thejustinmarshall - Tumblr blog

thejustinmarshall · 3 years

Text

I Recommend Wikipedia

Have you ever pulled your phone out of your pocket to do something useful, like check the weather forecast or Google the business hours of a restaurant, and then, 10 or 15 minutes later, you:

a) have not done the Useful Thing,

b) forgot what the Useful Thing was, and

c) could not, a day later, while being interrogated at gunpoint, remember what you actually did during that 10-15-minute span?

OK, me too. I would draw a humorous visual representing this exact scenario, but I believe there is no way to improve on this piece by Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by theoatmeal (@theoatmeal)

Look, I am not here to talk shit to anyone about their social media usage, or habits, or addiction, or whatever we’re calling it now. I am not the regular at the bar who shows up every night and drinks eight beers and then looks across at someone and says, “Now, THAT GUY is a real alcoholic.”

But why do I feel so, I don’t know, not that great after I spend a few minutes scrolling through social media? Like I realize I’m hungry, and I should eat a sandwich, but instead I eat like 10 M&Ms, as if that’s a substitute?

Social media isn’t all bad, obviously. Every once in a while, I find something inarguably fun, like this video of the most perfect slide ever recorded in a baseball game.

This might possibly be the most satisfying slide i’ve ever seen in my life pic.twitter.com/OvhvFis8fY

— ?????????? (@TheBlazingKing_) August 11, 2021

And that was great. But most of the time, instead of getting a sandwich, I get 10 M&Ms. But it’s not like grabbing 10 M&Ms out of a bag—more like sitting down in front of a big bowl of dirt and digging for a few minutes and eventually finding a few M&Ms.

I don’t like eating dirt, but I like M&Ms, and somehow I’ve convinced myself that hours and hours of digging in dirt is worth it for a small handful of candy. And some days, it feels like I don’t even find a piece of food — I just spend all day eating dirt.

You’ve probably seen dozens of headlines about quitting social media, or going on a social media fast, or other sorts of drastic options, such as announcing to all your followers on a Saturday that you’re taking a long break from Twitter/Facebook/Instagram, and then posting just a few times, really quick, the following Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

I don’t have any hacks or tricks that have changed my life. But I did, several months ago, delete some apps from my phone and then download the Wikipedia app, and move it to the home screen.

Now, why would you do that?

Well, let’s just say you have a few minutes for some Internet stuff (and we have already established that you do, somehow, quite often, have a few minutes, RE: previous paragraph about trying to look up a Useful Thing on your phone). A question for you:

Would you rather:

a) learn some basic information about a random topic, which you may then bring up in a conversation sometime in the next few months

b) scroll through opinions, jokes, hot takes, arguments, complaints, maybe some GIFs, and/or photos of attractive people doing things, and maybe get some basic information about something through part of that process

If you answered a), Wikipedia is for you.

Another question:

Do you think life would be more fun in general if we all said more sentences that began with the words “Did you know …”?

Did you know that the summit elevation of Mt. Logan, the highest mountain in Canada, is still rising due to active tectonic uplifting?

Did you know that the cooking method for Tacos Al Pastor is based on lamb shawarma brought to Mexico by Lebanese immigrants?

Did you know that Alexander “Zee” Grant, who paddled the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in a folding kayak in 1941, did not know how to roll his boat?

Did you know AJ McLean was technically the first Backstreet Boy?

Did you know that Ball’s Pyramid, an erosional remnant of a shield volcano rising 1,844 feet out of the ocean off the coast of Australia and the world’s tallest sea stack, is home to the last known wild population of the 8-inch-long Lord Howe Island stick insect, a species thought to be extinct in 1920, but rediscovered in 2014 by group of climbers on an unauthorized expedition to climb the spire?

Did you know that Count Chocula’s full name is Count Alfred Chocula?

Because all that stuff is on Wikipedia, which literally has a section on its home page titled “Did You Know?”

Some things that are not on Wikipedia:

People from your extended family/high school/old job selling you on pyramid schemes/conspiracy theories/“science” they learned about on TikTok

People arguing with each other

People you know calling you an asshole

People you’ve never met calling you an asshole

People who do not actually exist calling you an asshole

People calling other people assholes

A like button

A dislike button

Any sort of feature that would allow people to comment

ads

But, you might say, Wikipedia has lots of issues. And you would be correct—there are problems, many of which are documented on the Wikipedia page titled “Why Wikipedia is not so great”.

Is it a be-all, end-all source of objective information? It is not. (What is?)

