I’ve tried this before, many times. Indeed, in many ways my life these past few years is defined by a wandering star. But I’m hoping the next few weeks will provide a walkabout vision quest where I throw out a roadmap and just rely on pushpins on a globe. I know big picture where I’ll […]

That’s a terrible title. I’m sitting at Dulles International Airport waiting to board my flight to Copenhagen. From there, it’s another 3 hour layover and an hour or so flight to Poland. An Aussie friend of mine recently posted the progression of his weariness as he took multiple connections and I thought I’d follow suit. […]

I was 14 when I first saw City Slickers (1991), a baby boomer mid-life crisis comedy. A then 43-year-old Billy Crystal starred as Mitch, a father and husband filled with ennui who goes on a dude ranch cattle drive “vacation” with a few of his friends.  As the weight of adulthood, time, responsibility, and life […]

So, I only saw about 2 or 3 people cutting the course whilst running the Mexico City Marathon. I assumed that was a good sign indicating a marked improvement over last year’s infamous 5800+ cheaters. Apparently I was wrong. So very, very wrong. According to this Canadian Runner Magazine story, it’s estimated that 13,000 people […]

My alarm went off at 5:03 am.  It needn’t have bothered as I had been up all night.  I couldn’t sleep, tossing and turning in the darkness. It wasn’t the street noise – it was no worse than stays in NYC with screeching cars, sirens, trucks and the like.  Besides, Salvador provided ear plugs for […]

I’ve been watching a lot of westerns lately and I’m struck by humankind’s ability to create time machines.  I’m a runner so I can travel on my two feet, sometimes faster than those in a car due to traffic.  But a horse enabled long stretches to be overcome, such that the pony express was viewed […]

So this is a terrifying quote from Donald Trump. It’s also a terrifying quote from me sometimes when I scroll through race registration possibilities… albeit I should never say it in certain contexts. Like, say, if I were talking about the Barkley Marathon.  If I ever say “I could run it if I want,” know […]

Pikes Peak Marathon has a very strict 10 hour cut-off.  If you come back down the mountain and cross the finish line at 10:00:01, you get disqualified and listed as a DNF — Did Not Finish. This year, the last person under the cutoff placed 666th.  That’s not ominous at all.  It’s just a number, […]

“The forecast for today was never in doubt,” the volunteer told me when I asked if they thought we’d be running all the way to the summit or if we’d be looking at a shortened course for safety reasons. So it was going to be 8000 feet up, and then 8000 feet back down. Swell. […]

Dangerous weather, particularly above the treeline on Pikes Peak, prompted a shortened ascent today for the runners.  They wound up doing a 7.6 mile run up to Barr Camp.  I don’t really know what that means as I’ve barely looked at any of the course info on this thing, opting for an “ignorance is bliss” […]