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dougmeet · 4 years

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flynt (13) hustler (5) died (4) trump (4) million (3) doing (3) insurance (3) larry (3) seniors (3) ditching (3)

In 2017, Flynt offered a $10 million reward for evidence that would lead to Trump’s impeachment, and in 2019, Larry Flynt Publications sent a Christmas card to some Republican congressional members that showed Trump lying dead in a pool of blood, with the killer saying: “I just shot Donald Trump on Fifth Avenue and no one assassinated me” — a reference to Trump’s boast that he could commit such a killing and wouldn’t lose votes.

Eggleston Works è una società di cui avevo sentito parlare molto tempo prima che io abbia mai avuto la possibilità di assaggiare le loro merci. Situato a Memphis, nel Tennessee, La loro prima offerta era un oratore che sembrava un tavolo finale, ma alla fine non ha avuto il successo come avevano sperato. Alla fine del 1996, l'Andra fu rilasciato.

Dr. Seuss Enterprises Will Shelve 6 Books, Citing 'Hurtful' Portrayals

no more Seuss or WAP for my kid

CSS Grid CSS Grid simplifies existing layout patterns

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adds new possibilities for graphic design.

It’s a layout framework — without the framework

Fixed or FlexibleYou can create a grid with fixed track sizes or with flexible sizes using percentages or the new

fr fractional unit

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You can place items at precise locations on the grid independent of their HTML source order. Alignment features control how items align when placed into a grid area, and also how the whole grid is aligned.

In our urban and suburban houses what should we do without cats? In our sitting or bedrooms, our libraries, in our kitchens and storerooms, our farms, barns, and dockyards, in our docks, our granaries, our ships, and our wharves, in our corn markets, meat markets, and other places too numerous to mention, how useful they are! In our ships, however, the rats oft set them at defiance; still they are of great service. How wonderfully patient is the cat when watching for rats or mice, awaiting their egress from their place of refuge or that which is their home! How well Shakespeare in Pericles, Act iii., describes this keen attention of the cat to its natural pursuit! A slight rustle, and the fugitive comes forth; a quick, sharp, resolute motion, and the cat has proved its usefulness. Let any one have a plague of rats and mice, as I once had, and let them be delivered therefrom by cats, as I was, and they will have a lasting and kind regard for them.

watch -- 6,780 results ("mrjyn" AND "dougmeet") OR ("dougmeet" AND "BLACKPINK") SEO Results Deliver (images) in something i call (Bracket Racket Cluster SOF SEO) inspired by mr. Kurzweil, who makes your piano tuned No thanks to The Recording Academy for inexplicably overlooking Apple's new album Fetch the Bolt Cutters for an Album of the Year nod at this year's Grammys. @fionaapplerocks

flynt (13)

hustler (5)

died (4)

trump (4)

million (3)

doing (3)

insurance (3)

larry (3)

seniors (3)

ditching (3)

Porn purveyor Larry Flynt, who built Hustler magazine into an adult entertainment empire while championing First Amendment rights, died Wednesday.

He was 78.

Flynt had been in frail health and died of heart failure at his Hollywood Hills home, said his nephew, Jimmy Flynt Jr.

Advertisement Skip Ad From his beginnings as an Ohio strip club owner to his reign as founder of one of the most explicit adult-oriented magazines, Flynt constantly challenged the establishment and became a target for the religious right and feminist groups.

Flynt scored a surprising U.S. Supreme Court victory over the Rev.

Jerry Falwell, who had sued him for libel after a 1983 Hustler alcohol ad suggested Falwell had lost his virginity to his mother in an outhouse.

Paid Post What Is This? Seniors Are Ditching Their Auto Insurance and Doing This Instead Seniors Are Ditching Their Auto Insurance and Doing This Instead Seniors Are Ditching Their Auto Insurance and Doing This Instead See More Sponsored Content by Comparisons.org Flynt’s company produced not only Hustler but other niche publications.

He owned a video production company, various websites, a Los Angeles-area casino and 10 Hustler boutiques.

He also licensed the Hustler name to independently owned strip clubs.

His publishing and financial successes were offset in equal measure by controversies and tragedies.

Advertisement 00:48 02:53 Shot by a sniper in 1978, Flynt was paralyzed from the waist down and used a wheelchair the rest of his life.

He fought battles with drug and alcohol addiction, and his fourth wife died of a heroin overdose.

His daughter, Lisa Flynt-Fugate, died in a 2014 car crash in Ohio at age 47.

With a fortune estimated at more than $100 million, Flynt spent his later years in the political arena.

When Gov.

Gray Davis was recalled by California voters in 2003, Flynt was among 135 candidates who ran to replace him.

He called himself “a smut peddler who cares” and gathered more than 15,000 votes.

A self-described progressive, Flynt was no fan of former President Donald Trump.

Before the 2016 election, he offered up to $1 million for video or audio recordings of Trump engaging in illegal or “sexually demeaning or derogatory” activity.

Flynt’s life was depicted in the acclaimed 1996 film “The People vs.

Larry Flynt,” which brought Oscar nominations for director Milos Forman and Woody Harrelson, who played Flynt.