Is it a springboard for beginning to learn about something? It is.

Does it make me feel better than scrolling through social media feeds? Often.

Are the rabbit holes on Wikipedia more satisfying than social media rabbit holes? Subjectively, yes.

Does it make me feel empty on a regular basis? Not typically. Yes, there is lots of stuff about world history on Wikipedia, and because the world has often been (and still often is) a fucked-up place, you can find yourself reading some fucked-up stuff about the past. But, hear me out: Learning from the past can be a lot more productive than winding yourself up trying to predict the future based on social media posts and daily news.

I’m not saying replacing Twitter and/or Instagram with Wikipedia is going to transform your life. But I can definitely vouch for spending some time following your curiosity, instead of an algorithm.

If you liked this story, please consider supporting my work via Patreon, which enables me to keep writing and drawing, and will also make you feel good (and get you a bunch of members-only stuff, including discounts to my shop).

—Brendan

The post I Recommend Wikipedia appeared first on Semi-Rad.com.

from Explore https://semi-rad.com/2021/10/i-recommend-wikipedia/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

thejustinmarshall · 3 years

Text

Homemade Hot Chocolate

When the weather turns from summer to fall, the leaves change from green to red, and the air is crisp, this recipe for decadent, rich, and delicious homemade hot chocolate will leave you feeling cozy, warm, and happy.

Homemade Hot Chocolate History

We all know hot chocolate as the warm, rich drink we enjoy on a cold night by the fire, or after engaging in winter activities such as ice skating and skiing.

But have you ever thought about this delicious beverage’s origins?

Hot chocolate’s history goes quite a way back, and the drink has changed over the years, evolving from cold and spicy to warm and sweet.

It Started in Mexico

As early as 500 BC, the Mayans were drinking chocolate made from ground-up cocoa seeds mixed with water, cornmeal, and chili peppers (as well as other ingredients)—a much different version from the hot chocolate we know today.

They would mix the drink by pouring it back and forth from a cup to a pot until a thick foam developed, and then enjoy the beverage cold. Although the chocolate drink was available to all classes of people, the wealthy would drink it from large vessels with spouts, which later would be buried along with them.

Then Made its Way to Europe

In the early 1500s, the explorer Cortez brought cocoa beans and chocolate drink-making tools to Europe. Although the drink still remained cold and bitter-tasting, it gained popularity and was adopted by the court of King Charles V as well as the Spanish upper class.

After its introduction in Spain, the drink began to be served hot, sweetened, and without chili peppers.

The Spanish were very protective of their wonderful new beverage, and it was over a hundred years before news of it began to spread across Europe.

When it hit London in the 1700s, chocolate houses (similar to today’s coffee shops) became popular and very trendy, even though chocolate was very expensive.

In the late 1700s, the president of the Royal College of Physicians, Hans Sloane, brought from Jamaica a recipe for mixing chocolate with milk, which made the drink more palatable in his opinion.

Others agreed and the English started adding milk to their chocolate; it was then enjoyed as an after-dinner beverage.

Hot Chocolate Today

Up until the 19th century, hot chocolate was used as a treatment for stomach and liver diseases as well as a special drink. Today, however, we simply treat this warm concoction as a beverage to sip and savor.

In America, hot chocolate is somewhat thin and often made by combining hot water with packets of powder, although you can find more authentic and gourmet varieties in restaurants and cafes.

Hot chocolate has become so popular in the United States that it is available in coffee vending machines. The powder is sold in packets and canisters, and coffee houses often have rich, somewhat thicker varieties on their menus.

.stk-d54f8ef{margin-bottom:0px !important}

Frequently Asked Questions:

What supplies do I need to make homemade hot chocolate?

To make this homemade hot chocolate, you will need the following supplies:

measuring cups and spoons of various sizes

medium sized pot

whisk

toppings such as marshmallows, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, etc.

Can I refrigerate leftovers of this homemade hot chocolate?

Yes, you can refrigerate this homemade hot chocolate in a sealed food-safe container for 3-4 days. You’ll have to reheat before serving.

Add the toppings right before you’re ready to drink the homemade hot chocolate.

Can I use milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips?

Yes, you can use milk chocolate chips in this homemade hot chocolate recipe but it will alter the taste – it will be sweeter.

How can I make this homemade hot chocolate creamier?

To make this a creamier hot chocolate, stir 1 teaspoon of corn starch in with the milk before adding the other ingredients. Whisk the corn starch into the milk until no lumps remain.

Continue on with the recipe as written.

