DaCrizzow

    It's 1975, Im nine years old and in the third grade. My two previous years of "education" I was being bussed to a more "inner city" school surrounded on three sides by Nashville housing projects. Those were a couple of intense years, all for another day, only to be challenged when I would start buying drugs in those said projects nine years later. Again, that's another story. Now, back to third grade at my new school.     It was only a couple miles from my grandmother's house so I could finally walk to school. This meant two things. "Adventure" and "freedom." It should've also meant "responsibility" but that sounds boring right now writing it, I can only imagine how it would've sounded then.     There were only two other kids walking as far as I was, Larry and Eddie Johnson. Two brothers that lived a couple blocks over but I'd never met them before. Larry was in my class but Eddie was a grade ahead...but th...

    When I was 12 years old, me and two friends, Mike L. and Ryan S. were three kids testing the boundaries. We had started shoplifting and had gotten pretty good at it. We could walk into a department store with an empty shopping bag and leave with it full, no problem. We were getting so much shit that we couldn't take it home without some suspicion so we had to sell a lot of stuff we were stealing. Then we had the problem of explaining the money. Most of the time it just went to pinball or fast food but pretty quickly it went to buying pot. Ryan was the one who started that. He even had more cash, as he got a $40 allowance every week while we might have gotten $5 here and there. Looking back, he was the bigger risk taker. He was the first of us to get a job (construction), quit school and start his own contracting company. He was also the guy who in our late teens would pass us in a car at 100mph while he was riding a wheelie on a motorcycle with a girl on the back.   ...

    Seven days (two travel, one recovery and four "adventure"). 686 miles (636 in the van traveling, 50+ on foot). This was my vacation...part of my vacation. This, along with exploring some caves, a lot of food, reading, and staring at the sky. The "numbers" come out more like, 52+ miles, 13,000(ish) accumulated elevation in about 23 hours total. Covering two summits, another "just below" summit and a run around and through a volcano crater. This was a week of living the new "American dream." Living in a van, down by the river. Even if after three nights of van living and hiking three mountains, the dream got interrupted with a night in a motel. A shower, pizza and some mindless TV can really rejuvenate a guy. That third morning getting out of my sleeping bag, a wave of stink made it's way up from what I assume was my crotch area that I can only describe as cheap, stale peanut butter gone bad. You "choosy" mothers know what...

    I wasn't always a runner. I ran around as a kid and always played sports but I never really just ran for runnings sake. But I thought about it.     I was 14 years old and I was playing my last year of football. I didn't know it was my last year, it just ended up that way. This would be my fifth year playing football but my first year for my school. The other years were in the "jr. pro" league. Until now, I had been one of the bigger guys. not the biggest but i was a lineman. Now I was one of the smaller guys. Not the smallest but after I found out that I had made the team, it didn't take long to realize I was just one of the "tackling dummies" for the bigger guys. When I say "bigger," I could just as easily say older. They were way older. Ineligible, actually. We were in 7th and 8th grade, 12-14 years old. These guys were driving their own cars to school.     This coach would do some ridiculous stuff. like, he would have the starting guys...

    It's Father's Day weekend again and while my dad has been dead over 25 years now, there's still quite a bit of residue left over from some of his "lessons." One of my earliest memories of even life in general was of my dad.     When I was about five years old, just before starting kindergarten, my dad and uncle (his brother) were hanging around the house on a Saturday afternoon drinking some beers and just bullshitting in general. My dad didn't really drink much except socially with his friends from time to time. My uncle, on the other hand, did drink much.      At some point during the day my dad grabbed a piece of charcoal out of the grill outside and decided to throw up some artwork on the walls in my bedroom. While there were very few times I actually saw him do any sort of drawing or art, apparently he had a little talent. This was one of the few times I witnessed this.      He took the charcoal and on the wall behind ...

    Do you hear that grinding noise? Do you feel shit being shaken up? That's the procession of the equinox as we're entering into the Age of Aquarius. The dismantling and confusion that you feel is just the results of a transition taking place. Any cyclist understands this, if you've ever tried to change gears while going uphill it very rarely goes without a little grinding between the chain and teeth and maybe even a bit of back pedal. Yeah, it rarely goes smooth at all.     There's a slight "wobble" in the earth's axis rotation that about every 2,100 years results in the sunrise and sunset happening on two different zodiac constellations. It takes about 26,000 years to complete the rotation back to the original constellation. The Mayans, Egyptians and many other ancient cultures knew this and it it meant something. The last 2,000 or so years we've been waking up to the pisces constellation. You know, two fish, jesus, all that shit. You didn't r...

not awesome     Another Smith Rock Ascent in the books! I came out for the inaugural race three years ago for the 25k. I brought a friend who was new to running and while I did the race, my friend ran/ hiked some of the trails. The next year I ran the 50k and said friend ran the 25k. Same deal this year but we brought another friend who's new to running to run/ hike while we ran. Maybe next year we'll have another convert.     Coming in from Portland, the trip didn't start off so smooth. A freeway blowout in the van shook us up a bit but soon we were back on the road headed to Bend to pick up our race bags and dinner. Then to the campground.    The campground was full but we ran into some "bro's" who led us to a cool spot just a rock's throw away. And by "bro's," I don't mean douchy frat guys, I mean dirtbag climber guys. I don't follow frat bro's down dirt roads.     We found a nice space for the van, set up the camp chair...

on the way to the race the day before. not expecting this     Ultra season is on! This past weekend I headed to Sisters, Oregon for the Peterson Ridge Rumble 20 & 40 miler. Of course I signed up for the 40. This would be my second time running this race and although it being 40 miles, it's relatively easy race. Relatively. There's a few portions of either dirt or soft gravel roads that you can take advantage of and either pick up a little speed or just give your mind and eyes a break from scanning rocks and roots that are just waiting to grab a toe. I think I almost ate dirt about a dozen times. actually ate some dirt twice.     This is the beginning of my third season as an ultra-runner, so as it should be, my third different approach to training. This time around, I started my training the first week of November 2014 after a two month hiatus. I've been pretty regimented. Two 5.5 mile runs to and from work four days a week with my long run on the weekend....

