Great quotations, a couple of pictures, exhausted muscles

The Madison Street Marathon is now history. It is milestone moments such as these that call for great memorable words. Here are some we might choose from to commemorate this unprecedented event:

"Veni. Vidi. Vici."  (I came. I saw. I conquered.--Julius Caesar)
"Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." (David Farragut)
"This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." (Neil Armstrong)

"I'm tired. I think I'll go home now." (Forest Gump)

I think that last one sums it up. According to the phone applicationMapMyHike, which is astonishingly unreliable, we hiked 32.86 miles yesterday, beginning at 8:31 and ending at 10:30 or thereabouts, a 14-hour drudge. Ugh. Google maps claim it's only 27 miles. It's still a drudge.

And there must have been some continental plate shifts during the hike, because every time we reached the Alaska Way Viaduct (me, Wilson, and the kin), the application recorded a different elevation; same for the crest of the hill. Well, maybe someone was moving the convenience store at Madison and 17th around. Maybe that explains it.

The chart below shows six of the nine ascents we performed. (I saved the file and started a second one for the rest of the climbs, rather than risk loss of data by waiting too long. Trust me--Wilson and I did nine ascents.) The red line shows elevation and the time of each ascent. Some were longer than others for a number of reasons, including proselytizing.

During our first climb we were passing Seattle Academy, where a faux Cardinal was giving hugs to incoming students. All the Wilsonians wanted some of that, so we posed for a photo. Since the Academy has a main building across the street from my condo, we made a point of marching right past the classroom on each climb. That yielded results. There are students from the Academy who spend time in Africa. Some of them deflate soccer balls to fit as many in their luggage as possible, then re-inflate them when they get in-country. The One World Futbol got some attention.

The Cardinal at Seattle Academy.

Joe Colgan at the federal building.

On our second ascent I discovered it's hard to eat an apple, control a drippy nose by sniffing, and breathe at the same time. This is important and useful information. I took a mentholated losenge to dry up the schnoz. It was on that hike that we met Joe Colgan, an organizer of an on-going peace vigil at the Federal Building on Madison. Joe lost his 30-year-old son in Bagdad and wants the country to spend less time on war. The vigil is held every Tuesday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Joe liked the message about the One World Futbol and made a donation on the spot. On my way back down for the fourth climb I caught Joe just as they were folding their tents and noted that, since he bought at this particular time, he could opt to name one of the ten balls I'm taking to Ecuador.  Perhaps for his son. He was excited. I hope he follows up.







Climbing up that hill was a chore on the 4th ascent. Something definitely was not right. I guess a banana smoothie with OJ and cottage cheese isn't a sufficient way to start a Marathon.  I stopped into a favorite spot, the Mediterranean Kitchen Kabob House at Boren and Madison and ate some carbs via a Mezza tray: Baba ghanouj; labneh; tabouley; sahrah; falafel; tomatoes, cukes, olives and dolmathes. I was dragging and needed the break. Coco-Cola never tasted so wet.

Yum! I needed that.

On the fifth ascent, I was about to cross an intersection when a young man suddenly interjected a question about the marathon. Turns out he was a Somali. He didn't need any indoctrination on the value of the One World Futbol, because he had played with makeshift soccer balls as a young man. Abdirahman Kenan now studies environmental science in Seattle. He was not the only immigrant we met today who had used makeshift balls to play what is likely the world's most popular sport.

Abdirahman Kenan wanted to know!

By the time I got to ascent number 7 the lunch starch had kicked in, but I needed a boost, so we stopped at McDonald's for a medium fries and an obscene Strawberry milkshake with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry. God it was good.

It was dark for the eighth climb. The kids took a moment to rest at the Alaskan Way viaduct before heading up to the condo.

That's the big wheel in the background.

All right, that's enough. It was time for Wilson and me to have some private time together, so we tucked in the little ones for the night and did the ninth climb -- the victory lap -- without them. Then we cuddled up for the night. Just like old times.

They were told to behave while we did the Victory Lap. "Be quiet and no giggling!"

All right, so I should have shaved. Wilson didn't care. Who else matters? We were dragging it and I was too tired to hold a sharp object against my throat. Well, OK, it was I who was dragging it. One marathon is quite enough for me, thank you. (That's the kiddo, about 38 years ago, in the photo. He had Teddy. I have Wilson.)

It was a good day. With a 50 percent chance of rain, it only sprinkled. We got a lot more response than I've taken time to tell. If something comes of it, we'll let you know. Thanks for following along.

Love,
Robert
and Wilson

And the kin