What happened at the 9th Annual Point Invitational?

What happened at the 9th Annual Point Invitational was nothing short of epic.

I was a junior in high school and seventeen the first time we ran it. After Pagano got lost, and Andy Mac gave up after he saw the hill at the start of mile two, Snyder and I were the only two finishers.
We came home to hot food and good company.

Years two through eight were each awesome. The long-sleeved shirts became collectibles and each year brought new friends, great food, and even more good times.

Some years we played a game of football in the common ground, some years we played poker afterwards. Last year I had to cut out early to bar back at Victory, but regardless, Points two through eight are blended memories of happiness.

This year was different. This year was the most memorable since the first.

Since moving to New York, since starting a new job a few weeks ago, I wasn’t sure what the future of The Point Invitational would be. All I knew was that, at the least, I wanted to run that course again on the day after Thanksgiving, on Black Friday.

Then I ran into Snydogg, D.O.B, and The Rake at Doc’s. I convinced James a couple
days before seeing him at the bar, and after some beers Dob and Rake were on board as well.

I sent out a few private Facebook messages, and posted a message on my wall that read:

The 9th Annual Point Invite is on! The race will be held tomorrow morning! Gun goes off not at 2PM like previous years, but instead at 5AM. I got work in NY in the morning, so to keep the tradition alive, we're doing it a bit early. Everyone who runs and finishes will get a t-shirt. It's the greatest shirt of all time. 5AM, see you there.

And that’s exactly how that shit went down. I couldn’t get off work, so we did the run at 5AM. Aside from me, James, Bertha, and Tony, who showed up? One man who,
although hasn’t been able to make it to every Point Invite, epitomizes what The Point symbolizes.: Bryan Carlson.

So at 5AM sharp the five of us took off into darkness armed with a couple flashlights and a great sense of the course and cause. It had rained the night before and everything that wasn’t paved was muddy. I think that Bertha accidentally stepped in every puddle out there. Tony, Bertha, and Carlson were scraped from head to toe. James and I, as the most experienced, knew to wear long pants to help avoid the pricker bushes.

At the turn around, at George Read’s house, we didn’t lay out flags and paint, instead, at around 5:30AM, we rang his doorbell and took off. It just felt right.

We did do some walking, we stayed as a group, and by the time we hit New Hampshire Lane, the sun still had yet to rise. We raced the last 100 meters to see who had any speed left in their legs. Tony finished first, right in front of James, but
unfortunately, as a resident of California, Tony could not be officially register for the race, which gives James another first place finish for The Point Invitational.

We drank some Gatorade and water, we hugged and reminisced then I ran up to the shower, got dressed, and drove to work in less than three hours, damn near fell asleep at the wheel.

There was no traffic on the George Washington Bridge.

I got done work at 3PM and was half tempted to hit the turnpike, get to DTown by 6PM for some Lione’s and a Victory beer, and continue my Thanksgiving weekend. But on the other hand, I was tired, and ended up in bed and asleep at 8PM and didn’t wake up for another twelve hours.


What’s the point of all this? Just to say that I’ll see you all next year for the 10th Annual Point Invitational.