Had dinner last night with friends, including two of my Saturday morning running buddies.  From the sounds of what I’m doing and planning to do this year (Dipsea, Double Dipsea, North Face Half Marathon, and, of course, the Bridger), I may seem like a bad-ass for a 57 year old, but in comparison to my friends I am most certainly not.   On the surface, my running crew appears normal enough,  a commercial real estate broker, a couple of bankers,  an engineer, and another runs an investment fund.  Typical 40-50 year old professionals, but with abnormal running pursuits.  Believers of poet Dylan Thomas’s wisdom, “Don’t go gentle into that night…Rage, rage against the dying of the light”.   

One of the regulars in our  group earned his second Black Shirt at the Dipsea in June, meaning he finished in the top 35 of the 1500 runners.  Black shirts confer royalty status in our little town where the Dipsea has been run for more than 100 years.  He will be running the Boston Marathon this spring.  Another is young and fast, and just needs to add some years to earn the age-adjusted handicaps needed to reach that elite level.   Two others run the Dipsea and Double Dipsea each year, and each has done the Quad Dipsea, an insane two round trips from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach, a total of 28 miles and over 8,000 feet of elevation gain.  And one of our grizzled runners, who is my age, and has run several ultra marathons including the iconic Western States (100 miler).  He has also run the Grand Canyon’s R2R2R (Rim to Rim to Rim) Run, where you start at the South Rim, descend down the steep South Kaibab Trail, cross the Colorado River at Phantom Ranch 5,000 feet below, climb up to the North Rim, and then retrace your steps (a total of 42 miles), often in brutal heat!  He said he hallucinated at several points during that run, and that it took him more than 10 hours (all-time record is a mind boggling six and a half hours).  

So, you can see where I stand in the pecking order of this group.  Barely a speck on the edge of the topographical map. I can only hope that if I survive the Bridger this year, maybe they will keep talking to me.