Mr Trail Safety Speaks!

Facts, damnable facts. Peter: It's always good hearing from you! Seeing that we're all real busy these days, I'll make this short and to the point.  [for those just dropping in, here's my original 2001 post that enraged Peter Bakwin ] 1] I stand by my observations.  2] Sharp-focus commentary is not "picking on you"; it's part of the "balls to wall" experience.  3] If I am living a dull and creativity-challenged life, let me know. I'll be at Highline 50 next week, Mile 44. [But, time's a wasting! Back to the main show...]  4] I don't dispute your reasons for pre-announcing your intentions. What was fascinating how you two did it. The terms "enabled" and "enabling" come to mind; along with "safari hunting with a brass-band".  5] Unsupported. Unsupported. Unsupported. Big noises about that. Now it's easy to say otherwise.  Whether or not Tweit, Hoff, LaCava or anybody else had support is beside the po...

I love this talk about John Muir Trail and "record fever". There's such a rancid desperate air about it. But it's Spring, and it's with us again.  Blake Wood did a masterful job. The account is low-key, insightful, accurate and bullshit free.  Bruce Hoff did his turn several years ago. Again, low-key, honest, funny and sobering.  Last year Buzzy & Peter treated us to a brass-band fanfare prior to the Great Unsupported JMT Record-Breaking Event. We were directed to the appropriate press flackery, which Was All True, of course.  The air was thick with attitude about it all, Cali trails being wimpy and all, and how Two Colorado Dewds were gonna show ever'body a thing or two about trail running. Unsupported. This was canon law.  The Mountain Gods stirred from their torpors. Pulverized mule turds set the tone, and the howling started there. Four days of no sleep and robotic humping thru what...Gawd's Epic Back Yard. They might as well have run along the si...

Today's a Day Without Mirth, In Kanine Happiness, there is a dearth, An uncritical audience exceeds its worth, For Frosty's left me, here on Earth. His favorite words were: "Let's Go Running", Even though he knew I was just funning, In small circles 'round [it's "Littleton-ing"], While by the swings, I'd be sunning. Frosty's in Heaven and getting started, Running laps with the dear departed, I'll remember him as I shuffle broken-hearted, While at Badwater -- shopping-kart'd.

Leadville CO, 1994 [Post updated Nov 2021]  The Divine Madness running cult of Boulder CO was a hot topic in the mid 90s. I got to see them in action during the 1997 Leadville 100. It had everything lurid for the pre-clickbait era: sex, running, weird diets, and behavioral compulsions. === (4/09) f urther reading on Divine Madness running cult   : This Women's Sport and Fitness articl e on Divine Madness and a reporter's infatuation has really gotten a head of steam up. I read it with considerable interest, and located the following pressure points: a sense of longing and lack of fulfillment on the part of the reporter observations of a group dynamic that are manipulative the curiosity of the reporter about how to do better some editorial tweaking to pump up the text for the non-ultra readership [which is infinity minus 8,000, give or take]. For those who've seen Yo Tizer in action at Leadville and are willing to remember, it's memorable. Watching the "Y...