When we were young.

When we were young, we used to run marathons.  Now we plan to drive them.

These videos are from the Gettysburg North/South marathon in 2011.

Which Route?

Dan: Once we agreed to drive cross country, Alan had to work on making plane reservations for his flight back home. Well, to do that, we had to determine exactly when we were leaving Harrisburg and when we'd be arriving in California. In order to that, we had to plot out our route. So I brought over a ten year old Rand McNally USA road atlas that I happened to have at home [I have hoarder tendencies] and we looked at our options. We've chosen a southern route, through Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas and New Mexico. This avoids potential weather conflicts on more northern routes. It also avoids potential relationship conflicts. I have family and many old friends in the Midwest, and while I really would love to spend some time in Alton and St. Louis, our tight schedule would make any kind of quality visit impossible. In addition, Alan would not know any of these family/friends of mine... and we’d both be anxious to get back on the road...and I can probably come up with a few more excuses for taking the more southern route. The fact is, however, that I’m really looking forward to seeing the sights in the Appalachian and coal regions on the first few days of our southern route. Ironically, Alan suggested those might be the best days to put “pedal to the metal” – I think he’s looking forward to getting out to the Western states. Oh well, conflict can be good, that’s how we grow.

Route planning

Alan writing:  While selecting our route, we have chosen not to visit the Grand Canyon.

Preparations

Dan: For about the 4th time in a week, someone had said to me "Driving across country sounds like so much fun." This time, it was Alan who said it. I told him it sounded like a real grind to me, and I was not looking forward to the trip. So Alan offered to drive with me and fly back home at the end of the trip. OK! Alan and I trained together a few years ago for my first marathon - that was a grind also. But for me the most rewarding part of that marathon experience was getting to know Alan better socially as we talked and ran for hours each week leading up to the race. At that time, we were just a couple of very ordinary guys in their early 50s sharing stories that, while probably pretty boring to everyone else, frankly kept us entertained as we pounded out the miles. Now we're in our mid-50s and it looks like we'll have another opportunity to swap boring stories while checking something else off our bucket lists. Now it sounds like fun.

First Post

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