Dear Bombers

Dear Boston Marathon Bomber(s),

You obviously don't know much about the American culture or what makes us America. And, I say that in the sense that if you are an American consider your citizenship revoked.

You see... good WILL come out of this tragedy you've created at your own soul's expense. That's what we Americans do -- we take bad and turn it into good.

We Americans are resolved. We are united. We are organized. We are not afraid. We are free in our actions, our will and our conscience.  We are also stubborn as all hell.

What's even more interesting is if you take an average American runner, not to mention a Boston Marathoner, you'll find an individual that has all of the above American traits amplified ten fold.

Yeah, you may have thrown a poo poo curtain on one race in one city on one day of our history, but KNOW that you've steeled us for thousands of races in thousands of cities for years and years to come.

I use the word "steel" NOT in that you've made it harder to run 26.2 miles or more dangerous to participate in a race, but quite the opposite. Your moronic actions will have an unforeseeable result. You will "steel" thousands of Americans to train, run and finish a marathon. Some of them will already be runners deciding to run their first marathon and others will be new to running. Some of them will be leading unhealthy lifestyles and will find their way through running. In a sense, you will undoubtedly save many MANY more lives than you've taken.

Know that you have failed! You have not created terror. You have not defeated the Boston Marathon. It will be back and it will be stronger than ever. 

Know that you will soon be hunted down by some of the most elite law enforcement and government officials on the planet and KNOW that many of those officials will be runners a LOT faster than you and they will never give up. 

Good luck with that. Now go to hell. 

Sincerely, 

TallGuySurfing

Hey Boston Marathon, you're acting like a carney!

I'm going to rant for a bit.

It's going to be about the Boston Marathon and big marathons in general.

If you don't want to hear it stop reading now and go to the next blog on your reader.

First, let me say that I'm not a "Boston Qualifier" and probably never will be. The fact is I'm slow. I'm tall at 6'7" and I'm prone to injuries. Although I've been jogging for years, I only consider myself to have become a runner in the last 2 years and still consider myself "learning." The qualifying time for me is simply out of the question at this point given my circumstance. However, I am an above average athlete when compared to similar males my age. Boston Marathon isn't important to me. I've visited the city. It's fun. It's historic. It's also a northern city and I prefer to have more fun in southern or western cities, but that's just me and my upbringing. That being said, maybe I shouldn't talk about Boston.

However, you see, Boston Marathon is important to the people that are important to me; my friends and my girlfriend. So it's a free country and I'm going to talk about Boston. Today I got the following email from my girlfriend, which was a forwarded piece of information about Boston Marathon and what the BAA is doing now that they seem to have more demand than supply for their little prestigious event.

2012 rolling registration dates - Day 1 (Sept. 12) - Qualifiers who have met their age and gender qualifying standard (3 hours, 10 minutes for men aged 18-34 and 3 hours, 40 minutes for women 18-34) by a margin of 20 minutes or faster may apply for the marathon. - Day 3 (Sept. 14) - Qualifiers who have met the standard set for their age/gender by a margin of 10 minutes or faster may apply. - Day 5 (Sept. 16) - Qualifiers who have met their age/gender qualifying time by a margin of 5 minutes or faster may apply. - Day 8 (Sept. 19) - Open to all qualifiers to register. - Day 12 (Sept. 23) - Registration closes for qualified applicants. Registered qualifiers will be notified of their acceptance by Sept. 28. For 2013, there are new qualifying times. The times will be 5 minutes tougher than they are currently. For example, men 18-34 currently must run 3:10 and women 18-34 must run 3:40 to qualify, but for 2013 these groups will have to run 3:05 and 3:35 respectively.

My girlfriend's only remarks?
"I may have to run another marathon!"

I would normally say running another marathon is a good thing. One should never quit with only running one marathon (it would be my girlfriend's 4th marathon). But, saying you have to run another marathon to qualify for Boston when you already ran your heart out and qualified for Boston is a load of shit. Yeah... that's right. I said it. I understand the BAA is trying to solve the problem in a fair manner, but there has to be a better way. If you want your race to be the most prestigious marathon out there don't screw the people that have shed tears, lost blood and sweat their asses off obtaining that qualification.

I'm starting to hate the Boston Marathon more and more. It started last Fall when the damn thing sold out in only a few hours, which happened to be only a few days before my girlfriend ran her qualifying marathon. And by the way, she ran her heart out on a tough course with little or no support that turned out to be a complete FAIL on that race directors part. See Running for the Bay Marathon for details. Despite that adversity she still obtained a qualifying time knowing she'd have to wait until 2012 to actually run Boston.

And now this load of crap from the BAA. I highly doubt those poor runners that have to wait until day 8 of registration with their hard earned qualifying time will have any chance at all of running the 2012 Boston Marathon.

I can see it now... my girlfriend is already conspiring to run a summer marathon to attempt a time 20 minutes faster than her actual minimum qualifying time of 3:40:00. That means a 3:20:00, which is a huge jump. It'd be about a 15 minute jump for her. I'd say that kind of jump in time is awesome and everyone should strive for it, but not because some jackasses in Boston are punishing those already qualified runners to run faster. That's all the wrong reasons.

