Inwardly I'm smiling. Photo courtesy of Louis Kwan. Don't hold it against him. After yesterday's Ray Miller 50k, I've only got two stiff legs. I've achieved a certain level of accomplishment when I heard shouts of "show us your balls!" seconds from the finish. But that was after I’d hurt the vert, run my own race, and had a great day; well in the future after the rosy-finger dawn rose over the whine-dork sea . The race is one of a cluster run that day at Pt Mugu State Park: 30k, 50k, 50 miles and 100k. Something for everybody, and if getting like worked hard, RD Keira H enninger will deliver, in spades. The 50k course is a lopsided 3-leaf clover and stem, in an approximate clockwise direction. If it was run counter clockwise, it would easily add 2 hours to the average finish. Keira has other things to do besides wait on your sorry ass, so be grateful. I was very glad I didn’t strap on the 50-miler. This will have to wait for a later date. Meanwhile,...
1993 Angeles Crest 100 Mile Finish line at Johnson's Field, Altadena, CA. L to R: Nancy, Coach Jim O'Brien, Larry Gassan, pacer Ray Deschenes. I repaid Ray by pacing him at WS in 94. On June 13, 2013, legendary coach Jim O'Brien was fired by the Arcadia High School for unspecified transgressions, despite two national titles and a winning record going back almost thirty years. ...O’Brien, now 60, was abruptly fired from his head coaching position at Arcadia. Runners, students, alumni and parents were shocked. O’Brien was not apparently involved in any scandal and, though his style has been described as intense, had no real detractors, other than the personnel associated at Arcadia High School associated with his firing. [from the TrailRunner article] On July 24, 2013, friends, students and supporters of Coach Jim O'Brien came out and spoke directly to the Arcadia Unified School District Supervisors in an open meeting as to why Jim was important to them, th...
Ultrarunning lost a giant today. "Uncle" Hal Winton, co-RD of the Angeles Crest 100 since its 1986 founding, died this morning. He had just completed his 35th Avalon Benefit 50 this past January. RIP. I first met Hal in 1990, at a 35mile fun run around Mt San Jacinto near Idylwild, CA. I was an ultra newbie and he was already a legend in Southern California ultras. Back in those days, he was instantly recognizable with a cross "bigger than the one Christ came down from" [in the words of my ultra mentor Tom Pontac] and wore a t-shirt saying "Winton 4 Jesus". Over the years the cross got smaller, but it was a mighty diamond of no-bullshit faith. One story I heard was that his church was debating getting new carpet. He reportedly stood up and asked why they were thinking of carpet, when there were hungry people out on the street. But if they wanted carpet, then he'd find another church. The carpet idea died. Some bio info Origina...
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