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Showing posts from July, 2018

Sinister 7: Tales from the Pain Cave

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Sinister - giving the impression that something harmful or evil is happening or will happen 7 - equivalent to the sum of three and four; one more than six, or three less than ten.  Also, the number of remaining brain cells in people who attempt to run the Sinister 7. The Sinister 7 is my white whale, my Moby Dick.  This was my third solo attempt at it.  The first attempt in 2013 was because I wanted to see as much of the course as possible, and this was the cheapest way (I'm Dutch, we have a cheap date thing names after us).  I made it 2 legs.  2016 was a relay team. 2017 was a good old college try, I made it to the last aid station on 4 before the heat got me.  Then 2018, this year, which was a success.  I obsessed for 5 years, and even moved to the area to be within harpoon range of the course. I've decided to write down my observations about this course, so you can prove to people that don't believe you, about how horrible this course truly is. Observ

The World's Worst ultramarathon

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Our buddy Steve in full race mode 'he's the dude waving' So to fully understand how this race came to be, a little history. While running a while back, I met a man named Steve.  He was fast.  Much faster than me.  I'd been putting in 100 mile run weeks for over a year, and working to increase my performance. Steve had a course record to his name, and multiple podiums.  He was a swim coach.  He made everyone he was friends with feel like they were his best friend.  The dude was amazing. People eagerly waiting to start the run at midnight We would run this god forsaken 2.5 mile loop patch of hard packed dirt and pavement. It had no consistent elevation.  The city had built this trail a decade ago, but had long since forgotten that maintenance was required.  The bridges are on angles, a mudslide has caused a small forest to slide onto the trail, and in a streak of sheer city planning brilliance, they had put in some wooden stairs, tethered to the dirt wit