I outran the T

Nothing sets me off like the MBTA.  Just scan my FB page over the years.

‘It’s the coldest day of the year and the MBTA leaves the doors open at JFK for 5 MINUTES!’

‘Possible new MBTA logo: Give us an hour, we’ll take you twenty minutes away.’

‘It’s snowing outside, freezing cold and the MBTA is running trains about every twenty minutes.  Figures.’

‘I know I give the MBTA a hard time but they did me a solid.  Lost my Charlie Card and they hooked me up with a new one.’  That was Weds, March 15, 2017.

‘It only took 12 hours- the MBTA sucks again.’  Also Weds, March 15th, 2017.

I hate to be late.  My biggest pet peeve.  90% of the time they do OK.  But Man, when they mess up and you’re left waiting for the train it’s ALWAYS 2 degrees, windy, snowing, sleeting, and you’re bone tired at the end of the day.

And the sign that tells you when the next train is due… It’s always those insufferably cold days where the sign reads ‘Next Train in 5’ that it ends up being 20, or 30 minutes.

Once during a snow storm I waited 30 minutes only to be told I had to walk to the next station, where I waited another 30 minutes for a packed car.

There’s always a disabled train, or a police action at Kendall to slow you down when you’re running late.

Grrrrr.

I’ve been raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital this year (link here).  I’m always searching for gimmicks, things I can do to raise money for my cause.  Theres the bad dancing, the polar plunge.  I thought about outrunning the green line from BC to Kenmore square…

But that’s too easy.  The cars are old.  There’s a ton of traffic lights/T stops to slow it down.  I’ve outrun the C line during long runs.

I needed a bigger challenge.

So I had that idea on Weds night.  Thursday morning, completely out of the blue, my friend Tim posted a video of a guy outrunning the London Tube between two stops.  I mentioned it to my client Ted early Thursday.

‘The Redline would be the challenge.’

‘Yeah.  Trick is to find the right stops.  The longer you go the tougher it gets for you.’

‘Park street and Downtown Crossing.  Could be done.’

He agreed.  But it would be tough.

I timed the interval between the doors opening at Downtown and their closing at Park street.  :89 seconds.

In :89 seconds I would have to exit the doors, run up the escalator, around a tight corner, through the turnstiles, up two more flights of stairs into the street.  Then it was a .16 mile uphill sprint through snow banks, black ice, dodging pedestrians and crossing Tremont.  This is where fate would play a role.  Crossing Tremont can take :89 seconds.  Traffic would have to break right.  Then it’s down three flights of steep stairs, through the turnstile, around a TIGHT corner, down two narrow stairs and onto the platform.

:89 seconds to run .16 miles uphill and then tack on some stairs, corners, and obstacles.

I can run a quarter in under 60.

It could be done.

This was more than just a race.  This was me hitting back at the T which stresses me out on a weekly basis.

This would be vengeance for the all the breakdowns, police actions, disabled trains and mean workers that have vexed my commute over the years. This is bigger than just a simple race.  This was lowly David trying to bloody the lip of the almighty behemoth that is the MBTA.

I have to admit.  I did not get a good night’s rest before.  I envisioned slipping on ice, slamming into pedestrians, getting stopped by cars, MBTA police, dropping my T pass.

But I decided to do it.

I took the train in, using my phone to time the average amount of time the doors opened.  :09 seconds at JFK.  :15 at Andrew.  :20 at Broadway.  :09 at South Station.  I was hoping for a long transition.  The longer two (:15 and :20) were on crowded platforms.

My car pulled into Downtown.  There was NO ONE on the platform.  The moment I was up that first flight of stairs the train would be moving.

And now the moment had arrived.  No excuses.  Just man vs Machine.  Watch for yourself.

Was there ever any doubt?

Victory for the Running Man.

Some moments will stick out in memory.  There was construction atop the escalator so I had to run wide around that corner (:03 seconds lost).  There was a woman atop the stairs who was trying to get out of my way but ended up only making things worse (:02 seconds).

The blessing of no traffic on Tremont.

There was a tense moment where my card wouldn’t open the turnstile heading into Park (:02 seconds).

The fact that no one on the train gave a shit that I just beat the Redline.

Total time running- :84.

Think you can do better?  Talk is cheap.

The final memory I have is one of EXTREME GRATITUDE.  This stunt  added almost a thousand dollars to my St. Jude fund raising.  The kind words and the event kinder donations have made this an AWESOME week.  Thank you all.  I can’t say how much this means for St. Jude Children’s research Hospital or how great it makes me feel.

THANK YOU!

Now I’m being challenged to run between Downtown and Charles/MGH stations.  I just timed out the subway.  2 stops.  4 minutes 19 seconds.

.84 miles bw stops.  I can cover that in a little under 4.

We’ll see, maybe.

Impressed?  Donate to my Crowdrise and help sick Kids recover from Childhood cancer.

https://www.crowdrise.com/StJudeBoston2017/fundraiser/stephendallisonii