Chappaquiddick!?

During the past couple weeks, I have been seeing some previews for the movie Chappaquiddick. From the previews, I gathered it was about some sort of Kennedy family scandal but I wasn't sure of the exact story.

I finally decided I wanted more information and looked up "The Chappaquiddick Incident".

When I found out what it was, I was like.... Whaaaaat!? How did I not know about this!?

In case you are like me and never heard of this particular scandal, here is a quick summary!

In 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy (37 years old) was on Chappaquiddick Island at a party with former volunteers and staffers. Later in the evening, Ted left the party with one of those staffers- 28 year old Mary Jo Kopechne. (Kennedy's pregnant wife was at home on bed rest.)

Kennedy was at the wheel of his car and Mary Jo was in the passenger seat when it careened off the Dike Bridge, flipped upside down, and became submerged in the water below. Somehow, Kennedy was able to get out of the car but Mary Jo wasn't.

Kennedy claimed he spent 15-20 minutes diving down to try to get Mary Jo out. Then instead of reporting what happened, Ted tried to cover it up. He only reported the accident the next morning after the car was found and was identified as his.

Somehow, Kennedy was only charged with leaving the scene of an accident and did not receive any jail time. The "incident" derailed his plans to run for president in 1972 but it did not prevent voters from sending him back tot the Senate seven more times.

My summary only contains the absolute FACTS. There is a lot we don't know. Was Ted drunk when he crashed the car? Was he speeding? What were the two of them doing out there in the middle of the night? Did Mary Jo survive for any amount of time, waiting to be rescued? You can dive into a deeeeeep rabbit hole with this case and it will likely make you angry.

Here is my take:

A drunk Ted Kennedy was criminally negligent when he drove his car off the Dike Bridge and caused the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. He should have been charged with manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident. WHO LEAVES THE SCENE OF AN ACCIDENT WHEN SOMEONE IS TRAPPED IN A CAR UNDERWATER? Even if you believe them to be dead, you CALL FOR HELP and REPORT THE ACCIDENT.

It makes me so angry. I can't believe he was voted back into the Senate seven more times. Well, he's a Kennedy, so I guess I can believe it.

The first time Paul and I tried to go see Chappaquiddick, it was sold out. (It was opening weekend and it was senior citizen day. My bad.) The second time we tried to go see it, we went to the theater it was playing in and not only was there no one in there, but there was no movie playing! We checked out tickets and realized I had the time wrong. I thought the movie started at 1:25 but it didn't start until 2:20. My bad again! So we killed some time at Big Lots before the movie started and bought patio furniture!

The movie was very good and I enjoyed it a lot. It wasn't very long, so it didn't feel like there were "filler" scenes. The only parts I got a little bored was when Ted would have chats with his father.

The Australian actor who plays Kennedy (Jason Clarke) really looks like Ted Kennedy, it's amazing!

 Jason Clarke

Ted Kennedy

I recommend the movie!

Did you know about the Chappaquiddick incident?

Tell me about something in history you learned about that surprised you!

I designed a workout that was too hard for me!

Last week, I designed a Deck of Cards workout that was way too hard for me! In fact, I couldn't even finish it!

I love making up my own HIIT workouts and Deck of Cart (DOC) workouts but I hadn't done it in awhile. I tend to do workouts like these in the summer. But on Thursday morning, I decided it was time to dust of the 'ol deck of cards and head out to the carport to switch things up!

This is what I did for my first DOC workout:

Hearts- Jump rope rotations (x10... so a 2 of hearts would be 20 rotations. An Ace of hearts would be 150)

Diamonds- Bicycle crunches (x2... so an 8 of diamonds would be 16)

Spades- Donkey kicks

Clubs- Mountain climbers

Jokers- Stability ball pull ins

I messed up and did Jacks as 11 reps, Queen as 12 reps, and King as 13 reps. Normally, in a DOC workout, face cards are just supposed to be 10. I did the aces as 15 (as usual) and for Jokers, I just picked a random number of reps (20).

So all in all, for the first DOC workout I ended up with:

1050 jump rope rotations
210 bicycle crunches
105 donkey kicks
105 mountain climbers
40 stability ball pull ins

This DOC actually went very well. It took me 27 minutes with no breaks to complete. Then I took a short break to get water and go to the bathroom.

