Master Competitor

Made a day of it and drove down off the mountain to Mooresville, NC.  I lived in Mooresville in 1983-84 when I was starting my sports marketing career.  So I went back to the scene of my business origin, to Lowe's corporate headquarters for this American Red Cross fundraiser.

I chose the 68 mile loop (there was also a 40 and a chip-timed 100 mile).  We rolled out around 8:15 and made our way towards the lake.

As I am finding in all tours...no one seems to tour.  This ride went out fast and stayed that way.  If you weren't on the big chain ring for about 90% of the course, you were dropped off the back.

Here's a quick brain dump of memories:
Got into a cat-and-mouse early in the ride with three female triathletes. They'd hammer by me on the downhills, then I'd climb back past them a gear or two higher on the climbs.  Guess I'd rather have the upper hand ascending vs. descending.  Funny and fun.Came into an early aid station.  As I was leaving, heard that terrible…

Thanks to the great folks at TrailRunner magazine, I've been able to preach the master man philosophy through their e-newsletter "Inside Dirt."

Click through to the link http://www.trailrunnermag.com/trblast/071411dirt.html and then scroll down to "Master's Voice."

All part of growing the sport and enticing "mature" runners to embrace the ultra endurance lifestyle.

Enjoy!

I'd like to craft a witty headline that would spike traffic off the search engines, but that's not my mood today.

I'm sad and rather empty inside.

Went out on my normal campus trail loop run this morning, and when about halfway through, took the left turn that takes me down to the prayer tower for my morning time with God.

I was initially surprised to find someone had cleared the trail; logs and brush were put aside.  But when I came to the end, there was...nothing.

Someone cut down my prayer tower.

It didn't seem to be vandal's work, as all the related lumber had been removed.  I have no idea why someone would want the old structure to be no more, but in my world  it was a tremendous loss.

You'll find me at my place of worship each Sunday, but I believe the prayer tower had become the best "church" I had been in (on) in years.  It's where my most fervent discussions with my Lord took place.  It's where I prayed for friends in trouble.  It'…

If you'd enjoy a warm and fuzzy flick that gets the eyes a bit misty, I'd suggest this 2010 documentary. It's about an Aussie financier who gets wealthy and fat, then decides to do the 40+ life turnaround.

The solution?  Come to the USA and do a 60-day juice fast. He spends the first 30 days in New York City, then the second 30 days driving across the country.

En route, the documentarian meets an overweight truck driver who has the same skin malady.  The film then incorporates the radical turn of events for both individuals.

The end result is good.  Life becomes more of an avocation as the juicers profess their transformation to others and get bring a healthy option to family and friends.

It would be interesting to push hundreds of pounds of fruits and vegetables through one's body.  I'm sure the outcome would be advantageous.  Even if I don't buy on to the entire ritual, think I'll take two bananas to school today instead of just one.

You can find the webs…

Have no idea how he got my mobile number...but took a call today from Frank, the man who jockeyed me to the hospital yesterday.

Frank was checking in to see how I was.  As if that's not enough, he gave directions as to where he lives in that riding area and offered his tools and workshop if we ever need to repair our equipment along the way.

No more needs to be said.  At a time when it's difficult to be optimistic in the USA, I am assured that good, righteous people exist in and around me.

And no matter what state this country is in, good people will always be at the core.

What started as a glorious day in the mountains ended with a strange and wild twist.

And it only took one tiny drop of wasp venom.

I was out with top-shelf ride leader Steve and two other talented crank-churners...Paul and Randy.  These boys are a level above master man and I was considering pulling the pin about 10 miles into our ride, a journey out to Glendale Spring and an alternate return, total 65 miles.

Being the group promoter that he is, Steve dropped back and was encouraging me up the big hills.  Our halfway stop allowed me to woof a diet Mt. Dew, two electrolyte tabs and an Aleve. I was feeling locked and loaded for the second half.

Soon after that a wasp got me on the right ear.  The sting started to burn but I put it out of mind and attempted to sum that pain in with the other hurts I was incurring.  But within a couple of miles, it was system shut down.  I barely made it off the road and sprawled onto the grass.  My breathing was labored, heart was racing and my vision we…

I'm sure this headline will catch a few hits off the search engines...but it's true.

You may be interested in a former army soldier who cut the cigs and Burger King cold turkey, dropped 60 pounds in six months, then became a federal agent who shipped off to Iraq. Mark T. Jackson is a master storyteller; I'll let him explain how he'd get chased by wild swamp dogs and on occasion take direct fire while running.  And I thought my trail loop was hard!

Listen to the ultrarunnerpodcast.com report at:
http://www.ultrarunnerpodcast.com/ultrarunnerpodcast.com/Podcast/Entries/2011/6/18_Mark_T_Jackson_Interview.html

This was a special day for me.  Came upon a $20 bill while running through the park this morning.  I've been a dime and quarter man for most of the 28 years I've been jogging, but this find was over the top.  Guess some unknown benefactor partially sponsored my Raptor Ride 60 mile tour tomorrow.

Gotta love that ROI from being a runner.

Ultrarunning historian and statistician Ed Furtaw responded to my Cantrell/Barkley post.  Ed is pivotal in the promotion of the Barkley and is a long-standing ambassador for the sport.  He commented:

1. Jim King was a top ultrarunner, from California, back in the 1980s. As I recall, he won Western States multiple times back when WS was inadvertently only about 93 mile long.


2. Steve Warshawer was another top ultrarunner back in the 1980s. I remember one string of about four ultras he won in the 1986-87 Southern Ultra Grand Prix Series, in which he ran three course records. Today, in his 50s, he lives on a ranch in New Mexico and still runs the occasional ultra, still at the top of his age group.
3. Unlike Matt Mahoney, I wasn't there when Ann Trason and the Tarahumara raced at Leadville. However, that story is well-told in Born To Run. The Tarahumara seemed to regard Ann as a female witch. The fastest among the Tarahumara won the race against Ann in a course-record time that stood fo…