that means at least one 5k for me this year...
ReplyDeleteIf I literally haven't shaved since last year and I enter a new smooth time, does my beard cancel it out?
ReplyDeleteThis is what happens when you voluntarily offer yourself up to be race director. Though it is providing you with some blog fodder so I guess it's not a total pain in the ass for you.
ReplyDeletebefore I commit, will there by any performance enhancing tests done during the challenge? that may alter my decision to participate.
ReplyDelete--A Rod
I'd like to enter my stubble time of 25:05! time to get crackin' on moving my feet a little faster.
ReplyDeleteI've just worked out what a stubble run and smooth run is. I now need to find your definitions page to see if I am right.
ReplyDeleteWell, "Shut up" is really not much more friendly than "no", is it? You really need a "yes" or two so as not to seem so unapproachable and scary, like in your Terminator pic, Mr. Vanilla. Where's your softer, Princess Leia side?
ReplyDeleteThere's a relatively easy way to achieve that balance.
Just acknowledge all the "Really?" questions you've been getting, if not via e-mail, then tacitly, at least.
E.g., when I read this:
Q. If I submitted a Smooth Time to you last year and I want to use that for this year’s Stubble time do I need to e-mail you to tell you that?
A. No. If you ran a Smooth Time last year and sent it to me you are automatically entered in this year’s SY5K, whether you want to be or not....
I thought to myself "Really?" (because I don want to be in this year's contest.) But you could have answered that "Really" with a "yes", thus"
Q. Really?
A. Yes.
That "yes" would humanize you.
If you agree that doing this would be a good idea, please so indicate by telling me, in a comment or subsequent post, to Shut up.
Great post. I love the FAQ format, and the last question and answer is priceless. Good luck with the hair removal!
ReplyDelete