Dan and Paula’s 50th State celebration at the Marthas Vineyard Marathon. Rarely in life do you meet people so devoted to offering kindness and grace to all, such is the case with Dan and Paula. I haven’t known them long, but they’re family to all that know them from the first meeting. It was my honor to share a little time with them for their achievement this weekend. As for the course, it’s in a beautiful part of the country but most of the course is bike paths too far from shore to see much other than McMansion “cottages.” Decent support though it could have used a few more portapotties, and calories were kind of hard to come by on the course, coupled with the logistical difficulties of getting here: fly, rent car, park car, take bus, take boat, take bus to start. I suspect I won’t be repeating this race, but it has the potential to be a very fast race in the right circumstances. Fun fact: directionality on the island is a bit different. East is Down-Island, West is Up-Island owing to their centuries as a shipping and whaling region.
