Ultramarathon Daily News | Tue, Sep 8

Canadian Runner Mag: Ryan Hall finishes his first ultramarathon and calls it super, super, super hard. Hope to see him on the trails again soon!

Magness: The myth of losing speed.

Surly Brewery (I loved their stuff!) employees vote to form a union, and in response, the company shut down the beer hall. Now the employees and fans are picketing. (Pssst, actions have consequences.)

More beer news: I’ll admit, this headline made me barf a bit, but I love(d) me a good Shandy and now it makes sense. Will the brewmasters be wearing the cool/sexy/funny outfits though?

GuardianUK: Excellent article on Kilian. His training, passions, and new life as a social media influencer. Hard to find others pro athletes as dominant in their respective fields as KJ.

Trailrunner Mag: Navigating the confusing world of protein powders with the help of a dietician. Great info in an easy-to-understand format.

Listened to the new Joe Rogan interview with Mike Tyson interview yesterday. Turns out the dude loves running trails! He’s certainly got his faults (and crazy theories, whoa), but it’s cool to see someone from such a different sporting background sharing our passion.

Tuesday funny: Eulogy glosses over runner’s pathetic PRs.

“During the swim it was excruciating, it felt like 1,000 knives stabbing at my body with each stroke. I had to keep reminding myself of the goal and make a decision to keep going,” the 39-year-old said.

Ultramarathon runners are hardly in a position to question someone’s motives for adventure, but swimming in a lake at 18k’ does seem rather foolhardy doesn’t it?

Heat is real and dangerous folks. One death here. Another here.

iRunFar/AJW: Sign of the times I suppose. Squaw Valley is deemed offensive and the preferred term is now “See You at States.”
Still pretty offensive, as the new term uses the Latin alphabet and doesn’t recognize people from other cultures who don’t speak English.
Really though: I thought us trail runners were better at spotting slippery slopes than that. Guess not.

Treeline Journal: Excellent analysis and commentary on the world of FKTs. Why are they so hot right now (Covid fad?), who’d doing them, who do they resonate with, and are they for you? (Link fixed. Sorry!)

Speaking of FKTs, looks like there’s a new unsupported one on the 500 mile Colorado Trail, courtesy of Jeff Garmire.

Cringey: A couple of non runners open up the VaporFly to find out what’s inside.

7 Responses to "Ultramarathon Daily News | Tue, Sep 8"

Peter says:

September 8, 2020 at 7:47 am

States (not to mention borders) are offensive too you know! There will be only ONE nation on God’s green Earth when the revolution is over!

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KS says:

September 8, 2020 at 8:50 am

I feel like you’ve missed an opportunity to highlight a moment when members of the community (Clare, Mehan, AJW) engaged in an open and level-headed exchange over the cultural value of terms, names, and connotations. No one “deemed” Squaw Valley offensive as a sign of the times–interpretations and uses of term “squaw” have always been fraught. And this isn’t a slippery slope into the made-up land of “cancel culture.” In his post and comments, AJW is honest about the fact that he is learning, evolving, and using his platform to explain why.

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Jonathan Zeif says:

September 8, 2020 at 9:22 am

I’m glad to see the new politically correct phrase is “See you at States” . The term “Western” is a descriptor that is indeed quite offensive to those of us from other parts of the country…

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Nicolas says:

September 8, 2020 at 10:43 am

@KS: well said.

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Will says:

September 8, 2020 at 10:57 am

Issues like changing the name of the hashtag are so tied up in a broader “culture war” that it makes them impossible to legislate without bias. To some it is another instance of “cancel culture run amok”. To some, it is a small step in dismantling the white patriarchy. In both of these perspectives, the question about changing the name of the hashtag is relegated to a small battle in a broader war, and both sides dig their heels in.

Personally, I think it is clear that Squaw is a pejorative term and that the name change is a good idea. But that is beside the point. Reading though the comments on the irunfar article, it is disappointing to see how disrespectful people on “my” side of the debate are being. AJW said he needed several months to change his thinking on the issue. When you insult the other side and belittle their perspective, you are not helping that person change their mind. In fact you are making it less likely that they see things from your perspective.

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Jomaquin says:

September 8, 2020 at 12:48 pm

I find you See You In States comment very funny and appropriate. The discussion at iRF has gone over board and the woke crew needs to throw it a float. Only those that participate in cancel culture will tell you it doesn’t exist. They need you to believe that you are the problem (e.g., White Fragility and How to be an Antiracist). Stay strong Eric. I think there are a lot of people who find the current state of affairs to be rather silly. #SeeYouinC*nt – now we are talking. Again, where is your BLM statement??

“I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” Nixon

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Jeremy says:

September 8, 2020 at 2:54 pm

Hi Eric. It would be silly to be outraged, or want to cancel you. I appreciate your website, and what you do. We all fumble around to learn and improve. As others have noted, Squaw has long been considered offensive. Efforts to remove it from the public lexicon are also not new. I am not sure why you have such a blind spot here… maybe because there is a big ski resort and so its normalized for you? I grew up as a teen in the 90’s when terms around homosexuality were thrown around as pejoratives. They weren’t actually intended to offend the homosexual community, we just used these words as “slang”. No offense meant. But since then wiser heads prevailed, and we realize calling something “gay” probably isn’t so cool. Why do you see “squaw” as being any different? Where is the slippery slope? The term is offensive and we can do better, no? Keep on keepin on!

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