Do you have any other recipes that go with this Homemade Hot Chocolate?

Homemade Marshmallows

Chocolate dipped spoons

S’mores cupcakes

Yield: 4 servings

Homemade Hot Chocolate

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Decadent, creamy, rich homemade hot chocolate is perfect to warm you up on a crisp Fall day. Top with whipped cream, marshmallows, fudge, and everything in between.

Ingredients

3 ½ cups whole milk

½ cup heavy cream

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

optional toppings: whipped cream, mini marshmallows, fudge ice cream topping

Instructions

In a medium pot, whisk together milk, heavy cream, sugar, and cocoa powder.

Place pot on the stovetop over high heat, stirring often until mixture starts to simmer. Watch this closely as milk can boil over quickly and you don’t want this to come to a full boil.

Reduce heat to medium then add in chocolate chips and stir until melted.

Remove pot from heat then stir in vanilla and salt.

Serve hot in heat-safe mugs.

Top with your choice of toppings.

Cuisine: Dessert / Category: Beverages

The post Homemade Hot Chocolate appeared first on JavaCupcake.

from Explore https://javacupcake.com/2021/10/homemade-hot-chocolate/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

thejustinmarshall · 3 years

Text

Friday Inspiration 303

Billy Yang’s film about Anton Krupicka returning to racing in the 2021 Leadville 100 is great, but I think the music switch at 3:58 is a particularly *masterful* filmmaking move (video)

youtube

Adam has a very good point here about news stories about people who survived a few days being lost in the woods

Ted Lasso Is No Superhero

My friend Anna wrote a wonderful piece about how she became a cold-water swimmer and between her, and my wife’s mild obsession/evangelism of the same thing over the past year, I think I might just find the motivation to break my personal cold-water swim record of 1.2 seconds this winter

I just listened to Susan Cain’s book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking on the recommendation of my friend Aaron, who said he was “having my worldview so delightfully reoriented by this book,” and I have to say, SAME. I had to pause it in between chapters to think about my life and identity for several minutes, and now I’m thoroughly confused in the absolute best way. (The book came out in 2012 and was/is a massive bestseller)

Jeffrey Tanenhaus rented a Citi Bike in New York City and pedaled it all the way to Los Angeles and now he has a book coming out

Even though it hasn’t been updated since 2017, I just found out about the Walk of Life Project (through kottke.org), whose central argument is that the Dire Straits song “Walk of Life” is the perfect song to end any movie. Here’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Also: I (finally) made some greeting cards! Three different designs, in sets of 10 (see below). I only had 25 sets of each design printed, which is either going to be way too many or not nearly enough.

The post Friday Inspiration 303 appeared first on Semi-Rad.com.

from Explore https://semi-rad.com/2021/10/friday-inspiration-303/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

thejustinmarshall · 3 years

Text

Friday Inspiration 302

“Caffeine seemed to be in violation of the laws of thermodynamics. Essentially, caffeine borrows energy from your future and gives it to you in the present.”—Michael Pollan (video)

youtube

Behold, I Have Returned From A Hike

I have always noticed the “backup” vocalist in the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter, but I never knew who she was, and had never thought to listen to her isolated vocals until I was reading Hanif Abdurraqib’s piece about Merry Clayton in A Little Devil in America: Notes on Black Performance. The crack in her voice has always stolen the show in the song, but the isolated vocal track with the cheers from the Stones in the background is just stunning. (This clip is from 20 Feet From Stardom)

Was Michael Jordan the best-ever athlete host of Saturday Night Live?

I love so many things about this piece, which is sort of about going to Spokane to watch minor league baseball, but also about learning to live through the pandemic, and also about wildfires, and also about the idea of luck, and … OK, I’ll stop, just maybe take 18 minutes and read it when you can.

I implore you to spend 12 seconds watching this puppy trot along with his eight duckling pals

He was named after an ornithologist, and 44 other facts about James Bond

AND one more thing: I am bringing back my “Grand Canyon Groovers” wall calendar for 2022. If you are into scenic photos that include primitive toilets (or know someone who is), you might like it. The calendars are $17.99 each and can be purchased at this link on Lulu.com.

—Brendan

The post Friday Inspiration 302 appeared first on Semi-Rad.com.

from Explore https://semi-rad.com/2021/10/friday-inspiration-302/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

thejustinmarshall · 3 years

Text

How To Make Chip Drink

Last Sunday, while running on a trail through the forest, I ate what I estimate was my 1,500th Clif Blok. Or 2,000th, who knows. I do a fair amount of running and biking in situations in which on-the-go calories are useful, and Clif Bloks just work for me. They don’t blow my mind; I don’t find them so irresistible that I grab a sleeve to munch on while watching Ted Lasso; they just deliver calories, caffeine, and don’t mess with my stomach. I buy them in bulk and use them during long runs and races, and they’re fine.

