The last day! As I post this the crew is trying to navigate the Boston Marathon route with a police escort. The only problem with that is that almost all of the colleges in Boston are having graduation today! The Red Sox are playing and Game 7 of the Celtics vs Cavaliers is at 3:30! Bring it on!

Hey the weather is beautiful!

TREK 2008 is a determined bunch and the plan is to cross the Boston Marathon Finish Line around 4pm today!

TREK USA New England Relay

Update #3

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Everything I Ever Needed to Know…

I Learned During TREK

I highly recommend participating in a TREK USA event.  We need runners, cyclists, swimmers, support people, drivers, navigators, sandwich makers, folks with big, fat wallets who like paying for stuff, a bungee expert, tour guide, cruise director, landscape architect (OK, that’s for my house if you know anybody)…

For those of you who haven’t yet TREKed, here are some things I’ve learned this year, so far:

Love, don’t hate:

The world can be divided into two types of folks.  Those people who love black licorice and those who hate the people who love black licorice.  Actually, it is just called licorice.  Black is redundant.  Red is not licorice.  It is just another goody.  But please, don’t hate me; love me.  It’s not like I’m a criminal!  It’s only candy!  By the way, people feel the same way about fishing and fishermen.

Crew: trust your Captain:

Captain Ron Kramer is our fearless leader. He so animated that he makes Fred Flintstone look like Michael Dukakis at a yoga retreat in a coma on a valium drip .  He has a great combination of fatherly/brotherly/friendly-ness that is as warm and comfortable as a favorite old pair of slippers.  He plans for us, takes care of us, looks out for us.  He has mapped out and figured out every detail of this adventure with the precision of a Moyhel performing at a briss for quadruplet newborns 10 minutes before sundown on Sabbath Eve.  Last night he was lying in the middle of the highway with a sextent, two protractors, an elephant rifle, one of those extendable golf ball retrievers, two rocks from a water fountain-scape, some silicone and a B-flat wind chime.  I know the New England states are shaped funny, but I’ve seen a ‘Welcome to Massachusetts’ (thank heaven for spell checker) sign so many times that I think 22 states are named that.  If they have to change all these signs every time a new Mayor is elected, there is no chance they will ever have a balanced budget!  Captain Ron is a great leader, but I keep thinking that the last time a Jew navigated a trip like this, we ended up roaming the desert for 40 years.  Sometimes I think we’ve been running for that long.  But Moses had nothing on the Captain – he has us in RVs.  With potties.  And potties are good.

Embrace Vices:

I’m not naive enough to think that I’m the only one in the world with no vices, but I keep looking around and so far, I’m all alone.  On this trip, I’ve calculated that the most common vice among people is….potato chips.  That’s right, people will do anything for a good, foo-foo gourmet potato chip.  In our group, the favorite flavor rankings are as follows:

10. Dill pickle 9. Jalapeno & Aged Cheddar 8. Sweet Maui Onion 7. Plain 6. Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper 5. Buffalo Bleu 4. Mesquite BBQ 3. Robust Russet 2. Cheddar Jack & Sour Cream 1. Salt & Vinegar.  It isn’t even close.  I like Salt & Vinegar just like the next guy; but you show a bag of those things to a runner from New England and their eyes roll back in their head.  I am convinced that these spontaneous feats of human performance where the 86 pound lass clean and jerks a 1,200 pound telephone pole off her stuck cat’s paw was done because someone offered her a bag of Cape Cod Salt & Vinegar chips and she had get the job done fast so nobody would eat ‘em all.

Religion, Politics and Right to lifers:

After much discussion with all kinds of people on these topics, I have come to the conclusion that you and I are the only two people with the exactly correct views.  They are reasonable, fair, and prudent and after much thought I have absolutely no idea how anyone could think differently than us.  As my dear Buddhist, non-smoking, tea totaller friend Stephie (or Stephy, depending on her mood) says, “That’s enough about that, dude”.

