Video: "The Ingenuous Choice"

"We need the tonic of wildness... We require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable... that the land and sea be indefinitely wild."

Emerging from a funk which saw zero miles for many weeks. This video has sparked the desire to run again.

The Ingenuous Choice - Mountain Running with Anton Krupicka from Outdoor Live on Vimeo.

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15 Seconds of Fame with Ultrasportslive.tv

As I sat in the shade of the awards tent on Sunday morning, reflecting on running 100 miles, my phone rang.  Ultra Sports Live wanted to know if I could do an interview! I hobbled over to the other side of the tent to chat with my friend Victor Ballesteros:

More Media: Journeyfilm Prepares a Webseries

Journeyfilm, maker of Unbreakable: The Western States 100, is gearing up for a weekly web series covering ultra events and culture. The trailer is classic Journeyfilm's footage of trail running at its finest. At just 47 seconds, it has the uncanny ability to make me want to go run!

What is Trail Running?

H/T to Eric at Ultrarunnerpodcast for this highlight reel:

The Power of Oxygenated Blood

A short film is making the rounds this week; I've seen multiple sources sharing it. Basically, a crew set out in a UK park with a camera and a cart of some sort. They tooled around the bike paths looking for runners, and interviewed them as they ran.

 

Check it out here.

 

One of the reasons running is so appealing is that it is akin to therapy. Problems can be solved on runs. I've long held that this is because of the increase in blood flow, and the resulting increase in oxygen delivered to your brain. Like an oxygen bar, the effects cease when the activity stops.

 

The runners in this film are ordinary people, but they all have one thing in common: they seem to be at peace with their places in the world.

The Eight Stages of Marathon Running

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:

15 Seconds of Fame

I found this video of Timothy Olson's 2013 Western States 100 via Eric Schranz and UltrarunnerPodcast.com. It contains some good footage of the course, and at 2:07 is my 15 seconds of fame giving Timothy a high five as he enters the Michigan Bluff aid station.

Knowing the Black Dog

You all should watch this again. Listen more closely this time.

Darkness

Yet another gem brought to my attention by Eric Schranz and UltraRunnerPodcast.com. Full of introspective prose and video worth watching in HD. Some of my favorite bits:

" The repeat offender likely has a pre-disposition to binging. Or addiction. While by no means an inviolate law, there's no question that a large number of our fellow ultra runners have felt the symptoms of withdrawal and agitation after a big event. I find it unlikely that 10 to 20 hours of hormones coursing through our body leaves us with only DOMS to show for our efforts."

"The exhaustion lingering from the event washes away our self-defences and this conscious scraping-back of the Soul further erodes our reserves allowing unbidden thoughts and feelings to threaten the already threadbare fabric of our sanity."

And my favorite: "As Kahlil Gibran wrote in The Prophet, The deeper that Sorrow carves into your being, the More Joy you can contain."

Enjoy!

You Tube Gem: The Skipper

Eric Schranz over at UltraRunnerPodcast.com has dredged up another gem at You Tube:

The Sunlight Diet

Found this unbelievable snippet on Ultrarunnerpodcast.net this morning. This woman is attempting to survive on sunlight and water alone. Four people have died trying to replicate this "yogi" path to a higher something or other.

Another Bucket List Race: Sun Mountain 50 Miler

Yet another race for the bucket list, the Sun Mountain 50 miler look absolutely gorgeous. Gotta put this one on the docket for 2015 maybe? So many beautiful courses, I'm beginning to get the sense that I'll be more satisfied running a new race rather than repeat a race, despite the opportunities to improve my times. I'd rather find new and spectacular venues like this one. Check it out:

Sun Mountain Race from CuziFilms on Vimeo.

Race Radar: Gorge Waterfalls 50K

Yet another race on my bucket list, the Gorge Waterfalls 50K in Oregon looks like a beautiful run. It sells out quickly, so I'll have to be paying attention this December when registration opens. Check out this video of the 2013 race:

Gorge Waterfalls 50k - 2013 from Project Talaria on Vimeo.

One Step Beyond

This trailer is five years old, but it showed up in the Daily News at UltrarunnerPodcast.com this morning, and the timing is somewhat serendipitous. Just as the running Gods encouraged me to sign up for the American River 50 Miler, signs are beginning to appear for the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc!

One Step Beyond - Documentary- Trailer... by unpassodopolaltro

Tamalpa Headlands 50K Training Week Two: Sweep L.A.!

Week two saw a small increase in volume, and noticeably sore muscles after about an hour of running. I took an optional day off on Friday, and just plain skipped a 90 minute workout on Saturday and a 45 minute workout on Sunday. Twirly was in town and we sailed across the Bay to AT&T Park. We picked up some friends for an afternoon cruise around the Bay and then returned to South Beach Harbor next to the ballpark to tailgate on the boat and then got to watch the San Francisco Giants BEAT LA in the bottom of the tenth inning on a walk off home run. Our section, in the bleachers, was full of Dodgers fans. It was very satisfying. The G-men went on to win Sunday as well, sweeping their rivals in three one run games.

 

The week:

 

Monday: 60 minutes @ 9:00 effort 

 

Tuesday: 45 minutes on the treadmill

 

Thursday: 60 minutes @ 9:00 effort

 

Totals: 18.50 miles, avg HR 138

 

So, a weekend spent on beer, baseball and sailing did not do much for my race weight goal. I won't see a scale until Saturday morning before the Run For Your Lives Zombie run, so I have a few days to count calories, cross train and try to hit every workout on the schedule.

 

I'm unsure, at the moment, what my costume for the zombie run should be. It has to be comfortable enough to run in for three hours, but I also want to wear something that will be memorable.  

 

Crazy scientist zombie? Maybe.

 

Ultra runner zombie is too obvious.

 

Business man zombie would be too hot.

 

Lifeguard zombie?

 

Hmmm. Something in the middle. Got any ideas? Leave me a comment!

Rise and shine

This video incorporates footage I have seen in other places with some I have not. The end product is one of those goose-bump inducing rushes that makes me want to go for a run immediately.

Onward

I found this animation this morning, via UltraRunner Podcast.

I Am a Marathon Runner

A friend posted this to Facebook, and I laughed at how much it resembled my internal dialogue. There is some NSFW language, beware: