Adventures in Onionism

Just arrived in Lake City. Gunnison was nice, but I wasn't there by choice. I'll explain in a future post for non-fb-friend readers. Lake City was one of my favorite trail towns on the CDT, so let's see if I can relive the magic.

Does this still work? I haven't posted via SMS in a while. Drinking beer in a windy but free BLM campsite on the Arkansas River outside Salida. Ran a great 12 miles, made significant research progress at the library. Life is good.

The weather is so much better. So is the running. Lake City, Silverton, and Leadville are all on the list, maybe more. I just need to find a coffee shop that will let George inside, or a hostel that will let him in the bunk room, and then I'll be all set.

This is my office thermostat. So I'm driving to Colorado. I just bought a cooler at the Wal-Mart on the "Avenue of Mid-America" in Effingham, Illinois. I can't believe it's another 1000 miles to the Rockies.

There's an article in the NYT today about a fairly high up Mormon leader finding out information about the church's history that contradicts the official version, then getting pushback from his superiors, and then starting to doubt, and finding all his honest inquiry stymied. "Wow, the sky is blue," I thought, since I think or read this every other day or three. But apparently it's news to a lot of people, so the more publicity it gets the better. I recommend the links nested in the article as well.

I don't think the article is that good, but here it is. It's about this paved, hot and humid race in Philly. Which I guess has a fairly large field as far as these things go; but I just read that on the course website, not in the mediocre article. The loop is the standard 8.4-mile running loop in downtown Philly. It's nice for an urban river trail. But like I said, it's paved, flat, and run in July in Philly, so I have no desire to ever do it. This week I did become overwhelmed with a sudden desire to run Badwater next year, however. UPDATE: Mr B and I walked over to the race to cheer on the runners, only to discover that the whole thing had been cancelled due to the heat. From the 20in24.com race website:

I presented my research yesterday. Seemed like it went well. The swamp-ass weather is not suiting me well. If you feel the same, then you should watch the Norwegian film Kon-Tiki from 2012, while huddled in your AC cocoon. Sorry, I can't get it to embed right now. [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97XrASFPhF0 ] Also watch the original doc, with real 16mm film from the voyage, if you can find a copy. [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joem9SKS3LY ] And remember that Gourevitch article in The New Yorker about Rwandan cycling? Now there's a doc. [ http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/risingfromashes/ ]

This is not a post about fashion. It's about functionality. All my shorts are too long for this stupid east coast heat and humidity. Being a semi-dwarf doesn't help. So I bought some Patagonia Stand Up shorts . Crazy expensive, but they're pretty much all I could find. Just so you know, the 7" inseam is reasonable, the 5" is not. 8" would be better. This weather/place is killing me. The AC in my office doesn't work after 5PM, the coffee shop closes at 6, and the public library closes at 7. I might pack it in after my seminar on Wednesday and find a nice coffee shop in Colorado. That's today's daydream, anyway. Back to work.

20 big names in running/hiking/climbing describe the trails they'd like to do . The finest climbing videos of 2012 .

Jez Bragg ran the Te Araroa trail across New Zealand in 53 days. [ irunfar article ] Anton Krupicka aborted his attempt at Nolan's 14 early. [ UD blog ] My girlfriend started the JMT today. Another buddy finished his third time. Heather (Anish) is currently doing quite well on her PCT speed record attempt. [ Her fb site ] Meanwhile, I'm doing research, my knee hurts so I couldn't run further than 3 miles this morning, and it's really hot and humid out. Since gf is moving to Florida I read a Carl Hiaasen mystery novel, Double Whammy . People, including Dave Davies [ Fresh Air interview] , seem to think he's outrageous and hilarious. He's got a nice liberal environmentalist satire thing going, but it's still just empty calories.

From the official race photographer, maybe? Facchino Photography. Crazy expensive, as usual, but there are some good shots , including me crossing the finish line. Speaking of the finish line, here's a brief clip of video after crossing the finish line via Ashley. Unfortunately she stopped it before the dry heaving (and you'll have to forgive the vertical video ). But you can still get the sense I didn't want people bugging me.

Glenn Tachiyama got a couple photos of me during States. Here and here . Unfortunately it looks like I was walking in one of them. Based on who I'm pictured with, I think this was between Devil's Thumb and Michigan Bluff, but it's hard to tell. h/t ZG for finding the photos.

Luis Escobar posted his photo of me at the finish line. It's here , public on fb. I was not kissing the track, I was dry heaving. Also, here's mile 30 to 96 of the race from my GPS.

I finished the Western States 100 yesterday. It may have been the best run of my life; it was certainly the most enjoyable 100-mile race. Here are way more details than you could ever want. It was really hot. I knew that going in. I ran as a pacer from mile 62 at Foresthill to the river at mile 78 in 2005, and I fastpacked the course on a hot Labor Day weekend in 2008, and posted this report . The route I took then was different in a few sections, and I saw places at different times of day, but it was vaguely helpful to be a little familiar with the course, and to know how hot it could get. After the fastpacking, I didn't really love the course, and wasn't hugely interested in running the race. The best, and only above treeline, scenery comes in the first 4 miles, and then you're on hard dirt or gravel roads much of the rest of the way. But after the race, I'm a convert. I went up to Tahoe on Thursday to turn in my drop bags and attend an info meeting early Fri...