Alas, I cannot live on Clif Bloks alone, so I’ve experimented with lots of other foods: burritos, pizza, cookies, stroopwafels, leftover Halloween candy handed to me by spectators during the NYC Marathon, Cheez-its, Skittles, Coke, sports drinks, and several rice ball recipes. All have their pros and cons. One food that I find myself going back to is something that takes literally seconds to prepare: chip drink. Chip drink, of course, is a colloquialism that’s been used to refer to the tiny bits of potato chips left in the bottom of the bag after all the larger chips have been eaten, which the chip eater then, obviously, tips the bag to their lips and “drinks.”

Fragments of potato chips also come in handy when one is partaking in an athletic endeavor in which efficient ingestion of calories is necessary. Could you stand off to the side of the trail or road during a race or bike ride and leisurely eat full-size potato chips, one by one? Of course you can. It just depends on your priorities. Do you want to minimize the amount of time you spend moving at 0 mph during your race, run, or ride? Then I recommend drinking potato chips, which enables you to ingest about 200 calories (depending on which chips you eat) in a matter of a few seconds. Also: electrolytes. I have prepared an overly elaborate illustrated guide to enable you to make your own chip drink at home.

You might scroll through this and say, “All you did was smash up some potato chips! I could have done that.” Well, you’re absolutely fucking correct, Internet Guy With An Opinion—you can do it, and you should.

[Full disclosure: Kettle Chips did not provide funding or product for this post and/or my chip habit, and, as far as I know, is not aware of my existence]

Here’s an obviously unnecessary video of the entire process, for further illustration:

youtube

—Brendan

The post How To Make Chip Drink appeared first on Semi-Rad.com.

from Explore https://semi-rad.com/2021/10/how-to-make-chip-drink/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

thejustinmarshall · 3 years

Text

Perceived Size Of Rock In Shoe Vs. Actual Size Of Rock In Shoe

This is not a metaphor for anything; just something that happened to me last week. Or maybe it is a metaphor, I guess

(More stuff like this on my Instagram and in my email newsletter, which you can sign up for here)

The post Perceived Size Of Rock In Shoe Vs. Actual Size Of Rock In Shoe appeared first on Semi-Rad.com.

from Explore https://semi-rad.com/2021/10/perceived-size-of-rock-in-shoe-vs-actual-size-of-rock-in-shoe/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

thejustinmarshall · 3 years

Text

Friday Inspiration 301

I wish Mac Miller was around to see this video of his new song, which just kind of feels like this year, in some way (video)

vimeo

Damn I love the sentiment Austin Kleon writes about here—“don’t be afraid to disappear …”

Thanks to my friend Derik and our two-person long-distance baseball book club, I read this brief but brilliant book about fathers, sons, and baseball last week and can report that it is 100 percent as wonderful as he said it was

Lego versions of iconic album covers

Some selections from Haruki Murakami’s extensive collection of graphic t-shirts, including his “I put ketchup on my ketchup” shirt, which draws a lot of comments from people who “usually have that ‘I love ketchup’ look about them”

“I’m just a lowly seventeenth-century British sailor, not some fancy-pants seventeenth-century British sawbones, but there’s one thing I know for sure: I would rather walk the plank than suck on a single stinking lime. You know what I do trust? My own body to protect me. I’m young and fit, and my childhood rickets has almost entirely cleared up.” —Kathryn Baecht, Wake Up, Sailors, Scurvy Is A Hoax

Add me to the list of people watching and loving Reservation Dogs (trailer)

—Brendan

The post Friday Inspiration 301 appeared first on Semi-Rad.com.

from Explore https://semi-rad.com/2021/10/friday-inspiration-301/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

thejustinmarshall · 3 years

Text

Friday Inspiration 300

This film is called “Every Sport a Bowling Ball,” and if you’re like me, you’ll start laughing as some of the sports are introduced, even before you see what’s going to happen. (video)

vimeo

This is about knitting but I think you can pretty much substitute anything that requires effort for “knitting” and it’s still true

This comic perfectly captures my entire philosophy of doing anything, including art.

Marcella Giulia Pace took photos the Moon in various colors (caused by differences in height, veils, dust, etc.) and put 48 of them in this print.

