Monkey Slayer-in-Chief (Read 1766 times)

Trent: I haven't forgotten about marathonguide.com. I'll definitely get to it, when I can give it the time it deserves. Also - wore my HHFMM shirt on my run this morning. Great, great shirt. I truly wish more race directors would follow two basic rules when they pick race shirts: 1) Make it good enough so people will actually wear it in public, and 2) make it something useful enough to actually wear training. This one definitely does both. The only one I've seen close to it was the Huntsville one last year - and that one's a little too thin for this morning's chill. Today I wore nothing but the monkey-shirt, in 32 degree weather, and I was nice and toasty. (Okay, I wore shorts and shoes, too. Perverts.) Anyway, great job on that. Not to mention the personalized name thing. Very cool.

JN, I agree with you about finishing. Were you around when Burt Empson finished? He came in last place, after the walkers (and won the last place award, a free 30 minute massage). Burt is a solid albeit gentle runner. And Burt is an absolute sweetheart. But Burt got into trouble on the course, ran out of energy and was reduced to a crawl. He was at the verge of passing out, puking, melting away for most of the 6 hours 31 minutes he was on the course. Monitors, volunteers and part of the race leadership went out several times to check on him. Yet Burt NEVER would concede defeat. NEVER. And Burt finished, broken (but not quite), and victorious. Such applause he received would have, like Sam's 5k times, make a grown man cry. Go Burt! Like you and like Burt, I would like to think that I will finish every marathon I begin so long as my legs have not fallen off. But some people are out there running a different race, playing a different game. Not me. I agree, cotton shirts as a marathon shirt are not the best for a runner wanting to wear the shirt during training. I have run numerous marathons (and one 5k) that give out technical shirts and they are great! All the cotton ones just go into my closet, in a pile, in the back. I will not name names, but some marathons don't get it. Next year I will see if I can get the names on the bibs even bigger, making them easier to read. JN, did you wear socks?

JN, I agree with you. Were you around when Burt Empson finished?

No, I wasn't ... and I regret it. We were cold, beer was waiting, the Titans game was on ... but those are lame excuses. I should have sent the woman (and the dog) home, and stuck around until the last runner crossed. Races that small, with that kind of 'family' environment, are pretty rare, methinks. I wish I'd stayed around. What's a little pneumonia? Won't make that mistake again. Note for next year: a bonfire at the finish. That's the ticket. Illegal I'm sure, but I bet the runners would chip in for the fine.

Hi everybody! I'm back! I strapped on a major brace this morning and nervously hit the road. I stayed close to home, did a three looper hilly-ish -bit not monkey hilly- so I could walk home if I needed to, but the brace held everything in place, so I'm a convert. I did 5.12 rolling hills, 35:14, a 6:53 avg, first mile 7:17, last mile 6:37. Good enough, my guess is I have some residual fatigue from Monkey. I'll get out tonight for a recovery 8 I hope too. Trent put on an amazing event, and actually Trent, we go back to June, that's when you started bugging me about pies remember? Right before my July MN trip? I love Nashville so much after Monkey that I'm going to do CMM instead of Boston. I can't wait. Jake Night, you had to know Trent was going to clue me in about this place didn't you? You are saying the nicest things about me and I really appreciate it because I just didn't know if I was making the right choice at the time. Someone actually did threaten to forcibly pull me off the course, but fortunately didn't. I would have snuck back on anyhow, I'm stubborn like that. And thank heavens I could run today, it reinforced I made the right decision with no long lasting damage. AND, I still don't know my limits, which is great because it means I can train harder and try more. Great weekend all around. Good life lesson for me.

Hmm... From what I've seen I bet she would... leaving bloody footprints the whole way...

Ooooooo, just took a peak at the board over on the monkeython website and our newest forumite has proposed a Monkey Double for next year. Now THAT's what I'm talkin' about! That makes Nashville a possible destination for me! Trent, the bonfire at the end would be an excellent touch! Maybe two, one for the front side and one for the back side! Lynn B

I'd be careful if I were you. I wouldn't wander over to that board unless you're wearing Kevlar and your vaccinations are all up to date. And read "Lord of the Flies" before you go, so you'll be prepared. Just sayin'. And Lynn ... details, man, details. I wanna hear more about Ultra-Centric. And I'm going to keep bugging you on this, so you may as well cough them up.

Psst. Trent. Not that I'm actually considering it, but about this Rocket City thing: are you going down the night before or driving down that morning? What's the drive - like 2 hours? Last year I stayed at the race hotel - I'm curious if it could be done just driving down that morning ... Just curious. Very, very idly curious.

lol you know you want to do it JK. Just give in.