Kate and George strongly advised us yesterday to scope out the race start for Swamp Branch the night before. I shrugged it off, relying on the GPS map coordinates and figuring it’d all be fine.
Turns out, it was not fine.
Kate and George also warned us that at night, winding our way through the narrow lane road, it’d feel more like Deliverance than perhaps we’d like.
Turns out, the only thing missing was banjo music this morning.
The GPS had me in the middle of a road… nowhere near the start line. I figured I’d just punch in the alternate address they had listed on the website… except I had no cell signal and no GPS. I am always astonished that there are large swaths of dead zones in the United States of America. What in the name of Huawei are we doing? But it happens… and frankly if Snake Plissken did destroy all the technology with the touch of a button a la Escape from LA, well, we’d have to survive without GPS anyway.
I’d be one of the first to die, incapable of making fire, farming, or really any practical skills whatsoever. I might be able to outrun a few marauding gangs, but only perhaps over a long distance. Any post-apocalyptic gangs of sprinters would chase me down in three ticks of a sundial (because, ya know, we wouldn’t have digital watches anymore… I guess we might have analog still… I’m unclear on just how much technology gets wiped out in these instances).
Anyhoo, I made it to the start via celestial navigation and a bit of luck with six minutes to spare. So frazzled and discombobulated was I that I forgot to pin my race bib on… but fortunately Kate and George know me and I am # 69.
Unfortunately, a course change had to happen so instead of the promised 12 loops, we were running a modified 18 loop day. Gods, I’m losing it on loops. We were a little long but not too much today — wound up clocking 26.7 miles which relative to the first day is almost a cakewalk… if the cake were made out of concrete, tied to my foot, and I was told to amble round and round 18 times. But I digress…
Hey — did you know the state insect of Kentucky is the Honey Bee? That’s why this is the Honey Bee Marathon. I’m not just runnin’ — I’m learnin’ too!
Some photos from the day:
Post run, I grabbed a quick shower and headed for Virginia, the next state in the series. I actually skirted the Hatfield McCoy Marathon finish line in Pikeville, KY. It was a bit of a hike to get to the start in WIlliamson, WV — roughly 26.2 miles to be honest… though we probably looped somewhere in there… call it 20 miles. So I didn’t detour to visit Hatfield Country. But I did stop at the McCoy House. I am now, and always have been, Team Costner, Team Hatfield.
