Shoot, Those Folks are Zainy, Nutty, Crazy, Fools!

"So, what did you do for the 4th?"

"Oh man, it was great, I had the day off (I'm a teacher on summer break, I have everyday off!) I slept in (from 8 PM - 11:45 PM on the third.) I met some friends at 2 AM and we stayed out all night and partied till 1 PM."

No, I haven't given up my grand slam quest and turned into a party animal. The friends I met are also ultrarunners. At 2 AM Becky, Woody, and I met up at Croom Forest and by 2:13 Am we had started our 45-mile run.

It broke down like this: 2:13 - 5:10 AM 17 miles on the dirt roads
5:10- 5:40 Bathroom-Food-Drink Break,
5:40- 8:30 15-mile Orange Trail Loop
8:30- 8:45 Food and Drink Break
8:45- 11:15 13-mile Orange-Blue-Orange Loop.

The highlight of the run was during our road portion when a well-meaning local came by in a Jeep (only vehicle we saw on our 3-hours on the road) and asked if we were alright. Are we alright? Well it's 3 AM and we're in the middle of no-kinda-where with lights on our heads carrying several pounds of water and food. Furthermore, we going to be doing this for 8 more hours. Are we alright? As Marseilles Wallace says in Pulp Fiction, "No we're pretty F'ing far from alright!" But only years of intensive therapy can help us!

I'll tell you what though, the 4th taught me some stuff.
John "Woody" Wood, is the toughest man alive! After a horrible experience less than two weeks ago at Western States where he was forced to drop after running 56 miles in the mountains, he was back at it for 45 of the most humid miles imaginable. We are thrilled to learn that Woody will be joining us in Vermont. He'll finish, and I'll bet all takers he runs it in under 24 hours.

Becky Diange is once more the greatest runner I know. Back in 2004 we ran the GEER 100K together, and she was in fantastic shape and I believed then she was as good a runner as I know. Well, she got married, and now she does married people stuff, and she hasn't concentrated as much on running (one day, I'm going to try that getting a life thing, I hope it's not too long from now!). Anyway, since she decided to do Vermont, she has worked very hard and she is ready! She handled yesterday's run like a champ. It will be my honor to run with her at Vermont, I only hope I can keep up. Another bet, Becky will finish and run well, I take any action and give odds on that one!

Ok, my hour at the library is up, I'll post again tomorrow.

In the mean time, happy 5th I guess.
AndyMan