Finish the Fall with a 5k!

Are you considering walking a 5k this year? Well we have got a few tips for you!

1. Set a goal – We commend you for making the decision of walking a 5K; we know it isn’t easy. Now that you have made the decision to walk, remember to set a goal. How fast do you want to complete the walk? Remember to be realistic! 
2. Bring a buddy – There is nothing better than having a friend to walk with you. Not only will that friend keep you company, but you will find that they will provide support to keep you moving forward.
3. Dress appropriately – DO NOT WEAR JEANS! Sure they may be comfortable for everyday use, but they do not give you the freedom to walk for long periods at a time. Also, make sure you are comfortable; you are there to walk, not look good.
4. Bring essentials – Make sure to bring water and sunglasses. You have got to stay hydrated during the walk.
5. Prepare yourself – Try walking a mile every day and build up the distance. For example, one mile one week, two miles the next and so on; it builds resistance.
6. Have fun! – Chances are you are walking to support a cause, so enjoy yourself! There is an amazing energy that you get when you realize everyone is walking for the same reason.

Got all that?  Now be sure to let us know how that 5k goes.  And remember, we are rooting for you!

With Sadness in Our Hearts

We couldn't let the terrible events of Marathon Monday pass without mentioning them.  

A Royal Flush has always been a big part of the running community.  We work with many races, large and small.  We volunteer at races.  Our employees are runners.  We truly love being a part of the running community and we realize how special it is.

That being said, we realize that any marathon day, no matter where it is or how big the race, is a really special day.  Those runners have trained for months, maybe even years, to get to this place and are so excited for what that day holds for them.  The memory of those miles will be with them forever and it is such a fantastic accomplishment.

Those runners in Boston missed out on that special feeling.  Something truly tragic will forever tarnish what should have been a wonderful day in their memory.

We are sorry for the runners, the people there to support them and for the entire City of Boston.  No words can express the sadness in our hearts at this moment.  Our thoughts and our prayers are with all the people affected by this.

Port-A-Potty service's NYC marathon run cut short

From Saturday’s CT Post

Rob Varnon

A particular view from the starting place of the New York City Marathon on Fort Wadsorth, Staten Island. Bridgeport-based A Royal Flush worked around the clock to get set up for the race on Sunday, Nov. 4, only to learn that the premier event had been cancelled as the city stuggled to recover from Hurricane Sandy. Photo: Contributed Photo / CT

For the last two days, a Bridgeport company crammed in almost a week's worth of work lining the storm-battered streets of New York City with thousands of portable toilets in preparation for the world's premier road race -- only to hear that it was canceled just 39 hours before the start.

Debbie Russo, one of the owners of A Royal Flush, headquartered at 14 Andover St., Bridgeport, was confident Friday her employees were up to the challenge of providing the 40,000 runners and thousands of volunteers and spectators with a service that often goes unnoticed when it's done right. A Royal Flush appeared to be on track, she said, despite losing three vital prep days and having to navigate debris and blocked roads in New York. The company had placed 1,700 of its units at the starting line at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island before Hurricane Sandy struck and A Royal Flush crew secured them through the storm on Monday.

The New York Road Runners, which organizes the event, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the decision to cancel on Friday night.

Earlier press reports indicated the New York Road Runners has insurance to cover cancellations, but details as to what that means for vendors and participants who paid to run were not clear at presstime.

It is a dramatic letdown for a company whose presence at the event might have been one of its greatest moments since it began providing units for the New York race in 1996.

The company was asked to provide the portable toilets just a few days ago, when the New York Road Runners and Mayor Bloomberg had declared the marathon would go on. Supporters of the decision to run said the 26.2-mile race would serve as a symbol and metaphor for the recovery effort. But many others said the hardships felt around the city were too great to hold the event.

"My heart (was) telling me not to run," said Ronnie Behringer, a Norwalk resident who had picked up her race packet on Thursday. "I would just like to see all that energy and all those resources go to helping people who are still underwater."

A veteran of 27 marathons, three of which were in New York, Behringer was appreciative of the service provided by A Royal Flush.

