ERE Marching Meetup Series

[Dave]

@Smashter

Appreciate that. Sounds good.

@Scott 2

Ah, major bummer there. Hope the recovery goes as quick as can be hoped for!

Unfortunately I'll miss being able to participate in the next one by a couple days. If there is interest and availability, I'd like to be so bold to propose number 4 sometime during the weekend of January 6.

Still on board for this? @Jacob & I are both good for either 1/6 or 1/7, so your call on the day. I assume we'll shoot for ~18 miles still? I still prefer 8am if possible.

[theanimal]

Still on board for this? @Jacob & I are both good for either 1/6 or 1/7, so your call on the day. I assume we'll shoot for ~18 miles still? I still prefer 8am if possible.

You bet. Let’s do Saturday 1/6. I can do 8 AM and am up for 18 miles. Elk Grove? That’s also called Busse Woods, correct?

[Dave]

Sounds good.

Yep, Busse Woods. Location 27 on the official map (https://fpdcc.com/downloads/maps/trails ... p-9-16.pdf) is a good spot to meet.

The red loop is ~7 miles, so there will be a return to the cars intrawalk for a snack/gear change. Although depending on the distance we want to do, we might need to run something like the purple route out and back on each of the 2 loops (to hit 18-19 miles) so the loops may be closer to 9 miles. There are bathrooms along the way.

I'll bring some fruit for anyone who wants some.

We can be in touch as we get closer with regards to the weather to make sure everything is still favorable. Current forecast is 13% chance of precip, 25-35F.

[jacob]

I wrenched my back (not sure how) a few days ago. It's improving daily, but I'm not sure it'll be fully healed by Saturday, so I'm unfortunately only 50% likely on this.

The weather looks good. 36/29F cloudy. No rain.

[Dave]

ERE March #3 took place this morning. Chicagoland experienced modest snow accumulation overnight and into the morning, which caused a bit of reconfiguring as we tried to find a parking lot to the forest preserve that was open. I looked at 3 with no luck, but my cohikers found one that was open.

It was just 3 of us this time, @theanimal, mrsanimal, and me. We walked just over 14 miles with a decent pace. We started a little after 8AM ended a little after noon. The woods were covered in snow and beautiful. We saw 3 elk.

As with the other marches, I had a fantastic time and really enjoyed getting to know theanimals - incredibly inspiring and great people.

Looking out to the future, I will be in the area the weekends of March 2nd, 9th, & 16th (only available on the 16th itself that weekend) if anyone wanted to do another walk, either a <26m or the full 26m Bhattan Death March. I'm happy to do the Van Patten Woods option we discussed for the proposed walk back in December, but flexible with details.

[theanimal]

We had a great time as well! It was a real pleasure to meet @Dave in person and spend the morning walking and conversing with him. We mused that next time we should share a meal following the walk, per @whitebelt's suggestion.

[jacob]

Time to start thinking about registration iff you want to get the SWAG and/or support the event. Last year the SWAG included a t-shirt, a huge medal (participation award), and some engraved dog tags that just say Bataan Memorial March or something like that. You also get your results posted on the site like this https://bataanmemorialdeathmarch.itsyou ... px?id=6574

The virtual event runs from 20240316 to 20240323. According to the website, you need to register before 20240223 to get the package before the race, but they'll keep mailing them out until they run out. It's $60 which is more than I remember from last year.

Registration is a bit of a challenge. I had no end of trouble dealing with tech support. The thing is that you need to register for the VIRTUAL RACE (which has no divisions, so don't worry about that). And it is my understanding that this works best if done via the itsyourrace app on your phone, so don't register from the website and expect it to show up on your phone like I did (this was my problem, twice). Thus download the itsyourrace app and find bataan in there and register for the virtual race on your phone.

I figure the time is 3/16 at 8am (should finish around 3pm) and the place is either Fullersburg or Elk Grove. Alternatively, we can just walk a grid of blocks in my neighborhood. There's an area with [very likely clear] sidewalks, almost no traffic, where you can see all the way to the end of a 1 mile stretch for each link, up one street, down the next and so on. This makes it mentally easy (at least for me) to knock off the miles.

Please lmk before next friday who is in officially and who is tagging along.

