Category Archives: Running
Schwanengesang
Ted Williams had been saying he would quit baseball every year for four years. By September 28, 1960, it was finally time, and Ted wanted more than anything to do something memorable at the end. In his last major league … Continue reading
Swan Song Is As Swan Song Does
Motivated by the principle that no news gets old faster than sports news, I figured I’d better bang out this race report for the NorthCoast 24-Hour Endurance Run that I ran in two days ago, before even I don’t care … Continue reading
The Longest Race—Ed Ayres
Runner and writer Ed Ayres has written a new book about ultrarunning and the things ultrarunners think about: The Longest Race, lengthily subtitled A Lifelong Runner, an Iconic Ultramarathon, and the Case for Human Endurance. I had the pleasure of … Continue reading
Can You Guess How Oold I Am?
Have you ever noticed how some older people like to tell you their age? It seems I’ve reached that point in life where I’m anxious to tell people my age, sometimes looking for excuses to do so. It’s a pretty … Continue reading
Ultrarunning Hyperbole
Certain tainted words occur repeatedly in journalism about ultrarunning, all of which cause noisy alarms to go off in my head whenever I see them. The four most frequent culprits are: crazy grueling test[ing] limits extreme Rarely have I ever … Continue reading
What Is Jogging?
Louis Armstrong allegedly said once, when asked what jazz is, if you have to ask, you’ll never know. In a roughly similar way, I’ve found that there are three types of people in this world who run: runners, joggers, and … Continue reading
Do-Tasks and Not-Do-Tasks
There are two kinds of tasks: Do-Tasks and Not-Do-Tasks. Most of the big life goals we set out to accomplish are achieved by Doing a sometimes complex array of tasks, often in some logical order. For instance, say I want … Continue reading
Mechanical Aids in Races
The use of mechanical aids to assist a runner in moving forward is against the rules in most ultramarathons. For instance, a runner will be disqualified for getting a lift in a car, riding a bicycle, or hopping along on … Continue reading
Routines
A friend once told me: “The more I repeat things the more good things happen.” He spoke of living his life according to an orderly daily routine. Most lives progress in cycles with controlled variations, from which emanate all that … Continue reading
Boredom Yet Again
Time for a rant: About being bored on the track—speaking as one who has spent a total of twenty-three 24-hour days and nights circling various tracks and short, flat pieces of road. The topic comes up often. Persons who say … Continue reading
Half Crazy
Most distance runners have been asked by non-runners: “How far is that marathon you’ll be running?” We all have our own saucy answers. I’m sure somewhere there’s a smart aleck who replies: “It’s just a standard marathon.” “Ummm … Oh! … Continue reading
Conquering the Voice
Whenever I go to the gym for a run there is a period of time between when I quit working for the day and when I arrive, during which my mind engages in relatively unproductive thought. It provides ample time … Continue reading
How Many Miles Per Whatever?
Non-runners will ask runners: “How many miles per unit of time du jour do you run?” If the inquirer is a fitness oriented type who sees me at the gym frequently, he may be the sort of person who assumes … Continue reading
Boredom Redux
Often I’ve claimed that I never get bored while running. I’ll stick to that claim, with a minor rider. Sometimes preoccupation with something else can interfere with whatever task we are presently performing, such that we do it less well, … Continue reading
Spinning Statistical Meaning
At Across the Years this year I earned a jacket for covering 1000 miles lifetime in my seventh year of running it. That’s the accumulated total from one 24-hour race, one 48-hour race, and five 72-hour races. (Update: My total … Continue reading
Why Ultrarunning?
On the Ultra List ultrarunning e-mail list one subscriber surmised: “…some people get into ultrarunning to prove to the world that they’re “tough.” Deep down inside they feel weak, so they compensate by doing something physically difficult.” Another responded: Or … Continue reading
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
Here is some news from the department of Superhuman Achievement. There’s been an interesting development in connection with Across the Years, the race I love so much and help to present at the end of every year. We learned that … Continue reading
Doing Nothing as Training
Sometimes training is doing nothing. Most serious runners realize that deliberate rest and recovery is as much a part of training as is running itself. Something that might not be quite as well understood is that the same applies to … Continue reading
Exercise As a Priority
Commendably, today (August 31, 2005), as the southern part of the Unites States is reeling from the devastation left by hurricane Katrina, US President George W. Bush opted to cut short his vacation in order to tend to business. It’s … Continue reading