Friday, May 2, 2014

The Blerch Came Back...But Not in a Bad Way

I got in! The waitlist for the newly added Saturday day of the Beat The Blerch race opened up a couple days ago and I got into the race.

So on September 20th, 2014 I will be running the Beat The Blerch. This is a 1/2 Marathon trail run on an out and back course. It is a flat course meaning it starts at about 100 ft, rises to about 300 ft and then you reverse that on the way back. In total there is 871 ft of up and down on the course. For around Seattle, this is fairly flat and I can't wait to see what the course is like in person. It has been hard to find anything close to resembling flat like Ottawa, Ontario where it can be stupidly flat.

Then on Sunday I will volunteer as a course official. Doing whatever to help keep participants on course and sporting my Blerch Shirt!

What has been very funny the past few days is that my youngest (6 yr old) saw me registering for the race and was all, "What is that? Who is that? What's a Blerch? Does he fly and kick you? Does he chase you?" To understand better in case you did not check out the other links here is The Blerch:
Image: http://www.beattheblerch.com/
That was funny and I kinda explained away the questions with misdirection, "Anyone for Scooby Doo?"

This morning, he knew I was going for a run when I dropped him off at school. His comment as he was going into school, "Dad, I hope you Beat the Blerch. Bye Dad, I love you." He is a cute kid.

Then when I picked him up from school, on the walk home he was all, "Dad did The Blerch chase you? Can he fly? Did you escape?"

I then tried to explain the concept of The Blerch. How it is like a little bad person sitting on your shoulder telling you to skip exercise and playing outside today. Instead sit inside, eat some chips, relax on the couch, and watch a movie. A movie is way better. Skip that playing outside in the sun today.

He did not get it.

So, I have had to explain multiple times that:
  • The Blerch is not real.
  • No he does not chase you for real.
  • Yes, I still run from him but it is an idea, like Mr. Invisible, his imaginary friend.
  • Yes, there might be people dressed like him and pretending at the race.
  • Dad is silly sometimes and does not make much sense to a 6 year old.
I previously posted about The Blerch:

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