[Smashter]

I won't be doing the official event this year, but I'm interested in joining for a few hours. That being the case, you (@jacob) should pick whatever location you prefer. If we end up pounding out bleak and repetitive urban miles instead of taking in the immense natural beauty of Fullersburg or Elk Grove, I am okay with that

[Dave]

I will join for the entire distance, but I will not be formally participating with the organization's event.

Like @Smashter, either location works for me. Maybe mixing it up and doing @jacob's neighborhood would be a good way to go this time around. Bang out miles in an easy environment and close to the house if we need to do anything there. Totally good by me.

[Scott 2]

This weekend's the big day, right? While I won't be there, I wanted to offer you guys a little encouragement. This is a serious feat of endurance. Get it done! Looking forward to the celebratory update.

[Dave]

@Scott 2

Yes sir. If you want to come just for a little stretch that would be great too, no pressure on distance - I know you're trying to heal up. Either way, appreciate the well wishes!

Final details for the march:

location: ERE HQ* area, urban walk style
time: 8AM Saturday 03/16 start time
distance: ~26 miles total, but come for as little or much as desired

Any other details relevant @jacob @Smasther? I'll bring fruit of some kind again, more this time.

*@jacob or I will PM details if anyone else is interested in joining

[Scott 2]

Appreciate it @Dave. Doctor says I'm lucky my foot didn't already break, so unless I get surgery, impact based activity is off the table. Still negotiating with her around walking, rucking, etc.

[Dave]

Oh man, didn't realize it was that severe. Totally understand. Hoping you have a speedy recovery!

[jacob]

I didn't sign up for the official virtual event, so we can pretty much go whatever distance we want. Since I'm out of shape and have a bum toe, I do not plan on carrying weight.

I'm figuring on a walking tour of the "ERE City chicagoland"-proposal.

The first part will cover most of the important infrastructure and give an idea of how close everything is to everything else. Followed by crisscrossing the residential housing stock of mostly Cicero and Berwyn. We'll pass a bunch of Little Free Libraries along the way, so bring any books you want to get rid off. I'm open to more exotic destinations in case you want to walk over to the airport or smell a refinery or water treatment plant up close.

The surface will be all good sidewalk. Elevation range is flat.

We'll continually circle back around EREHQ every 1-2 hours in case anyone wants to quit early or needs as restroom break.

[Smashter]

Looking forward to it!

I will bring my weight vest but I am undecided on using it. I'll make a game-time decision based on how my body's feeling and whether Dave decides to carry his dumbbells and inspire me.

[Dave]

I will bring my weight vest but I am undecided on using it. I'll make a game-time decision based on how my body's feeling and whether Dave decides to carry his dumbbells and inspire me.

Oh man, I feel called out here . I'm on the other side (no worries, no symptoms/contagious anymore), of a cold, shingles, just adjusted to 4 hour time zone change (+DST), and the baby has been teething and keeping us up, so I'm not quite up to the full challenge.

So I will not be bringing my dumbbells this time, shame on me. Goggins would judge .

[Smashter]

That’s a lot going on! I’m happy you’re still up for the walk at all. It’s honestly a relief to not have that (positive) peer pressure to ruck heavy this time, as I haven’t been doing that lately.

Ha, Goggins would happily do your dumbbells and my vest just to show it was possible. And he’d probably look askance at me for not biking down from Milwaukee at 3am and hitting the gym before the walk.

[Dave]

LOL we're really making a weak showing here aren't we?

And I mean, more in our world, @theanimal would be wearing babyanimal, doing diaper changes instead of water breaks, whereas DS is still cozy in bed asleep and I even bought a few sports drinks in addition to my DIY electrolyte water.

Sorry lot we are.

[Smashter]

Another fun marching meetup in the books! We did ~13 miles around Cicero at a very moderate pace. Instead of gritting out a tough workout, we all seemed to be aligned around wanting to take it easy. We had great chats about dealing with FOMO, developing self confidence, the nature of consciousness, and how much moral weight a shrimp has, amongst many other topics. We capped it off by relaxing and hydrating on camping chairs in the backyard, where I did my best to defend index investing against the strong arguments from two people who routinely beat the market

As a bonus, Dave and I went home with some home-canned beans straight from the kitchen of chef JLF. I had some with my lunch this morning and they were delicious.

[Dave]

Good times!

And agreed on the beans...very cool to eat beans crafted by the guy who inspired me to embrace legumes as a major staple! Delicious.