Virtual D.O.A. R.I.P!!!

When I first came up with this idea to have a virtual runner I thought it would be a cool way to show how far I'm actually running on a monthly basis. Give it some sort of point of reference, if you will. "Wow!!! D.O.A. is in Kentucky!!! Holy shit that's far!!!" I also had planned on running the Philly marathon and knew that the mileage would work out that my "Virtual Self" would basically be at the same place as my real self at that point in time. How freaky is that??? I had a whole run a marathon with my virtual partner blog planned that would have gotten tons of laughs and possibly a "Bloggy", if there is such a thing as a "Bloggy". Picture an Emmy for bloggers.

Unfortunately, the planned story will never happen. Virtual D.O.A. never called at the beginning of November like he has for the past 10 months. Fearing the worst I called his cell phone, but he never answered. I tried every day this month and finally today someone answered. He said his name was Dr. Hunt and he had been treating D.O.A. for the past few days. Dr. Hunt noticed D.O.A. hanging around the hospital for several weeks and noticed that he was not feeling well. Sadly, D.O.A. was not able to afford health insurance, mainly because he had no job and all he ever did was run from town to town. Being "virtual" also didn't help with his lack of insurance. Anywho... this weekend it turns out that Dr. Hunt got to know D.O.A. and they became friends. Dr. Hunt attempted to treat D.O.A., but the illness was too far along and D.O.A. passed away yesterday.

I started to tell Dr. Hunt about how I planned to run the Philly marathon with D.O.A. and what a great blog report I was going to do about the whole experience when I returned home. Dr. hunt mentioned before D.O.A.'s passing how excited he was about the upcoming race and how he needed to get better. Ironically, Dr. Hunt is from the Philly area and was planning on running the marathon also. It turns out that we both run about the same pace and the good doctor agreed to run with me in honor of Virtual D.O.A. The only thing he asked in return is that I drop the doctor and just call him Mike.

Well let me tell you. Mike Hunt and I will pumping and pounding up in down the streets of Philly come November 22nd. Neither myself, nor Mike Hunt will give up until we give it everything we got and both finish. This Mike Hunt and my promise to our wonderful fake friend Virtual D.O.A. R.I.P!!! Peace Out!!!