the ark of mark

There’s an episode of The Simpsons when Krusty the Clown interacts with a previously unknown child.  Krusty warns the child not to get too attached to him, because “I’m not the kind of Dad who, you know, says things, or does stuff, or looks at you.”

This doesn’t apply to me as a dad, but sadly it does apply to me as a person more than it should.  I’m just not the kind of guy who says much or does many things.  At least not “things” that most people would find entertaining (e.g. going places).

I just think many places are just not worth the trouble of going there.  Not an attitude that leads to much adventure, I’ll confess.  It’s a personal failing.  So it is all the more remarkable that this week I did something that was almost purely social.  And I was sort of the ringleader.  It all happened so fast.

I am fortunate to work in a building that has a locker room.  Several of us take advantage of this by running during our lunch hour.  On any given day you’ll see anywhere from three to ten people out for a run.  I’ve been part of this informal group for going on ten years.  These are my friends.  Considering how little “stuff” I do in general, hanging out with these guys and gals (separate locker rooms!) comprises a large percentage of my social time.

Some of these guys used to get together once a year to run downtown, buy a hot dog and an ice cream, eat, and run back to work.  Oh, how they love talking about that tradition.  A tradition, mind you, that I had seen no part of in the nine plus years of hanging around them.  My feeling is that a robust tradition requires activity more than once a decade (excepting I suppose those seventeen-year cicadas).

Maybe a little jealous that I’d never gotten to participate, I fired off an email inviting all the runners I knew at work to join me in a “Hot Dog Challenge” run.  I figured a few of us would rekindle the tradition.  We’d run two miles downtown, eat two hot dogs and a milkshake, and run back.

Well.

TWENTY-SIX people signed up including some who heard of the event second-hand.  Yikes.  This was a bona fide event.  As Michael Scott suggested on The Office, we should’ve asked YouTube to come down and film it.  Makes me wonder how many people we’d get if we doubled the distance and raised the bar to four hot dogs.

Here are most of us before starting our run.  Aren’t they a happy bunch?

In twenty-four years of running, here are the first pictures I have ever taken while actually running:

We even encountered unexpected fans along the route.  My guess is these ladies either really love or really hate their jobs.  I just can’t see a middle ground:

Here’s what we ate.  Well, two of these PLUS the milkshake.  Avert your eyes ye faint of heart!

Thankfully, everybody made it back safe and sound and nobody needed to flag down this passing vehicle:

or assume this position: