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Who's Who on Team Connal |
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Meaningless Bits of Team Connal Trivia: Total Number of crazy Team Connal marathoners: 24
Marathoned Before: 11 Virgin Marathoners: 13
Fluent in Snoop Doggizzle (fo' shizzle mah nizzle): 3
Responds to the name "Buttmunch": 1
Likes to quote Fletch: 80% Plans to drink beer at mile 25: 1.83%
What's with the Orange and Blue? Jon was a hard-core UF Gators fan. So we wear these colors with pride.
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| Name | Location | Have you run a marathon before? | Connection to Team Connal |
| Alex C | Northern VA | Do I look
stupid enough to have run a marathon? |
I met Jon in 1991 when he started annoying me as a Pike brother at JMU. He continued to annoy me when I made my frequent visits to his, Warlick, and P-Nut's house on Oronoco Ct. After he moved to NY, he would annoy me on a monthly or so basis. His lovely wife Heidi has never annoyed me. |
| Amanda C | New York City | Good grief no! I was a rower and fairly healthy in college, but then went downhill from there and took up smoking (bad, bad, bad). Have since quit and am loving the running - I have a particular fondness for my heart-rate monitor. And for spending at least 40 minutes outside everyday... | Have converted from heidi's b-school friend to marathon training buddy and friend-in-general. In addition to the usual NYC social activities, I got to know Jon through a couple of crazy and wonderful trips - including Turkey and Whistler-Blackholm in Canada... |
| Amy S | Upstate NY | Yes. I ran my first one in 1999 with Jon, Jeff S, Brian B, and John W. | Wife of Jeff S. Good friend of Jon and Heidi. |
| Ayesha A | New York City | God
no! I'm one of those people who 2 months ago used to run just about 5
miles A WEEK and thought that was pretty cool and very strenuous! |
I know
Heidi from business school and knew Jon through her. |
| Brian B | Northern VA | Yes, I ran my
first one in 1999 with Jon, Jeff & Amy S, and John W. The first one
hurt so good I've done the MC marathon every year since. |
I met Jon in the late summer of 1985 as we were about to start our Freshmen year at Lake Braddock. For the record, the correct spelling is The Spesh! The only reason I know this is because I was there that fateful day. The day that 10 year old who dubbed Jon The Spesh viscously tore into him with reckless, mindless cruelty. "Hey, there's The Spesh!" or "Look out guys, he might use his Spesh'al powers on you!" |
| Bridget W | Northern VA | This will be Bridget's first marathon. | Wife of Evan W. Good friend as well. |
| Craig B | SLC, UT | No. I trained
for Marine Corps last year, and ran 15 miles of my 20 mile training run
(the big one) when my IT band whigged out and forced me to pull out of the
race. But I am happy to say that after 2 months off, I am back in full
training mode and have good feelings about this October. |
I was a friend of Heidi's in High School and a member of her gang. Her thuggery was second to none and infamous in the greater Burke region. I had the pleasure of meeting Jon shortly after he and Heidi got back from their around the world vacation. The four of us went camping/hiking in southern Utah and Jon cooked the world's largest pancakes for breakfast. They were so big that we had to give most of them to our dog, who somehow managed not to puke them up in the car on the way home. |
| Dev T | New York City | never. first one. | I've
known Heidi since 1999. We went to business school together, were in the
same section and were co-chief geeks of the Technology Club at Stern
(insert Revenge of the Nerds snort and drool here...) I had the pleasure of traveling with Jon and Heidi during business school on two amazing trips -- Turkey and Whistler. Jon and I had an interesting moment in Whistler that I'll always remember. We were at the top of the Glacier run and both clearly skiing at a higher level than we should have been. As our group began to ski down the innards of the glacier screaming like banshees, we looked at each other politely inviting the other to go ahead. It was clear that if either one of us were to actually ski down that glacier we would have wet our pants yet both of us clung to any diminishing shreds of pride we had left. Finally, Jon stopped the madness and whispered: "i know i'm a man. you probably know you're a man. do we really need to do this?" i could have hugged him. we proceeded to ski around the glacier in silence and safety. and we had that bond between men that know they're men but don't have to shit themselves to prove it. |
| Evan W | Northern VA | I have run all my life - not sure of the number of marathons but I would guess around 10. I have run MCM several times, Disney, Boston, and San Diego. I have not run in three years! | I have known Jon since high school (9th or 10th grade) - When he was known as "The Spesh." I met Jon through Jeff, Sean, and Mark. I went to West Springfield High School and they went to rival Lake Braddock. Some way or another we still ended up always hanging out on the weekends and getting into trouble. |
| Gabe C | Atlanta, VA | I have
run 4 marathons (Austin 3 times and Marine Corps once) |
I went to JMU with Jon (PiKA) and of course met Heidi during this time |
| Geoff W | Northern VA | I have. This
would be my fifth MCM, but due to a scheduling error by the Marines last
fall I was required to be at the birth of my daughter, so this is my
fourth. |
I met Heidi in high school when some bullies shoved me in a locker and took my lunch. She was the head bully. That is to say that she was the leader of the bullies, not the bully that specialized in head trauma. After I got out of the locker we became good friends, and although we have not kept up so well over the years I still consider her my favorite bully. |
| Heidi C | New York City | Nope. I've been a professional spectator up until this point. | Call me crazy, but I married him! |
| Jean G | Northern VA | No I have always said I will NEVER run a marathon why would I want to run 26.2 miles at one time? | I grew up across the street from the Connal family and graduated high school with Jon's sister Shannon. |
| Jeff S | Upstate NY | We ran our
first marathon in 1999 (MCM) with Jon, John W, and Brian B. |
I've known Jon since high school when he was simply known as The Spesch. Have tolerated....uh...I mean known Heidi for almost as long. |
| Jennie L | Southern CA | Uhhh...NO, NEVER! Not even a 5K. | I met Heidi as a result of a common author we enjoy. As I got to know her I realized immediately that she was a very special person. We were just getting to know her when she lost Jon. Her loss (the loss to all of you) touched me very deeply. As I read their wonderful journals everyday I wanted to do something in Jon's honor. I signed up for the NY marathon..... Then Heidi told me about the MCM and I decided it would be much easier to do this with others rather than by myself. |
| Jeremy R | Atlanta, GA | I ran the Atlanta Thanksgiving Day Half-Marathon in 2000. No marathons here, though. | Jon appeared in my life in the early '90's at JMU when we were trying to make a fraternal organization out of a pack of rowdy idiots. He quickly proved that he could not only serve in the role as rowdy idiot, which suited him well, but could actually help out with the fraternal organization part, too. I met Heidi many times over the course of my college career and afterward. I often asked Jon the question "So tell me again what she's doing with you?" |
| John W | Northern VA | This will be my 6th MCM and would be my 8th overall marathon had it not been for a bout with Salmonella following a trip to Peru in 2002 and the defunct organization that canceled the 2003 DC Marathon in April....but those are stories for another time. | I met Jon when he transferred from Florida where he was an initiated brother of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. We had just begun the process for founding the Iota Sigma Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha at JMU and I was serving as President. Jon was an incredible help throughout this process, and he and I worked closely in organizing our Initiation weekend and Chartering banquet....where I met Heidi for the first time. We then shared a town house with an other member of Team Connal: Mark "Captain Buttmunch" Boucher. We had many memorable times which will keep me laughing for years. |
| Jon R | Richmond, VA | I've run four
marathons. Most recently, I ran the NYC marathon in November. |
I was a PIKA at JMU, and Jon used to haze me. He'd make us dress up as sport goofy and clean his dirty apartment. The last time I saw Jon was right after I graduated from college in 1993 and he was working at the Fairfax County fair dressed us a giant ATM card for some bank. |
| Mark S | Raleigh, NC | No, and the plan is for this one to be the first, last, and only. | I met Jon "Spesh" around 9th grade at Lake Braddock. |
| Mark "Buttmunch" B | Suffolk, VA | The only competitive running I ever did was the 100 yard dash in elementary school. I think I got a green ribbon. What place is that? I passed on the Presidential fitness deal because it required running. | Jon and I met at JMU where I was in detention because I made this elephant lamp in shop class and when I pulled its trunk the light didn't come on so I brought a flare gun to school and it went off in my locker. Jon was there because he taped Larry Lester's buns together in gym class. So, anyway, we got to be good friends and spent a lot of time in Vegas and off track betting parlors wagering on pudding wrestling matches and poodle races. |
| Mike S | Northern VA | I've run 32
marathons with my first the 3rd. Marine Corps marathon in 1979. About half
of my marathons have been USMC marathons. |
Through my son Mark. Often when he was in town with, Jon would stop at our home in the midst of a run for water and a conversation. Jon always amazed me in how laid back he was about taking a break from a run and it wasn't unusual for the break/visit to last 20 or 30 minutes. I always thought that was a great tribute to Jon in that while running was important, he was relaxed enough to stop and visit and not be concerned about the impact on his running. Jon definitely had his priorities in order. I also remember Evan stopping by our home during a run for water and chat. It was always wonderful to see Mark's friends over the years. |
| Matt L | Northern VA | Chicago '98,
NY '01, and I stopped running marathons "for good" after each. |
Along with several other "runners" on our team, we were Pikes together at JMU. Despite my autocratic and absolute authority as Rush Chairman (I once kept a triple legacy out), Connal joined our ranks by claiming instant brotherhood by virtue of his pre-existing PKA status. It's questionable whether he ever went to another school or was an actual PKA, but he knew the sacrosanct PKA handshake (which I now forget), and that was enough for us since he also had a bottle of Jaeger with him at the time. |
| Rich G | Central VA | Yes, ran my
1st marathon in 1999 and enjoyed the pain so much that I am trying to top
that each year with something a little more painful. In Feb. I ran my
first "ultra" marathon, a 34 mile trail run. Last year it was a
half Ironman Triathalon. |
I met Jon at JMU, I was Pike with a bunch of other meat heads. Honestly, I don't remember much about those years, except that I think I had a lot of fun and Jon was a part of that. I'm pretty sure he wrote all over my face one night (along with Gabe) and I believe that vexed me. |
| Sherry M | Central VA | Absolutely 100% No never, not even considered it before. | My brother married Jon's sister. |