Sunday, March 21, 2010

Einstein and Running

" You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." - Albert Einstein

Okay, so you're running a very, very long race.  You pull it's tail in Lockport and his head is meowing at Oil Creek.  Is this what Einstein meant?

Who knows what Einstein meant.  He spent an awful lot of time alone in his basement.  That's not good for anybody.

What I'm trying to say is that ultra running is a strange animal.



When one of the nut job runners first tried explaining to me why he preferred ultras over marathons I thought he was crazy (and I was right), but after witnessing a middle of the night snowstorm ultra with the three nut job amigos, I started to see the light.

The light turned out to be a headlamp, but still, an understanding had been reached.

Ultras are more than just a very, very long run.  They are a spiritual event.  A freeze frame in whatever it is that this temporary lifetime is all about.


Every moment, every thought and every physical feeling is suddenly very real.  Your every twitch is felt.  Your every emotion is experienced.


Why do people run ultras?


Maybe it's because they love to pull the tail of life and see how it feels.


Long live the Nut Job Ultra Runners!

This weeks events:
Mar 28 Sunday 9:00 AM Bemus Point 5K
Mar 28 Sunday 9:30 AM Around The Bay, 30K Run, 30K Walk, 5K

Ultras on the Slate for The Nut Job Runners:


Summer Beast of Burden - August date not official yet

Oil Creek 100  
Saturday October 16th, 2010


Coming In October: 
Second Installment of Nut Jobs Fables - "The Cannibal Meets his Match"  

Cannibal faces off against a hungry eight hundred pound black bear at Pennsylvania Ultra.  His only defense is a bell around his neck.

Baba The Freak and Raja Runalot finally get their revenge against their life long nemesis.

Sneak Preview Excerpt:

"Ring your bell at it," taunted Baba.

"Squeal like a pig," Raja shouted.

A high spirited banjo duel echoed through the hills on that fated night in the backwoods of PA.

3 comments:

  1. Very funny, can't wait until August!

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  2. Your insights as to why ultras are run are dead on. I never feel more alive than when I'm in the middle of a crazy run, right out on the edge. Pulling the tail!

    the cannibal

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  3. we run because we can

    ReplyDelete

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