Gibbon Slackline Sale; Let Your Runner Flag Fly

Before today’s post, another sale announcement that I swear I didn’t coordinate in advance. In my last post I embedded two videos featuring “Sketchy Andy” Lewis, and mentioned that I’ve been jonesing to take up slacklining myself for quite a while.

Well, guess what? Today I got a notice in my inbox that there’s a flash sale on Gibbon slacklines at The Clymb, with prices of their most popular setups now 50% off. Believe me, you have no idea how badly I’m itching to add one to my cart. I’ll keep you updated if it happens - and I’ll designate someone to report here in my place if I happen to sustain some kind of brain injury as a result.

Anyway, if you’re in the same boat as me, a super deal might be just the thing to push you into this weird and crazy new sport. The offer is good until February 13 at 9AM PST. The banner below will take you to The Clymb:

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Today’s post comes largely thanks to my friend Mike, who wrote the first draft of what follows for our most recent Monterey Herald column. It explores the subject of runners’ nearly universal need to tell the world about their athletic exploits – and yes, Mike and I include ourselves in that assertion.


Running Life 02/09/12 “Running Pride”

The next time you’re bored behind the wheel of your car, here’s a little game you can play: count the number of cars you see that display an outward sign of Running Pride. If you’re observant and know what to look for, it’s easy to find vehicles whose owners are runners and want to make sure you know it.

The most obvious displays are bumper stickers from various marathons or other races. They’ll often include the word “finisher” or some other point of pride; in the case of our own Big Sur Marathon, they say “Hurricane Point Survivors’ Club”. These often compete for bumper space alongside stickers such as “My kid is an honor student” or “I love my Boston Terrier.”

More subtle are the small stickers you’ll see on the tailgate or sometimes in the rear window – a small round white oval with the numbers 13.1 or 26.2 in black print. This style of European descent is presumably more sophisticated, but equally reflective that running the indicated distance is an important aspect of one’s identity. And since they don’t name a specific race, they’re applicable to a wider range of races than your garden-variety bumper sticker.

Many runners have personalized license plates that proclaim their affinity to the sport they love. One local woman on the Big Sur Marathon board has the license RUNHER1, showing her pride to be a woman runner. Another friend who is a marathon maniac has the license 26.2X200, indicating he has run 200 marathons. The obvious downside of a plate like this is that it’s quickly outdated – if it were truly accurate, our friend’s license would now say 220, as that’s his current total. Oh, by the way, this indefatigable friend of ours is over 70 years old.

One of our training partners is a local physician who has some very impressive marathon times on his resume, thereby justifying his license FSTRNR. However, those PRs occurred a couple of decades ago, and our friend is quick to admit that he should now get a frame that says, “Used to be,” as his speed has diminished precipitously over the years.

Only the most knowledgeable observers would recognize another of our partners as a runner; his license on a VW Rabbit with almost 300,000 miles on it says simply JUMA. About 200,000 miles ago, our friend idolized Tanzanian distance runner Juma Ikangaa, who is perhaps most famous for his quote, “The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.” Although Juma – the real one, not our friend – won several marathons, including New York City in 1989, he would have been much more famous with just a little more will at Boston, as he finished 2nd there for three years in a row from 1988 to 1990.

If the license doesn’t reveal the runner, check the frame. Both of us have license plate frames proclaiming our identity as runners; Mike’s says “Big Sur International Marathon” and Donald’s says “Headlands 100”. (Blog author’s side note: I distinctly remember putting that frame on, because the one I took down and replaced was from the Big Sur Marathon. As soon as I saw the new one in place, it seemed official: I was an ultrarunner. And yes, I wrote a post about it.) A friend of ours in Salinas has a custom frame listing all the years he did both the Boston and Big Sur Marathons, with writing on all 4 sides: “Boston Marathon 89 90 91 92, etc … Big Sur Marathon 90, 91, 94, 95 … ” It goes on like that for a while; our friend almost needs two frames.

If you’re tired of the car game, another easy way to pick a runner out of a crowd is e-mail addresses. Many of our friends have digital identities that peg them as runners or triathletes – here are a few of them (without the service provider) to give you a sampling: iggi26, flyin.brian, mickrunbike, runsophia, trigirlcali, whosrunning, runninglegz, idomarathons, getnfaster, draco26p2, 5kfred, rle26.2, calina.runnergirl, and so on. Some other runners have e-mail addresses that only “true” running friends know reveal their best time in various events, such as “pratt245” from a 2:45 marathoner or “jvalen1733” from a 17:33 5K racer, or “jruss836” indicating a world-class steeplechase time.

Of course, speed is not just measured in numbers; sometimes it’s described in adjectives, too. This reminds us of our favorite e-mail address from a two-time Olympian who trained on the Monterey Peninsula with the now-defunct Big Sur Distance Project. One day he asked for constructive feedback on his professional resume, as he was looking for “real” employment to supplement his running income. It only took one glance for us to find the first suggestion for change: his e-mail address at the top of the page was fastassh!# ... but with the last two letters uncensored. While it may have been a fantastic running moniker, it certainly seemed to prohibit him from landing any job offers.

In most cases, though, there’s absolutely no harm in letting your runner flag fly, so feel free to tell the world about the activity you love. Who knows, maybe you'll inspire somebody to train for a sticker of their own.



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