Back to a running post- sort of
“Are there places colder than New Jersey?” Natasha asked the
other night as we were walking in short sleeves looking at the Christmas lights
in our neighborhood. We were anticipating a cold front coming though the
Houston area overnight that was going to drop the temperatures down to near
what most of the country experiences during winter. I had just told her that it
was going to get as cold as it had been when we were in New Jersey last spring.
“New Jersey” had become synonymous with “cold” for my kids after our spring
trip north. That reminded me of some
news that from a few weeks ago that needed to be recorded for history’s sake.
There are some things in life that make you feel better about
an event long it is in the rear view. Sometimes they are incredibly small things
that make your war stories a bit better and this is one of those times. You may
recall my blockbuster blog post about the Ocean Drive Marathon and its extreme
conditions this past year. Those of us that ran the marathon were blown all
over the course from Wildwood to Cape May in near freezing temperatures. As inhospitable
to running as the conditions were they were equally bad to watch a race.
Granted, my family wasn’t outside waiting for me in the cold the entire time
but the time they were was certainly not the highlight of the trip. Well, it
seems that the good folks who put on the marathon have decided to change the
course going forward from a “point to point” to an “out and back” course.
Marathon course designs are pretty simple but essentially a course where the
runners are going in the same direction the entire time can either be made easier
by wind at the racer’s backs or, in the case of last year’s Ocean Drive Marathon,
made much more difficult if the wind is in the runners face the whole time.
I received an email from the race director and my initial
thoughts ranged from “It’s about time” to “I wish the change was done last year
so I wouldn’t have almost been blown into the Atlantic” to a little touch of sadness
in seeing a signature feature of a race lessened.
A similar range of reactions from OD marathon veterans were
recorded in the article linked below about the change. I have no plans to run
the race again but there is something in the announcement for me as well. When,
as a family we retell the story of our Easter trip to the New Jersey Coast, the
Nor’easter we drove and then I ran through, and the kids shiver thinking about
that coldest place they have ever been I can add an epilogue to the story to
further illustrate for eternity just how brutal the conditions were that
weekend…and by extension how badass we were to get through it
(Dramatic pause) It was so bad that they even changed the
race course to keep it from ever being that bad again…
A chapter is added to family lore.
