Chuck Savage is a guy I know. He’s great. I’ve seen him at races and I’ve run a few of the events he directs. In fact, I finished my 50sub4 quest with two of his events.
For the last few years he’s put on the Savage Seven race series in Ocala, Florida. It’s a daily race challenge that starts on December 26th and goes through New Year’s Day. In 2013, I signed up for one day of the series but was injured and had to eat the $100 registration fee.
But this year is the seventh annual event. Seven years. Seven Marathons. Seven Days. It seems like fate is knocking on the door and wants me to answer.
The big warning flags on the series are that it’d be seven days of 3 hour round trips from my house to the race site in Ocala, and there’d be turnpike fees every single time. And of course on top of that is the fact that it would be another 7 marathons. Hmmm….
I’m particularly taken with the fact that Chuck operates such a small team of runners and volunteers that errors like this slip through. As a guy who recently ordered his own swag with a small color mismatch because I forgot to check Newfoundland, mistakes happen. But I also like to think this isn’t a mistake, that Chuck and his crew have traveled back in time to paradoxically end the series before it even starts. The Savage Seven — 2105 – 2016.
Yesterday I was all about the temptation of the Philadelphia Marathon. I haven’t heard back from the race director regarding my “that guy” request for special treatment in obtaining a race day bib pickup. As a result, I’ve booked a Southwest flight back home from the Mainly Marathon series and currently it does NOT go through Philadelphia.
Cooler heads prevailing? Not if I’m about to sign up for another seven day series. But it seems like a good way to close out 2016 and start 2017. Or maybe to finish up 2106 and being 2017. Either way it’s six races in one year and one in the new. Temptation has a new name… and it’s going to be savage.