Well folks, the psychological Disneyland that was the 6017 memorial pledge run is complete, by the way, Psychological Disneyland would be a pretty good name for a band- TONIGHT ONLY Bobby Ross and Psychological Disneyland AND Ringworm -of course the band would probably be sued by the most cunning and vengeful organization on the planet, Disney.
Saturday morning, Mr. Tom Climo (more on him in a minute) and I made our way up the Gavin (or Gavan) Hill and Harbor Mountain Trails in just under two hours. For those of you preparing for the Alpine Run next month, there is no snow on the vertical part of the Gavin Hill trail (the first 2.5 miles of the route), and then intermittent areas of snow along the trail around the ridge to the wide portion of the Harbor Mountain Trail just before the parking lot (the last .75 miles of the route). I took about 20 minutes of video of the run on around the rim; I've added a video bar at the bottom of the page.
A word on the video-I decided to try and make it like old re-runs of Batman, so all of the video is crooked. Sorry for the Blair Witch effect, and I take no responsibility for any vertigo it may induce.
Tom Climo accompanied...OK pushed, me up the hill. Tom had said he would run with me about a month ago, but I only told him I was running up the hill last Thursday. When I showed up to St. Gregory Church in Sitka I was expecting to run alone, but there he was, sitting next to his bike, ready to go. Tom ran the entire route without breaking a sweat, while talking and he is 50 years old this year. I believe his superior physical shape and mental toughness is due to clean living, his Yankee heritage and a superhuman devotion to New England professional athletics teams. Despite this major shortcoming (Go Tigers, Bills and Sabres), he is an American Badass and I thank him for going with me.
Since I have run the 6017 Memorial Pledge Run, this will be my last round sent down-range into the interweb blogosphere. For those of you who read these entries and were motivated to donate to the CG Foundation to support the CG 6017 memorial, thank you again. If you have not donated, please consider making a donation by visiting www.6017memorial.org.
For those of you who stumbled upon this site in search of adult entertainment, secrets to liberal democratic freedoms or haggis recipes from Spain, I hope you took a moment to feel either shame, disappointment or confusion, whichever feeling is appropriate and THEN visited www.6017memorial.org to support the fund.
Thank you, good night.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
MARTY MARTENSON, CARMUDGEON
Well, we are into day 4 of packing up here before leaving Southeast AK. Oh, that's right, I haven't mentioned that we're leaving next week to move across country. So during this week, I'm trying to head off a cardiac event Saturday, pack out from our house, tie off any loose ends at work, say goodbye to friends and get on the ferry. I've also decided to hire a dwarf to come through the house at various times (0200, 0800, 1337, etc) blowing an air horn or a vivuzela depending on if our neighbors are home (I like to think I am a good neighbor-despite the whole "hairy zucchini" incident). It's strange, but I have noticed I'm getting gray hair for the first time.
The workouts continue, I was able to run Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I was going to play golf at Sea Mountain Golf Course on Friday (www.seamountaingolf.com), but the vagaries of union labor make me think I will be packing up the house on Friday afternoon. Should be sweet.
I truly appreciate the interest you have shown as blog readers, supporters of the 6017 Memorial fund drive or seekers of free internet entertainment in this last month and a half or so while I prepare for the run. During this period, I have mentioned a character...Actually, if you are not in your thirties, it is a mythical beast-if you are in your thirties and usually a man, though if you are a woman, possession of what I am about to describe is tragically funny-but I digress. If you are in your thirties and USUALLY a man, you become aware of the force of nature you possess RIGHT IN YOUR BODILY PERSON.
Of course, I am speaking of the wild nostril hair.
I have mentioned the Golden Nostril Hair about 6 times in this blog (OK, it has been mentioned in 6 drafts of this blog (quit laughing, I DO TOO draft and re-write this blog before publishing it)). Well, it so happens that gold is the color of my special talent-a yellowish hue that glints in the sun depending on the angle of my head and my relationship with the sun (which in SE AK is sometimes spotty at best).
It seems to be a milepost of aging, but I swear that I did not have the concerns surrounding unchecked nose hair growth 10 years ago. Now, I am forced (by my wife, who usually starts the self-consciousness by not saying anything except staring at it, much like your dog stares at you at the foot of your bed or when you get out of the shower...what? that doesn't happen to you? Must be just me-I am, after all, a specimen) to undergo eye-watering bouts of clipping and pulling individual nostril hairs which are migrating south out of my nose much like a Canadian retiree migrates from Quebec to S. FLA in November. And much like our Canadian retiree, these hairs go all akimbo and refuse to cooperate when they arrive in South Florida. At any one time I have at least one rhino like horn hair poking its way out, fighting for some kind of freedom ideal (what does a wild nostril hair hope for? To ride a horse? Surf? Play bunco?).