—2021年3月3日 (@mrjyn) status: WAP—2021年3月3日 (@mrjyn)

Twitter [@] Tweet to: @squarebooks From: @mrjyn Comm. on: squarebooks (reply) RE: SB mention by (author) re. SB her book status: WAP—2021年3月3日 (@mrjyn)

mrjyn comment: quotes Elvis song lyric: 'i don't care' adds: 'I miss #BarryHannah (author), mutual friend to mrjyn (person) and SB, Oxford, MS (bookstore) adding here: RIP Date: 03:13:2021 Time: 8:17 CST

1 of 3 jpg att: 1. Elvis photo ephemera 'TCB Oath' 2. Photo of cover of Barry Hannah book jacket "Tennis Handsome" Pub: Knopf Ed.: Gordon Lish 3. Jerry Lee Lewis Cover of Bio Author: Nick Tosches

definitive hypnogogic, Biblical Ovid Southern Gothic Epic hagiography, esprit l'escalier epitaph precursor to whose words will be most tribute to the possible mortality race between the Killer and Keith Richards, KR JLL's Jr. by 15 yrs. check Vegas Book for Odds says Stanley Booth, Author 'Up and Down with the Rolling Stones,' Memphis, TN 'author' -- not Rockcrit, please?

mrjyn comment: quotes Elvis song lyric: 'i don't care' BarryHannah

This frisky pop confection finds Blackpink teaming up with American singer Selena Gomez. The five girls use a series of ice cream double entendres to send out mating calls and detail how they are different from the other females. I know that my heart can be so cold But I'm sweet for you, come put me in a cone Blackpink and Gomez are encouraging the guys to ignore their icy cool demeanors. Once they take a couple of scoops they will find they are loving and affectionate.

The song's icy metaphors not only have a sensual connotation but also allude to the singers' wealth. Ice on my wrist, yeah, I like it like this Get the bag with the cream The girls are wearing diamond encrusted watches (ice is a slang word for diamonds). "Get the bag with the cream" refers to a bag loaded with cash.

The song is Blackpink's second hookup with a major American pop star in 2020, following their Lady Gaga collaboration, "Sour Candy." Both songs use sexy food analogies to represent the enticing love that the girls are ready to give out.

Frequent Blackpink collaborators, the Korean Teddy Park and the American Bekuh Boom, are the primary writers. Park wrote the main melody while Boom was in Korea. She then wrote the lyrics over his tune, incorporating a series of sexy ice cream-related play on words. The other credited writers are Ariana Grande, her go-to collaborators Victoria Monet, and Tommy Brown, Mr. Franks, Selena Gomez and the Korean producer 24.

The retro-tinged video finds Gomez driving a pink ice cream truck in a pinup sailor outfit. The four Blackpink girls all appear in a candy-coated frozen dessert fantasy land before ending the clip in an ice cream amusement park. Blackpink's scenes were filmed in South Korea, while the scenes featuring Gomez were shot in the US because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The song was birthed at a songwriting camp that producer Teddy Park asked Bekuh Boom to run for Blackpink's debut studio album. Boom asked Tommy Brown and Victoria Monét to come to the sessions at LA's Westlake Studio, and the pair brought Mr. Franks along with them. "Tommy had Franks pull up beats, and eventually Franks played the one that all of us started vibing to and decided to work on together," recalled Boom to Genius. "Victoria brought up the subject 'ice cream' and started humming melodies that we then started writing lyrics to together in the room. From that point on we had a great back and forth of ideas for the first half of the song that was done that night."

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no more Seuss or WAP for my kid. Dr. Seuss Enterprises Will Shelve 6 Books, Citing 'Hurtful' Portrayals https://t.co/Cc23ru1M6K— mrjyn (@mrjyn) 2021年3月3日

Eggleston Works " Fontaine II "

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L'opportunità per me di ascoltare un altoparlante EgglestonWorks è arrivata tramite il mio amico e collega, Marshall Nack. Alcuni di voi lettori a lungo termine potrebbero ricordare la recensione approfondita di Marshall dei Rosas di EgglestonWorks. Marshall e la sua adorabile moglie Lynn sono una coppia insolita in quanto entrambi sono audiofili. In realtà, sono l'unica coppia audiofila che conosco personalmente. Sono certo che il fatto che siano entrambi dei musicisti seri è in gran parte responsabile della loro capacità di ascoltare le gradazioni e i dettagli tonali molto fini con tanta facilità. Tra i suoi molti talenti, Marshall ha un'eccezionale capacità di dare voce a un sistema. Sembra sempre in grado di trovare la giusta miscela di componenti e accessori che si traducono in un sistema eccezionalmente ben bilanciato. Questo è molto più difficile da realizzare di quanto si possa pensare. Tuttavia, la natura rivelatrice dei diffusori EgglestonWorks è stata determinante nel raggiungimento dei suoi obiettivi sonori. Quando lo Stereophile Show è arrivato in città questa primavera, la stanza di EgglestonWorks era in cima alla mia lista delle visite obbligatorie. È stato lì che ho incontrato EgglestonWorks prez Jim Thomson e ho iniziato il mio primo ascolto con i Fontaines. So che hai tutti sentito che la qualità del suono agli spettacoli è generalmente piuttosto brutta. Mentre trovo che questo sia ampiamente vero, allo stesso tempo, puoi avere un'idea del potenziale sonoro di un prodotto, o come alla fine potrebbe funzionare in condizioni di casa. I Fontaines furono sistemati nella sala dell'home theater di Eggleston. Incluso con il display era un paio di sub-woofer dedicati. Secondo la letteratura aziendale, "il design di ciascun modello di altoparlante nella linea EgglestonWorks inizia con il midrange". Per le Fontaines, una coppia di 6 "polipropilene, i driver a doppio magnete gestiscono il midrange e il basso. Ognuno di questi driver ha una bobina da 3 "di diametro, che è stata ripetuta molte volte ma che ripete, come è vero, se il midrange non è corretto, di tutti gli altri è infruttuoso. Il tweeter ha una grande camera di smorzamento aperiodico che imita il caricamento infinito del diaframma. Il tweeter è collegato al crossover con un cappuccio e due resistori utilizzati come un L-pad. Un singolo set di morsetti è montato in un pannello incassato nella parte posteriore della sezione driver. Ho chiesto a Jim Thompson di utilizzare un singolo set di post di rilegatura in contrasto con la tendenza attuale di utilizzare post doppio. I driver sono direttamente collegati ai bind. Ovviamente, se un cliente è impostato su biwiring, questi diffusori possono essere dotati di doppio binding post su un ordine speciale.

