Trail Running Daily News | Tue, Apr 9

Stephanie Case: What makes Barkley so special, what happened this year, and how to succeed in the future.

Roche: How does alcohol affect your fitness and performance? Biggest drawback for me wasn’t the booze, but rather finding the motivation the morning after. Trail Runner Mag site is down right now…check back in a few.

Sarah Keyes: Quick chat with one of the toughest mountain runners in the US.

Florida: OK, who’s gonna organize a Santeria 50k? Come for the trails, stay for the severed cow tongues and sacrificed chickens?

Run Forest Run! Guy running MdS dressed as Forest Gump.

Shoes: This site allows you to take the sole off one shoe and attach it to the upper of another. What Frankenstein creations would you want? I’ll take a Green Silence upper on an original Montrail Fluid Flex last/sole.

Koop: Mental exercises to get your mojo back. Good stuff we can all use at some point. I’d add to his list…go to a race and watch the finish.

Anyone got $3.5M to loan me? A 900 acre piece of property has popped up for sale right before Bath Road on the Western States course and I think it’d make a perfect URP HQ. I can repay you over the next 400 years.

Stay tuned for a new episode today. I spoke with Gabi yesterday evening about something most of us have dealt with…DNFs and how to move on.

6 Responses to "Trail Running Daily News | Tue, Apr 9"

Scott Sandow says:

April 9, 2019 at 10:52 am

There is so much goodness to be had in today’s news. Thank you!!

Reply
Scott W. Kummer says:

April 9, 2019 at 10:58 am

The great thing about MUT running is it is accessible and relate able. And in most instances open and available to all. I can’t play baseball with Kershaw, play basketball with Giannas or play football with Rodgers. but one of the great things about most races is that I can line up next to Sage or Camille or Speedgoat. And maybe have a beer with them at the finish line. This is why I am probably in the very tiny minority of people that are becoming completely disinterested in things like Barkley and FKT’s and the like. Things the every-man can’t really do, can’t relate to, and is sort of the exclusive province of the pro, well connected or infamous runner.
In some instances we are encouraged to stay away and watch from afar. People are confused when we say we aren’t that into it, can’t get excited about it, or just don’t get the fascination with it. So when I see these articles about the magic of Barkley I react with a feeling that it just doesn’t matter, because it’s the exclusive province of a choice few.

I participated in the Potawatomi Trail Races this weekend which seemed really special. Mud. Friends. Family. Mothers and daughters and fathers and sons running together. People struggling and failing. People overcoming. People supporting each other and encouraging each other. MUT running in all its majesty. The best part? Anyone can attend and anyone can participate.

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Jay D says:

April 9, 2019 at 5:27 pm

I guess i still get stoked to watch what happens at Barkley, at Western States, and Hardrock, and all of those other races because that’s what I like to geek out about. Fifteen years ago, I was ordering copies of the New England Patriots’ media guide. Ten years ago, I’d be getting into raging debates about the Celtics or the Red Sox on those forums.

And now – I just don’t care. Variety of reasons, but there really are not any of the major professional sports that I feel passionate about – I’ll still watch an NBA game, or the Sox, or some random Premier League match, but… I don’t really care anymore.

But I will always be a geek out now about. I want to see how Karel Sabbe is going to do. Can Jamil get another fun run done? Can Jim repeat at WS? Who’s going to be pushing him? I want to debate about Georgia Death.

Long-distance running is a mix of something that I can do with my friends and the local running crew, I can chat with and share a (few!) miles with some near-elites, but there’s another element of it’s a sport that’s full of drama and compelling stories and all of these characters that I love seeing push themselves to the edge,

I’ll never run Barkley. I’d love to just get into the Western States lottery – but I’m too old to qualify for the seven or eight times I’d have to do so to count on getting a ticket pulled, Hardrock – the same.

I love the local stuff, I love shooting the breeze with friends that I’ve made and folks that I see pushing themselves to their own limits on some random Saturday in the state forest. But I don’t see how that diminishes my enjoyment of the drama around the major events.

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Mr Matthew Gee says:

April 9, 2019 at 11:54 pm

Jasmine Paris won spine race. https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/ultra/a25930252/who-is-jasmin-paris/

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scott says:

April 9, 2019 at 11:55 pm

Scott:

“This is why I am probably in the very tiny minority of people that are becoming completely disinterested in things like Barkley and FKT’s and the like.”

Barkley and FKTs are night and day different.
Literally anyone can go for an FKT any day at any time. There is nothing in our sport (and it hurts me to lump FKTs into running and not hiking) that is as INclusive as FKTs.
There won’t be any fanfair and it’s true you won’t be lined up next to an elite…but you won’t be lined up next to anyone. It’s still you against the trail, which is what makes it great and makes it stand out against normal sports where you will never compete against Kershaw, Giannas or Rodgers.
And if you don’t set THE FKT for a trail, you still set YOUR FKT and if someone chooses to not love that personal accomplishment, that’s not the trail’s fault.

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Scott W. Kummer says:

April 10, 2019 at 7:30 am

Oh, I see your point there. And yes, I agree if you are trying to improve your own time on a trail that’s different.

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