obligatory year end 2019-by-the-numbers-and-other-stuff note

“Nowadays, curmudgeon is likely to refer to anyone who hates hypocrisy, can’t, sham, dogmatic ideologies, the pretenses and evasions of euphemism, and has the nerve to point out unpleasant facts and takes the trouble to impale these sins on the skewer of humor and roast them over the fires of empiric fact, common sense, and native intelligence. In this nation of bleating sheep and braying jackasses, it then becomes an honor to be labeled curmudgeon.”  

--Edward Abbey

Race Report(s): well that was a hoot....

.....but this life is not for me anymore.

no, i'm not retired; but despite having the freedom to do so, I'm just not inclined to put so much energy into running long distances in obscure locales for silly outings anymore. 

grab a chair, maybe a growler of a hard-to-drink stout or sour, because my rationale is stupid long and takes place over a series of months.  sorry not sorry.

Barely-passible Aid Station Cooking: Super-moist Sous-vide'd Wilford Brimley Special Non-Medicinal Brownies

do you find you sometimes need a boost of energy but caffeine is too much of a diuretic for your stomach?
do you like to pretend your aid station in the middle of bumfuck nowhere is basically the house of the witch from hansel and gretel?

Race Report: A Temporary Absence of Irreverence

Aldous Huxley once wrote that, “The harder we try with the conscious will to do something, the less we shall succeed.  Proficiency and results come only to those who have learned the paradoxical art of doing and not doing, or combining relaxation with activity.”  I, for one, am terrible at this, because for the most part, I think that most activities do not operate on non-linear laws of diminishing returns based on a horrible misinterpretation of a Chinese interjection at a very young age.  

Serendipitously, this year's Bighorn was just the punch to the throat I needed to rediscover the joie de vivre I've been lacking as of late.  

Barely-passible Aid Station Cooking: Super-moist Sous-vide'd Banana Bread

have you ever found your banana bread to be stupid-dry?
or that you committed yourself to an aid station which operates in a cold, dry winter where everything is susceptible to freezing and drying out?