I driver dei bassi e dei medi sono alloggiati in quello che EgglestonWorks descrive come una custodia con una linea di trasmissione quasi in trasmissione. Ciò si ottiene impiegando un materiale di imbottitura acustico specializzato noto come " Lastre di granito italiane legate a loro. Il risultato finale di questi sforzi è un recinto molto inerte che fornisce una risposta dei bassi molto migliore rispetto alle dimensioni ridotte dei driver. Dopo diverse conversazioni con Jim Thompson, quattro cartoni di dimensioni medie ma piuttosto pesanti arrivarono da EgglestonWorks. I cartoni contenevano il driver e le sezioni di base corrispondenti. Dovresti stare molto attento mentre imposti questi diffusori per non danneggiare la squisita finitura nera del pianoforte. L'immagine non rende in alcun modo giustizia a questi oratori. Devi davvero vederli di persona per capire cosa intendo. I Fontaines possono essere visti come uno di quei prodotti che rientrano nella categoria "audio come arte". Sono semplicemente belli. I Fontaines possono essere visti come uno di quei prodotti che rientrano nella categoria "audio come arte". Sono semplicemente belli. I Fontaines possono essere visti come uno di quei prodotti che rientrano nella categoria "audio come arte". Sono semplicemente belli. La vestibilità e la finitura sono proprio lì con il meglio che abbia mai visto.È ovvio per me che EgglestonWorks ha preso molta cura e ha fatto spese considerevoli nella progettazione e costruzione di questi contenitori. Una volta assemblati, gli altoparlanti danno l'aspetto di un monolitico sul pavimento. Le basi sono sabbia-fallibili e formeranno un recinto molto sostanziale. Vi consiglio caldamente di stabilirvi il posizionamento finale prima di riempire le basi di sabbia. Questi bambini sono abbastanza pesanti per cominciare; una volta riempito di sabbia, sarebbe quasi impossibile per la persona media muoversi da sola. Ho posizionato gli altoparlanti su una trapunta, quindi sui loro lati, per inserire i quattro bulloni che fissano le basi in posizione. Questo viene fatto attraverso un pannello di accesso nella parte inferiore della base. Mentre le punte fornite sono molto robuste, hanno un filo sottile e possono essere facilmente danneggiati se si è negligenti durante l'installazione. Il cofano del conducente è molto inerte quindi consiglierei molto se decidi di eseguire il test delle articolazioni.

Mi piace particolarmente il modo in cui hanno scelto di affrontare le griglie. Sono costruiti con un materiale molto puro montato su una sottile struttura in acciaio. Si collegano al pannello frontale mediante magneti che sono sepolti sotto il laminato di superficie. Questa disposizione rende il fissaggio delle griglie il più semplice possibile e ha funzionato bene per me. Mentre l'efficienza è elencata come quello che potrebbe sembrare un 87db piuttosto basso, non ho avuto problemi a raggiungere livelli di rottura del lease con l'amplificatore di potenza Bel Canto EVo. Però, Quando ricevo nuove attrezzature da recensire, inviterò spesso diversi amici non audiofili, accenderò il sistema e osserverò le loro reazioni. In ogni caso, le reazioni ai Fontaines iniziarono prima che il primo CD fosse nel cassetto ed erano sempre abbastanza positivi. Tutti sono stati presi con il loro aspetto sorprendente e il modo in cui si sono mescolati così facilmente nella stanza. Sono belli come sono discreti. Mentre è abbastanza ovvio dalle specifiche e dalla qualità dell'hardware utilizzato che EgglestonWorks costruisce i suoi diffusori con molta cura,

