Posts

Showing posts from June, 2018

Playlist of the Damned

Image
I'm shattered, shattered... So you're putting together a playlist for your Next Big Ultra. OK! This is part of the Enthusiasm For The Sport®™ that is so endearing. I don't buy into it. Its one more piece of gear that will entangle, distract, and fuck you up. You also might miss an important sound cue from outside your bubble. Batteries, cable, playlist, BPM, and the unplanned mockery when those inspirational lyrics are the soundtrack to you doubled over, talking to the ants.  Its even more annoying when you haul into an aid station, and whoever's in charge thinks you really want to hear Journey, or whatever at volume, because its a party. And everybody's in some costume [another story altogether]. Shit makes me crazy. I'm trying to think, get a grip, and a PA is drilling into my head. I've fled aid stations to get away from the noise and discovered my bottles were unfilled.  Over the years I've relied on memory. Music emerged from deep tissues

Ultra-Cheating

Image
Framing the argument. Ultras have now matured so that people work at cheating on them.  It's always something.  I've suspected it in various 50ks, 50-milers, and a few 100-milers.  Marathons had their wakeup with Rosie Ruiz, and her 1980 subway-assisted Boston Marathon win . Cheating can occur in the following scenarios: Races with interior loops, staffed by volunteers, with little or no help, and irregular contact with other volunteers running HAM and finish line duties Long stretches were people can get rides without scrutiny Out & back sections with no monitoring, or proof of completion Where trails parallel paved or graded roads Cheating has always been rumored, but the rise in timing chip/Garminesque GPS tech watches has closed the gap. Provided the registered entrant is wearing the watch etc.   This will percolate downwards into the sport. Time-testing will undoubtedly accompany drug-testing in marquee races.  Race directors don't get a pass on