How much time do you have to scroll through some vintage sneaker ads? Also, did you know Vans sold running shoes at one point?

My friend Syd and I were talking about command center sets in movies (like bad guy lairs, NASA, etc.) and he alerted me to the presence of this incredible website that catalogs computers that have appeared in movies. I hope at least one person who reads this thinks it’s cool, but if not, I will be undeterred in my enthusiasm for it.

I started following Josh Mecouch’s awesome and weird cartoons on Instagram a few months ago and I have no choice but to recommend his book, Conquer the Day: A Book of Affirmations, which I will be gifting to many people this holiday season.

One more thing: You may have noticed I recently took a few weeks off, and these Friday Inspiration posts didn’t happen for a while. I know I say this a lot, but I am able to take the time and put in the effort (and spend the money on an email newsletter and this website) to create this stuff because people support me on Patreon. If you have $2 to spare per month, and you can take three minutes today to sign up, you can join them and help keep this going. And, you’ll get access to all the members-only content I make for Patreon (and some discounts to my shop).

—Brendan

The post Friday Inspiration 300 appeared first on Semi-Rad.com.

from Explore https://semi-rad.com/2021/09/friday-inspiration-300/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

thejustinmarshall · 3 years

Text

The Rut 50K: A Race Report

High on the east ridge of Lone Peak, at about 10,500 feet or so, The Rut 50K started to feel like a cartoon, in which an idiot, me, runs and hikes up an incline at a fast (for me) but hopefully sustainable pace, as the grade gradually gets steeper and steeper, until, just before the summit, the idiot tips over backwards and rolls back to the start.

This, of course, is not true. The elevation map of the race course actually looks like this:

But right around Mile 20, I felt like I’d been carefully picking my way up Lone Peak’s east ridge for six hours, three feet in front of a guy from Eugene the entire time. With the steep terrain, fatigue, altitude, a decreased amount of readily available oxygen for breathing, and the mental exhaustion of climbing a neverending pile of rocks while trying to not dislodge anything onto people below me, many elements were coming together to crush my morale, and me.

This is also not true. I was just one of 500 or so people to sign up for The Rut 50K this year. The Rut is an annual event that is essentially a European-style sky race held in Big Sky, Montana, designed by two American sadomasochists named Mike (Foote and Wolfe), with several events ranging from a Vertical Kilometer to the 50K. One way to look at the 50K race might be, “Hey, I ran the Chicago Marathon last year, and The Rut 50K is only five miles longer than that.”

Here are some words and phrases from the website for The Rut 50K:

“extremely challenging”

“EXTREMELY STEEP & TECHNICAL”

“exposure”

“potential rockfall hazard”

“true mountain course”

“rockfall hazards”

“mountainous and technical nature”

It’s probably good policy for mountain running race organizers to use strong language in describing their events, just so no one gets in over their head and then later says things like “no one told me would be this hard,” or “suddenly, there I was, staring death in the face,” or “[sounds of a person sitting on a pile of rocks and weeping uncontrollably].” But also, you could probably be forgiven for a tiny bit of skepticism as far as race marketing is concerned, i.e. “I don’t know, has anyone ACTUALLY died doing this ‘Death Race’ we’re signing up for?”

There is at least one spot on The Rut 50K where you could legitimately fall, and possibly not stop falling until you were dead and/or have way more than 208 bones in your body.

I did not, as may be obvious at this point, die doing The Rut. I did perhaps underestimate it a tiny bit.

The race started at 6:00 a.m., a few minutes before sunrise, in three waves, five minutes apart, each wave a few hundred runners jogging uphill, a stream of headlamps, nerves, and chatter leaving the Big Sky Resort base area. Where should I start? Certainly not at the front of the first wave, where the elite runners and other super-mutants would be, ripping off three-minute miles uphill or whatever. Probably not at the back of the third wave, based on my previous race results. I really had no idea what to expect, so I did what I always do: Start way too far back in the pack, and then waste tons of energy frantically trying to pass people during the race. This is probably some combination of impostor syndrome and Midwestern over-politeness, or maybe I’m just not that smart.

Another role I had signed up for: running with a younger friend, Devon, and theoretically helping him not go too fast for the first few miles of the race. Devon had finished an 18-day traverse of the Wind River Range literally 60 hours before the start, and is a full decade-plus younger than me, so for the first nine miles, we settled somewhere in between me holding him back and him dragging me up the trail. When the route went from fire road to singletrack, there were bottlenecks of single-file lines of people, where we literally stood waiting in line for a couple minutes.

