An hour before the race, have a high-carbohydrate snack and 16 ounces (450 g) of water.  You want to give your body the right nutrition to energize, but you don’t want to overdo it by eating too much. Before running, eat a snack instead of a whole meal as that means fewer calories your body has to try and process during your race.  Consider fruit or yogurt, or a cereal bar to give you energy without making you feel bloated and sluggish. Make sure that your body is loose and ready to run.  With a quick, proper stretch, you can loosen up your muscles and increase your stride while decreasing risk of injury and cramping during your run. Stretch your hip flexors, thighs, hamstrings, calves, and lower back. A basic rule in middle distance races (800 and 1600 meters) is that a runner must maintain a fast pace and maintain enough energy to have two bursts of acceleration.  Start of the race off right. Run fast at a speed that you can maintain well. Consistency is key here. Be smart in the middle of the race. Be conscious of the other runners and your changes in pace. You will need the energy to sprint at the beginning and end of the race. Use the first acceleration to merge into the inner lanes and get as close to the front of the pack as you can. Be conscious of when you are over exerting yourself so that you have enough energy for the second acceleration at the end of the race. You want to maintain a consistent pace until it’s time to accelerate; don’t let other runners affect your pace. In the last 200m or 300m, begin to sprint at full pace. This is where the anaerobic training comes in. Push your body, using your last acceleration to pass the pack leaders and win the race. Properly cooling down after your run is just as important as your training. A proper cool will prevent injury and help ease your body back into a normal state.  Walk for a couple of minutes, starting at a brisker pace then transitioning to a slower walk to allow your heart to ease back into its normal rhythm. Stretch again for 5-10 minutes to ensure that your muscles don’t tighten up too much from working so hard.
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One-sentence summary -- Hydrate and energize your body. Stretch your muscles. Run your 800m. Cool down.


If the ink stamp is light enough, an eraser by itself might do the trick. This will better protect the paper. Pencil erasers are fine as long as they're still soft. If you’re not making any progress after about five minutes, switch to something more abrasive. Any type will work as long as the grit is between 150 and 400. The lower the grit, the higher the abrasiveness. If you’re using thin paper (such as notebook paper), opt for the highest grit possible. Make sure it measures about 1 by 1 inch (2.5 by 2.5 cm). This will be small enough to focus on the ink stamp without affecting the surrounding area. Place several sheets of scrap paper on your work surface. Pile them one on top of the other. This is to cushion your paper from the hard surface of the table so you may avoid tears. The number of sheets will depend on how thin your working paper is. Make sure your work surface is solid. A table should be fine. Clear away anything you won’t need. Place it face-up on top of the scrap paper. Hold it down firmly with your free hand. Be sure to use all of your hand and not just your fingertips. Position this hand so that the inked area of the paper is visible between your thumb and index finger. Make sure the paper is perfectly flat. Work away from your body. Use slow and gentle strokes. Avoid pressing too hard. Be patient. This method can be time-consuming.  As you sand, hold the paper up to the light to make sure you're not in any danger of sanding through. When the sandpaper feels less gritty, you can clean it by holding it up and flicking the back of it. Try erasing the ink as it becomes lighter. This mainly helps with any smearing effects from the sanding. Continue the process. Keep sanding the stamp. As the marks lighten, you can use the eraser to remove what remains. Keep in mind the paper is weaker where you have sanded it, so be as gentle and patient as possible.
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One-sentence summary -- Try an eraser first. Acquire sandpaper. Tear off a section of sandpaper. Set up your work surface. Set up the paper with the stamp. Sand the ink off the paper. Alternate with an eraser.


Unlike its relatives, poison ivy and poison oak, poison sumac is restricted to a fairly small area of the world. If you are outside the following areas, your chance of encountering poison sumac is almost zero:  Ontario, Quebec, and other eastern provinces of Canada Minnesota, Wisconsin, and all U.S. states east of them, including all of New England Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and all U.S. states east of them, including all of the South Texas, and all states east of it along the southern U.S. border, including Florida Poison sumac thrives in unusually wet soil, or even in standing water. If the surrounding area is dry throughout the year, there is little chance that poison sumac is present. Poison sumac has trouble growing at 4,000 ft (1,200 m) above sea level or above. If you are above 5,000 ft (1,500 m), there is almost no chance of exposure to poison sumac. Its relatives, poison ivy and poison oak, are also constrained to low elevations, reducing the need for caution concerning poisonous plant exposure at high altitudes.
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One-sentence summary -- Know the regions where poison sumac can grow. Look for poison sumac in moist or flooded soils. Don't worry about poison sumac at high elevations.


Hold your hands open with your palms facing outward. The near string should be short, just the distance between your two hands. The far string should be very long. Bring your hands close together and use your left thumb to hook the string around itself. Return your left hand to its original position. There should now be a section of string extending from under your right index finger over to your left thumb. Mirror Step 2 using your right hand and the dangling left index string. Return your right hand to its original position, palm still down. The string should now make an X between your hands with a short near string across your index fingers and a long far string across your thumbs. Rotate your wrists so that your palms now face each other. A properly-formed Navajo Opening should be much less angular than Opening A. The nooses will be loose and wide. There should be two parallel strings oriented inward, one connected the index fingers and the other connected the thumbs. Underneath these two strings should be an X formed by two strings connecting the index fingers to the thumbs on opposite hands.
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One-sentence summary --
Drape the string over both your left and right index fingers. Loop your left thumb under the right side of the far index string. Loop your right thumb under the left side of the far index string. Bring your hands apart to even out the string.