Mr Trail Safety Speaks!

  "Some records are meant to be broken" I just saw this post from the AC100 Official Very Official FB page. The record here is Jim O'Brien's 1989 AC100 GOAT 17:35:48. Nobody's come close. Ever. Ben Hian admitted it was untouchable. Since the 2026 date is finally moved back to its nearly original Oct 6, somebody thinks they have a shot at it. Which begs the question: How? Reining in my usual withering sarcasm, but fully activating my years in the sport: here goes.  THE COURSE First. You’d have to run it on the original course. No cut outs. That means up over Mt [Sonny Boy] Williamson, no PGT [Pretty Good Tunnel] on Highway 2. Then, the original Cooper Cyn. The local MYLFs [Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog, you perv] will watch you thunder by. Again, no Pleasant Valley bypass trail. Up and over to Cloudburst, Glenwood Springs, Sulphur Springs. Mt Hillyer, with the Original Crotchless Gorilla suit. On to Short Cut via Charlton Flats. Down the Edison Road to Newcombs. Up a...

Dead. More or less, whatever! Someone’s gonna die out there on race day, in the heat. The race needs to move back to October. Period. And Kenny will never budge. In Before Times The race was in October. You got your summer heat training. Days of endless high noon all fucking day. When Race Day came, it was delightfully mild. The sun races across the sky. And it got chilly at night. But various fires and other cryptic factors moved the race date from October, to September, now to early fucking August. And course changes like running for miles on blistering blacktop don't help. Here's how we got here:  I magine AC100 Without Baden-Powell   Let's review, from a professional medical viewpoint The single biggest change the race could make in terms of safety is to move the race date back to the late September, dare I say October time frame. So do the math: 300 runners x exposure to heat stroke level temperatures = highly likely outcome. I’d argue that the fire danger is only frac...

  The 2022 AC100 is now an out & back due to forest & trail conditions from the 2020 Bobcat Fire.    Fun fact: its uphill from Chantry to Wrightwood. With a few downs interspersed. I learned that in Before Times, from Jimbo Training, ‘93-‘96.   Here are some fun sections: Islip backwards to Vincent Gap: 12mi Inspiration back to the start/finish: 10mi And of course The Fred Flintstone Scenic Stoner Wilderness, between Chilao and Three Points. Also the PGT* that runs under Mt "Sonny Boy" Williamson on Highway 2 back to Islip. So. The Wise Runner will learn the course backwards first. Because the AC course seriously DGAF about you. _________________________________________ *PGT: Pretty Good Tunnel, aka The Jimmy Moorhart Road Cone Section; again from Before Times.  

My virtual buckle is down there, dammit! 2020 was a burning dumpster fire. Ultras got pounded. In the midst of all that, some events were able to safely proceed, and magic happened. Our friends at Ultrarunning Magazine have the stats . They do that way better than I. Predictions... Really?  The following is a tossed salad of the sober and surreal. You decide which. Marquee races like Western States and Hardrock may or may not happen, depending on how fucked up the 'Rona vaccine rollouts are, combined with Avoidable Dumbfuck Super-Spreader Events. Smaller races are also impacted. Currently LA County is on lockdown. Angeles Crest 100 is listed as happening, but we'll see after the winter storms and Bobcat Fire trail-washouts and tree deadfalls have their way. A huge majority of that course was incinerated this past October. The last word from the USFS was that it was closed for the next several years. There's enough trail work for all entrants and more, as the USFS is perenni...

This seems apropos somehow The Tarahumaran/Raramuri runners of northern Mexico have an exalted ultra reputation. Their legendary running skills have cyclically transfixed ultras here in the USA going back to the early nineties. Coming out of deep, remote canyons in Chihuahua, the optics were magnetic. What gets lost in the media pixie dust is that they are desperately poor, sustaining themselves in a harsh landscape, and beset by loggers, narcos, and an indifferent ruling class and government. Starvation is a constant threat, now exacerbated by global warming climate change. Here it comes: “Born To Run” McDougall’s “Born To Run” book is often cited as a primary source on the Raramuri. Last time it was mentioned by an aggrieved SJW who was newly woke on ultras, I nearly shot coffee out my nose. Wikipedia can be like that. But McDougall’s done well with it, bullshitting TED talks in Davos etc. I get it, writing doesn’t pay much, and Davos can be fun.  Rewind! The Raramuri h...

Angeles Crest 100 opens its panic-Goober Gold Rush entry process the day after the race ends. A week later, after a cryptic “lottery,” the next year's entrants are announced. They now have a year to get their one 50-mile qualifying race done, just like in 1986. The First-time Entrants With Zero Prior Finishes compose the overwhelming majority of the field: 177 with 83 all other prior finishers. I began to wonder what are their immediate qualifications? It runs the gamut from names like Jim Walmsley [WS100] and Darcy Piceu [Hardrock 100, Bigfoot 120], to the entrant with the one recorded 7mi finish. Also noted that there were a startling number of half- and full Ironman finishers. I didn't include these finishes, because at best its a marathon. I expect yelps on that too.  The stats showed that: 22% have no ultra experience whatsoever at signup, only 14% have completed a 50-miler. Entrants in the None category might not have any qualifiers; or the data may be absent,...

Congratulations! You've won the AC100 Lottery! Some of you haven't done more than a marathon. You'll do a Care Bear 50mi qualifier, perhaps on a downhill course, with trees and a tailwind, sunny and 72º F. You may show up for an official training run, then go home and crack a beer. You're in for a rude surprise: It won't mean shit to Angeles Crest. Because AC is everything your low-voltage qualifier is not. More on that here , and here . The 2017 Angeles Crest 100 kicked off with 80 DNS. This was up from 60 of last year. No refunds, no waiting list, no explanations. That's a nice payday. The 2018 Entrant Lottery promised and delivered. It was beta-tested in 2016 , and deemed fit to run. I'll Ask The Awkward Questions, Again. Nothing has changed. Following the 2014 entry-scrum, I posted the following ideas: All entrants must prequalify with 2 50s or 1 100, using the list of races that WS100 had already figured out. Right now it's ...