In the first nine miles, in any spot where the trail widened in the forest, Devon and I accelerated around runners in front of us, sometimes one at a time, sometimes a handful of people. I did have a small bit of anxiety knowing that at a certain point, the course would hit a 1.2-mile section climbing 2,000 feet up the ridge of Lone Peak, where it would be pretty difficult to pass anyone without them very graciously stepping off to the side of the path, so I was motivated to pass people early on, where it was easy and safe. But I had more anxiety about running myself into the ground in the first 10 miles of the race by going way too fast way too early. Just before Mile 9, I told Devon to go ahead without me, because although I am not smart, I am also not proud, and he shot off through the trees like a gazelle, finally free.

I had thoroughly studied the course map and elevation profile in the days and weeks leading up to the race, but still found myself surprised at all the ups and downs as we tromped through the forest, popped out above treeline, then dropped back into the trees again. I had downloaded the GPX map of the course onto my phone and could open it at any time to see where I was on the course, but I decided to just keep plodding on in ignorance, following the flags. Somewhere around Mile 14 or so, the course went from what I would call “pretty normal” to “OK, this is not an actual hiking trail that anyone uses for anything not named ‘The Rut.’” At that point, I was thankful I had talked myself into carrying trekking poles, ignoring the advice of at least one friend, who was well-meaning, but who also drastically overestimated my VO2 max. I mean, they weigh 10.5 ounces, and are very handy when you want to lean on something and shed a few tears, instead of collapsing all the way to the ground to convulse with sobs.

I managed to under-eat the morning of the race, and was hungry the entire day, shoving down Clif Bloks and Honey Stinger Waffles whenever I could, often chewing while mouth-breathing in huge gasps as I hiked steep uphills. I had packed something like 2,000 calories for the day in my vest, in hopes that it would keep me from wasting time at aid stations, because I often unintentionally spend more time gazing at the layout of M&Ms, chips, pickles, Oreos, etc. than most people do putting together a plate at the Sizzler salad bar, and then end up confused at how six people passed me in the time I took to fill one water bottle and walk away with a double-handful of Cheez-Its.

At the 14.5-mile mark, we started climbing up steep talus. The pack had thinned out and I had found a pretty appropriate spot, every once in a while passing someone or letting someone pass me, but for the most part able to settle in, put my head down, and watch my feet. Surely, I thought—without actually checking my GPS app to see where we were on the course—this must be the big climb up Lone Peak. Here we go.

Imagine my internal dismay 40 minutes later when the route started going downhill from a high point of about 10,100 feet. Going down always feels good, but not as good when you know you’ll have to climb right back up every single foot you descend. We dropped to 8,280 feet, hitting a fire road, which was nice for a few minutes, I guess. But the course’s high point was 11,166 feet, somewhere above us.

youtube

If you hit Mile 17 during a flat-ish 50K, you’re psyched! You’re more than halfway to the finish! If you hit Mile 17 during The Rut, you are … not as psyched! You are more than halfway to the finish … in mileage only! You are about to spend an hour or an hour and a half grinding up a steep incline, 2,900 feet in 2.5 miles! You will “run” a 40-minute mile! Your fancy GPS watch will, instead of showing your pace per mile, will display a series of dashes, basically saying “you are not moving—are you OK?”

The good thing is, you eventually get to the top. Maybe you’re motivated by finishing the race, maybe because everywhere you look you’re surrounded by angular blocks of rock that would not be comfortable to sit or lie down on, maybe because finishing the race will be a visceral metaphor for other things you hope to face in life, or maybe because you know deep down that literally hundreds of other people have done the same thing so you can too, and some of those people have literally gotten a complimentary Run the Rut tattoo at the finish line, a real tattoo, not a temporary one, because that is a thing they do at this race.

At the top of Lone Peak are some nice people handing out water and snacks, including, when I was there, a shirtless man wearing a full-length fur coat. The actual aid station we passed through was a solid 30 or 40 vertical feet below the summit of Lone Peak itself, and for a moment, my inner peak-bagger felt conflicted about getting this close to the summit after working that hard to get there and not actually tagging it, but I decided to keep moving forward, and down the mountain.

The route down Lone Peak is steep, starting with dinner-plate talus, then scree, then steep trails. I had seen people wearing running gaiters at the beginning of the race, and as I made my way down and kicked rocks into my own shoes, I thought this might be the one place I could have used them in my life. Alas, I did not have any. Nor did I take the time to do proper self-care/self-preservation practices, like, I don’t know, emptying the rocks out of my shoes at any point during the final 11 miles of the race.

