To sum up what has happened since last I wrote. The State Park Summer Run Series has ended, the Sayville Series is over and a trip to Alexandria to Run Amuck was undertaken.
8/7 - Sayville Summer Series - Summerfest 4 Miler - any race that ends with your father in law buying an entire sheet of bakery crumb cake for you to devour on the way home is a winner. Crossed the finish line in 35:45.
8/9 - State Parks Summer Run Series - Jones Beach 5 Miler - you would think a run at a beach with a decent boardwalk would actually take you onto the boardwalk. You would think wrong. An out and back on Bay Parkway. Crossed the finish line in 47:14.
8/14 - Marine Corps Marathon Event Series - Run Amuck - when a road trip begins with you getting stuck behind a tractor trailer than manages to wedge itself under an overpass you have to know you are in trouble. Kevin and I arrive at John's house. The plan was that Shinji would meet us there and then we would all pile into my family truckster and haul ass down to Virginia. We were so ambitious we thought we would be able to pick up our race packets that night.
Imagine our surprise when Shinji informs us that traffic coming out of Boston is so bad that he has not even hit New York yet. So at 2:00 Kevin, John and I make a decision to speed out of New York while we still can. Instead we sit on the Belt Parkway for about two hours.
Once we hit the New Jersey Turnpike we discover than Shinji is only an exit behind us. We pull over at Molly Pitcher, which has a Roy Rodgers, and meet up. Long story short, after we meet up and decide that leaving Shinji's car at a rest stop is just short of the worst idea ever we take two cars down to Alexandria.
Arrive at the hotel around 10:30. I make the mistake of ordering a Macallen followed by a Bass at dinner. At the time single malt was a good idea. A few hours later it would prove not to be.
Next morning we are up at 5 so Sabby can pick us up and drive us to MCB Quantico. For a place I swore loudly that I would never set foot on again, I find myself back there quite a bit. Not even a mile aboard the base and Sabby manages to get pulled over by an MP. Probably his hippy spare tire cover. Sabby's contrite attitude wins the MP over and he just issues us a warning.
We all pick up our numbers and John has resigned himself to running in his new sneakers. The gun goes off and I realize that there are two girls running in tutu's with us. I wonder aloud where the girl wearing the lycra bodysuit that we saw in the parking lot is. I get dirty looks.
As we leave Butler stadium Kevin makes his move and leaves us all behind. Nobody told Kevin we were not taking this seriously. The rest of us laugh. Then a giant hill appears. We stop laughing. Midway up the hill we are told to stop and do jumping jacks. I fight the temptation to simply run by. But we paid for the experience, so I may as well embrace it.
Shortly after the jumping jacks I am digestively reminded that I ordered a turkey club, scotch and a beer chaser about six hours before. I am chewing back single malt and a girl next to me is reciting Shel Silverstein poems. I ask John if he hears it too. He does. I feel better. For a moment.
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| Obviously I am worried about face planting |
Hay bales are stacked up in the road in front of us. The cautious among the field climb over them. The stupid steeplechase over them. I will give you two guesses as to what camp i firmly fell under. At each obstacle there are Marine NCOs belting out their unique brand of motivation. John, Sabby and I have fallen into a nice pace and are talking back and forth. Then the first mud pit appears. It looks as though somebody used a backhoe to dig an olympic sized pool and just filled the hole with water. We are told by the Lance Cpl who is knee deep in the mud to stay to his left. Of course this means John goes to his right. We emerge water and mud logged.
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| Kevin kicks the weak in the ass |
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| John a/k/a Shrek |
We hit the second mudpit and one of the tutu twins gets sucked into the muck about hip deep. For a moment I consider helping her up. Then I realize that I have pretty much lost a shoe. My instinct to help others is overpowered by my desire to find my own shoe. Shoe is found rather quickly and I continue on my way.
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| Shinji wears a white shirt? |
Next up is a barbed wire crawl through mud. I should also mention that these are horse trails, so it was likely mud and something else.
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| Sabby manages to make a Barb Wire Crawl look easy |
We enter the stadium and I leave the tutu twins behind. I am feeling dizzy. I am feeling like I am about to vomit. I ease off the gas as I approach the finish line. I hit the first blue strip in time to see the ballerina who was not stuck in the mud pass me on my left. If I wasn't already having some type of sweat lodge vision quest I would have been upset over getting nosed out at the very end.
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| owning up to getting passed at the line by a tutu. |
final results
Kevin - 28:17
Michael - 36:50
John - 38:21
Dan - 39:11
Shinji - 50:27
75 days till marathon time. Keep the donations coming.
Between donations made on-line and off-line I have raised over $1,000 for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. It is my goal to raise at least $3,000.00. Thank you to everyone who has already donated. Every donation, of any amount, helps this worthy cause.
Take a moment to make a donation to Memorial Sloan Kettering by visiting Daniel Jimenez's Fred's Team Fundraising Page
