Ann Arbor's
BAD DECISIONS
TRACK CLUB
A Very Running Group
Run FOR FUN!
BDTC is just some local idiots (scientists, artists, hippies, librarians, business owners, HR stooges, drunks) who get together on Thursday evenings to run (mostly) interval workouts, typically at Ferry Field. If it's very hot or very cold we sometimes run elsewhere. Sometimes we run hills. Afterwards, we drink beers.
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'Club Membership' is simple: If you're an Ann Arbor local idiot and would like to join us, please do!
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The best way to know what's happening and where is to get on our email list.
Never run track before? It's as easy! Just run fast, turn left, and repeat :-) If you have any questions please feel free to ask!
WHEN & WHERE?
Thursdays at 6:00 PM - Almost always Ferry Field.
Sign up for our email list to know for sure, or check out the workout announcement on Strava / Google
HOW FAST?
However fast (or slow) you want. A few of us are kind of fast. Some of us are pretty slow. Most of us are in denial. This truly is an "ALL paces" scene.
HOW FAR?
We try to get 2-4 miles of good, hard running in. Warmup and cooldown is usually another 1-2 miles. We only "plan*" a single "one size fits most" workout each week, but you're welcome to modify it however you see fit.
* We're not coaches and we in no way claim to know what we're doing. Our most experienced regulars competed in high school track. Most of us had never done a track workout before joining BDTC.
HOW MUCH?
It's free, y'all!
A BRIEF MYTHOLOGY OF PAIN
A story of stupidity and friendship. But mostly stupidity.
Mid-December, 2016... It was 5 degrees. There were 4 of us.
The "track club" already had a name, but there was no track in sight... just one great big bad decision of a hill waiting to be repeatedly scaled by Walsh and Alex—our two founding fathers—plus Niki and Walline, the next two biggest idiots on a 20-idiot email list.
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All these folks were already members of another running/social club called the Hash House Harriers*, where "hares" lay elaborate trails for the "pack" to follow, like a sort of running scavenger hunt for beer... But this involves a lot of false trails, short cuts, dead ends, check backs, splits, and other tricky things that are just plain confusing for idiots like Alex and Walsh, so they started their own group where all you do is run in circles. So many circles. Laps and laps and laps of circles. Or whatever hecking shape a track is. Repetitive. Predictable. Idiot-proof.
Since 2016 we've run in thousands of circles, turned hundreds of heads with our snazzy pink & purple livery, and made dozens of new friends. We've made up workouts with dumb names like "Pyramid Scheme" and "The Terrible Twos," we've jumped in the river, we've run some Beer Miles and done some bar crawls, and we've cheered each other on the whole way.
Most of the way...
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At least some of the way!
Strictly speaking, we don't really know what we're doing... But we're doing it every damn hell ass Thursday—moving our bodies and keeping our legs honest and soothing the pain of BAD decisions with GOOD company. (And beer!)
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* Speaking of the Hash House Harriers, you can learn more here, and here's a link to the Motown Ann Arbor HHH (MoA2H3), which is the local group. They meet most Sunday or Saturday afternoons in Metro Detroit, and several Bad Deciders are still regulars. It's a bit more eccentric than a typical running group, but it's very welcoming. If you have any questions feel free to ask!
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A WHAT?? ...YUCK
Res ipsa loquitur.
Listen. This is the BDTC Turtle Burger... our mascot / deity / ornery autocannibalizing "passion creature"
It's very good at three things only:
1.) Running, as you can see from its lithe legs and sporty, wing-ed trainers.
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2.) Making fun of the people it cares about. (We keep asking it to seek therapy, but it pretends not to hear us and then makes a joke about that time our crush saw us picking our nose in algebra class, followed by a joke about how we failed that algebra class ("You kept picking your nose like there might be answers to math problems in there instead of just a trove of Lindsay-repelling boogers! ). As the shadow of long-suppressed shame swims across our faces it leans in, nudges us conspiratorially and whispers, "Who needs therapy now?"
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3.) Making bad decisions, as you can see from its habit of eating and exercising at the same time, gastrointestinal consequences be hecked. The fact that it's eating itself is just a weird flex.
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That's about all there is to say about the Turtle Burger. Not really role model material. If you want that, you should get a load of our other Passion Creature: Rod Dixon.
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Now there's a role model.
Wall of Shame
FOUNDERS
(And founding members present at the Dec 15, 2016 inaugural run)
Founder, BDTC & BDTC South
Founder
Founding Member
Founding Member
Known Reversers
(Puking specialists)
Single offense - 2018
Two-time reverser - 6/18, 9/18
HALL OF CHUMPIONS
(Beer Mile Results)
To paraphrase an idiot impersonating the late, great Kenny Rogers: There can be no winners in a dairy challenge.
With beer miles on the other hand... everybody wins!
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But, more accurately, one person definitely wins, and that one person is always Alex. Such is life.
2024
Full Results:
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1. Alex - 7:15 (1st overall)
2. Jordan - 8:18
3. Brian - 8:55
4. Tyler - 9:15
5. Jack - 9:26
6. Ralf - 9:35
7. Jon - 9:37
8. Sara - 9:57 (1st female)
9. Todd - 11:50
10. Sam - 14:38
11. Abe - 14:41
12. Quinn - 25:52
13. Adam - 26:32
14. Joanna - 28:16
15. Duane - 30:07
16. Leroy* - DNF
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* Reversal
2023
Full Results:
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1. Alex - 7:18 (1st overall)
2. Jordan - 7:38
3. Tyler - 8:36
4. Brian - 8:41
5. Leroy - 9:04
6. Brian H - 9:23
7. Kevin - 11:08
8. Jack - 11:15
9. Steve - 11:58
10. Sam - 12:50
11. Zach - 13:24
12. Duane - 14:13
13. Frances - 17:16 (1st female)
14. David - 19:39
15. Kathryn - 22:33
16. Monica - 30:00
17. Jessica - 52:32
18. Madelyn** - 15:54
19. Joanna** - 28:09
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** Lightweight Division (1/2 volume)
(More results coming soon... )