"Under normal circumstances resources like that are primary," she said. "The first thing you do at the start of a race is look for the Port-a-John."

She said nerves and hydration get the best of all runners. And, she said she's seen what happens when there aren't enough of them.

"Not to be indelicate, but I have seen large marathons where there aren't enough Port-a-Johns and runners will go anywhere," she said.

Marty Schaivone, owner of Stratford-based MS Running Productions is a race director and longtime runner, said he saw both sides of the argument about holding the race. Race organizers spend the better part of a year preparing for an event like this. It's an tremendous effort to bring together vendors, volunteers, equipment and runners, he said. Then to have to cancel it is "a brutal call," he said.

Schaivone had to make that same decision this weekend for two races in the area, the Southport Racquet Club 5K on Saturday and the Weston Reservoir Run Half Marathon on Sunday. But those races were postponed until later. He said he can't see that for the City's marathon.

"There's no postponement date for New York," he said.

But Schaivone also said there was a tremendous outcry in the running community against holding the event while people in New York went without power, heat and water.

For Russo, the Marathon usually marks the end of the company's season of events and construction, but she believes the units will be put to more use as a season of restoration begins and the region moves to rebuild.

"We are proud to be a partner in such a great event, but happy that the resources will go for useful purposes," she said.

A Restroom Plan Can Reduce Worry

From Friday’s NY Times

By TALYA MINSBERG

A raceday outfit. A prerace meal. A playlist. A warm-up routine.

Jacob Silberberg for The New York Times

A runner near Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn looks for a free bathroom during the New York City Marathon.

And there is one more thing runners obsess over but are often too shy to discuss in public: making sure that digestive issues have been dealt with. “If you don’t address it or wing it then that’s when you lose valuable time in the marathon,” John Honerkamp, chief coach for New York Road Runners, said.

It is a vital part of any proper prerace routine, said Adam Banks, chief executive of NY SportsMed, a sports therapy practice. “Carrying that extra weight with you for 26 miles is extremely uncomfortable.”

That’s why 1,750 portable restrooms, from A Royal Flush, are placed at the start of the New York City Marathon.

“A lot of runners laugh about it, but a really important component to having a good race is doing your prerace business,” said Beth Risdon, a running coach and running blogger.

“I think many, many runners have found themselves in the middle of a race or training run where they really honestly don’t know what to do,” she said.

“A lot of people feel kind of alone in that and it’s important to dialogue about it that because we’ve all kind of been there,” Risdon said.

The prerace restroom routine is also about avoiding the horror stories — tales of runners who do not make it to the next portable restroom or athletes who add minutes to their finishing time thanks to an unplanned visit to one.

Risdon said such occurrences are part of a shared runner experience. “It’s really natural given the sport of running. The most important thing is to remedy that and to minimize the risk of that happening.”

So how do runners ensure that everything is taken care of before a race?

It is a question Honerkamp said he receives almost every day by e-mail.

“Usually I get in parentheses, ‘Sorry for asking this’ or ‘This is an embarrassing question,’ ,” he said. “When they do ask it’s rare that you don’t get a smiley face or an ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m asking this.’ But it is important.”

Risdon advises meticulously watching nutrition during training.

“I think the predominant thing to pay attention to is diet,” she said. “The best thing for someone who is training for their first race is to experiment, just like we do with clothing and hydration, to see what works with our body and what doesn’t.”

Because many New York City marathoners come up on their final long run before a much-deserved taper period, drastically reducing their mileage in the weeks before the race, it is time for race nutrition trial and error.

Runners aim to find prerace fuel that will wake up the gastrointestinal tract and keep lactic-acid-filled legs moving, Banks said. He recently spoke to a client about facilitating the prerace routine, saying: “We talked about taking a laxative enema, but decided that none of that was good. So hopefully a few cups of coffee would do the trick.”

“Simulate the morning of the race before the race,” Jay Hachadoorian, head running coach at NY SportsMed, said. “Run your last long run with the shoes you’re going to run in and the gear you’ll run in. Same thing with food. If you aren’t going into the marathon with a nutrition plan, you are going in unprepared.”

