GONADS/RingRun--BackBlast.8/9/11--Tomato Liberation Front

Aye, we planted the ShovelFlag and set off on yet another (doomed) attempt to run the RingRun at Fellowship Pace (8:30-9:00/mile).

Moniteur (pace-setter)
Hitman (w/ Maizy)
Gris (w/ Elvis)
K Slide
Red Warrior
RoboCop
SixMike
Dredd
OBT (w/ Fenway)
Iron Mike (FNG)
Shamrock (FNG)
My Little Friend
Holtz
Glad Hander

The route: A shortened version of the 5-mile-plus run Nino and I dragged the faithful through on the second RingRun: Out the backside of the church and over to Sharon; up Sharon and across on QRE; left on Selwyn; right on Tranquil; right on Westfield, curving around back to QRW; left on QRW and up the backside of the Booty Loop; right on Hopedale; right on Providence and back to the church.

4.63 miles, according to my Garmin. SixMike, Dredd and I did it in 39:03, so our pace was 8:26; Moniteur, Robo and Iron Mike were ahead of us, so well under the target pace.

Spreadsheets from the Gloom:

_ Who's To Blame?: Moniteur blames RoboCop for the pace; RoboCop blames Moniteur. As the designated route-setter, this one's on Moniteur and what it tells us is that Moniteur can't be trusted to keep his inner gazelle reined in. Who wants to try this out next week?

_ The End of the Innocence: As we ran up QRW, past the former home of professional wrestling impresario Jim Crockett, SixMike told the tale of how he attended a party at the home sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s -- back when he was just ThreeMike -- and saw several of the good guys and bad guys whose exploits he followed so closely yukking it up together over beers. The scales fell from young ThreeMike's eyes as he realized, These guys don't actually hate each other. He ran home, tore up the letter to Santa he'd been working on all fall, threw out the basket full of candy left by the Easter Bunny and embarked on a life of cynicism and nihilism that could lead him to only one place: the backseat of a Ford Galaxy 500, a mullet and six-pack of Natty Light.

_ Tomato Season: Dredd has taken to biking to workouts on the cycling equivalent of MMOB's 1992 Lexus in an effort to shed some of the lbs he picked up during his recent sojourn among the Smart Set on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This morning, on his way to Christ Church, he detoured through Freedom Park and reported that not only do Humorless Tomatoes grow there on Mondays and Fridays (as the Faithful are already aware from dodging their yoga mats and water bottles during BHM and The Gauntlet) but on Tuesdays as well. Perhaps, as MMOB has suggested, the time is right to free the Tomatoes from the tyranny of Clipboard Toters and Repetition Counters. We hereby announce the formation of the Tomato Liberation Front and will be consulting with MMMOB (aka ChiaPet) about radical solutions aimed at freeing Tomatoes from Unnecessary Gear and Joyless Workouts.

OBT