Come suonano? Dal momento che non ho la possibilità di eseguire alcuna misurazione sull'attrezzatura che ho per la revisione, posso solo dirti come si comportano nel mio sistema. Mentre credo che le misure abbiano il loro posto, difficilmente danno il quadro complessivo. Ci sono stati molti componenti che hanno misurato terribilmente, ma erano artisti stellari dal punto di vista sonoro, e viceversa. Hanno quella qualità trasparente che consente ad ogni strumento di occupare il proprio spazio, ma sempre con un naturale senso di proporzione all'interno del palcoscenico. Nessuna durezza o nervosismo ha mai accompagnato questa chiarezza. Ho notato anche una qualità semplice e costante del suono che lasciava che la musica scorresse in modo molto seducente. Piatti e campane hanno la giusta quantità di lucentezza e delicatezza e di nuovo, sembrano avere le giuste dimensioni. I tassi di decadimento per questi strumenti contribuiscono anche al senso del realismo. Hanno costantemente svelato i dettagli di basso livello che tra l'altro davano un senso reale delle dimensioni del luogo di registrazione. Con Miles Davis,Tipo di bluHo sempre messo in discussione il suono registrato del pianoforte, specialmente con molte delle vecchie registrazioni Blue Note. Proprio l'opposto è il caso della registrazione XRCD, in particolare con molte delle vecchie registrazioni Blue Note. Proprio l'opposto è il caso della registrazione XRCD, in particolare con molte delle vecchie registrazioni Blue Note. Proprio l'opposto è il caso della registrazione XRCD,Waltz for Debby del Bill Evans Trio [JVC XRCD VICJ-60141]. Qui le qualità tonali e la complessa struttura armonica del pianoforte sono presentate molto bene. Sono rimasto sorpreso dal senso di profondità con cui questi relatori mi hanno presentato. La mia stanza non collaborerà molto in quest'area, quindi questa è stata una sorpresa gradita. In effetti, è il migliore che ho sentito qui. Il riempimento del centro era azzeccato: i solisti erano un po 'più avanti di quanto io non fossi abituato, ma era di buon effetto. Nel complesso, ho trovato le capacità di imaging di questi diffusori di essere eccezionalmente buone. Per i miei gusti, Dal momento che il punto -3db è quotato a 55Hz, non mi aspettavo troppo dalle regioni inferiori, ma sono rimasto piacevolmente sorpreso da ciò che ho sentito. Ora non fraintendere, questi non sono gli altoparlanti per gli organi a canne o i fan del reggae. Per quel tipo di uscita dei bassi dovresti guardare molto più in alto nella linea EgglestonWorks. Ciò che è notevole in questo caso è la precisione del basso. Non è mai cupo; piuttosto, tende ad essere stretto e melodico. Quando eseguito male, il basso può oscurare gli elementi musicali nella gamma media inferiore. Il basso dei Fontaines non interferisce o oscura affatto il midrange. In altre parole, la fioritura della fascia bassa non viene a scapito della chiarezza del midrange. Per classica e buona parte del jazz, potresti essere abbastanza soddisfatto della fascia bassa delle Fontaines. Nel complesso, l'uscita dei bassi è stata molto meglio di quanto mi aspettassi. Lo scorso giugno Tim Shea ha scritto una magnifica recensione del Musse Audio Reference Two NF speakers. Li ho a portata di mano e farò una revisione di follow-up. Tuttavia, poiché sono nella stessa fascia di prezzo delle Fontaines, I Reference Twos, come i Fontaines, sono monitor bidirezionali. In questo caso, fornisci gli stand. Le differenze sonore colpiscono a causa della forza di ciascuna bugia alle estremità opposte dello spettro sonoro. Con un punto -3db di 35Hz e una frequenza di sintonizzazione della porta di 29Hz, non sorprende che i Reference Twos si approfondiscano. La parte bassa qui è stretta e melodica. Mentre i Fontaines non vanno così in profondità, Devo dire che il basso è un po 'più stretto e un po' più melodico dei Reference Twos. Tuttavia, i Fontaines ottengono sicuramente un cenno del capo per l'estensione del registro medio e superiore, dolcezza e ottima resa dei dettagli. Questi sono tratti sonori che sono un appuntamento fisso nella sala d'ascolto di Perry e in seguito sono venuto ad ascoltarli per tutto il tempo. In aggiunta a questo, c'è molta aria intorno agli strumenti con un tasso di decadimento molto buono. Alcuni potrebbero descrivere questi diffusori come neutri dal punto di vista tonale, tuttavia si desidera descrivere questa caratteristica. Io, d'altra parte, trovare la loro tonalità per essere leggermente sul lato caldo. Mi sta bene. Nel complesso, semplicemente si tolgono la via della musica. Etta James, Life, Love and The Blues [Private Label 01005-82162-2]: Questo è un CD che è un ottimo esempio del suono "Mussel Shoals". Ha una linea di basso sostenuta molto pesante durante molti tagli. Check-out " senza alcun segno di sovraccarico del conducente o altro pericolo. Dal basso superiore in su tutto va bene. La voce di Etta James arriva con la giusta quantità di morso e calore. Dal basso superiore in su tutto va bene. La voce di Etta James arriva con la giusta quantità di morso e calore. Dal basso superiore in su tutto va bene. La voce di Etta James arriva con la giusta quantità di morso e calore. Patricia Barber, Companion Il senso di immediatezza e presenza è tale che è possibile ottenere un'implicazione delle dimensioni della stanza senza alcun iper-dettaglio per intromettersi. Sul taglio "Usami" c'è un assolo di basso verticale che i Fontaines riproducono con tutte le trame e la ricchezza armonica in tatto. Signorina. La voce del barbiere ha una trama soffice che è abbastanza piacevole senza che i dettagli vocali siano mai esagerati. Non ho mai avuto l'impressione di poter vedere le sue tonsille. Con opere sinfoniche su larga scala, questi bambini continuano nella stessa vena. Mentre le loro capacità limitate di fascia bassa diminuiranno parte dello slam e del peso che i loro fratelli più grandi sono in grado di gestire, Per riassumere, la EgglestonWorks Fontaines può essere descritta come molto musicale. Mentre ti daranno tutti gli attributi che gli audiofili bramano, non sono mai eccessivamente analitici. Apprezzo molto le qualità dei medi che mantengono le mie sessioni di ascolto sul lato lungo. Mi fanno venire voglia di togliersi la roba da audiofili e semplicemente sedersi e godersi la musica. Mi trovo a tirare fuori CD dopo CD che non ho sentito da un po 'di tempo per ascoltare. Se ritieni di dover semplicemente avere quell'ultimo bit di uscita dei bassi, ricorda che i sottotitoli corrispondenti sono disponibili. palcoscenico sonoro totalmente coerente e la massima semplicità della presentazione musicale. Non ho mai sentito alcuna discontinuità tra basso, medi o alti. Erano sempre coerenti in questo senso. Questi diffusori sono di altissima qualità ed è necessario collegarli a ingranaggi di pari qualità a monte. Ovviamente lavoreranno con amplificatori economici, ma riveleranno rapidamente tutte le carenze e le deficienze del suono. Le Fontaines EgglestonWorks sono l'essenza del lusso. Mentre non possono essere considerati a buon mercato e sono in un campo affollato a questo punto di prezzo