Because of my inability to undergo the extreme pain involved with plucking said hairs I engage in a type of doomed COIN strategy by tucking them back into the nostril. This works for about an hour and then the necessity of breathing allows the little rapscallion to go free again. Eventually, I must bite the bullet (one time literally) and use tweezers or until it broke, an electric nose hair trimmer to clip the offenders.
SIDEBAR: I know, having an electric nose hair trimmer is probably one of the reasons why the world despises the USA. Americans! So decadent, so lazy, so weak they have to invent an electric nose hair trimmer-ridiculous...you know you are jealous-especially everyone in the Middle East with your luxuriant facial hair growth. SIDEBAR OVER.
So after much gnashing of teeth and mental anguish, eventually, the Golden Nostril Hair is clipped. Everything is fine for a week or 10 days, and then the incontrovertible rule espoused by Cosmo Kramer about shaving is proven. Once you clip or trim a hair, it grows back thicker. I am then thrown back into battle against a stronger, more cunning foe. These are the problems we have.
I will try to give you a summary of how the run goes on Saturday, perhaps with video. If you are interested in donating to the 6017 Memorial, please go to www.6017memorial.org.
Marty Martenson, good luck getting these minutes back.
The workouts continue, I was able to run Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I was going to play golf at Sea Mountain Golf Course on Friday (www.seamountaingolf.com), but the vagaries of union labor make me think I will be packing up the house on Friday afternoon. Should be sweet.
I truly appreciate the interest you have shown as blog readers, supporters of the 6017 Memorial fund drive or seekers of free internet entertainment in this last month and a half or so while I prepare for the run. During this period, I have mentioned a character...Actually, if you are not in your thirties, it is a mythical beast-if you are in your thirties and usually a man, though if you are a woman, possession of what I am about to describe is tragically funny-but I digress. If you are in your thirties and USUALLY a man, you become aware of the force of nature you possess RIGHT IN YOUR BODILY PERSON.
Of course, I am speaking of the wild nostril hair.
I have mentioned the Golden Nostril Hair about 6 times in this blog (OK, it has been mentioned in 6 drafts of this blog (quit laughing, I DO TOO draft and re-write this blog before publishing it)). Well, it so happens that gold is the color of my special talent-a yellowish hue that glints in the sun depending on the angle of my head and my relationship with the sun (which in SE AK is sometimes spotty at best).
It seems to be a milepost of aging, but I swear that I did not have the concerns surrounding unchecked nose hair growth 10 years ago. Now, I am forced (by my wife, who usually starts the self-consciousness by not saying anything except staring at it, much like your dog stares at you at the foot of your bed or when you get out of the shower...what? that doesn't happen to you? Must be just me-I am, after all, a specimen) to undergo eye-watering bouts of clipping and pulling individual nostril hairs which are migrating south out of my nose much like a Canadian retiree migrates from Quebec to S. FLA in November. And much like our Canadian retiree, these hairs go all akimbo and refuse to cooperate when they arrive in South Florida. At any one time I have at least one rhino like horn hair poking its way out, fighting for some kind of freedom ideal (what does a wild nostril hair hope for? To ride a horse? Surf? Play bunco?).
Because of my inability to undergo the extreme pain involved with plucking said hairs I engage in a type of doomed COIN strategy by tucking them back into the nostril. This works for about an hour and then the necessity of breathing allows the little rapscallion to go free again. Eventually, I must bite the bullet (one time literally) and use tweezers or until it broke, an electric nose hair trimmer to clip the offenders.
SIDEBAR: I know, having an electric nose hair trimmer is probably one of the reasons why the world despises the USA. Americans! So decadent, so lazy, so weak they have to invent an electric nose hair trimmer-ridiculous...you know you are jealous-especially everyone in the Middle East with your luxuriant facial hair growth. SIDEBAR OVER.
So after much gnashing of teeth and mental anguish, eventually, the Golden Nostril Hair is clipped. Everything is fine for a week or 10 days, and then the incontrovertible rule espoused by Cosmo Kramer about shaving is proven. Once you clip or trim a hair, it grows back thicker. I am then thrown back into battle against a stronger, more cunning foe. These are the problems we have.
I will try to give you a summary of how the run goes on Saturday, perhaps with video. If you are interested in donating to the 6017 Memorial, please go to www.6017memorial.org.
Marty Martenson, good luck getting these minutes back.
Monday, June 6, 2011
The Golden Nostril Hair and other stories
So this is the final push, the last week before the BIG RUN this Saturday. I would like to be able to tell you, dear reader, that training has been great; that this is the going to be a piece of cake and that I am looking forward to the run. Here is the truth:
The wheels have fallen completely off the wagon; I will be lucky if I do not vomit in the first 2 miles and than every .75 miles thereafter (Chris Y, this will be without the help of Sailor Jerry).
