One thing Virginia left me with was Taji-100 fever. Last year was the last year for that, but TeamRedWhiteAndBlue got somebody else in Indiana to take over the project. They renamed it, so now it's the GWOT-100. Part of the experience this year is reliving the Iraq war that started in the early 2000s.

Rolling along with green on my left and blue on my right. Already the Green Zone and that road where Marla died are behind me.

Let us take a moment to remember Marla. Dead 21 years as I type this.

The miles are going by quickly. Legs are strong. Needed clothing and accessories are right there to use again.

     

     

Feb. 10th at 49%: Reaching half way to the goal distance before the middle of the month is good progress. Cracks me up that Karma is over there on my left. Don't remember learning that Karma is a place in Iraq before.

     

     

Feb. 13th at 70% Planning for a rest day tomorrow.

     

     

Feb. 18th at 101% For Taji-100 the goal was 100 miles. A lot of people got to that point and stopped right there. The emails from GWOT-100 say go on. Curious how many will. I'm going to keep going until I run out of month or stop feeling okay about more miles.

     

Feb. 20th That bug seems trapped at Camp Taji, where it all began for this crazy February ritual. Accordingly I've moved on to tracking my spot in the leaderboard.

Usually the names around me on the leaderboard mean nothing to me, but Jason Leahrbaum is a friend from Virginia's running clubs. He's having a "Good Taji" this year, and has since gone on to much higher because of some long runs.

     

     

24 Feb. Glad they finally added standings to the score table. Happy to be in one of the "oneiest" spots in the first 9999 runners.

     

25 Feb. Been pondering how far I want to go this year. I've stopped a happy man at 147.6 because my address is P. O. Box 1476, Mountain View CA 94042-1476. It's awesome that at that exact moment I passed 2L2Q's podium babe. Wasn't expecting that to happen! Starting to have fantasies about having a three digit place. 1036 isn't that far out...

At this point I've gotten most of the milestones, and most of the rest are beyond me.

     

26 Feb. Just did what I could today. Started with a trip to the County Line via Bay Trail on my green bike. Finished with Caltrain to San Jose and walked to and from the San Jose Peace & Justice Center for a talk on Cuba and Venezuela. The gist of it was U. S. sanctions are hurting them. In other news, this is the highest place I've had the whole month. I'm having a good Taji.

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