Derek Allison, 28, of Minneapolis, says that ever since his friend Jeff Tanner ran Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota last month, he’s been working the feat into every conversation. “We were at the bar last night when I started talking about how hard it’s been since Anne and I broke up,” said Allison. “So Jeff says to me, ‘I totally know how you feel. The last four miles of Grandma’s was probably the worst time of my life.’ Then today, we were bumming around in Jeff’s car when I asked him if we could stop at a gas station because I wanted something to drink. And he’s all, “Dude, you think you’re thirsty? You don’t know what thirsty is. Try running 26.2 miles in the sun. Then come talk to me.’ It was like he was pissed because I wanted a Coke but hadn’t run a marathon.”

Chris Willis, another friend, says that in a similar fashion, Jeff tends to steal everybody’s thunder by talking about the marathon in relation to his friend’s accomplishments. “Last weekend we were all out at a restaurant and I raised a toast to my fiancé Kristen for passing the bar exam when Jeff says, ‘That’s really great Kristen, but I tell you what, the high you get from crossing the finish line of a marathon is unlike anything you’ll ever experience. It’s just insane. You should run one sometime.’” Chris also reports that throughout the course of the evening, Jeff also upstaged Denise, who just delivered a baby, Kyle, whose father just beat cancer, and James, who was promoted to VP of Marketing at an architectural firm.

ORIGINALY PUBLISHED ON JULY 29, 2005 IN VOLUME 3 ISSUE 23