Merkins at Redline?!?
QIC: Doublewide
Date: 1/16/2024
PAX: Resistor, Winkelvoss, Balco, Mongoose, Hitman, Rollback
I have been waiting for the past THREE times I’ve Qed Redline to borrow a stopwatch and do hill repeats (an idea the track coach at Tabor recommended). Because I’ve refused to buy one, I was finally able to borrow one today from our neighborhood swim team and, what do you know, it died during the opening warm up lap! I had to improvise and use my watch, but, because I was losing oxygen to my brain (at least that’s my excuse), I kept forgetting what time to stop at. Whoops.
The Thang:
- 1 almost lap counterclockwise to Runnymeade
- At the base of Runnymeade, perform hill repeats in a ladder: 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, & 90 seconds and back down the ladder, with a walk/mosey back to the bottom of the hill after each.
- We got almost to the end of the ladder when time was called and we moseyed back to the parking lot.
Prayers/announcements: Beverly’s Run for HOPE – THIS Saturday
Naked Man Moleskin
- Rollback’s first time to Redline. I promise we don’t do hills every time. Hope you come back out and see for yourself!
- I partially designed the hill repeats just so I could hang out with Winkelvoss, Balco, and Mongoose. Those guys are so freaking fast and I can only run with them when they’re passing me around the track.
- Speaking of Mongoose, he was none too happy about the call for 20 merkins once we reached the “top of the ladder.” I’m grateful he didn’t lead a full-on revolt.
- Balco had recovered well from his Eagles losing last night. He sounded like other Eagles fans I know who were just resigned to a bad end to a season that started out 10-1 and very promising.
- On a serious note, I am both convicted and inspired by men like Hitman and Resistor. We ran past a couple who were arguing (outside on the side of the road at 6am in the rain) and thought the woman said something to the effect of “don’t put your hands on me.” Resistor and Hitman both stopped and asked if everything was OK. When the guy replied “We’re fine” Resistor countered with “We weren’t asking you.” Turns out things were probably OK, but Resistor later called the police to check on them just to make sure. I say convicted and inspired because my natural tendency is to avoid conflict – I HATE it. I’ve learned through my many mistakes in my marriage, fatherhood, friendships, and work relationships, that avoiding conflict doesn’t work. My tendency, even this morning, was to run along and pretend like everything is OK. Resistor and Hitman entered into conflict to make sure. May we all be more like them.
Thanks for the keys, Chomper. I left them at the base of Runnymeade.
