Eaton Saddle, Christmas Eve

2014: Seeking Quiet, Finding Noise.

Angeles Crest 100 is a 100 mile trail run through the scrappy, tough-like-a-Mexican-boxer San Gabriel Mountains. It’s easily the hardest of all races in California - this assessment is not a judgment call but based on finishing times - and…
Mt Lowe from Mt. Disappointment

Mt Lowe Trails

A favorite place for me to run in the San Gabriels front range is Mt. Lowe.It's good, scrappy stuff, exposed, rocky (some sections very), harsh, and fun. It's also reachable on foot from town, although I usually prefer to get right to it and…
Drought stricken Salton Sea

Which is Bigger: the Earth or the Sun?

Propaganda.California, the news reports say, is in the middle of a serious drought. Freddy doesn't believe a word of it. Freddy is a gay leather man with a pig tattooed across his chest. He rides a scooter and manages a fetish shop on Sunset…

Country Dark

Central Texas, 1979.Country dark. I heard that phrase today. The first time I consciously experienced country dark I was out on a friend's family ranch in central Texas, 1979. We'd driven out to the middle of a field in a the pickup truck. The…
Angelyne, Hollywood Blvd 1995
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100 Miles of Nostalgia, and a Prayer.

Why?It's been a lazy August. I get up every morning at 5:30, make coffee, get into my running gear, think better of it, and sit in the living room with a book. The desire to run has left me for a while. My body needs a vacation. I'm not…
Gila, NM, by Kari Greer, USFS. Creative Commons.

Light of the World

The hills are alive...Shoemaker fire is burning up near East Fork Road above Glendora, not so terribly far from where three dumbass stoners set the woods on fire earlier this year. A day after the Shoemaker fire started, it is only 10% contained.…
Jussi Hamalainen & Garry Curry, mile 6. Garry's last AC100.
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Ashes: AC100 2014 Race Report

Friday morning, 9am, August 1, sitting in my driveway waiting for a ride out to Wrightwood. I'm writing in a list notebook I found on the trails in Topanga. #7 on the list: "Create excuse for ticket". #13: "Go hiking with Nico". The hike…

Yoga Fail, Heat Training, & a Life Worth Living

Gather round, children, for the story of Geoff's Epic Yoga Fail.Yes, kids, I can run 100 miles no problem (not fast, but I get it done), but my third Bikram class and I end up being carted out in an ambulance.Not exactly sure what happened,…
Frank, on dope, Hollywood, 1995

Nicolas’ drunkalogue

Ten years ago, I was a nice dinner party in Los Feliz.It was a warm spring evening, and we were sitting around a table in our host's lush back yard. The conversation became a contest. Everyone went around the table telling their worst drunk…
Maggie Beach, Chantry, 11pm, 2011

Angeles Crest 100 Gallery: 2011 – 2013

Angeles Crest 100 Mile Endurance RunThis gallery follows three races: Maggie Beach's 2011 race, which I helped crew, my 2012 finish, and my 2013 DNF. Most of the shots are at aid stations, a few are on the course. The 2011 shots were taken…
Lone tree & storm clouds, top of Baden Powell

Hyena Hundred

I wanted old school ideas. A couple of years ago I asked Larry Gassan for training suggestions. I wanted old school ideas, nothing new fangled involving cross fit or GPS or anything other than straight up suggestions on how he trained for AC100…
Wally Waldren Tree

A Week in June

AC100 is 6 weeks away.I found an email I wrote someone last year 2 weeks before the race. I was complaining that without stretches sitting on the side of my bed, I could not walk at all when I woke up, and that I was in pain all day long.I…
Me, crossing stream

Shadow of the Giants 2014

Tuni the Mexican Wonderdog was living outside a seafood restaurant in Mexico when Heather found him. He's 11 now, and just about the most contented dog on the planet.Heather parked her car next to Larry's in the back corner of the lot. The…
Coming in to Overlook, mile 20

Bishop High Sierra 2014 Race Report

After a few miles of thick sand, the course begins what is an almost 18 mile continuous climb, from 4750 to 9,350 feet, a slow, steady 4,500 feet in elevation gain, to the highest point of the course, at Overlook. The change in terrain is stunning.…
Me, Cyprus, 1977

Birds

I am sitting at my kitchen counter, looking out the window, which faces east. Several times a week, around 5:30 or 6am, I sit here having my coffee, talking on Skype with my primary developer, who is in India. He marvels at all the birds he…