Just Another Day in Studville...

July Mileage Challenge Details Released!

Emboldened by what appears to be a South Side win over the Highlanders in the final week of the June Mileage Challenge, the Scrappers are ready to square off against their arch-enemies once again, this time for a full month-long mileage challenge. 

Or should we say "a Scrapper"...

Despite lucrative signing bonus offers and outright begging, Shocker is officially not interested in participating in a mileage challenge this summer.  So K-Law will go it alone in a two-on-one matchup against the Highlanders in July.

We'll be reverting back to an older format: whichever team logs the most mileage on any given day earns a point.  With the 31 days in the month, the first team to earn 16 points clinches it. 

They're probably already jigging up on Apple Hill since they've got a team that's now twice the size of South Side.  But keep in mind that K-Law will have one "bachelor week" this month where he's home on his own, which creates plenty of two-for opportunites.  He's also camping in Maine for a week where he won't need to cut any runs short to get to the office in the morning. 

Of course, the Highlanders are expected to win in spades on July 30th.  But will it matter?  Could the whole thing be over by then?

I guess there's no rest for the weary.  The July Mileage Challenge (JMC) starts at 12:01am.  It's gonna be a long, hot month!

Too Close to Call

We're just about at the end of an extended Week #4 and it's a (relatively) close one. 

These are the numbers as of right now, and we've confirmed that K-Law is definitely done for the day, but we're not so sure about the other three competitors...

South Side: 117.1 miles

Highlanders: 105.3 miles

So, the boys from Apple Hill are going down at the hands of South Side (despite Romance's downright heroic efforts) unless they can dig deep and come up with at least 11.8 miles by midnight.  That's assuming the enigmatic (and presumably uninterested) Shocker decides not to do a lunchtime run.

By the way, the individual finishing order for the month has already been decided, regardless of what happens for the rest of the day:

1st: K-Law

2nd: Romance

3rd: Shortcut

4th: Shocker 

However, as to which team wins the latest round of the historic feud between the Scrappers and the Highlanders?  Well, we shall see... 

We've Got a Race On Our Hands!

With an unprecedented one-two punch that has sent Highlander fans into a jigging frenzy (see left), Romance single-handedly dragged Apple Hill right back into the competition for Week #4 with a 21-mile run on Saturday, followed up with a friggin' 28-mile run on Sunday which was, by far, the biggest one-day individual total of the month.  Perhaps the year?!

Meanwhile, Shortcut and Shocker cancelled each other out on a joint Sunday run while K-Law's weekend mileage was badly hampered by competing in the Firecracker 5K.  And when the dust settled...

South Side: 94.6 miles

Apple Hill: 91.4 miles

So, just a 5K plus a hair separates these two arch rival teams with only 2 training days left in the month!

A South Side Beat-Down

It appears that another nail-biting, tight mileage contest between the Scrappers and the Highlanders is not in the cards for Week #4 as South Side has opened up a damn-near unsurmountable lead of 31.7 miles on Apple Hill (59.6 to 27.9). 

So if the Scrappers hold the lead for the next 5 days (Week #4 is the longest of the Challenge weeks by two days) then we'll end up with a three-way tie for 2nd place with Romance, Shortcut and Shocker each owning one point.

The tiebreaker is the total individual miles for the month.  Shocker's essentially out of the running with 84.4 miles.  And Romance has a robust 17-mile lead on Shortcut (114.6 to 97.6).  So it will take a "mileage miracle" for Shortcut to overtake Romance in the next five days. 

Scrappers Lovin' Their Early Lead

Shocker and K-Law may be duking it out in an epic, trash-talk-filled online chess game, but when it comes to the MCSD the South Side Scrappers are combining for an early rout of their arch-enemies, the mighty Highlanders of Apple Hill. 

I'm sure the Hillbillies are dying to bust out their world-famous "Highlander Jig", but it appears they may have to wait a while...

As of press time:

South Side: 28.9 miles

Highlanders: 12 miles 

If Apple Hill doesn't close the gap, and close it fast, Shocker will be on his way to his first point of the Challenge, producing a 3-way tie for 2nd place.

In the individual mileage department and the tie-breaking race for 2nd, Romance enjoys a hefty 15.1-mile lead on Shortcut.  That's a big gap to close in just 5 days...

Romance & K-Law Shatter Record in Week #3

The old GRR United squad enjoyed the most lopsided victory of the month for Week #3 as K-Law racked up 67.7 miles and Romance added an impressive 48.7 miles (which included a 21-miler) for a total of 116.4, setting the record for most miles by one team this month. 

Meanwhile, the old Gladheateher crew demonstrated once again why Shortcut and Shocker should never team up for a mileage challenge, as they strung together just 50.1 miles.  That means Romance could have nearly beaten Shortcut and Shocker all by himself. 