Be careful what you wish for:

After reading my last update, my brother Jason reminded me that he has LIVED the dream.  Or the nightmare, depending on how you look at it.  A couple of years ago, he was zooming downhill on his bike when a car pulled out of a store parking lot in front of him.  He hit the side of the car, flew over the handlebars, landed on his head and shoulder, and into the path of an oncoming car.  It screeched to a stop just in time to save him from a really dirty, bloody mess.  Drat!  I was in line to inherit his LP collection.  Oh, well.  Anyway, helmet smashed, bike mangled, lycra Silver Surfer Underoos (maybe that’s too much detail) with new airholes where no man wants them, he spent some time in the hospital.  So today I was thinking about that story.  It was while I was stopped and patiently waiting for a break in the traffic to cross at a rotary.  I was thinking whether or not I should pause my watch while I waited.  My decision was to just let it keep running.  I figure if I focus on my time, there is a better chance that the only purpose of the watch would be to tell the morgue my PAI (pace at impact).  I hear them now…, “Boy, he was really cookin’ when that dump truck threw him 200 feet!”

Maybe I’m not a ‘math’ person:

***IRS Agents please skip this section***

Yesterday we split the mileage total of 151 between two teams evenly.  My team was assigned the 83 mile half, the other team was assigned the 68 mile half.  Hmmm.  I think I’m going to need my accountant to help me figure that one out.  I’m sure Howard can find a way to not only make those two numbers equal, he’ll figure out how to write off this whole experience as a business expense.

Informal, Impromptu New England Superlatives:

The NE state whose people treat runners and bikers the worst and yell, “Get off the road, loser!”…Vermont (OK, those were my relatives yelling, but we WERE in VT)

The NE state whose people treat runners and bikers the best, “Get off the road, buddy!”…New Hampshire.

The NE state most likely to produce rain and wind during a run…wherever Anne Marie is running at the time.

The NE state that apparently forgot to budget for road paving…Massachusetts

The NE state that over budgeted for spray paint and used it to mark every possible buried power, water, and sewer line; where signs are now, where they used to be, where they should be, where they might go, where they might be thinking of perhaps someday maybe deciding if they should get a committee together to vote on the possibility of going to place something, etc….Massachusetts

The NE state that is most full of itself in promoting THEIR blueberries, potatoes, lakes, beaches, mountains, seacoast, I could go on all day (they sure do)…Maine

The NE state that nobody knows actually exists, but is really beautiful…Rhode Island

It’s heads, you lose:

I’ve been running and biking for a long time and have heard many wonderful stories and tales.  My favorite is the fable about the mysterious, elusive tailwind.  I never have a tailwind.  I mean NEVER.  EVER.  It’s like the Loch Ness Monster for me.  Yesterday I ran to the top of a hill in a stiff headwind.  As a test, I turned around to see what it would feel like to have a downhill with a strong wind behind me.  The second I did so, like the coming of Elijah, the wind changed direction.  Simultaneously, the hill changed elevation faster than my daughter changes her decision as to which shirt to wear to school each day.  Example:  should I wear the Hollister white shirt or the Hollister blue shirt?  Or maybe the Hollister orange shirt.  Or the Hollister yellow…I think you get the point.  Maybe it’s just me.  With my luck, I can only imagine what’s next…midnight swim in shark-infested water-triathlon TREK?

Know thyself:

There I was, randomly drawing the miles that included running up and over the Borne Bridge in Massachusetts.  I start powering up the narrow walkway on the side.  Running inches from the traffic moving faster than my brother with his FOP sticker bringing a minivan full of girls to Ben & Jerry’s on Free Cone Day.   Arms pumping, quads burning, lungs on fire, I keep pushing hard to get to the top.  While thinking of how wonderful the downhill side will be, the wind, of course, kicks up.  I look up and change my focus to what the wind is going to blow me into when I realize that I forgot one small detail before starting this run.

I am scared of heights.

