1969 Mets

 "There are only two seasons - winter and Baseball" - Bill Veeck  

It's odd, but the older I get, the more that I fall into that two season theory.  For me, during the season, even if I am not actively watching a game, it's always on in the background either on TV or the radio.  It's comforting and I suspect it draws me back to many nice memories from growing up.

It's hard to believe it was 45 years ago this month when my grandfather took me to Shea Stadium to see my first MLB game - NY Mets vs. Montreal Expos.  Little did we know that that year would be the year of the 1969 Miracle Mets.  You see, Grandpa was a Mets fan therefore I was a Mets fan - no questions asked, good enough for Grandpa, good enough for me.

I still recall the distinctive voices of the Met's announcers - Ralph Kiner, Lindsey Nelson - TV, radio, if it was summer time, their voices were coming through.  Great memories.  Awhile back I came across the 1969 NY Mets schedule and recently took a good look at it.

Quite a difference compared to baseball today:

- About half of the games, were day games!  Over 70 day games in the season.

- 14 scheduled doubleheaders, both daytime doubleheaders and twilight doubleheaders.  Nowadays true doubleheaders rarely occur and if a "doubleheader" does happen, it's most likely a rain make up and the stadium must empty between games.  No more two games for the price of one.

- 4 exhibition games during the season!

        May 8 vs. West Point Cadets
        May 19 vs. Memphis Blues (AA Minor League affiliate)
        July 7 vs NY Yankees ( Mayor's Trophy Game - way before interleague play)
        July 28 vs Tidewater Tides (AAA Minor League affiliate)

The game is still pretty much the same, 9 innings, 9 players on the field, 3 outs, 3 strikes, 4 balls, but a lot of the parameters have changed.  I'm still a fan and suspect I always will be, but I do miss the way the game used to be.

Number 47 - 2014 Georgia Marathon

For race number 47 I completed the Georgia Marathon.  The significance of this marathon for me, it was the first marathon since hurting my knee in Soldier Marathon.  So with knee brace strapped on I headed out about 4:30 AM to catch a Marta train (Atlanta's subway system) down to Centennial Olympic Park.

Upon exiting the train at the Peachtree Center Station I pretty much followed the crowd to get to the park.  Still dark but it didn't matter - much activity going on.  Actually it seemed quite festive.

Not a typical pre-race

Lots of people, the guy on the P.A. said there were over 13,000 people signed up for the marathon, half marathon , and 5K.  I think he also said 42 states and 22 countries were represented.  Big crowd.  They had 14 corrals (A-N) and since these are in finish time increasing estimate order, me, being a walker, was assigned to corral M.  When I got to corral M, noticed a sign that said "1/4 Mile" which meant a quarter of a mile worth of people would start this race before me : )

It took about 12 minutes for my corral to get to the starting line once the race started.  And we were off.  It was crazy crowded at first but after a mile or so was just crowded.   At mile 7 the marathon route split from the half marathon and it really thinned out for the duration of the race.

I really did like this course in regards to what you see on it - it was a great tour of the City of Atlanta.  Sure, I had driven many of these roads before but there is so much missed from a car.  The finisher's medal ribbon included many of the major spots the course went through:

The Carter Center

Centennial Olympic Park

CNN

The King Center - Ebenzer Baptist Church

Little Five Points

The house from "Driving Miss Daisy"

Piedmont Park

Inman Park

City of Decatur

Agnes Scott College

Emory University

Georgia Tech

Bobby Dodd Stadium

Old Fourth Ward

...

Really enjoyed this course!

The marathon had a 6:30 time limit so it was my goal to walk the entire course under that and I did.  I was happy with the outcome.  At this point I'm not sure I'll do it again though (never say never).   I much prefer the half marathon distance so maybe next time I'll do the 13.1 mile instead.  We'll see - have plenty of time to decide.

As usual the last few miles were the toughest - thighs screaming, feet screaming,...  Yeah, I was ready for it to be over!  So after about 108,000 steps I crossed the finish line, got a bottle of water, chocolate milk, post race food bag and stretched for awhile.  After that was the anti-climatic walk back to the Marta station.  Made it to Marta waited a few minutes and caught a train.  Luckily the train was not too crowded - was able to find a seat and relax.  So I'm on the train, not sleeping but eyes more or less shut and we go a few stations - people getting off, coming on.  When I opened my eyes, thought I was hallucinating...

marathon induced hallucinations!

Number 46 - 2014 Thrill in the Hills 21K

This morning, for number 46, I walked the Thrill in the Hills 21K (half marathon) trail race.  Fourth year in a row doing this race - it doesn't get easier - if anything it gets harder, or at least seems that way.  The good news though, knee still holding up fine since switching to walking exclusively - no pain at all.  I was a bit concerned about this as the knee was stiff all week - not sure why.

The venue for the race is Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, GA.  This year they capped the race (21K & 42K) at 575.  With parking close by at a premium and with the amount of cars required to get 575 people there, thought it would be best to get there early so I was out the door just before 6:00 AM.

Once again I was treated to some nice sunrise views/reflections upon arrival:

Sunrise at Fort Yargo

This was just behind where race check-in took place so after taking this headed over to pick my race bib & shirt.  Was pleased to receive a long sleeve technical shirt this year - have way too many short sleeve from doing these races.  Looks like they came up with a new slogan on the shirt:

"More chills, spills, thrills, hills.  I live for this!"  I'm not so sure I live for this but I suspect some who do these type races do - I'm just happy to have another long sleeve technical shirt  : )

The 42Kers started at 8:00 and the 21Kers at 8:30.  This did make sense as getting 575 people into the woods on a single track at the same exact time would be a real mess. So just prior to 8:30 made my way to the back of the pack of the 21Kers and waited for the start.  Temperature was in the low 40s.

They thinned us out on the road prior to hitting the woods so by the time I got to the woods, not many others around.  As far as trail races go, this one is not too bad, in regards to rocks, roots, and such.  Don't get me wrong , those elements did exist but relative to other trail races I've done, this one is not too bad.  This next picture is probably pretty typical for the rock/root sections:

 However, there was a lot of pine straw (pine straw can = slippery for footing) on the trail.  I lost my footing once but luckily arms went out quick enough prior to doing a face plant.

I am pretty sore right now from the race in general, suspect even more so tomorrow morning.  It's to be expected though - a little stretching and in a few days it'll be fine.  I think trail races are tougher on the body because unlike a road race where for the most part you are go in a straight line on (mostly) even terrain on trails almost every step has to be somewhat calculated.  The rocks, roots, gullies, pine straw, puddles, leaves all have to be considered before you put your next step down.  The by-product of this, you are hardly ever going in a straight line on an even surface.  So you do find your body contorting almost constantly - using muscles maybe not used so much.  But, this is actually part of the allure of doing trail races.  It is fun.

The one thing that stood out more than anything on the trail was the size of this burl around mile 5:

Burl!!!

Now I have gotten away from turning wood on my lathe, but if I could get some of this burl wood...  I'm sure it must have incredible wood grain patterns.  Maybe someday...

It was a good race I'm glad I got to do it again.