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Showing posts from 2011

So, You Want To Pace...

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I'm going to aim for the knockout points right up front, and flat out tell you that the ideal pacer is above the average runner, and a tough, lean, canny guide and wily co-competitor for the above-average runner. The ideal pacer is an expert, the ghillie for the hunt here, and if you're gunning for a buckle, all the positive help you can get is for the better. However, we all start at the beginning. If this is your first time pacing, think very carefully about the following: Are you up for "running" [or not] above or below your comfort zone? Do you have romantic notions about the task ahead of you? This encompasses both overt or cryptic attachments to your runner [provided you know them], and/or the business about being out all night and the brutal part of the day. Have you run at night? More than once? On the course? In bad weather? Do you have an urgent, time-sensitive appointment Saturday or Sunday? Too bad. You'll miss it, guaranteed.

2011 AC100: Heat, Dust And Dreamz

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Your race reality should be so clear. Hanta ho, truthseekers!   From The Endurance Suburb Of The World®™, the 24th AC100! All the putatively anointed pre-race favorites saw their races end prematurely. Jorge Pacheco and Keira Henniger were done by Chantry. I suspect Jorge's exit was accelerated by prancing around at Badwater 2 weeks earlier, when he should've been tapering. Don't know what happened to Keira, can't comment or speculate, which cripples another life on TV. Mine, not hers. From the top of Baden-Powell, I had less than 20min to myself before Jorge Pacheco hove into view. More on that in a bit. I'd spent a restless night camped out at the base, complete with phantom memories of pre-race nerves. Quarter moon, stars, utterly delicious. It wasn't even my race, but 20 years of direct connection to the AC100 beast has left a deep imprint. Jorge was first over the top around 0800. I had just settled in 15min prior, after a sleepless night down in

Texts From Last Night 5.0: I Told You So

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Desdemona and Terrazzo break it down for you again, reliving texts you wished you hadn't sent, as found on "Texts From Last Night". Recorded at Hellmouth PolySci, in Hellmouth CA.

Character-driven Ultra Content

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Meet Desdemona and Terrazzo. Thanks to the fun-loving folks at xtranormal.com , these upstanding generic cartoon characters will now explain Mysteries of Ultrarunning to you in ways you didn't imagine. Or tell you "So, You Want to Be A Lawyer". Yawn. "Chariots of Fire" it ain't. Momma told you not to come anyway. Here, have some salt.

100 Miles In 7 Minutes: The Angeles Crest 100

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Terrazzo and Desdemona relive the agony and ecstasy of running 100 miles at the Angeles Crest 100-Mile Endurance Race.

Western States 100 For Beginners

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Terrazzo and Desdemona take you through race day at the legendary Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run.

Looking For Kitty at the the Wasatch 100

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Desdemona and Terrazzo reminisce about the Wasatch Front 100-Mile.

Stairway To The Leadville 100

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Stairway To The Leadville 100 The famed Leadville Trail 100 Trail Race is lovingly described by your hosts Desdemona and Terrazzo.