Adventures in Onionism

I finally ran Angeles Crest 100. It's close, and it's been around for a long time, so it's a bit unclear why I hadn't run it before. Maybe because I don't like Southern California very much? More likely because several years ago they moved the date from late September to early August to try and beat fire season (and instead guarantee that it will be uncomfortably hot). Also, the race director has some very poor policies that clearly seem like they're designed to maximize profit--the race signup takes place the day after the previous year's race, with no refunds, no waitlist, and almost no experience requirement for signing up. All these lead to a very high (something like a one-third) do not start ratio, and a very high do not finish ratio as well. Do not starts=free money! To make matters worse, this year the race was kicked out of the Pleasant View Ridge wilderness. Part of Angeles National Forest was turned into wilderness in 2009. Commercial events suc...

Unfortunately, I haven't read many books in the last few years. I blame the Internet. But I still run while listening to audiobooks, and also force audiobooks on friends and loved ones on roadtrips, so it's not a total loss. Walter Isaacson writes great biographies. The one about Einstein is awesome, and so is the one about Steve Jobs . If you're even lazier than me, all you need to know is both were geniuses, but Einstein was a mensch, and Jobs was a prick. (OK, Einstein wasn't perfect, his major flaw was poor treatment of his wife and children, but he was miles ahead of his time when thinking about care for the human race as a whole.) Also, Wild, by Cheryl Strayed . I can't hold it against anyone who hikes the PCT because of this book, since I hiked the AT in part due to Bill Bryson's  A Walk in the Woods . I got a little teary eyed listening to this book, when things like Meadow Ed's trail magic at Kennedy Meadowns got mentioned. But just because it ...

Last weekend I went down to San Diego (Lake Morena campground, specifically) for ADZPCTKO, AKA, the best weekend of the year. Thursday was Trail Jeopardy, Friday Nano, Gazelle, and I ran to Boulder Oaks and back. That's not that long a run (11 or so) but it was at a pretty good tempo with some good hills. Then instead of one Class of '09 video (that's typically just a bunch of photos of '09 hikers with way too much Ken Burns effect) as has been the case for the last five years, the organizers showed several short films submitted by hikers. The most memorable was probably Jester's Wizards of the PCT . It was fairly Squatch -esque in that it showed a bunch of silly hikers' exploits while also describing the trail. We just saw the desert portion, the whole thing will be finished later this year. (Also later this year, Squatch is hoping to film some friends going after the current 29-day speed record for the high point in each of the lower 48 states.) Saturday D...

Looks like only half of the trail record attempts I know about will be successful this year. David Horton's attempt to do a supported CDT run and break Squeaky's unsupported 75-day CDT record ended after one truly hellish day, and Karl Meltzer won't be beating Andrew Thompson's AT record of 47 days and change thanks to an injury, but I'm pretty sure that Scott and Joe broke the PCT speed record, finishing yesterday evening for a total of 71 days and a few hours, taking 8 days off Joe's previous record (unconfirmed but near certain given location a day or so ago), and Jennifer Pharr Davis destroyed the women's AT record, finishing a couple days ago in 57 days, 16 hours. Happy trails to all. Update: the first link made it clear Karl was still going to finish the AT, but an updated post implies the record will still be within reach. He's resting today, but he was several miles ahead of Andrew Thompson's splits before this. Best wishes for a full...