The Race That Eats Its Young: The Second Running of The Marble Arch Marathons

After a one year hiatus, Thursday at #DashWIB, we ran the 2nd Marble Arch Marathons.  At the inaugural event back in May 2017, 10 #DashPax attempted and 0 finished, although @Zima and @RustBucket came close but just barely missed the 45 minute time cutoff.

The Thang

Think of this as a much abbreviated version of the Barkley Marathons, the sadistic race in East Tennessee which is made up of 5 loops of 26ish miles and 20K feet of elevation gain per loop.  On Thursday, we attempted to run 5 loops (or 3 loops for a #FunRun) of Marble Arch Road.  Each loop is 0.83 miles and 61.6 feet of elevation gain.  At each intersection, we stopped and performed 10 perfect form reps OYO of the called exercise:

Stop 1:  Merkins

Stop 2:  Alternating Side Lunges (each leg, so 1, 1, 2, 2, etc)

Stop 3:  Russian Twists (each side, so 1, 1, 2, 2, etc)

Stop 4:  Burpees

Stop 5:  Lunges (each leg, so 1, 1, 2, 2, etc)

Stop 6:  Elbow Plank Jacks

First loop was clockwise.  Second loop was counterclockwise.  Third loop was clockwise.  Fourth loop was counterclockwise.  On the fifth loop, the leader aka @LitterBox chose the direction and then the PAX alternated directions.

3 completed loops within 45 minutes = #FunRun

5 completed loops within 45 minutes = #Finisher

Virtual conch blew at 0525.  Virtual cigarette was lit at 0530.  5061 Marble Arch Road at the NW corner of Marble Arch and Cedar Trail (aka #TheTopOfTheD).

NMM

This strong group of #HIM destroyed the race today as we had 6(!) finishers and 12 fun runners with a bunch of those actually getting in 4+ laps.  Lots of #ISI out there this morning and pulling and pushing.  Conditions were nearly perfect at 42 degrees with light rain/drizzle/mist.

Our 6 finishers were:  @LitterBox, @Vig, @Zima, @Huckleberry, @Greenspan and @Offsides.  Strong work gentlemen!  We will have to make next year’s version a bit tougher.

And, as expected my neighbor across the street aka @GladysKravitz sent me this text this morning:  “Was that your exercise group flash mob at 5:30 this morning? :-)”.  I think he was impressed with our studliness.

Special Tclaps to @Zima and @Spamalot who also #RIROd to this silliness.  #CSAUP.  There may have been other #RIROers.  Sound off in comments if so.

This was a fun morning, boys.  Not gonna lie, launching from my front yard was pretty sweet.  And watching you guys kill it was even sweeter.

Your friend,

Starfish