The Seventeenth race of the Grand Pricks Series, #6
The Plympton Factor - Never trust the internet
PART ONE and TWO - With a Rebuttal and now...with song parody.
This is the Seventeenth installment in the
twenty one race series. Most running mags who report on these races center
around who won and quick times. This blog revolves around the seamy underbelly
in each race; the also-rans: the has-beens: the crippled: the infirm: the
insane.
These are my people. Read on.
Plympton, MA May 19th, 2007
Every series has a defining moment. The previous series centered around who went nude, the competition was that close...this series might well bare itself the same way.
Twenty races (and seven wild card races) over the course of a year can be a hellish logistical nightmare to undertake. Throw in some misinformation from a sketchy source and you have the recipe for a possible upset.
The leader of the series, supremely confident the series was his ...foolishly trusted my posting of the race schedule to be accurate. I posted the schedule at the start of the series a year ago, and never corrected it as race days were changed.
Now we have ourselves a real honest to goodness race to the finish.
The day of the race started (and ended) in a dreary drizzle.
As the RATs checked in one by one, The WRRs Mike Ferrari tells of an alleged nude race in Vermont:
June 13, 2007 (Wednesday)
Red Clover Rovers Bi-Weekly Summer Race Series
Brattleboro, VT 6:30PM Brattleboro Country Club, Upper Dummerston Rd. (3 mile
out and back challenging course)
This event is the 4th part of a bi-weekly 10 part series.
Contact: chuck adams (red clover rovers), 8 Keegan Lane, Greenfield, MA, USA,
01301. 1-413-773-0499 rcrchuck@comcast.net
> Yahoo! Maps
The consensus was even if the top 2, 3 and 4th place runners ran nude, they couldn't catch the first place runner.
Well....if NRA's Mike Tammaro missed a race...hey?....where...is...he????
We check the pre-registered runners, and he's not listed, we check the post-registered runners, not there either.
RATs fanned out checking the parking lot for any sign of him...nothing.
What if he got lost?
What if he got in an accident of the way to the race? Runners have crashed before, ask Greater Brockton Strider-Pete Buhl and the RAT himself, Peter Wallan, or RIRR's Fred Gladu.
Mike could show up late and still run the course.
The standings posted was the locus of the action, along with NMCs Jeff Gould, and CMS's Peter Orni, the best minds of the series were closely clustered calculating the permutations.
If Mike didn't make this race, he'd lose 4 super appearance points and 4 points for the this race.
Clearly everyone was concerned over Mikes safety...but...this is...a competition.
Onto the race.
Mike Tammaro:
Please note that your statement that you
"posted the schedule at the start of the series a year ago, and never corrected
it..." is not correct.
The Norfolk 10 was posted incorrectly in the June-July 2006 issue of the RAT and
you made a correction on the website well in advance of the race.
Also, the date of the Clinton Tribute 5 had been listed incorrectly and you made
that correction as well. In fact, the only race for which you did not make
appropriate corrections was the Plympton 10K. It was precisely this fact -- the
schedule /was/ being updated in a timely fashion -- that gave me the confidence
to use it as my guide.
I understand that the corrections /were/ made in the April-May 2007 issue of the
RAT, and I take full responsibility for missing the race.
But I just want to set the record straight.
Thank you, and I'll see you at the Pack Monadnock race.
Mike
Oh shit...the coach is gonna get his ass
kicked... again.
I'll need some help here fellas....fellas?
Part two-
At the appointed hour we all fell in and toed the line. With a great cannon shot we're off.
I pick out my friends as markers of performance. Ahead I spy MVS's Dave Tyler, GFTC's Ted Ridout and CRR's Gail Martin. These folks finish a minute ahead so I back pedal a bit to find MRR's Marianne Withington, CRR's Slender Jean Sullivan and the mighty Judy Romvos all worthy adversaries this day.
First mile a gentle downhill: 7:38, Feeling alright and I try to keep it going, Jeanne fades, second mile still seemingly downhill:7:41, Judy fades as does Marianne, 7:42 mile three, and I hang on for an 8:13 mile four. The road changes, a gentle uphill for an 8:19 for a 39:35 fiver and I spy a slim Rick Jones ahead.
Wha? Rick Jones?
I haven't the likes of this sturdy lad ahead of me since early in the last series.
I bear down and gain on him through the slight rollers back over Route 44 and pull even with him at five and a half. But the man is focused and I can't pass.
I fall in behind him and hope he'll come off a surge cause if not, I'd have to throw an elbow at him. Rick won't quit, he steams ahead and I'm the one huffin' and puffin'.
Coming into mile six I hear from behind: "I've been chasing your orange jacket all day" with that WCRC's Dale Eckert passes me.
Rick, Dale and Me cruise in lockstep to the finish each giving a mighty show of elderly energy: 9:18 for 48:53.
Our very own Mike Ferrari in a moment of inspiration came up with a fitting ode to the other Mikes miscue:
Sung to the tune Tomorrow from the Broadway play "Little Orphan Annie"
The run'll be run
Tomorrow
Bet the Swamp Rat website
That tomorrow
There'll be a run!
Just thinkin' about
Tammaro
Four points bonus, four more race points
And a no show
You'll get none!
When we're toeing the line
With Gould,
With Orni,
And the racing begins
They grin,
And say,
Oh!
The run'll be run
Tomorrow
So you gotta hang on
'til tomorrow
But the race is today
Tomorrow! Tammaro!
We luv ya Tammaro
You're less than
A point
Away!