Apparently there are a handful of people that are bored enough that they need me to write something so that they have something to read. Of course, they could read just about anything but they seem to want it in the general topic of ultrarunning. So despite my lack of creative juices flowing, here is my dull and humdrum report of my husbands latest running escape. Only this time, he has drug yet another poor soul into the fray.
Several months ago, Duke met a guy in the trails and as is typical of the running community, they started to chat. They both learned that they are Marines (prior service, but once a Marine, always a Marine), married, two children, etc....oh, and that they are both crazy enough to want to run trails for long distances. Of course, this guy didn't know that he wanted to run trails for long distances until Duke informed him that it is fun! Not only did he not know what this "fun" would entail, but I really feel sorry for his wife!
Over the next few months, the two guys got the families together and lucky for the wives, we get along famously as do our kids! We have spent many enjoyable afternoons and evenings eating and drinking, playing badminton with the kids, kids playing video games, adults talking, hikes on the beach while the wives sit and visit, etc. It's been a true blessing for us as a couple and as a family as we find it difficult to find other couples that we both want to spend time with!
As time has progressed, Duke has managed to convince his friend that running more than a street marathon is a good idea. In fact, running 50K is a great idea. Which then led to said friend needing to prove that he could also run a 50 miler. Which brings me to this last weekend. I knew what things were going to be like for this race. Last year when Duke ran it, it was unseasonably hot and he called and said he was DNF'ing. True to form, I said, "Can't you just rest for a bit, cool off and then keep going?". No, he insisted that he was done. I had said that we would come meet him at the finish line so I packed the kids in the car and headed up to Marin. We arrived at the finish line and no Duke. After a bit of checking, come to find out, he did as I said and kept going. He was much later than anticipated, but met the cutoff! After that experience, I started to realize that my instincts for these things were pretty good.
This year, he decides that it would be fun to take a novice on the tour of the headlands. And this year, the weather was predicted to be the exact opposite of last year. Rainy, dark, windy, and cold! A few weeks prior (not knowing the forecast) I asked the novice's wife if she would like to take the kids up and meet the guys at the finish. She said that was fine as long as I was driving. Ha! She doesn't know me very well yet, but I agreed. At the beginning of the week, she needed to know what our plans were for feeding the guys at the end, what time we were leaving, and all other pertinent information. I felt really bad because I hadn't really thought about it. I knew that no matter how much we planned, something was bound to change. And it did. My daughter was sick all week, for one, and they changed the race start and end location, for two, and I just had a gut feeling that things were going to be not like we planned.
By Saturday morning, I made the executive decision to keep all of us home. I wasn't going to haul four kids up to Rodeo Beach, to stand in the rain and wind while waiting for their idiotic fathers to finish a race that they really didn't need to start in the first place! Instead, I took my kids to their house and my friend and I decided to start our own ultra drinking marathon. (We failed miserably as we are both light weights!)
Duke finished the race but his friend dropped at 40 due to the beginnings of hypothermia. I was very proud of him for making that call. Hypothermia is not to be messed with! On the way home, Duke got sick twice on the side of the road. Great. Just great. I drove him home and kept pushing is head back in the car as he would fall asleep and start falling forward. Why does he feel the need to this to himself and the worst part is, he drug someone else into this nasty habit?! I spent a part of my time at our friends's house explaining to his wife the "ultra runner mindset". But how do you explain someone that their husband has a screw loose without offending them! Thank goodness, she probably already knew that about her husband and still loves him despite his lack of cognitive skills in deciding what is a smart distance to run and what is an idiotic distance! I still love my husband too. Right Duke?
P.S. The use of the word idiot in regards to my husband is actually his choice of vocabulary. He called himself an idiot in his own race report. SMH.