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kainumbernine009 · 4 years

Text

I literally cannot do anything else until I get this out.

I’m... really not okay.

And when I say that, I’m not mentally unstable. I say that because I’m tired of waiting on empty promises, I’m tired of never having money in our account, I’m tired of living in a fucking city where half of the white people fucking worship the ground Trump walks on, and where most of the gay community has so much messy drama that it’s worse than middle school. And I went to a rough middle school.

I never talk about my past, because I don’t like to. It sucked. HARD. Being and only child in my family was nothing less than torture, especially as a closeted queer person. We grew up in the white Christian part of Nashville that dominated Music Row in the 90′s and early 2000′s. I played basketball with Alan Jackson’s daughter, and being around famous people was just no big deal. But, my parents decided to leave Nashville after my dad lost his job at TPAC, and we moved down south an hour to the town where the KKK got started (Pulaski, TN).

I had maybe two non-white people in my private Christian school growing up. I was never afraid of Black people, but my parents showed their racist asses quick when we moved there. The KKK has never left America, guys, no matter how many articles you read or studies you do. From 2005 to 2009 I saw a white town show its very worst to the Black community. I’ll never forget the first time I saw a march for “White Christians for Purity” the summer before Obama got elected. The disgust I felt inside was palpable. I had all kinds of friends in school, and I didn’t give TWO SHITS who they were or what they looked like... but I saw children my age, being brainwashed by their parents, that “white” is “right.”

Ever since then, I have been learning and growing about the issues of race. I remember my white classmates using the N word and getting away with it. I remember hearing about the principal at the high school punishing all the Black kids but not the white kids. I remember being invited to a church south of town that was a historically Black church, and how nice the ladies were to me for coming.

But I’ll never forget the racism that the religious groups promoted there, especially First Baptist Church and the 12 Tribes. I’ll never forget how FBC told me that my friend was going to Hell because she killed herself. I’ll never forget my mom telling me not to marry a Black man because of “impure genes.” I WILL NEVER FORGET THE INJUSTICES I SAW WHITE PEOPLE DOING TO BLACK PEOPLE THERE. NEVER.

And thank God, I have shaken the burden of religious guilt, but I still fight against this mentality. I live in a place that’s usually not even 10 minutes away from Trump-humping, sister-fucking, meth-addicted Confederate cunts in any direction. And we’re even closer to the rich white people who silently supported him, upset that their taxes would go up because of Biden.

And in the past four years since Trump got elected, I’ve gotten married, graduated college with honors, started my own photography business, and was making more than my husband there for a minute. I did my own taxes, marketing, editing, and everything. And then I came out as trans.

I lost everything.

I lost my studio. I lost friends. I had rumors started about me. I had people post hate messages on my wall. I had people at my drag shows tell others not to tip me, for whatever fucking reasons. I’ve had bosses give cis people jobs over me, and I’ve had government workers give me second looks when I hand them my license.

It. Fucking. Sucks. To. Live. Here. Like. This.

Oh yeah, did I mention I’m also a witch/medium? I’ve talked to dead people before and have told their relatives things I shouldn’t have known otherwise about their grandparents. Like, this information doesn’t even exist on Google. And I’m attuned to reiki. I’m always aware of what’s happening on at least SOME metaphysical level. This is a gift that I’ve had to go through life developing and learning about myself, with no one’s help but me.

I didn’t even know until I was an adult that I have autism and ADHD.

I’ve taken bullets from people who were about to kill themselves. I’ve yelled at 5th grade music classrooms for doing racist dance moves and appropriating Native Americans (I have a degree in Music Education K-12). I’ve consoled kids in classrooms who suddenly have panic attacks. AND I’ve told horny teenagers to stay in their fucking lane and respect the girls around them. I’ve apparently been an inspiration to those around me, but inspiration NOR exposure pays the bills. I’ve already had COVID, and so has my husband, but I knew that after graduating college that I would never have a fulfilling life being a music teacher in Tennessee’s public schools.