So what's the deal with all these marathon's selling out so quickly? Our epic summer adventure plan got shattered due to Ogden Marathon selling out. Is the sport of running gaining in popularity or is it more and more people are realizing the health benefits of running and taking to the road? I think it's great. I really do. I love being surrounded by health-conscience athletes like myself. Most of the time I look around and see myself surrounded by out-of-shape future cardiac and diabetes patients. I just worry about the sport and where it's going. The more and more I think about it the more and more I'd rather run an obscure little known race that benefits a charity. Some of the most fun I've had have been races with less than 100 participants. Last weekend was the 26.2 with Donna Marathon and Half Marathon to benefit breast cancer research and care. This race fielded about 6,000 runners and felt like a big race like Disney or a Rock 'n' Roll event (I've run both). The difference? It was better organized and benefited a charity. I was going to write a review of it now, but this news about Boston made me so angry that it'll have to wait. Maybe I'll become a trail runner. Maybe I'll stop running races all together. Sure would be cheaper. Maybe I'll go run these race courses on a different day and provide my own support. It's a free country. Stick it to the man, ya know?

Getting back to Boston....

Prepare to disagree with me if you like.....

How about do away with ALL runners that are not time qualifying runners? Yes, that means charity runners, celebrity runners and "special" invitees! I mean, come on, if I got invited to run the Boston Marathon for whatever reason, but I hadn't run a 3:10:00 marathon or faster I'd have to decline the invitation on general principal. I mean seriously, if the field shouldn't be increased in size because it can't accommodate it and the demand is there, yet you still want to be prestigious, how about catering to those that really deserve to be there? There are plenty of other charity races out there. Let the charities go. I know it sounds horrible, but considering the situation it seems the only charity the BAA is serving is itself.

I was at a carnival about a year ago with my girlfriend (the undisputed BOSTON QUALIFIER!) and a Carney called me over to his booth. It was one of those classic throw the baseball at the three bottles stacked on top of each other forming a triangle games. Simple game. Knock all three bottles down and win a teddy bear. I gave the Carney a few dollars and he gave me a baseball. Little did he know I used to be a pitcher. I threw that ball dead center into the three bottles. A perfect strike. It hit so perfectly that the two bottom ones exploded left and right at 45-degree angles behind the stand they were resting on and the top bottle fell straight down onto it. It fell so perfectly that it remained standing where the two supporting bottles were before it.

I looked at the Carney and was ready to give my newly won teddy bear to my girlfriend. He hesitated and then claimed that he couldn't give me the teddy bear because I hadn't knocked all the bottles down and one was still standing. He immediately asked for another few dollars so I could try again with another ball. I started to argue with him and then stopped. It wasn't worth it. It's just a freaking teddy bear and my girlfriend doesn't want it anyhow. I know in my heart that I threw that baseball perfect. It was so perfect it not only knocked all the bottles down, but allowed the top one to fall right into place as if I yanked a table cloth out from a dinner arrangement. I simply told the Carney that I wouldn't buy another chance on general principal and that I had won his game on the first shot; fair and square! I walked away and left him standing there.

Hey Boston Athletic Association! YOU'RE ACTING LIKE A CARNEY!

My name is Sylvan McElroy and I will NOT be running your race anytime soon!

And my suggestion to all those duly qualified runners that will inevitably be left out on the 2012 Boston Marathon?

Organize yourselves. Revolutions have occurred in the history of this race. Google Kathrine Switzer if you don't know. Wouldn't it be funny to see a huge group (I'm talking thousands) of runners that have all qualified for Boston, but were denied their registration, to bandit run the race*??? That would be total mayhem.

Just something to think about.


*TallGuySurfing does not condone or support that act of bandit running.

Saint Ralph - a pleasant surprise!

The other night Jenny and I were having a quiet night at her place. It was after dinner and getting late, but neither of us were ready for bed (and no this is not a dirty story for those of you with dirty minds!). So we settled into the couch with a bowl of popcorn and started browsing the instant queue on Netflix. Some time ago we searched any and all movies that have anything to do with the subject of running and tossed them all into the queue. We've watched some great and not-so-great documentaries, comedies and dramas all dealing with running.

There was this movie that I've personally been skipping over again and again called Saint Ralph. For the record, I'm not Catholic, but Jenny did grow up going to a Catholic church. The picture and summary of Saint Ralph did not excite me. Basically, it's about a 14-year-old in the 1950s that wants to win the Boston Marathon to create a miracle in the hopes it cure his ill mother. Come on! Really? I'm not buying it!

But this night we're both tired, but not yet sleepy and figure we'll watch an hour or so and then go to bed at a respectable time. So I click "play." The next thing I know the credits are rolling and it's after midnight on a week night. Both Jenny and I were glued to the story and couldn't turn it off. We had to finish it. If you're a runner you can't help but like this movie.