Yes, I know, I am a pilot, but I am scared of roofs, ladders, balconies, and most of all bridges.  When I was a kid, we would drive to my Dad’s store in Brooklyn over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Brooklyn, NY.  He would ask if I wanted to go on the top or bottom level.  I would consider that the top had less railing which was contusive to easier falling, but it did give more time to get out of the car and save my life.  I really would pour over this decision until Dad just picked one, shaking his head at me.  I don’t think I ever could choose even though since the bridge opened in 1964, not car one has gone over into the drink.  It didn’t quash my fears.

Back to Bourne…I look up and see that we are high.  Very high.  Very, very high.  Looking DOWN at G-d high and I start shaking.  I am so unsettled that the people going by wonder what type of neurological condition I am strickened with.  Ha!  The joke’s on them.  I am a mental case, not a physical one!  I know that there is no turning back and convince myself to lower my head and power onward.  The good news is that I started finding coins on the walkway.  I guess unfulfilled wishes from passing motorists trying to get them down into the water.  Well, I hope their wish was that some slow runner would pick their coins up and buy Maple Candy with them because…BINGO!

So, we trudge on into our last day, Sunday’s running of the Boston Marathon Course to our end in downtown Beantown.  While I am finishing up my last legs, my beautiful and talented wife, Martha is competing in her first Olympic Distance Triathlon.  So, while I bike, she bikes; while I run, she runs.  We’re married over 15 years, that’s as close to keeping up with her that I’ve ever been.

I’ve gotta run now, but please consider this, my last request to you, for a donation.  So many people have already done so.  A lot have given over and over numerous times!

Click the following link to help

http://www.active.com/donate/trekusa/larryherman

The trip, the people we’ve met, the other members of the team have made this an experience that words cannot properly describe.  However; the most inspirational part of this TREK for me has been the kindness of everyone who has told me how proud they are of us or how much they enjoy reading my tales from the road.

See you on the road,

Larry

Vermont TREK supporter!

While we are trekking the students from Students Run Philly Style are trekking along with us and fund raising for as well. Here are a few pictures of them in action!

Sarah Nixon showing her great form on a beautiful country road

Support Debbie Sheehan gets an up close look at the awesome Queechie Gorge in Woodstock, VT

Bob Ell bearing sown on another stretch of road.

Larry runs past the childhood home of his wife, Martha, in Rutland, VT. Go Red Raiders!

Captain Ron arranged for the use of one of his cars from his youth as a support vehicle.

Team Meeting

During the day to day miles of the TREK USA event, we understandably focus a great deal of attention on athletes who are running and biking hundreds of miles per day. They have tuned their bodies through commitment, perseverance and many hours of training. That is what athletes do.

But during yesterday’s TREK Team meeting in the hotel lobby, it once again occurred to me the most admirable character these amazing people possess.

They are amazing not because they are different from those who may never consider running 10 miles, biking 20 miles and then running another 5, only to get up and do it again day after day. They are amazing because they are exactly the same as the people who never will.

They have jobs. They have families. They have physical limitations, emotions and stress. They have dreams and they have disappointments. They are just like everyone else.

The defining difference is that my TREK teammates don’t endure life, they pursue it with a youthful hunger and an eager vengeance. There is no reason at all to run across a thousand miles unless you are willing to stand up and say there is. You will never hear them utter the defeatist creed “Thank god it’s Friday.” Not in this group. They are powered by a childlike optimism that refuses to fade not by luck but by desire.

To all my fellow parents out there, I am now heading out in the pre-dawn grey to meet my teammates far another day’s journey. I know my children possess this wonderful hunger for life that is a requirement of TREK, and I sincerely wish for your children that they will grow to possess it too.

ROCK ON!
Billy the Coach

Billy Sheehan, Managing Director
The DMSE Children’s Fitness Foundation
PO Box 752
North Andover, MA 01845
Tel: 978-689-0957
www.dmsefoundation.org