Running on Turkey, Tri-ing Harder, and Handicap Parking

Many of you have been asking yourself how I did during the 2009 Atlanta Marathon. What??? You haven’t been asking!? Well start damn it. I have kids to feed! Ok so I don’t have kids...but my dog needs to eat!

Ok calmed down and ready to go. The Atlanta Marathon went ok. Just ok. Sherman steamrolled the South at the end of the Civil War but I think he kind of mailed it in when he got to Atlanta. There are way too many hills. Each time I ran a hill and turned the corner another hill was right there waiting. But the last hill was fun because at the bottom you can see the Olympic Rings (1996) and you know the finish line is on the other side of that hill so you have to run. Along the way I met some interesting people including Sam (guy in the red shirt) who was the loudest person out on the course...scary considering my track record. And who can forget Samantha, our friendly course elf. Overall the race was 26.2 miles worth of well deserved Turkey. And yes that’s a turkey hat on my head. I’m not proud, but not surprisingly the same hat made a few appearances at your area Wal-Mart.


Need a goal to get you motivated? Well I need one and today I took the leap of faith and signed up for the 2010 Nation’s Triathlon coming next September. Now if I can just make it between now and then. I just completed my 19th marathon in 9 years but I have never taken on a triathlon before. Now I need to start training and figure out a few “sprint” (shorter distance) tri’s to get some experience. Let’s get it on.

Finally we go from something that may cause me to walk funny for a while to something that people have to deal with everyday, Handicap Parking. Here in DC, if you have a handicap plate or handicap “tag” for your car you can park free of charge at any metered spot in the city. Free of charge??? Yep. But it got me wondering, especially after seeing at least 8 cars in a one city block with the tags, if these people are really “handicap” or just know somebody at the DMV. I have no problem with the concept of free parking in any legal space for handicap drivers, in fact I think it’s a great benefit afforded them especially after you consider how much money they might have to spend for other basic necessities that we take for granted. But I have been looking at the expiration dates on many of these window tags and noticed that it’s not just good for a few weeks or a few months but rather a few years. A few years???? If the person needs a temporary tag because they are recovering from an injury fine....but a tag that lasts for longer is a complete joke of the system. If you are permanently handicapped you need to have handicap license plates on your car otherwise you open the door to (what I suspect is happening here) fraud and loss of city income. What is so hard about issuing a 3 month tag. If the person who gets the tag can prove (with a doctor’s letter) that they will need more time they can get an extension. If that same doctor’s note says this is a permanent condition then they can apply for new license plates. It’s just that simple. The tag is not meant to be transferred from car to car whenever the driver feels like it. Also it’s not meant for passengers. If you are a handicapped passenger, the driver should pull up to the entrance where you’re going and drop you off! You lazy #$!@#$@#$’s are screwing it up for the rest of us.

Good Day.