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Let's see... Personally, I did NOT want to do 35 miles in Forest Park. It's local and was cheap BUT there was a time constraint and I just wasn't sure I can do it. In terms of the 12 and 24 hour races, on the other hand, obviously there is no cutoff BUT, I have no real desire to do a timed race that's longer than 6 hours. Also, I knew there were gonna be there some ultra competitive runners and I didn't want the drame. On the other other hand, I truly want to do all the Germanic races offered by Stephen Weiss and www.uberendurancesports.com website. Well, all except Boulder Hill... And suddenly a winner emerges. So, I let my peeps know what I'm thinking. Jamey is in... What's a little drive to Pennsylvania. I think he also wants to do the Germanic races. The Freds have already done this race but they liked it so they were game. NICE!
Race day is here and we decided to stage out of my house. A little misunderstand occured when Jamey understood that Mikey will drive with his car, while Mikey understood that Jamey will drive with his car. I'm just the passenger here... And so, even tho Jamey got there first, he quickly left to get gas as his car was running on fumes.
And we were off... The drive was uneventful. I talked to Jamey and the Freds slept. We got to Pennsylvania and straight to the Cannstatter Volksfest Verein German Club for packet pickup and indoor plumbing. The place was closed but the Freds recognized it. Meanwhile, another decision. After pickup, do we leave the car here and get on the bus OR pickup and then drive to the park to hopefully look for a spot. None of us wanted to Covid bus at this point. So, we went inside for a quick pickup knowing we would drive down to the park and take our chances. The Freds told us there would be plenty of spots.
A little of stereotyping here, perhaps even a little racism but I could not help it. I have German friends. Hell, Mikey is German underneath it all. I've been to German people's houses but going into the German Club, for me at least, was weird. Here's a Jew, an Israelli one, going into a German Club that looks a little like a barracks or a "camp". Every turn I took, I expected to see a picture or a bust of Adolph. I'm happy to report there were none. Jamey felt a little the same or at least understood where I was coming from. The packet pickup was in the basement, Oh My God... The blond, blue eyes (Aryan) kid who gave me my stuff was very nice. Still, I was VERY happy to get out of there. I know it was a little racist but history was hard here if you know what I mean...
We drove to the park. I'm very nervous. Apart from the race thing, there's also the "will we find parking thing?"... We did. We parked and a woman parks near us. As we exit the car to get ready, I recognize that she has done an Ironman. I don't remember if it was a bumper sticker or a tattoo or a bag but for me it was a start of a conversation with Bristol Hartlage who is just awesome...
Did I mention Covid yet? NY is still reeling from it while Pennsylvania seemed not to have heard of it. They told us that the covid rules are these: Don't have to wear a mask while running but yes at aid stations and the start/finish. We tried to be respectful but you can tell who was from Pennsylvania and who was not. Those who are locals had no masks whatsoever. They also didn't know about social distancing and all that Jazz.
Oh well. Almost time to start and it was a mass start like the old days... We started. We ran. It was good. Someone had her phone playing music loudly. I yelled out, "Hey Siri, play next song". People laughed. The owner of the phone who was playing music that we didn't like thought it was funny. She laughed. She didn't turn the volume down or change songs tho. Still, she was cute so I guess it was ok...
Onwards... This is a 2 loop course for the full and one loop for the half. Jamey and I make friends. Mikey and Matet are behind. We run with a bunch of women who were awesome. We were joking around. Can't remember any names anymore tho. At the turn around, I recognized the place. It was the start of the Dirty German in Pennypack Park. I just love saying that name fast. I even confirmed it.
Mikey and Matet giving us the eye as we turned around. They were chasing us. We headed back with our friends. Unfortunatly they were all doing the half and so they left us. Jamey and I continue and who do we run into? Bristol... Did I mention that she was in the Navy or had just finished in the Navy? An officer too... Awesome conversation ensued. We ran.
Mikey and Matet finally joined us. We were having fun. It was good.
So, something did happen tho. Sometimes all the stars align to make a very very bad thing to maybe just bad... During our second loop, there were a group of seniors riding their bikes. They meet up all the time and ride together. Cool. We saw them taking a break and as usual, I joked around with them. We pushed on.
They were resting but at one point, they started again. They passed us. We joked again. We were not too far from the finish, perhaps 2ish miles.
The trail that we were on is very reminiscient of the green line at Alley Pond. It was blacktop and you are surrounded by trees. As we were going, we suddenly saw a fire truck and (I think they call it) a Gator. A lot of EMS people. Two of them were walking and one was carrying a supplemental Emergency Oxygen tank and he said something about that the AED shocked her.
That's when we saw the bikes. That's when we saw the riders. The same seniors that I was joking with. Turns out that one of them crashed. She had a heart attack and crashed. The one and only good thing here is that the race was going on. If you are ever going to have a heart attack in a park with no landmarks whatsoever, choose to do so in a park that's having a race with a ton of race marshalls carrying radios. A race with a Gator to transport volunteer EMS people. Make sure you crash right in front of a race marshall... That's what she did. The race marshall radioed the RD. The RD sent out a Gator with EMS equipped with an AED and Oxygen while also calling 911. She had volunteer EMS there in a hot minute and a firetruck within 2 minutes. She made it. I took a screen shot of what the RD had to say and put it in the images file.
I did see another cyclist later and I asked if what happened and if she will be ok and the guy was ugly about it. Idiot.
In any case, we continueed and finished. Back to the car, got Wendy's and drove home.
