This is a special guest post by Joe Salter
1. What is a Bushwacker?
The Bushwacker Festival “runs” all weekend on Pensacola Beach, FL. It’s the 
busiest time of the year for Captain Funs’ dance club which features the frozen milkshake “Bushwacker” alcoholic beverage. Captain Funs’ reported that they sold 34,000 “Bushwacker” drinks over the weekend.
The rapper “Coolio” was featured for the Saturday night entertainment.
2. “Bushwacker 5K Race” Stats
Who: Joe Salter, 28 year old joggler, starting to train for Philly Marathon in Nov. 2009
Temp: Hot and Humid! 85 degrees, 70% humidity
Total Participants: 1200-1500
My first official 5K: for both joggling or running!
Previous races I’ve done: 2 Marathons, 1 Half Marathon
5K Finish Time: 22:36, 107th Overall Place, 15th in Age Division
Drops: 0
Juggling Patterns used while JOGGLING the 5K:
3 Ball Cascade, 3 Ball Half Shower (in both directions), Half Mills Mess, 2 High Throws (one over the finish line sign)
Sprinklers Joggled thru: 2
3. Comments made about joggling during race
“Wow,” “Go Juggler,” “That’s Incredible!”
“Rubbing it in?” My reply: “No, just having a ball.”
At finish line: announcer said, “Here’s the Joggler!” That’s evidence that people are learning the term “joggler” around my area! And, are not just saying “there’s the juggler.”
4. Memorable Moments during the Race:
-It was fun to do the half shower juggling pattern and high throws to impress spectators
-I enjoyed joggling the race with a close friend.
-I enjoyed being passed by a high school classmate, and then beating him later in the race by 2 seconds. We talked during the race too, no hard feelings, he knew I was coming after him.
-Hearing the race announcer say; “here’s the joggler” at the finish line. She said it twice, just to make sure people heard her say the correct title and to show that she knew the joggling lingo.
-Joggling off road some to get in front of people at the start of the race
-Free drinks and food on the boardwalk at Pensacola Beach, FL afterwards
5. Tips and Things Learned
Avoid the jam of being behind slower runners:
Start off to the side and towards the front of the pack during the beginning of the race. It’s prevents you from slowing down due to slower runners being in front of you. I found it easier to speed up and pass runners than to slow down and make abrupt decreases in speed. With joggling, abrupt decreases in speed lead to more drops compared to being in control and passing others when you need to.
Pin your bib to your shorts to avoid “bib malfunctions”:
This was nice. Not having to worry about having my fingers “catching” the corners of the bib on my shirt. Avoid this: pin the bib on your shorts.
Throw in some different juggling patterns while joggling
It helps you relax, connect with crowd, and give your arms and nervous system a break from the repetitive motion of the 3 ball cascade. I think if done safely, it can reduce drops.
Hot and Humid races are not my favorite!
Believe or not, this 5K was more challenging to me than the marathon I joggled a 3:47 time in on Feb. 2009! The heat was bad for this race. And, I’m not in peak training shape right now. I realize that I need to get on the “ball” or “behind the balls” with my training for the upcoming Philly Marathon on Nov 22, 2009.
People appreciate jogglers and are amazed by them.
Runners and spectators are very supportive and positive about joggling.
Thanks Joe! Incidentally, I’ll be joggling the Philadelphia Marathon with him on Nov 22. Anyone else want to join?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
@Perry- Yeah, that would be cool to have some more jogglers participate in the Philly Marathon. Maybe we could set a record sometime for the most jogglers to joggle a single marathon.
Have there ever been more than 2 jogglers in a single marathon?
Joe — I would imagine the heat and humidity would be especially though for joggling a 5K. We’ve had it pretty easy this summer in Chicago. One of the coolest July’s on record.
Zataod- Don’t know if there’s every been more than 2 jogglers in a marathon before, maybe Perry could fact check that one for us. Didn’t know you were a Chi-town resident… That’s cool. I really want to visit Chicago sometime soon, never been before.
I believe that Zach Warren and Michal Kapral competed head to head in the 2006 Boston Marathon.
2 Jogglers have done marathons before. As Zataod points out there was the 2006 head to head matchup with Michal & Zach. They repeated their match in April 2007 in Salt Lake City.
I also competed against Michal in the 2006 in Toronto.
Barry Goldmier has also joggled the Chicago marathon a couple of times while I was joggling. He also did the Philly marathon when Zach was joggling.
It’s quite likely that when we do Philly, Barry will also be there making it the first (that I know of) marathon that had 3 jogglers.
Yeah, I knew that there had been two jogglers competing before in a marathon-most notably Zach and Michal. But more than two? We might have a first if Barry does it.