With one week left, here's the score:

K-Law: 3

Shortcut: 1

Romance: 1

Shocker: 0

And so it shall end as it began.  The running world is thoroughly fired up for a one-week re-match of the now-epic "South Side vs. Highlander" mileage match-up!  It should be the perfect ending to hotly-contested mileage challenge, with a lot at stake.

K-Law has statistically clinched first place for the month.  But second place is most certainly up-in-the-air.  A win for South Side means a 3-way tie for second, while a win for the Highlanders will spell a shut-out for Shocker and a tie for second between Shortcut and Romance.

A tie for second place (either two-way or three-way) is now guaranteed, and the tiebreaker will have to be based on total individual mileage for the month. 

And here are the individual mileage standings for the second-place candidates:

 

Romance:  99.7 miles

Shortcut:  84.6 miles

Shocker: 66.6 miles

So yes, this essentially means that Romance and Shortcut will be working together and against each other at the same time this week, as it appears that the race for 2nd will end up being a one-on-one mileage match-up between the two Highlanders.

Oh....it's gonna be a hot week!

It's a GRR United Beat-Down

Shortcut fans are fired up by their man's efforts this week...22.5 miles so far, following an all-out effort at the BS 5K.  But it's not nearly enough to get the old Gladheatehers squad up to where it needs to be as the old GRR United team runs up their mileage numbers at a demonic rate. 

Romance and K-Law have tallied 74.1 miles with a full 3 days of training left to go.  So it appears that the record this month (Shortcut and K-Law's 95.2-mile total in Week #2) is going to fall, and fall hard.  Meanwhile, Shortcut and Shocker lag a stunning 34.7 miles behind...

Romance & K-Law: 74.1 miles

Shortcut & Shocker: 39.4 miles 

Shortcut & K-Law take Week #2 Easily

Shortcut and K-Law stumbled out of the starting blocks at the beginning of the week, which gave Romance (pictured at left) and Shocker fans a faint hope of a major upset for Week #2.  But then the old Team Shortkut had all pistons firing by mid-week and when the dust settled it was a blow-out of near-epic proportions...

Shortcut & K-Law: 95.2 miles

Romance & Shocker:  38 miles

That's a 57.2-mile margin.  Ouch!

And here are the standings after two weeks...

K-Law: 2

Shortcut:  1

Romance: 0

Shocker: 0

For Week #3, we have the old "Team Gladheateher" duo of Shortcut & Shocker (the ill-fated pairing that the running world would probably rather not resurrect) going up against Romance & K-Law.  And it already looks like the results for Week #3 are a foregone conclusion...

Romance & K-Law: 12.3 miles

Shortcut & Shocker:  0 miles

Shortcut & K-Law Surge Ahead

It was a close contest just a couple of days ago, but no longer.  It's not quite a put-away for Shortcut & K-Law just yet, but Romance & Shocker will have to log some serious mileage over the weekend to tighten the gap again.

The team of Romance & Shocker has benefited from a resurgence on the part of Shocker who has logged 16.5 miles so far.  This makes Shocker (a purportedly disengaged participant) his team's surprise mileage leader as business travel has hampered Romance's output, limiting him to just 15 miles. 

Meanwhile, Shortcut activated a lengthy tapering period which started yesterday as the big BS race looms tomorrow morning, giving him only 11 miles so far.  Of course, the relatively serious taper for a 5K race has analysts scratching their heads.  Luckily for Shortcut he's teamed up with K-Law this week who has fully recovered from last weekend's half marathon and stands at 37 miles for the week.  And his handlers claim that he's chomping at the bit for big mileage over the weekend.

So, with only 3 days left in Week #2, Shortcut & K-Law enjoy a 16.5-mile lead...

Shortcut & K-Law: 48

Romance & Shocker:  31.5

It's Tight in Week #2 So Far

Well, the teams have been realigned (and they're even teams, much to K-Law's relief) and it's a close one after the first two days of competition in Week #2 of the MCSD.

K-Law's recovery period from the Ironhorse Half Marathon left him with a subdued output of just 15 miles over two days.  But the soreness from the race has just about disappeared and he has vowed for more impressive performances for the remainder of the week.  His teammate, Shortcut, took the day off yesterday and then cranked out 6.3 miles of speed on the track this morning as he continues to prep himself for a defense of his treasured BS title this coming Saturday.

The opposing team is holding their own.  In fact, Romance has (remotely from Chicago) matched each of K-Law's miles with 15 of his own.  And Shocker put in a heckuva bike ride on Tuesday, which doesn't count towards the MCSD.  Which, of course, doesn't phase him in the slightest since he doesn't give a rat's $%^#.  But he managed to get in 4.3 miles yesterday afternoon.

K-Law & Shortcut: 21.3

Romance & Shocker:  19.3

So just two short miles separate the two crews.  For now.