Tuna 200, Van 1

For months, we had been waiting for the day. Medicine Woman, a man who we thought had sworn off running about 42 years ago, had been training for months, was looking kind of soccer-armish. Sargento, the Girazelle, had been so confident in his skillz that he ran a total of 8 miles in the 6 weeks leading up to the date, wasn’t looking soccer arm-ish but was willing to push the rock. The Silver Fox had his game face on. We were READY for Oct 25th, the TUNA 200!

Due to our “fleetness of feet,” we had secured a later start time of 815. We planned to meet at

345 in order to head out at 4. Starting off the morning right, Hushpuppy decided stroll in at 3:58 with CPAP machine strap marks still visible.  Great start men!!!!

20 minutes into the drive, POTTY BREAK (Sargento and Hushpuppy have bladders the size of pistachios, BTW)!! Eventually, we made it to the starting location with 30 minutes to spare. Termite was so amped up for his initial run he DECIDED TO RUN A MILE before his 5.5. mile leg. (Idiot!!)On the more intelligent side, however, he decided to start at the back of the pack in order to quickly sprint past several people in order to inflate his kill ratio.  The first 4 legs went off without too many issues, other than Termite complaining about everything and everyone else complaining about the gnats. At leg 5, Omaha!!! Sargento was supposed to run 9, however, due to his relative lack of training as mentioned above, it was felt that 9 miles may not be wise. Hushpuppy and Quicke stepped in. Hushpuppy covered the final 3 miles for him, setting a personal record for fastest mile!! Qik$ finished leg 6 after his EC on leg 5 and we met up with Van 2.

After saying good-bye to Van 2, we went to eat at White Swan BBQ somewhere in the middle of nowhere Eastern NC. It didn’t matter that there was more grease than actual meat in the meal, we were too hungry to notice. We then went ahead to what we thought was the exchange zone for some well deservedR&R. pQuise was the navigator for this part of the trip, and we were there in a jiffy. About 40 minutes before Termite was supposed to run, Sargento made the comment “I think we are in the wrong place!” After some confusion amongst ourselves and even the race officials, we went back 20 minutes to the actual exchange zone. Keesh was not allowed to sit up front for the rest of the trip.

Because of all the confusion, Termite started complaining again. He was all stretched out and then he had to get in the vanand he tightened up again (not to self, do not get old, or if you do, please do not be like Termite!). So many high points, but I think the most impressive was that Slaw became even more of a big deal than Boudin. If you want to know the story, ask Slaw, Erica, or Anne. Medicine also was referred to as a “knight in shining armor” by one of the many women who we ran with. Finally, Sargento may have used some “booger sugar” and ran a sub 7:15 average for a 4.16 mile leg! On the downside of this group of runs, MW pulled a calf, got chicked, and had a dog chase him. Qu#(%e’ got dicked. He doesn’t want to talk about it.

Handoff to Van 2 at about 1230 AM, ready for some more R&R at Pink Hill Elementary. Note to future groups: when you hand off at an exchange zone in the Tuna 200, it is smarter to stay at the old exchange zone for sleep instead of moving to the next and more crowded one.

Met with Van 2 to exchange again at about 430 AM. Termite was complaining and worrying about being late for the exchange. We struggled but made it through. Highlights included eating more greasy food, watching the sunrise over Piggly Wiggly, SlawBag becoming SlawDOG (we have pitcuresto prove it), DL dropping a “S-bomb” due to having to run up a bunny hill at the end of his last leg, and finishing!! Low point points were eating more greasy food, MW getting chicked again, Hushpuppy running over a ballard (metal post), and DL almost missing a handoff from Slaw. The after-race party include a fair amount of “rehydration” by several members while waiting for van 2 to finish.

All in all, an amazing group of guys and an amazing run. It was awesome to see men like MW for pushing himself past what they thought they could ever do. Sargento, for pushing through the lack of training, being an optimistic, steady rock for the group, and teaching us to sing any stupid phrase that was spoken by anyone, anywhere. Termite, 59 years old, averaging 9 minute miles, and then getting up the morning after and running 4 miles (he complained he was too tight and needed to loosen up)!! SlawDOG, for being a true HIM gentleman and running with the women in the middle of the night. Hushpuppy, for stepping up and driving, running, and setting PRs. DL, HAPPY BIRTHDAY and amazing job legging out 20.3 miles at 54.99 years old! Quiche’, for showing the group that you can take 4 naps in one day, make soccer arms sexy, and make up for ATand the rest of Van 1 running their mouths faster than their legs.

Thanks for the memories HIMs,

Van 1

P.S. If you think this is too long, keep your criticistic comments to yourself!