[The container described below is NOT at the coordinates posted, though the encounter described DID occur in the vicinity of these coordinates.]
The New York City Marathon isn't the only race that draws tens of thousands of runners to New York each year. In March, the NYC Half Marathon is run. Many runners belong to clubs, some of which have unusual traditions.
Recently, I came across three runners I had gotten to know during the race this past year sitting in a certain historic tavern in lower Manhattan, arguing about this year's changes to the route. Each of them belong to one of the three most peculiar running clubs in New York.
The members of these three clubs call themselves the Apples, the Bananas, and the Crickets, respectively. Their odd customs include wearing outlandish costumes every now and then and using absurd noisemakers to encourage other runners. Most of all, each member of the clubs invariably follows the following custom: when in the presence of a member of either of the other two clubs, Apples always tell nothing but the truth, Bananas tell nothing but lies, and Crickets, being the most normal, unpredictably sometimes lie and sometimes tell the truth.
I was first introduced to these three individuals while we were lining up to start the race in Prospect Park in Brooklyn by an Apple of my acquaintance who identified to which club each belonged. I soon discovered that each of the three was also geocacher in addition to being a runner. While waiting for the race to start, we had a great time talking about some of the absurdly difficult puzzles caches in Manhattan and how tough it is to find new hiding places.
Unfortunately, after the race started, and by the time I reached Central Park, I had completely forgotten each runner's name and club. All I could remember was that one of them was an Apple, one was a Banana, and the third was a Cricket.
Now, weeks later, they remembered me. Although I was having trouble figuring out whom to believe, I quickly became aware that they had collaborated and hidden a new puzzle cache that had not yet been published! It just so happened that I had an un-activated travel bug with me, ready to release into the wild, that I offered to contribute as a F2F prize. Of course, I needed to know where they had hidden their Final.
For some reason, instead of simply telling me where the GC was hidden, one of the runners silently passed me a list of waypoints. I took a look, plotted a few on my phone, and realized that every point was along the route of the Half Marathon we had run together. While I was trudging along, gradually tearing my Achille's tendon, my fellow runners had been thinking about geocaching and had managed to remember enough about the course to use specific locations as clues! I listened carefully as they explained further:
[Since I'm so terrible with names, I will simply refer to the three runners as R1, R2, and R3]
R1: The Half Marathon route in 2019 completely avoided hills.
R2: Point E hides the third clue to the solution.
R1: You need the clue from Point H to solve the puzzle.
R2: That last one was yet another true statement.
R2: You need to use Point A or Point C - but not both of them.
R3: Google Maps and Google Earth will only be useful for Point C and will provide inaccurate information for the other waypoints. Sorry.
R1: Point B has nothing whatsoever to do with the longitude coordinate of the Final.
R3: Point A is the first Waypoint you need to solve the puzzle.
R1: I am a Cricket.
R2: That is true.
R3: I am NOT a Cricket.
R3: All Insects Jump Longer By Doing Good Flips.