Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Running Through History

I was a very good student in school and while I did the work required for each class through my years of schooling, history was never one of those classes I got excited about. But now that I am older and so much wiser (ha ha), I have a much deeper appreciation for history. It could be that a certain teacher in high school scarred me for life with an essay project on the subjects listed in the song We Didn't Start the Fire, but I digress...

My new-found interest in history all started many years ago with a simple television show called Band of Brothers, the story of Easy Company and their battles in World War II Europe. I was just fascinated with the stories and started reading about WWII and found myself watching old WWII movies like Patton, Bridge on the River Kwai along with modern day tales like Inglorious Basterds.

Then I moved into a Civil War phase and it only deepened my interest in my own personal family history with the Civil War. My great x howmany grandfather and his brother were prisoners of war at Andersonville Prison (Camp Sumter) in Georgia. Both are buried in the Andersonville Prison Cemetery. What makes this story even more interesting is that of all of the graves in Andersonville Prison, there is one grave that differs from the rest-nearly 13,00 graves-and that would be the head stone of my ancestor, Corporal Lewis S. Tuttle, who died as a POW on November 30, 1864 . There is a white marble dove atop his marker and no one has ever solved the mystery as to WHY there is a dove

This is a picture of the dove and head stone, photo from NPS.gov

A couple years ago my parents made the trip down South and to visit Andersonville along with other historic Civil War sites through out the South.

This summer the mini-series Hatfields & McCoys came out on History Channel. I don't watch much television but being the geek I am, I watch several shows from THC and Discovery. When I saw the previews for this, I knew it was going to be DVR'd! I was familiar with the basic story about the decades long battle between the two families-the Hatfield and McCoy clans- that almost sparked a civil war between Kentucky and West Virginia. 



The movie was excellent and the story did not disappoint. I've actually watched this series two or three times. These people were flippin' crazy with hate for one another and I found myself reading about these batshitcrazy folks when I discovered there was an actual

HATFIELD & MCCOY MARATHON

...are you kidding me? I had to take out the list immediately and add this race to the "The List". This year it was run on June 9th and there is no date listed yet for 2013. If the 2012 date is any indication to when it is run, it will most likely be around the same time which is just after Quassy. How much punishment am I willing to put myself through? Quassy and then a marathon. In Kentucky and West Virginia?

A SHOTGUN start in the middle of the Food Mart parking lot? yes, please!
(here's a little video of Jeremy doing his first half marathon at the H&MM, pretty funny)




oh, wait. You mean, it gets even better than that?

Yes, it does. My friend Connolly sent me this link the the World's 15 Toughest Marathons
Well that pretty much sealed the deal and you can bet that THIS Yankee will be bringin' her butt down south to run this in the near future!

Another gem on there is the Blue Ridge Marathon (also on said list). Check it out.

Is there a Marathon there that you want to do someday?
Have you done any of the Marathons listed?
Is there an interesting race on your "list" of must do's?
Let's hear it!


12 comments:

Connelly said...

Bucket List - Great Wall Marathon!!!!

Unknown said...

I was there scouting a show last year the day they were running the marathon and drove the course while the last racers were still on the road. It is a BEAUTIFUL race. Yes, there is one pretty big ass hill but it was a really well supported race considering there were only 500 runners. Also, if you place in your age group you get a trophy that looks like a moonshine jar!

Frickin' Fabulous at 40 said...

Crap. I thought you were going to say you found out what the dove symbolized! My dream is NYC. Kathy at Got To Keep Running Long here on Blogspot has run Big Sur and I think Lake Tahoe, also. She's a marathon maniac. Another later-in-life runner!

Unknown said...

Well Angela, if I can get a MOONSHINE AG award, I might have to head down early and train.
TOTAL MOTIVATION to place in my AG!!

HD said...

I just read that article yesterday, I totally knew where you were going with this post :) Hope you can get down to run it!!

Missy said...

I have always wanted to run Big Sur marathon.
Doing Rim to Rim to Rim at the Grand Canyon isn't a race but a big goal I want to tackle in the future.
I have an ever growing list of things I want to try ;-)

Scott said...

I love history also..just wish I had more time to read rather than watch the history channel. No - there is no marathon I want to do.. I hate running. lol Next big adventure after 140.6 will be an adventure race..Rev 3 Wyoming maybe?

ajh said...

My want to do marathon is MDI. THere is also one in Ireland I want to do. THis marathon does sound perfect for you - very fun.
So where do you live? Which ride is your regular route that I did? You certainly live in a beautiful area. I'd love to bike with you some day.

Unknown said...

It does sound like a nice race and Angela said there was a great vibe to it.

Suz and Allan said...

WWII is one of the most fascinating periods in history to me. That's so interesting about your ancestor!

Erin said...

My coach ran the Pike's Peak Marathon & said "NEVER AGAIN!!" She said the worst part wasn't going up, it was going down. She said that's when most of the runners' broken bones happened. OUCH!!

The hardest marathon I've done so far was the Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage, AK in 2005. It poured rain the whole day & the temps went from mid 50's down to the low 30s. About 9 miles of the race are unpaved, on the muddy & rocky old tanker trails through the mountains & forest. Don't even get me started on the billions of mosquitoes in the forest. We called that section "the trail of tears". It was, however, quite beautiful.

Karen said...

I am fascinated by history too. England, WWII, Civil War. Can't get enough... Hatfield and McCoy is definitely on my list!