And now that we have COVID, and an orange, small-dicked, pedophilic, rape apologizing, dirty, crusty white president who STILL REFUSES TO CONCEDE, who is DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HAVING HIS FOLLOWERS SEND DEATH THREATS TO MY FAMILY, I really don’t know what the fuck else to do other than go burn down all the houses I know of in North Georgia that belong to these Christian sex cult pedophiles and call it a day. My girlfriend unfortunately was born into one of those families, and I know just how bad it can get. In fact, her dad’s lawyer threatened me with blackmail earlier in November, so that was fun!

And now, on December 11, 2020, I’m still sitting here in the same fucking house, doing the same fucking things I’ve been doing all year - trying to get a job and failing horribly. I’M SICK AND TIRED OF THIS COVID BULLSHIT AND OUR INCOMPOTENT CUNT OF A PRESIDENT! And there’s only ever one other person I’ve ever called a cunt... my own mother.

I’ve lived in many places. I’ve met many different people. I’ve made mistakes, and have grown, but there’s one thing for damn sure that I always make sure to do, every single fucking day.

I ALWAYS try to do better.

In addition to this, I treat everyone with the same amount of respect, unless they have done something directly to me to negate that. If I know that someone believes in something that directly harms me or my family, I don’t even associate with them. I don’t spend my energy on things that don’t need it. And everyone else should, too.

The problem with some of y’all is that you care about the wrong things. Like will Becky text me back or did I get front row seats to that concert, or did I slave my life away to capitalism just so that I can own a Mercedes and have my friends jealous. I’ve had way too many dear death experiences to know that EVERY single fucking day is a gift. EVERY day.

I don’t want to be remembered first for the art I create. I want to be remembered for my character. I want to be remembered as the courageous person who never backed down in the face of adversity. But when you live in a place that already hates you and that is against you, that’s really fucking hard. Trust me. My marriage went from a cis straight passing couple to a white gay passing couple. I’ve seen how people’s attitudes changed around me as I transitioned. I know what it feels like to slowly lose a piece of your privilege you were born with.

So yeah, I kinda get a little fucking upset when I see people saying All Lives Matter, or when I see doctors refusing to treat trans patients in pandemics, or when I see cops YET AGAIN harassing Black people only a few blocks away from my house for no other reason than racism. And at this point, anyone who thinks they know me but only knows what people think they know about me can suck my entire ass and eat ten dicks. I don’t give a FUCK about who you are or what you’ve done. If you treat me or other people with no respect for no reason other than to be an asshole, you’re just plain shit. If you SERIOUSLY believe every little rumor and lie that someone tells about me before meeting me, fuck you AND the horse you rode in on.

What I can’t stand is people doing or saying things just to get a rise out of me or others. I thought we left petty shit in high school. Some of the people that “know” me really need to fucking grow up and grow a pair and either say what they want to my face, or stay mad. I’m tired of playing fucking petty games with y’all. We have a whole ass pandemic to solve.

So here’s the ultimatum... if you agree that Black Lives Matter and that queer people deserve basic human rights, EVEN THE ONES YOU HATE, then that’s the bare minimum to even be a decent person. If you can’t even do those things, then I don’t fucking know what else to say to you.

So NBC, maybe not have John Mulaney joke about my license debacle with my gold van on SNL, and Seth Meyers... maybe HIRE ME INSTEAD of Mulaney because clearly y’all don’t know about the south as much as I do? Oh, and that gazeebo joke with Lee University... I caught that. I may have autism, but I’m not a fucking idiot. I mean. I’m funny when I’m given the chance. And yeah, I’m on a watchlist, but who the fuck isn’t these days? At least all my secrets are out for the world to see, and I have a bangin’ tattoo.

I’m tired of everyone being like “omg, I’ve seen what he can do, it’s fantastic!” or “omg you’re so funny haha” and bragging on me and then NOT FUCKING HIRING ME. I’m TIRED of waiting on something that’s clearly at this point never coming.

I don’t even have testicles, and my balls are bigger than most of the cis men I have EVER met.

So, if you want to help me, or hire me, or get me out to an audition... I’ll be there. But until then, I’m so fucking MAD at some of these producers. Yeah, my mom is a cunt, but she worked in various forms of digital production from the 1980′s until she retired this year. She taught me SO MUCH about directing, writing, shooting, and more. I know how these things are supposed to run behind the scenes. I know what the fuck I’m doing, and I don’t take constructive criticism like a bitch. I actually WANT to be criticized, so I can do even better.

So PLEASE, for the love of Christ... y’all need to get your priorities together AND PLEASE STOP LEAVING ME OUT OF THE LOOP WITH THIS BULLSHIT. Grow a fucking pair and either call me, email me, or leave me alone. It’s really not that fucking hard. Looking at you, Lorne Michaels.

Oh and someone tell my husband what the fuck’s been going on because I’m tired of him gaslighting me about it.

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americanstripingcommercialcoatin · 6 months

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Parking Lot Striping Company Nashville Tn

Marking The Cost: Factors Impacting The Cost Of Parking Lot Striping Company

When you pull into a parking lot, have you ever noticed those crisp, white lines that guide your car into a spot? Those lines are more than just paint on the pavement; they’re carefully planned and executed by a parking lot striping company Tennessee.

But have you ever wondered what factors determine the cost of this service? Let’s explore some of the critical factors that impact the pricing of parking lot striping.

1. Size Of The Parking Lot

The size of the parking lot is one of the most significant factors influencing the cost of striping. Larger lots naturally require more materials and labor to complete the striping process.