    After the last couple years of having all but stopped cycling altogether, I decided recently to dive right back into the deep end and do the Gorge Roubaix Gravel Grinder. An organized ride covering 85 miles and about 7,000 feet of climbing with about 35-40 miles of it on gravel, in The Dalles, Oregon. About 75 miles east of Portland. There was a race version on the same course but i KNEW I wasn't in "race condition." Turns out as I was having my ass sufficiently handed back to me, I was barely in "ride with my friends" condition.     It's funny how running 45-65 miles a week doesn't transfer to the bike, just like a few years ago cycling 200-250 miles a week didn't transfer to running. I mean, you'd think, "it's all legs," right? Wrong. It is, it's "all-a lot-of-things" and a lot of the same things but they work differently. Legs, heart, lungs, back....     It was myself, my brother and two friends, all of us use...

    It's been about five months of hard work but I'm finally reaping the fruits from the seeds I started sowing back on that first monday of November 2014.     After having a rough year, physically, emotionally and spiritually, I decided to take a break. An eight week exile from "trying." Basically I just went to work, came home, ate dinner, went to sleep then repeated it all the next day. It sucked to put my mind and body on hold like that but I needed that transition period. I find it easier to get rid of the old BEFORE bringing in the new. When I used to race bikes, after the last race of the season, around the last week of November, I would put it all away for the month of December. No training or anything, then start back strong the first week of January. I skipped this the last couple years and it was showing. So after my last ultra race in september, I jumped at the chance to do nothing for awhile.     It wasn't easy getting started again but after...

    After many, many years of being intrigued with this, I finally experienced my first "float" session. 90 minutes inside of a soundproof, lightproof tank filled with water and epsom salt heated to the body's natural temperature.     The process is pretty simple. I was given my own little tank room with a little dressing bench and a shower. I showered quickly first and as I was stepping into the tank, I Immediately noticed how comfortably warm the water was. I crouched down inside and pulled the door shut. BLAST OFF! Right away I could feel something stir. It's a slightly jarring feeling having your immediate surroundings, sensations and distractions taken away all at once like that. I laid back, adjusted to this new floating sensation and waited....     I couldn't ignore my "panic" reaction. Nothing bad, but with a history of drug use and abuse in my background, along with some meditation and therapy, I could recognize my physical reactions. There wa...

     I don't watch "zombie" movies and I don't really get the big deal with them over the last couple years but a couple weeks ago I was flipping through the channels and started watching some show that looked to me to be about some sort of extreme camping with a small group of people. Maybe after a big war or something. Then I realized, it was that stupid "Walking Dead" show. I watched it awhile then got bored but it got me thinking about how close we are to living in a zombie apocalypse and how some places already are. I mean, Liberia is basically in an apocalyptic state. So is Somalia. Civil war, cannibalism, starvation, 10 year old kids cutting off people's limbs with machetes, gang rapes, burning down villages....     I wonder how long it would take for America to reach this state of apocalypse. I'm guessing stop the sale of gasoline and shut down the electricity for less than a month and the wheels come OFF. Most grocery stores only carry abou...

    Man, we fucked up. We fucked up bad. I fucked up, you fucked up, we ALL fucked up. We all fell for some kind of "program." We can't really take on all the blame, it was here long before any of us were around but there HAS been plenty of opportunities to change it. There is now.     Wether it's the idea of house, kids, husband/ wife, career, blah, blah, blah...The idea of just getting some bullshit job and really laying in there and applying yourself so maybe you can work up to manager one day. Maybe just running up your credit cards either trying to keep up, maybe just have a couple nice things or sometimes just as help out of an "emergency." It's all just programs.     The canaries are dying all around us. It seems like every other child is being diagnosed with either autism or some kind of food allergy, the U.S. is getting fatter by the day and from what I can tell from commercials on TV, the men in america can't seem to get it up anymore. Ev...

   You know what? Fuck all this shit. FUCK ALL THIS SHIT. We are supposed to be on the verge of a spiritual revolution and all anyone can talk about is "Game Of Thrones" and deflated footballs. We're on the abyss of something beautiful, magical and terrifying and almost everyone I know is so afraid. Afraid to step outside of this little fort we all keep building around ourselves to protect us from reality. Fuck. I know people who are not only killing themselves physically but emotionally and spiritually as well and fucking REFUSE to step away from the devices that are enabling this process.      Humans used to have up to 360 senses and now we're down to five. And we're supposed to believe we're the most advanced civilization? Some of us already know this is bullshit. What about the pyramids? While the "powers that be" want us to believe these were just tombs for kings with crazy egos, it's becoming much more obvious these were transmitters for s...

    Unless we make changes, nothing will change. I remember about 20 years ago in Nashville when the city gave us those first (yellow, I think) crates to use for recycling. Nobody I knew used them for that. NOBODY. We used them to hold more trash, as laundry baskets, storage bins, or just threw them away. Now days you go over someone's house and it can look like a full service recycling center for paper, glass, plastic, even compost. It took us awhile to get here but this is how it happens. Now it's a collective consciousness to the point that you'll walk several blocks with a the empty water bottle you've been drinking until you see the right bin to toss it in. This works on the individual level as well.     Most of the people I know seem to be on two sides of a fence these days. One side, the side where they've got a nice routine going and see no reason to challenge or question it. Good for them. I've been there. Would like to get there again to some degree. ...