I enjoy lying to myself during races, a tactic I believe is a form of positive self-talk. I do not enjoy it when I catch myself in the lies I have told myself earlier. Such as “You’ll start feeling better when you only have five miles to go,” or “That weird feeling in your lower intestine is unlikely to turn into anything remotely explosive before the end of the race,” or in this case, “That was the last big climb—it should be a cruise from here,” and “We’re back below treeline, so it’s probably just gently rolling from here on out.”

I had read some race reports from previous years, so I should have been well aware that the last 10 miles or so seemed to be generally demoralizing. True, all the “big” climbs were out of the way, and most of what was left was below treeline. But before the finish, we still had a 500-foot climb, a 900-foot climb, and a 400-foot climb. I started up the beginning of the 900-foot climb, on a steep trail that I’m pretty sure I heard had a rope on it at one point for runners to use to pull themselves up the incline, and found myself surrounded by a glut of people in various states of mild to extreme discontent: our pace slowed to an uphill crawl, some people muttering half-jokes about how terrible they felt, others hunched over with their hands on their knees or leaning on a tree, maybe about to throw up. I kept going, thankful I had trekking poles, both as life support and security blanket.

This, I think, is where many people start to hate the Rut. You start to ask yourself what the point of going up and down these hills is (as if the whole idea of the race isn’t also contrived and pointless, in the grand scheme of human existence), why they would send you this way instead of a route that’s more friendly (or even just flat), and maybe why you didn’t sign up for the 28K or the 11K instead of the 50K.

The singletrack gave way to a road, which started to ease up as I inched closer to an aid station. Spectators waiting for the runner(s) they knew to come through dotted the sides of the road, cheering everyone who came past. One woman yelled, “Nice job, you’re almost there,” and I said “Thank you, existentially, we’re already there, aren’t we?” I power-hiked into the aid station and a young gentleman named Dash filled my water bottles and I grabbed a couple half-bananas and gulped them down.

The course wound mostly downhill through intermittent forest, finally topping out on the last climb a half-mile from the finish line, where a couple guys sitting on the side of the fire road told me Nice job, you’re really, really done with the last climb now, and then another guy 100 feet later said “Those guys are lying,” and I laughed as I jogged past, the ski area base within view, and around the corner from that, the finish line. Which is where, I think, people begin the transition from hating the Rut to loving the Rut. As is common in this sport, the same person who, at 1 p.m. one day carries themselves along a trail on fumes of motivation and curses everything that brought them to that point, 24 or 48 hours later will earnestly tell people who ask about their race, “It was great.” Whatever that means.

The post The Rut 50K: A Race Report appeared first on Semi-Rad.com.

from Explore https://semi-rad.com/2021/09/the-rut-50k-a-race-report/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

thejustinmarshall · 3 years

Text

Taking A Break

—Brendan

The post Taking A Break appeared first on Semi-Rad.com.

from Explore https://semi-rad.com/2021/08/taking-a-break/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

thejustinmarshall · 3 years

Text

Friday Inspiration 299

A fun, quick portrait of Fay De Fazio Ebert, who at 11 years old is the youngest member of Canada’s national skateboard team (and apparently is also not too bad of a ukulele player)(video)

vimeo

Even if you’re not that into flossing, I think you have to admit, this is some beautiful writing

A really thought-provoking take from cartoonist Jason Chatfield on why he shares his creative work via email instead of putting it on social media

I finally watched Bo Burnham’s Inside last weekend, so add me to the list of millions of people it resonated with. I have, however, not found a trailer online that shows much of the special at all, besides this bootleg of one of the songs in the special.

A series of 36 illustrations, inspired by Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mt. Fuji, but with views of London’s BT Tower

This story about a parallel parking job causing a minor controversy on Twitter is interesting and all, but honestly, I’m just sharing it because it’s a really impressive parallel parking job

The Freeflow Institute has a few spaces left on a couple of writing and creativity workshops this fall (and you can get $100 off the price if you mention Semi-Rad when signing up!) The Gates of Lodore Workshop with Bill deBuys, Sept. 3- 8 (5 spaces left) The Rio Grande Workshop with Francisco Cantu and sound artist Karima Walker, Oct. 16-23 (one space left)

Also: A print of yesterday’s illustrated post about seeing the summit is now available in my shop, for those of you who asked (Ned!):

—Brendan

The post Friday Inspiration 299 appeared first on Semi-Rad.com.

from Explore https://semi-rad.com/2021/08/friday-inspiration-299/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

thejustinmarshall · 3 years

Text

Surely That’s The Summit Just Ahead, Right?

