Past Blue Monkey Events (Reports, or excuses)
WSU 100k -- First weekend in April, 2005
Blue Monkey Review
We ended up with 3 teams -- a fast team and two fun teams. The fast team finished 3rd in the open category, fetching us a white ribbon for the Blue Monkey trophy case. You can find the pictures here.
Blue Monkey Review
Wow! We more than made up for the Edge of Hell with our Blue Monkey turnout for the half marathon. 5 Blue Monkeys ran the race, and another 7 worked as volunteers.
The Runners:
Dave Dolezilek (Big Wave) -- first half marathon, averaged 8:20s.
Brian Fearn -- same average
Jerry Zabriskie -- Flew in from Chehalis. Race day was his 70th birthday.
Andy Watts -- Also came from western WA.
Sean Gettman -- Our resident ironman.
You can find the results here.
The Volunteers:
Brian Zabriskie -- Race Director.
Nancy Zabriskie -- Preregistration and traffic control.
Joey Zabriskie -- Tag Runner, from the finish line to the control van.
Bryan Thomson -- Parking Coordinator and Finish Line Scribe.
Mike Bryson -- Head Aid Station dude.
Cody Tews -- Aid Station dude.
Jason Dearien -- Aid Station dude.
All in a good race on a beautiful day.
Well, it may have been a fun race, but we will never know. The Blue Monkeys pitched a shutout and nobody attended. Well, let's not dwell on it.
Colfax Santa Trot (5K) -- 4 Dec 2004
Santa Trot 5K Fun Run/Walk & 1 Mile Kids' Run. Colfax High School. 10:00 a.m.
An excellent blue monkey turnout, with all of the following running:
Foo (always)
Jason Dearien (Confused Blue Monkey)
Gangrenous Blue Monkey
Bald Blue Monkey
Ann Mabbut (Flossing Blue Monkey)
Destry Henderson (Rides-Again Blue Monkey)
... and incredibly good weather. The forecast was for 10" of new snow by the morning of the race, but there was none, and little wind. The roads were bare and dry -- excellent for PRs, but alas, there were none of them either. Blue Monkeys placed 4th, 6th and 8th overall, and took home 4 ribbons. Best of all there were enough of us there that we had to answer the question "What are the Blue Monkeys?" quite a number of times, and we took home at least one new member.
Here's a picture of the Monkeys posing:
Foo didn't hear from anybody who wanted to run the relay, so he ran the marathon solo, botching it badly. He died at the 15 mile mark and crawled in from there, setting a PR (his worst marathon time ever). That's probably why he rated Tri-Cities Marathon at 2 blue monkeys. Bummer
Well, the bad news is that only two of the Blue Monkeys showed up (those with the happy Blue Monkey Faces next to their names). The good news is that those two Blue Monkeys finished first and second overall in the Clarkston Half Marathon. And Growler Blue Monkey had never run a Half before. This was a Seaport Striders event, but they do not have the results on their web page. Foo finished in 1:40:00, and Growler was within 2 minutes of that. Suffice it to say that no "fast" runners showed up that day. Also note that the excuses of those who did not make it are listed below.
Good and Bad Blue Monkeys:
Jason Dearien (Mullet Blue Monkey) - Tried to ramp up his mileage too fast. Got shin splints. Didn't make it.
Brian Zabriskie (Foo Blue Monkey) - Attended, yeah!
John Lawrence (Growler Blue Monkey) - Attended, yeah!
Cody Tews (Gangrenous Blue Monkey) - had better things to do.
Phil Grey - Hamstring problems.
Roy Moxley - Daughter got married, wasted his training for two months.
Also of note was the relay half marathon that took place that day also. Only one team showed up and so each member of that team took home a medal for finishing first. The legs break down to 4-5-4 miles. Easy. I think the Blue Monkeys should field a team here next year.