The square footage of the lot directly correlates with the amount of paint and time needed, which in turn affects the overall cost.

2. Complexity OfLayout

Not all parking lots are created equal. Some have straightforward layouts with simple lines and spaces, while others have intricate designs with angles, curves, and special markings for handicapped spots and fire lanes.

The complexity of the layout can significantly impact the cost, as more time and precision are required to ensure accurate striping.

3. Preparation Work

Before the striping process begins, some preparation work may be required for the parking lot. This could include cleaning the surface, filling cracks and potholes, or removing old paint.

The condition of the lot and the extent of the prep work needed will affect the overall cost of the striping project.

4. Type OfPaint Used

The type of paint used for striping can vary in quality and cost. Water-based paints are often more affordable but may not last as long as solvent-based paints, which are more durable but come with a higher price tag.

Additionally, specialty paints with reflective or non-slip properties may also affect the project's overall cost.

5. Accessibility

The accessibility of the parking lot can also impact pricing. If the lot is located in a remote area or has limited access to equipment, it may require additional time and effort to complete the striping, thus increasing the cost.

6. Local Regulations AndPermits

Parking lot striping must adhere to local regulations and codes, which may vary from one area to another.

Obtaining permits and ensuring compliance with these regulations can add to the project's overall cost, as it may require additional paperwork and coordination with local authorities.

7. Seasonality

The time of year can also influence the cost of parking lot striping company Nashville TN. In regions with harsh winters, striping may be limited to the warmer months, leading to higher demand during peak season. Consequently, scheduling striping during off-peak times may result in lower costs.

Conclusion

Several factors impact the cost of parking lot striping Nashville, including the size and complexity of the lot, preparation work required, type of paint used, accessibility, local regulations, permits, and seasonality.

vimeo

By considering these factors, parking lot owners can better understand the pricing structure of striping services and make informed decisions when maintaining their parking facilities.

Contact American Striping and Commercial Coatings LLC to discuss your parking lot striping needs. With our expertise and attention to detail, we can provide you with a customized solution that meets your budget and timeline.

Whether you need striping for a small parking lot or a large commercial complex, our team is equipped to handle projects of any size and complexity.

#Parking Lot Striping Company Nashville Tn #Vimeo

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cprclassnashville · 2 years

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Some Simple Steps To A Longer Life Span

Living longer and staying strong, and on top of your health while you’re at it, isn’t just about genetics or luck, there’s more to it. Developing some strategies centering on your lifestyle is the key to a longer life span. Some lifestyle tweaks can end up buying you an extra 5-10 years. Contrary to what you may think, you have more control over how you age and how long you live. The following changes can bring immense benefits, more significantly greater longevity, for a typical adult.

Increase intake of fish and nuts- Sadly, the American diet mainly comprises red meat and processed foods, which is extremely bad for the heart. Hardly any fruits and vegetables can be seen. The ultra-processed foods like soft drinks, packaged cookies and cakes, cold cuts, hot dogs, chicken nuggets shorten your shelf life. For an increased lifespan, you should have a serving of nuts and fatty fish like salmon, herring, mackerel, etc. each week, and a daily serving of vegetables and fruits. You can expect an increased shelf life of up to 4 years. This lifestyle change drastically cuts your risk for heart attacks and strokes.

Quit smoking- This is one of the BEST things you can do for your health. You can add 7 years to your life. In fact, you can see the life-lengthening benefits within just 12-24 hours after quitting. Smoking is a leading cause of preventable mortality in the US. It takes a toll on more or less every organ in the body.

Move more- No health plan is complete without physical activity. You can get up to 3 years more life with regular exercise of 30 minutes. This can be attributed to the various benefits of regular physical activity, including lower blood pressure, reduced stress, reduced risk of diabetes, weight maintenance, and more. It’s high time you gave up your sedentary behaviors and indulged in modest amounts of exercise. Something as simple as walking for 20 minutes per day can extend your shelf life by a year. Couple it with 30 minutes of stretching every week for improved flexibility and 10 minutes of weightlifting, and you add 0.4 more years.

Keep your blood pressure under control- High blood pressure is the biggest heart disease risk factor. Not only that, hypertension contributes to a host of other debilitating conditions, such as heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. Keeping your BP under control can turn back the body’s age. Even youngsters should get a blood pressure test as they are susceptible too.

You can keep your BP down without medicines by managing stress and eating a low sodium diet (ideal is to have less than 2300 milligrams of sodium a day and not more than that).

CPR is a lifesaving procedure everyone should learn. Proper application of the procedure can revive someone struck with a sudden cardiac arrest. You can undergo training at the AHA accredited CPR Nashville in Tennessee. Classes are held at 600 Old Hickory Blvd. 100 B Nashville, TN 37209. Classes for both health care and non-health providers are offered.

#CPR Nashville

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valkyriesquad · 6 years

Link

(I don’t know so much if this blog will post too much about non-Tumblr resources, so feel free to not post this if it doesn’t suit the blog.)

I connected in person with PPET at their Beltane celebration, and found they are welcoming to *inclusionary* pagans of all traditions. Their mission is to gain positive visibility for Pagans, and from what I understand, have been very well received, even in the American South.

They are also very well aware of the issues with white supremacy, Nazis, and racists that claim the Norse traditions. It’s something they do not tolerate. I was informed they actually have some connections with the government White Supremacy Task Force. This group is also keeping close watch on a White Supremacy group that bought land in Chattanooga, Tn.