After the Julie Hughes (see 2 blogs ago), I felt the need to "take a day" or nine off in order to prepare for the summer solstice and associated Festivus celebration we have up here annually-nothing is better than watching the Feats of Strength and then the climatic Airing of Grievances. Well, after 4 days, I realized that I do not have numerous weeks to get ready for the run, I only have hours, panic set in. SO, as I blog, I am also on the treadmill, ramping up my efforts to get up the hill. If you are worried about my physical shape, don't, luckily, several photos of my physique have recently leaked onto the interweb: you can find them here. I have no idea who the guy in the gray underwear is, but I know it's not me because I don't have u-trou of that color.
Anyway, I hope this true, actual photographic evidence from the internet will alleviate any of your concerns about the success of the actual run. I know it will be a donation success because so many of you have contacted me about donating to the 6017 Memorial Fund with the Coast Guard Foundation. (I know, I've only got one person following this blog and 4 comments-looks pretty pathetic, but it's not, keep reading). As always, the donations are tax deductible, even in Iran.
Speaking of Iran, I ran 40 minutes today in the rain. This was the first time in about a month that I had to run in the rain and I forgot how much fun it is-and hydrating!
OK, so why mention home country of Ayatollah Khomeni? Well, through the wonder of our Big Brother friends at Google, one of the features of the free blog service this very friendly and non threatening company provides, in addition to proctological exams, is the ability to view where the people who are viewing the blog are viewing it from.
Last week, I think in response to the numerous uprisings across Africa and the Middle East (how's going Ghadafi, you crazy, golf cart driving nimrod (not the hunter)?) , the 6017 memorial pledge run got 7 page views from Iran. I only hope the secret information I have put in here regarding the outcome of the 2009 elections and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gives viewers there the key to their freedom and liberty.
SIDENOTE: How hard was this guy's life in secondary school?, I mean Ahmadinejad is hard to say and sounds like "Give me a banana" in Iranian-so I have been told, no wonder he is kind of nuts and creepy. SIDENOTE OVER.
Of course, if the Iran viewers are censors or government officials trying to get free adult internet, you can find that at www.dnc.org or www.rnc.org. Either way, you'll have fun and they are willing to take your money.
Because the time is ticking down, I will try to keep the blog entries quick and more numerous this week. In fact I will begin blogging from my phone as the movers come to take my computer away this week. Lucky you.
The wheels have fallen completely off the wagon; I will be lucky if I do not vomit in the first 2 miles and than every .75 miles thereafter (Chris Y, this will be without the help of Sailor Jerry).
After the Julie Hughes (see 2 blogs ago), I felt the need to "take a day" or nine off in order to prepare for the summer solstice and associated Festivus celebration we have up here annually-nothing is better than watching the Feats of Strength and then the climatic Airing of Grievances. Well, after 4 days, I realized that I do not have numerous weeks to get ready for the run, I only have hours, panic set in. SO, as I blog, I am also on the treadmill, ramping up my efforts to get up the hill. If you are worried about my physical shape, don't, luckily, several photos of my physique have recently leaked onto the interweb: you can find them here. I have no idea who the guy in the gray underwear is, but I know it's not me because I don't have u-trou of that color.
Anyway, I hope this true, actual photographic evidence from the internet will alleviate any of your concerns about the success of the actual run. I know it will be a donation success because so many of you have contacted me about donating to the 6017 Memorial Fund with the Coast Guard Foundation. (I know, I've only got one person following this blog and 4 comments-looks pretty pathetic, but it's not, keep reading). As always, the donations are tax deductible, even in Iran.
Speaking of Iran, I ran 40 minutes today in the rain. This was the first time in about a month that I had to run in the rain and I forgot how much fun it is-and hydrating!
OK, so why mention home country of Ayatollah Khomeni? Well, through the wonder of our Big Brother friends at Google, one of the features of the free blog service this very friendly and non threatening company provides, in addition to proctological exams, is the ability to view where the people who are viewing the blog are viewing it from.
Last week, I think in response to the numerous uprisings across Africa and the Middle East (how's going Ghadafi, you crazy, golf cart driving nimrod (not the hunter)?) , the 6017 memorial pledge run got 7 page views from Iran. I only hope the secret information I have put in here regarding the outcome of the 2009 elections and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gives viewers there the key to their freedom and liberty.
SIDENOTE: How hard was this guy's life in secondary school?, I mean Ahmadinejad is hard to say and sounds like "Give me a banana" in Iranian-so I have been told, no wonder he is kind of nuts and creepy. SIDENOTE OVER.
Of course, if the Iran viewers are censors or government officials trying to get free adult internet, you can find that at www.dnc.org or www.rnc.org. Either way, you'll have fun and they are willing to take your money.
Because the time is ticking down, I will try to keep the blog entries quick and more numerous this week. In fact I will begin blogging from my phone as the movers come to take my computer away this week. Lucky you.
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