Mike's Marathon Blog

Last night was the 16th Annual Winter Holiday Stroll in Nashua, NH. Their website claims that 30,000 people attend this event every year. The bars and restaurants were jam-packed, but I question the accuracy of that number. The purpose of the event is to kick-off the holiday season. Although, the true purpose of the event is simply an excuse to start drinking at 5. The main purpose of this blog entry is to remind my friends what they did last night because I know their memory is foggy at best.

This was officially my first Designated Driving night since I started training. It could be my last. I shouldn’t say that because it could have been a lot worse than it was. There were no arrests, fights or vomiting in my car, so I really shouldn’t complain. Even not drinking I had a fun night, but getting home at 2 am was definitely not part of the game plan. Although, after 7 bars and probably 60 beers, I think all game plans go right out the window.

The toughest part of not drinking last night was the free drinks. Of course the night that I’m not drinking, we are treated to free beers all night! One of my friends works for a Bud distributor, so we obviously followed him around all night and reaped the benefits of his connections. I was not drinking, however my friends were. When each of your friends is walking around the bar with a six pack, you know you’re in for a long night.

I finally got everyone in my car around 1 am. To make matters worse, I had to pick up two other drunks on the way home. It is somewhat comical to be sober and observe others after a night of heavy drinking. Someone in the backseat was sleeping, someone was drunk dialing, someone was begging to smoke in the car and someone was continuously changing the radio station. After 20 minutes of ‘I love you man,’ ‘stop at Wendy’s,’ ‘I have to pee,’ ‘can I please smoke in your car’ and ‘this was the best night ever’ – everyone was out of my car and I was finally on my home.

Six hours later, I was sitting on a bike at Spin class.