May the Mass x Acceleration be with you

I'm curious... what is the rationale to run a marathon in one month just for fun? Psychological? Trying to get Maniac status?

Good call changing shoes to see if they were contributing to the knee problem! Hope you recover soon and we can run on a Saturday in the near future. Maybe you'll be slow enough that I can keep up with you!

Green River is a great marathon! I volunteered at it a couple years ago. I was planning to either run it or volunteer again this year, but I have a CMA obligation on the same day.

Wish I didn't live so far away...I think I'd be up for another marathon by June 2nd.

@Carl, yes to both. Next time I run a marathon for time I don't want Eugene to still be sticking in my mind. Having a successful marathon, particularly if I feel good enough to pick up the pace over the last few miles, will make all the difference in keeping me from psyching myself out. Also, I've been wanting to get into marathon maniacs for a couple years and have just been postponing to run faster marathons. Seems like a good time to try it.

RT, too bad it would be fun to see you there, and enjoy the fish 'n chips with you afterwards.

IJR, fly up here!

Scott - I was worried about the same thing going into BigSur after getting cooked in Boston. A low key, no pressure marathon will probably be a really good thing. I'm still trying to see if I can make it to that one somehow. The four of us locals need to do a Foothills pizza and beer run soon. Fridays and Sundays are good for me.

IJR - You have a place to stay here and the Marathon is free. What's stopping you?

@Scott: I think those are good reasons to run another marathon... pending knee recovery.

You do know that the Sound to Narrows is on the next weekend? Will I see you there?

Looks like I am going to skip S2N this year. I won't miss it too much :)

S2N is finally going to have a shirt that doesn't look like a weight watchers logo, but it still reminds me of the Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever album cover.

$35 is a lot of cash to pay for an ugly shirt and a race that isn't long enough to need a water stop. I wish they would do a no-shirt option for $20

Mike:

Gotta agree on the ugly T-shirts, but the S2N has a deeper meaning for us long-time runners...

Back before the days of chip-timing and posting race results in real-time on the internet, the Tacoma News Tribune would publish all of the S2N race results in a special section of the newspaper. The S2N was considered the measuring stick that all competitive runners in a large part of the Puget Sound area would use to compare with other runners. It was very prestigious to be published in the "Top 100" of the sports section.

S2N used to be the largest FREE race on this side of the Mississippi River. T-stirts were optional and cost an extra $5-10. The News Tribune was the primary sponsor. You didn't run the S2N for a social cause, you did it to compete!

Now the News Tribune is a minority sponsor, and MultiCare runs the show. It's a fund raiser for the "Center for Healthy Living".

The course was made for a generation of runners that would complain about races that didn't have enough hills. Now everyone wants a flat, fast course.

The Steilacoom Running Club still hosts its annual meeting/dinner on the night of the S2N. This year is the 40th anniversary. I plan to race it this year (though I won't be as fast as other years).

You make it sound a lot more appealing putting it like that. The S2N was actually one of my first races and I have great memories from it. It's kind of funny that I'm the old guy in our little FRB clique and you're telling me about the good old days :)

I am a member of FSRC and didn't know about this meeting/dinner gig. Communication is not one of their strong points.

Check out this article written for the 20th annual S2N:

Sound to Narrows Race History

http://www.multicare.org/home/race-history

I still have a 2nd place age division award from that 20th annual race.

1988 and 1990 were my best years on that course. In 1988 we had a Washington High School team that took 2nd in the team competition, behind a UW team. I ran 44:17 for 12K, which was good for 8th in the high school division and 88th overall.

Two years later, after my Freshman year of college I ran 42:24, placing 32nd overall. The big goal was to crack the top 25 because they always listed the top 25 men and women in the next day's News Tribune. It took them a few days to get all the rest of the thousands of results compiled and reported in a special Sound to Narrows section of the paper. But that day after the race they also had a special section with pictures, stories and a list of top 25. I missed the boat on that one by just a bit.

Now days it's not so competitive, but its still a great race. Last year's shirt was better than in previous years. At least it was technical fabric. But, it is so bright you can see in the dark with it. I miss the days of the free race and $7 shirt.

This is very nostalgic listening to you guy's conversation... :-)