Captain Grose's Marathon pages

 
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We left Saturday about noon (the marathon was on Sunday) and that morning, Major Patch and I got up early to run the Marines on weight control like we do every Saturday morning (we make them show up to run, thus ruining their weekends until they get the clue that they better get into shape if they ever want a full weekend off).

Captain Bash was driving and, after waiting for the Majors who were late, we all piled into his Caravan with our gear, excited to get this much anticipated event started. The adventure was about to begin!!!

When we got there, we checked into a room at a local hotel. Gary Bash had run this before and was smart enough to make reservations. All the rooms were full in the little town so it was a good idea. After checking in to the hotel, we took a trip to get checked in with the marathon organizers. Getting our materials (including the coveted T-shirt) would save us time in the morning. It seems that the T-shirt was the all-important trophy. With it, you had actual proof that you did, indeed, run a marathon. More than once, the joke surfaced that we could take the shirts, make a vow of secrecy, and scuttle off to Vegas for the weekend and no one would be the wiser.

After checking in, we decided to go do a leader’s recon to the marathon start/finish. Gary had run this before so he was familiar with the terrain. We drove there and saw lots of people camped out. I can understand them wanting to get the maximum amount of rest before the run but to sleep in a tent on the floor before a marathon did not seem like the brightest idea in the world.

We had dinner that night at an Italian restaurant where I had a plate of lasagna and bread. A LOT of lasagna. Then we went to a café where I had cheesecake and two cups of coffee. We were pounding water all day so hydration was not a problem. I thought that fuel was the key. Hell, I would need it and burn it away the next day anyway.

The night was relaxing. With nothing more to do but rest and watch TV, we all went over to the Majors’ room and watched part of Fargo. I got tired of laying on the floor so I went back to my room and read a little bit. Gary and I had gotten the rawer deal of the two rooms since the one we got had one double bed and a fold-out couch. Gary, being the intensely polite man that he is, insisted that I take the bed and he made due with the couch. Right before I went to sleep, I asked Gary if he snored. He said no and I said that I did not either.

That night I had a weird dream. I dreamed that I heard loud snoring and I was outside. There were coffins everywhere and I knew that people were sleeping in them. I was looking for the cause and opened one of the coffins. In it was my brother but he was not snoring. I hurriedly shut the coffin and went to the next one. As I opened it, I saw my son, Alex and he was snoring loudly. Right at that moment, I awoke and I realized that the snoring that I heard in my dream was actually coming from Gary. It was a weird experience.



The stories:
The Explanation
The Training
The Shopping
The Trip
Forsaken
The Run
Evacuate

How it all started...

2000 Wild Wild West Trail Marathon
2001 Wild Wild West Trail Marathon
2002 Big Sur International Marathon
2002 Wild Wild West Trail Marathon
2002 Bishop 50-mile Ultra-Marathon

Email -- jdgrose115@polyglut.net
Web -- https://members.tripod.com/~jdgrose115/

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