Pixie Tough

Unless you're a sports news reader, or married to someone who is, you probably didn't know that a few weeks ago, a wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns named Braylon Edwards, punched one of LeBron James's friends outside of a Cleveland nightclub. The very next day, Edwards was traded to the New York Jets and lots of people speculate that LeBron, who openly criticized Edwards for beating up on his lightweight friend, had something to do with it. I don't see how he could, but, if he did, he is one mighty powerful basketball player.

O.K. That was the boring, informational part. Here's the funny stuff. I had read the article (I skim a lot of news) but Jay listens to Dan Patrick's podcast and while we were driving to Albuquerque airport last Thursday, we were talking about this Edwards/LeBron/LeBron's friend-who-got-punched story. I guess LeBron called Edwards "childish" because his friend is described as small - only 135lbs. Critics of Edwards have compared Edwards hitting this "small" man to hitting a girl. Dan Patrick called the man a pixie.

Well....statistically....Jay is that guy.

We laughed and we laughed at the sports world emasculating all men everywhere that weigh in at a buck thirty five. I scolded him for quitting his blog, because, even though I'm doing a very, very poor job of writing it, I think it's the perfect story. I guarantee it would read a lot more funny if my sweet pixie was writing it.

So, LeBron, Edwards and Dan Patrick, he may not be NFL or NBA big, but my guy can outrun your guy! And, there is nothing wimpy about doing this:

Playing around with making a "J" on his chest out of tape. It didn't last. But, there is definitely a pre-race ritual that must be done the night before, including wrinkling up his race number and pinning it all one beforehand.

I couldn't find any posterboard at the CVS pharmacy down the street from our hotel, so I bought a cardboard box and some wrapping paper and made a two-sided sign. This was one side that was easy for Jay to read from far away.

At the starting line on race day.

The other side of the sign.

The race begins.

These guys aren't pixies! These are the elite racers and the winner finished the marathon in 2 hours 14 minutes and 4 seconds.

Here comes Jay not that far behind. This is at mile 9.


After he went by me. The race included a half-marathon and a marathon relay, so they wore signs on their backs indicating what type of racer they were. Also, you can see how the weather was that day. It was mostly ideal, with cool temperatures, very overcast and occasional sprinkling. But...it was also very windy. Jay said it seemed any direction he was going there was a head wind.

Here comes Jay at mile 26! They finished running down the outside of where the Baltimore Orioles play at Camden Yard.

What tough looks like.

Finished! He ran 26.2 miles in 3 hours eight minutes and 36 seconds. He finished in 68th place over all, including all the elite racers, and 5th in his age group of 35-39 y/o men. Crazy man is going to do it all over again at Boston next April because he qualified!

Hey may not be a large man, but he is the toughest guy I know. Way to go, Jay. You have officially impressed me:)