Firing Up the Fossils

Well, it's almost MC (Madison-Chicago) 200 Relay Time. I'm checking the batteries on my headlamp and blinkie lights and gettin' ready to go. Our team, Fossils Velocity, is the only Grand Masters Team in the 119-team field. That means we're all over 50, but have to get our kicks by knocking off as many "kids" teams as we can. We've done quite well the past two years, and we definitely have an edge in terms of sponsorship. For the second year, we are sponsored by the Runner's Edge stores (Wilmette, Libertyville, Chicago-Andersonville). We are going to face heat, humidity and probably rain this year. We'll all be ready. Our team includes many well-known runners with Chicago-area ties: Melissa Savage, Tim Belton, Michael Roberts, Jim Raymond, Keith Holzmueller, Charlie Shahbazian, Ian Hines, Nancy Rollins, Keith Burns, Brian Norrick, Chris Nemeth and yours truly. Our goal for what really is just over 203 miles? Run the thing in under 24 hours. We shall see! Past Fossils not running this year because of injuries or travel conflicts are Terry Nicola, Vinny Finneran and Geoff Wilson. All three will cheer us along at various points on the course! We are a team of interchangeable parts -- indestructable! Fossils all. Yeah!