The race year started off on January 2nd with Melissa (sometimes referred to as the redhead) running the Retreat Repeat 8 hour ultra in Charleston, SC. After we arrived and got the tent set up, we went over to say hello to Tim Waz, who was timing the race. Melissa told him that this was her first ultra. Tim responded, “not until you run 26.3 it’s not.” Which is my pick for the quote of the year. Anyway, the redhead ended up running 35.7 miles and was the 2nd female finisher (12th overall).
February 27, I went with Ronald Vargas and Chad Frederick to Brooklet, GA. I was supposed to crew for them as they ran the 6 hour race at Farmdaze. They were both pretty much self-sufficient, so I enjoyed watching the race and drinking PBR’s. Chad was amazing to watch, he would run/walk a lap and eat a pulled pork sandwich at the end of each 1.2 mile loop. When they temporarily ran out of pulled pork, he ate a cheeseburger. And for his last loop, he ate a cheeseburger with pulled pork on top of the cheese. It was an amazing display of gastronomic endurance. Ronald ran a bit more competitively even though he was using it as a training run, and finished 5th overall in the 6 hour race. After Ronald and Chad’s six hours were done, we all learned to play Gaga Ball.
March 12-14, I did the Goggins 4x4x48 Challenge. That is running 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. It was nothing like I have ever done before. I started Friday afternoon at 4:00, running on the beach with Dennis Cullen, then had a few Guinnesses with Dennis. I ran through the night and Saturday afternoon while half conscious, laying on the floor watching television, Dennis came in at 3:30 and said he was taking me to run the next four. We started and finished at Club Seats (bar) and then had a few more Guinnesses. Melissa helped me get through the second night’s runs by riding along side me. She has no idea how much that helped. My last run was Sunday at noon, Dennis once again showed up and pulled me through my final 4, then after…Guinnesses. Do you see a pattern here with Dennis? My pace during the day, 7:50, in the dark, 8:30. It was much easier than I thought it would be.
During a run in April, my boy, Ronnie Maver told me that Hilton Head Prep needed a Cross Country coach. The next day, he sent an email to the Athletic Director on my behalf. A week or so later, after I finally got to talk with Erik (HHP AD), he told me that the position was going to be filled by a teacher who ran cross country in high school. Then he asked me if I would want to be her assistant. I responded that I didn’t think I could be her assistant. He asked why, and after I told him my credentials, he said that he would call me back the next day. Well, the next day’s call consisted of him offering me the position.
June 8th was the first day training session with my team at Hilton Head Prep. During the 12 summer training sessions that I was permitted, word got out about how “different” it would be to run for the “new coach”. Last year there were 39 runners between the boys and girls teams for both the middle school and the varsity. On August 2nd, the first official in season day to train, 18 runners came out for the team.
My first race was not until June 19th. (I missed the second half of 2020 with a broken foot that took over six months to heal). It was a 100K, that consisted of 31, two mile single track trail loops. The first two miles had to be run under 45 minutes and each successive loop getting one minute faster, until the 31st loop must be finished under 15:00. The 141 runners who started got whittled down to four of us, the 55 year old guy, and ages, 28, 29 and 31. Needless to say, that day wasn’t my day and I got “dropped”, not making the cutoff time for loop #27. 54 miles and a 4th place finish.
In the middle of July, Melissa and Dennis talked me into running a 5K for their relay team in the Beach Bum Triathlon. They said it would be fun, does it look fun to you?
August marked the start of the high school cross country season. There were no girls varsity runners and only three middle school runners, but I did field a full varsity boys squad consisting of 15 guys. The team was not at the fitness level that I expected. When training started, a few runners “tossed their cookies” and the team realized that the new coach does not accept walking, they started gaining an appreciation for the sport and improvement soon followed. Our first league meet was scheduled for Tuesday, August 31, inclement weather postponed the start of the “Tony Bruno Era” to Thursday, September 2nd. The result of the boys varsity race had Hilton Head Prep besting a five team field for their first league meet victory in over seven years. The most gratifying part of the win was the looks of excitement on the faces of the upperclassmen. HHP went on to win 5 of the 6 league meets, a second place finish at the regional meet (4 points behind first) and a sixth place showing at the state meet (South Carolina Independent Schools Association AAA division).
Labor day weekend, instead of hanging out at the beach and drinking, I decided that running a 24 hour race on a track in Greenville, SC would be more appealing. I had two goals: win the race and get a buckle (run 100 miles). For all the race details, you can check out my post from September 13, titled, “I got a Buckle”.
Mid October saw the “band getting back together” to defend their GAP Relay title. Let me just say that it takes a very long time for a 56 year old to recover from his first 100 miler. I was no help towards our “three-peat”, unless you take into account the fact that I took over coaching and started moving runners to run different legs to maximize their strengths. Brett Mason, Eli Shekinah and Eric Shafer were studs. Jim Hommes, Mike Bruno and Steve Garand also got it done. Scott Wardle was a badass and ran with a torn glute. 16 hours and 40 minutes after the start, our anchor leg arrived in Cumberland to start the celebration of the Dimarco Workhorse team’s successful title defense.
November and December were nondescript, with me “living the dream” in Hilton Head and running miles to prepare for Repeat Retreat 8 hour ultra on January 8th in Charleston, SC. Race recap will follow.
Thank you everyone for humoring me and checking out my website every time I publish some asinine post. Thank you, Emma Bruno for all the “tech support” throughout the year.
Wishing everyone a healthy, productive 2022 with personal bests in all your races!
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