Risdon advises keeping a particularly fastidious approach to diet immediately before the marathon, saying “Watch what you eat the three days before a race, it can make a big difference on raceday.”

Undoubtedly the goal for most runners is to finish the race without a bathroom break.

But Hachadoorian tells his runners to prepare for gastrointestinal setbacks. “Bring a wet wipe; you’re a more confident runner when you feel clean after using the Porta-Potty,” he said. “You never know what condition a Porta-Potty will be in when you get to it.”

Tom Therkildsen of the Road Runners events team said there would be 2,450 portable restrooms available to athletes. He said the New York City Marathon has the second most portable restrooms per event in the nation, after the Rose Bowl.

Jessie Lavintman, a half-marathon runner who lives in Minnesota, might have said it best.

“If you can win in the bathroom, you can win in the race.”

2010 NYC Half Marathon

This weekend was the NYC Half Marathon.  A record 11,494 runners finished this race.  Here are some pictures from it:

Runners take off from the starting line in Central Park- Source

Runners coming through Times Square- Source

The winners at the Finish- Source

Congratulations to all the runners.  What a great weekend for a race!

Site Visits

I made this video last week, as a way to show you how we do site visits and event deliveries.  Excuse my horrible commentary but I hope it gets the point across. 



Have a great weekend and enjoy this great weather!

PS-  Good luck to all the runners at the NYC 1/2 Marathon, the DC National Marathon, the Virginia Beach  Shamrock Marathon and the LA Marathon.  It will be a great weekend for running!

Passing This On

I received this email from the New York Road Runners this morning and I thought I would pass it on to all of you:

Run the NYC Half on March 21

If you’ve participated in this race before, you know it’s an absolute thrill. If you haven’t run it yet, what are you waiting for? This is your last chance this year to see what everyone is talking about.

Register with an official charity by March 5, and you can compete in this iconic half-marathon on March 21. You’ll be in good company with a world-class professional field and thousands of recreational runners.

Don’t forget to contact a charity team, such as the Fresh Air Fund or MMRF (Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation) by March 5. Spots are limited, so make the decision to commit to a cause today.

This is a great opportunity to feel like you are running the New York City Marathon, but only going half the distance!!  Plus you will be supporting a great cause of your choice.  You can find more information on the New York Road Runners website.

Distance Run

This past Sunday was the Distance Run in Philadelphia. Here are some pictures from it:

All of the toilets at the start, with the Philadelphia sky line in the background.
This is the start, after the race started. You can see the empty corrals here.
But this is the best picture of all. This is the winner, Ryan Hall, at mile 12. It was amazing to watch him run by. I swear my hair moved!

Congrats to all the runners!!

Big Day in Running

Today was the Boston Marathon. You can check the race results here.

VIP Toilets

I think this is really exciting. Not just as an employee of a portable toilet company, but as a runner as well:

If You Want a Royal Flush, Buy Brooks

Sunday, October 12, 2008; From the Washington Post

Every runner has been there, usually just before a race, standing in a slow-moving line while waiting to use a cold, dirty porta-potty -- with or without toilet paper.

"I thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool for runners to have a nice bathroom experience instead,' " said Dave Larson, vice president of marketing for Brooks shoes.

Larson's outside-the-pot thinking will result in a unique promotion near the start of the Oct. 26 Marine Corps Marathon. Runners wearing 2008 Brooks MCM apparel sold at the race expo or simply Brooks shoes will have access to a VIP porta-potty with partitioned stalls, climate control, hot and cold running water and plenty of TP.

An attendant dressed in a mock tuxedo will provide assistance along a velvet rope line on a red carpet.

"Come in and you'll get the full treatment," Larson said. "Just like on the movie sets."

That is pretty accurate: When Oprah Winfrey famously ran Marine Corps in 1994, no one saw her waiting in line with the hoi polloi, because she had her own trailer parked near the start with complete toilet facilities. "Oprah doesn't do porta-potties," her publicist sniffed. With the proper gear on marathon day, neither will you.

Too Tired

I am much too tired to think of anything witty to share with you. I ran the ING Philadelphia Distance Run yesterday


along with 16,000 other people. You will just have to come back on Wednesday for more of my lovely humor!