(Here's my crazy summary): Ralph (the main character) is a 9th grader at a Catholic school somewhere in Canada. He's the classical rogue kid in the 1950s always getting into trouble, mostly because he's very mature for his age and with good reason; his father is passed away and his mother is in a hospital with an undisclosed illness. He's really living at home alone, but has everyone believing he is living with his grandparents, whom are both dead. He's even pawning every item in the house for money. It's not long before a power-tripping Catholic priest (the head-priest-in-charge-guy at the school) gets on Ralph's case and figures out the dilemma. Ralph and the HPIC guy don't see eye-to-eye on anything. One of the younger priests at the school is teaching a religion class and when they come to the subject of Saint-hood Ralph discovers that anyone can become a saint by meeting several conditions. He then gets it in his head that if he can pray, believe and do the impossible (a miracle) that it will some how awaken his ill mother from a coma. He sets out to win the Boston Marathon in 1954. It's not long before the younger priest starts coaching Ralph despite the HPIC guy's orders against it.

You'll have to watch the movie to find out if Ralph succeeds, but if you're a runner you will be caught up in this drama for sure. It's got hints of humor that only runners can relate and bits of drama for everyone. Historically, it's fiction of course. Veikko Karronen, of Finland, really won the 1954 Boston Marathon with a time of 2:20:39 and world record holder at the time, Jim Peters finished second. I searched Google and tried to find out if any kids under 18 have ever finished the full race, but my results were inconclusive. Today, the qualifying times are for 18-year-olds and up.

But if you have a little "Faith" and "Believe" then you'll be hooked on Saint Ralph!

I'm shipping up to Raleigh!

While many of my blogger friends are "shipping up to Boston" this weekend, I'll be heading out in a few minutes to Raleigh from the Gainesville airport with Jenny to visit a few of our friends for the weekend. Another song comes to mind; an old Bob Dylan song I believe recently covered by Against Me! that goes something like this, "picking me a bouquet of dogwood flowers and I'm a hopin' for Raleigh..."

Anyways, I'm excited to get out of Florida for a few days and away from the real estate business, which has been driving me nuts the past few weeks. Tomorrow we have a 13-miler on tap first thing in the morning. According to a combination of Google Earth and Mapmyrun.com it looks like we'll be able to run from the house we're staying at through the countryside to the Harris County Lake Park where there's miles of trails with our names written all over them. I'm hoping for some hills myself. I'll probably carry along the camera so expect a full recap with pictures sometime later next week after I get back!

I'll also be tuning into the Universal Sports channel Monday morning to watch the Boston Marathon. Best of luck to all you bloggers either spectating or racing/running!

Surfing..... oh man, I'm getting antsy. We've had about two weeks of onshore winds and the few windows of opportunities early in the morning with light and variable winds I've missed because of work. I've heard there's been some "going off" moments on the inside of the rocks. Now that I'm leaving town, I'm sure it'll be epic. I fully intend to hit it hard next week!

Seattle Training Report:
I'm feeling really strong. I've logged 12 miles so far this week without the weekly long run and I'm having to remind myself to take it easy and slow down. Looking back at my training log from last year it's becoming apparent that I had no idea what heck I was doing. I still feel like I'm super new and still a novice, but at least I feel like I'm more wise and smart enough not to overdo it again. Time will tell as I'm about to enter the realm of injury territory where my body will tell me yea or nay for higher mileage weeks. Hopefully, this time with less surfing, softball, tennis and other oddities in the picture an injury such as Mr. Achilles won't repeat itself.

AHA Fundraising Report:
So super stoked to have busted our goal this week. Honestly, I feel like I should have made a harder/higher goal. I had no idea we'd receive SO MUCH support without begging for it. Last I checked we busted $1,300 to support American Heart Association. Running the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon is going to mean so much to Jenny and I and I can't begin to thank everyone that has shown support!

Happy Weekend to All and catch you on the flip side! Keep the stoke!

The Thursday Stoke!

... at the 11th hour that is..... I'm writing the Thursday stoke at the 11th hour! Whoo hoo!

Tonight I'm stoked about this weekend. Jenny and I are totally going to own a 12-miler for a long run. Well, she'll probably own it and I'll probably just get through it. I have to admit I'm a little anxious. I killed the 10-miler a few weeks ago so what's two more miles... yeahhhhh I'll be fine!

I'm also stoked about the upcoming Boston Marathon. I think it just might be on TV. I'm yet to watch a marathon on TV since I feel like I now kind of got a grasp on understanding the sport of distance running. I will be in Raleigh, North Carolina, the day of the race, but be assured, my DVR will be primed and set just in case I miss it up there. It's an even more exciting stoke knowing that some of you will be either running it or be there in person spectating. Maybe we can watch it from a bar. I wonder if there are any drinking games for watching the Boston Marathon. I think it definitely deserves a beer while watching!

Cheers to Redhead Running (cheering on her man), Running Spike, Run Like a King and Run with Jill who will be at Boston. I look forward to your recaps! If I've left anyone out let me know and I'll be stoked for you too! :-)