Add another 116 to the total

I won’t bore you with too many details about my annual 8-hour ultra in Pittsfield on Saturday. Through sheer persistence of showing up each year, I entered 2018 as the all-time laps leader at Clapp Park (.3553 of a mile per lap) for the first five years of the race (see back of this year's race T-shirt). Add 116 laps to this total after a muddy and messy 2018 race (monsoon like rain at four hours). The second name on the list, race winner Greg Soutiea, who is a legitimately elite ultra runner, easily overcame me for the trivial pursuit statistic of most “Laps of Clapp,” as race director Benn Griffin calls it. I also earned my 200-mile medallion – again, an award that signifies my ability to stay alive and to be stubborn enough to drive to Pittsfield and do this thing every year. This was a “post-surgery” PR (seven laps more than last year); hey, we can make up our own rules, right? My sneakers may not dry out till September.