—Brendan

The post Surely That’s The Summit Just Ahead, Right? appeared first on Semi-Rad.com.

from Explore https://semi-rad.com/2021/08/surely-thats-the-summit-just-ahead-right/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

thejustinmarshall · 3 years

Text

Friday Inspiration 298

“We put so much time and effort into making sure that people who are perceived as different understand what it would be like if they were normal. But we rarely ever do the opposite: Pushing those who see themselves as normal to understand what it would be like if they were different.” —Filmmaker James Robinson (video)

youtube

I somehow ended up searching for all the The New York Times Magazine “Letter of Recommendation” columns, dug up this one on “Collecting One Book,” and I’m so glad I did.

“Everyone has been creative at least once.” —Seth Godin (thanks, Abigail)

The Oatmeal on why it’s so hard for your brain to take a compliment

If you have not already seen this clip of Snoop Dogg commentating on Olympic events, please do yourself a favor and watch it

I can’t say I’ve pressed play on a Sublime track in many years, but I definitely got hooked on this history of the band on the 25th anniversary of their Sublime album, including this paragraph: “To understand Sublime is to understand the telepathy of Nowell, Gaugh, and Wilson, which is to understand the cultural dialect of Long Beach. And as Northside LBC historian Vince Staples once told me: to understand Long Beach is to recognize its diversity, as embodied by Sublime, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Warren G, and Cameron Diaz all simultaneously attending Long Beach public high schools in the late ’80s. As the story goes, the future all-American Mary bought weed from a pre-Chronic Snoop at Long Beach Poly.”

I feel simultaneously personally attacked and validated by this satirical piece titled “Wow! This Woman Made a Terrible Meal For Herself”

—Brendan

The post Friday Inspiration 298 appeared first on Semi-Rad.com.

from Explore https://semi-rad.com/2021/08/friday-inspiration-298/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

thejustinmarshall · 3 years

Text

Because You Never Know

When it comes to my dog’s favorite humans, I will never be Number One. In fact, if you handed him a piece of paper and a pen asked him to make a list of his favorite humans, and he were capable of such a thing, he would probably do something like this:

If you said, “OK, but who else?” He might then say something like “I guess what’s-his-name, the guy who lives here, he’s all right.”

I am fine with this. Dogs need an alpha in their lives, and Hilary is Rowlf’s. It is settled, and it is not a contest. But I still see it as my job to help Rowlf live his best life, so I try to do that when and where I can.

Which is why he has been eating so well for the past six months or so. We kept his diet to just kibble for almost the first two years we had him, but every once in a while gave him a little bit of wet food, the *expensive* stuff in a can, that resembles something a human might actually eat. Rowlf is not what you’d call a food-motivated dog, and I have many times hand-fed him kibble while sitting on the floor, out of a sense of duty that he will not starve to death on my watch.

But he seemed to really like the wet food when we added it to his kibble, an upgrade that seemed to me equivalent to sitting at a restaurant and letting someone order for you in a different language, and having a plate of raw carrots set in front of you—but then two minutes later having the server drop two slices of pizza on top of the carrots.

Hilary, who is, and I cannot stress this enough, Rowlf’s favorite human, was of the opinion that we should use the wet food sparingly, partly to keep Rowlf from expecting it and then walking all over us, and partly to keep him from gaining too much weight and putting stress on his joints. I casually lobbied, every once in a while, for more wet food, more regularly, maybe even every day.

At some point, after maybe a dozen conversations about the dog’s food, I presented my case thusly:

When we adopted Rowlf, a veterinarian estimated his age at seven or eight years old, based on his teeth. That was two years ago, and who knows how accurate that sort of age estimate is? We really don’t know how old he is—he seems to be getting more and more white fur around his mouth. Wet food seems to make him happy, and if we have no problem affording food financially, we should give the dog the food that brings him joy as often as we can.

And then, swinging for the emotional fence, I said, We just don’t know how long he’s going to be with us.

Hilary nodded, and in her infinite wisdom, said, I guess you could say the same thing about you, or me, couldn’t you?

Our dog currently eats one-third of a can of wet food with every meal. Sometimes a half can.

—Brendan

The post Because You Never Know appeared first on Semi-Rad.com.

from Explore https://semi-rad.com/2021/08/because-you-never-know/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes