Mr Trail Safety Speaks!

AC100 2014: Dead Man's Bench, Mile 79 "Running for time, not distance" is an eternal lure for distance training . However, races are still measured in distance. Time on feet is important, but ya gotta get somewhere before cut-off. Otherwise this training mod ality is a self-deluding feedback loop.  I found this out in 1986 when I ran my 1st LA Marathon, training out of Ardy Friedburg's "How to Run Your First Marathon". Years later it appeared on Amazon, and I review ed it, as follows: "How to Run Your First Marathon" is a cruel hoax in a breezy, fun, gosh-its-gonna-be-fun style. I bought this book in 1985, when I was training for my first marathon, Los Angeles 1986. It promised a bunch of things, namely "don't worry too much about distance, run for time". That is perfect barney-bait. By the time I was at 20 miles, I'd begun to hate the day I'd imagined that the author knew what he was talking about. OK, ...

Screenshot of my original Facebook post, for those who need pictures It was bound to happen. The sport has "matured", if that's a proper term; to the point that sub-24 hr WS100 buckles are now being sold by their recipients on ebay. The first incident I heard of was a dealer selling one several years ago. It was recovered by the Western States 100, and it wasn't cheap. Frankly, I'm startled. Yes, its his to do with as he pleases. He could lose it in a card game for that matter. But still. I was under the remarkably quaint impression you just didn't do this kind of thing. Here's Jared Hazen's Facebook post: the ebay listing: Jared's post: show me the money. I caught a lot of flak for posting this. I made it clear that yes, I understood that he could do what he wanted with it. That seemingly overshot many of my critics.  Whatever.  Twitter was especially fun, as a bunch of aliased weenie-boys hid behind their keyboards...