You see that guy in the photo above, in the middle wearing white? That’s Jack Butler. He’s got a problem.
He dragged his NR colleagues into running the ACLI Capital Challenge today, a three-miler along the Anacostia in Washington that is a very self-aware gathering of media and government types. (The portable toilets are segregated by line of work, but not really; each team needs to include somebody who is somebody — an elected official, a judge, a journo — sort of; those who don’t comply will be “open to censure.” Etcetera.) In other words, an open field of validation, which, if you’re a writer or editor, is like a beckoning orb no matter how much we might inveigh against the establishment, man.
Four of us ran at respectable paces, mine being of the “half-heartedly hustling to the gate so I can order a burrito before the flight boards” sort. But Jack, who already had put himself through two “warm-up” runs before the race started and costume-changed into track-athlete attire upon arrival, approached the competition with something between shark-like aggression and the intensity of Ozark’s Ruth Langmore when she finds out a drug lord killed her cousin (Warning: That clip has some language).
Anyway, so that’s Jack. He finished with a time of 16:37. I was behind him by ten minutes. He came in third overall but was fastest among the journalists competing.
I’d say that’s like being the coolest member of Nickelback, but that time is tight in any setting. Joke’s on Jack, though. The rest of our times safely kept the team from winning anything. (Seriously though, this was a fun morning, thanks Jack.)