I thought my next DOC workout would be easier. My intention was:

Hearts- Burpees
Diamonds- Sit ups (x2)
Spades- Jumping jacks (x10)
Clubs- Push ups
Jokers- Stability ball pull ins

I quickly realized jumping jacks are NO JOKE. The first card I picked up was an Ace of spades. Do you know how hard it is to do 150 jumping jacks? I can run 20 miles no problem, but 150 jumping jacks was a HUGE problem. I wanted to die after only about 25 or so.

So I changed it so that every spade would just be 50 jumping jacks no matter the number. 

I also realized sit ups are hard and I couldn't do them x2. Multiplying by two is fine if you pick a 3 of diamonds, but what a bout a Queen of diamonds!?

Soon, I switched from sit ups to bicycle crunches. I switched the spades from jumping jacks to either mountain climbers or donkey kicks- depending on what I was feeling.

Even after making the exercises a little easier, I was at 37 minutes and I wasn't even done with the whole deck! At this point I was doing high(ish) intensity exercises for over an hour with only one break, which is longer than I normally run in the morning.

I was forced to stop because it was 7:10 and I had to be at work at 7:55. Also, I felt like a noodle. I was shaking and felt a little throw up-y.

I knew I'd be sore the next day but was surprised at how sore I actually was! I could feel it in every muscle in my body, but especially my glutes. Why!? I do 100-120 donkey kicks every time I lift, which is 2-3xs per week. Was there another exercise in my workout the day before that really engaged my glutes? I can't figure it out!

This was the first time I ever had to change, alter, and then ultimately end a workout that was too hard!

Did you ever make a workout for yourself that was too hard and you couldn't do it?

Why do you think my glutes were so sore!?!?!?!?

Stone Tower Loop Run (The General!)

On Saturday morning, my dad, my brother Tyler, and I ran the Stone Tower Loop. There are so many interesting things to do and see on this loop run. I highly recommend trying it... but only if you're in good shape. The climbs were insane!

If you are interested in running the Stone Tower Loop, here are directions and a map. Everything you need to know about getting to the trail head and how to navigate the trails are at those links.

We parked at the Stone Tower Trail head a bit past Dehart Dam on route 325.

First, we followed the red blazes, which was a connector trail. We did not go up the Sand Spring Trail (blue blazes). We would go down it later to finish the loop.

Once we started running, it was less than a quarter mile until we got to the first interesting obstacle- a cable bridge that would help us get across Clark Creek. Luckily, the cables were taut and it wasn't too hard to get across. Here's Tyler, showing how it's done!

Then it was up... up, up, up, up! Lots of boulders, a little bit of running, but basically a climb up the mountain for the next mile and a half.

Holy sheeeeeet!

Once at the top of the mountain, we got to the Stone Tower. I wouldn't have seen it if I didn't know to look for it.

There was a VERY deep pit up there by the tower. I took a picture, but it's hard to see how deep it is. Surely it was man made, but for what?

That's my dad, being stupid and going across some rocks along the pit.

Dad, what are you trying to prove!?

Then we ran down a bit to the Appalachian Trail. I didn't realize this, but this part of the Appalachian Trail is not at the very top of a mountain but down a bit between two mountains. When we hit the AT, it was right at the mailbox at Yellow Springs.

 

All of the trails to this point in the run were not as well maintained as the AT. For the next two miles or so, we enjoyed the nice, wide, clear AT trail. Tyler entertained us with a couple crazy stories about when he used to go camping with friends.

Soon, we got to a sign that instructed us to turn left to go onto the Sand Spring Trail and check out The General.

We passed a cool fire pit!

Finally, after about another half mile, we got to The General! No one knows how it got there. It's just chilling in the middle of the woods. It is thought to have been there since the 1930s. Obviously, we took a ton of pictures!

Then it was up the mountain again. It was so steep! And then... down the other side via boulder jumping. I was glad we went early before it got warm and the snakes came out!

Once we got down, we searched for Sand Spring. I don't think you're going to find it up there, Tyler!

 Found it! The spring was bubbling. So cool!

We were all pretty tired by this point, but there wasn't much farther to go before we would be back at our car. We passed a boulder field on the way.

I wonder how many snakes are in there sleeping!?

Back across the cable bridge!

In less than a quarter mile, we were back at the car! I felt like a noodle! It was only an 8 mile loops but it was a very challenging 8 miles!

What a fun day in the woods with my family! I would love to do this run again, but it will have to be early in the morning when it is cold out because I do not want to run into any snakes that could be on those rocks!

How do you think The General got there?