Anyways, I just thought I’d share, for anyone who may be in the region. -Fyre

Thanks so much for sending this in. While we’re primarily a resource for good Tumblr blogs, we’re also here for the community at large. Groups who are fighting the good fight certainly need all the support they can get.

Mod Blue

I’m personally familiar with at least a couple of the names of people on the board of directors (it’s on the website), and have had online conversations with them. A few of those conversations actually having to do with white supremacy groups... and I can personally confirm that they are involved with the task force.

Thank you for sending in the link, to allow us to recognize good people.

--mod gwwh

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sumsunnahartinni · 3 years

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Solutions for Stopping Foreclosure

The current crisis in the US housing market has caused untold suffering and stress for many American families. Home foreclosure is a tragic financial challenge that many families have to deal with. However, in many cases, this can be avoided. Cincinnati-area residents have many options for closing the Stop foreclosure Memphis .

Restoration

Restoration is usually the most problematic. The homeowner simply asks the mortgage company for the total amount due to date and pays it. Payment includes all back payments, fees and penalties. Lender approval is not required to resolve this home foreclosure.

Debt repayment plan or tolerance

A debt repayment plan or tolerance is a home foreclosure solution that involves negotiating with a mortgage company to allow a homeowner to repay over a specified period of time. Typically, the homeowner pays off his current mortgage and pays a portion of the arrears.

Mortgage loan change

A mortgage loan conversion may include the interest rate of the loan, the principal balance of the loan, the maturity of the loan, or a combination of these. These usually help reduce the payoff for homeowners. However, a homeowner must be 'qualified' to resolve this home foreclosure and will usually require full documentation.

Rent property to close foreclosures

Owners of a home with a mortgage payment that is less than enough to pay by market rent can convert their property into rent and pay the mortgage using rental income. This allows a homeowner to get out of foreclosure and hold a property indefinitely.

Documents instead of foreclosures

Also referred to as a 'friendly foreclosure', the deed instead allows a homeowner to close the foreclosure by returning the property to the lender. However, there are several drawbacks to solving this home foreclosure. First, the homeowner must vacate the property. Second, an agreement can be reported to the Credit Bureau as a foreclosure instead.

Declared bankruptcy to close foreclosure

Although bankruptcy is considered a home foreclosure solution, it only applies to certain situations and states. If a homeowner has a non-mortgage loan that creates a deficit in mortgage payments, personal bankruptcy may be an effective solution to closing the foreclosure. Although bankruptcy does not require the approval of the lender, it does have some drawbacks. It can be a very expensive home foreclosure solution, detrimental to credit score, and can be announced once every seven years.

Refinancing to close foreclosures

If a homeowner has a good credit score and adequate equity in their assets, they may be in a position to refinance their mortgage and close the foreclosure. In many cases, refinancing will reduce payments. However, this is an expensive home foreclosure solution and can sometimes increase mortgage payments.

Minneapolis Commercial Cleaners Owner Name: Farris Ibrahim Address: 8295 Tournament Dr. South Suite #150A Memphis TN 38125 Phone Number: 901-531-9199 Website: https://favorhomesolutions.com/tennessee/shelby-county/memphis/

#Minneapolis Commercial Cleaners

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yvghv · 3 years

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gary-robbins · 6 years

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"Help Is Not Coming" - The 2018 Barkley Marathons

It was 1:30am on Wednesday, March 21st and we were in Knoxville, TN. The temps were just below freezing, with a stiff wind gusting over people. Snow was accumulating on the ground and my family, collectively my parents, wife and son, were walking between the hotels in the immediate vicinity asking if they had any available beds for the night. We had of course booked our own hotel that evening, and we were all in fact sleeping soundly just minutes before, but currently there were a few hundred people braving the winter conditions in their pajamas as firefighters streamed into the building.

When the hotel alarms were triggered my mother thought it was her alarm clock, and she called front desk complaining that she couldn’t turn it off. She was informed that this was the fire alarm and she was to evacuate immediately. My own room, with my wife and son, was half a hallway away from my parents, but my mother and I somehow opened our doors into the main hallway in unison and I waved at her with that look that says “damn fire alarm, I guess we should evacuate just to be on the safe side.”

I walked down the hall with Linda and Reed, towards my parents, whose room was directly across from the second floor stairwell. As I was getting them all set someone barreled through the door onto the second floor, with their full rolling luggage bag in tow. He looked like he was being chased by a bear and he simply yelled, “FIRE!!” then promptly dove back into the stairwell and outta site.

Okay, shit, this is actually happening right now!

I direct my family down the stairs and then walk back the length of the second floor saying in a calm but loud voice, “There is a fire in the building, please evacuate immediately. There is a fire in the building, please evacuate immediately.”

It was amazing to me in that moment how many people were still attempting to wait this out in their rooms. The alarm noise leaves no doubt and certainly no desire to attempt to ignore it. My head hurts now just recreating this and thinking about it. I ducked back into my own room to grab my wallet and keys to our rental SUV, as I was now envisioning that we’d be spending a few hours out in the cold. I had thousands of dollars in electronics with me, between my computer, battery packs, watches, etc, etc, but I stayed calm and rational, all of that was replaceable and I wanted to be in and out of my room in a matter of seconds, so I didn't even attempt to take more than my wallet and keys.

I did one final check of the entire second floor and no one remained, so I headed down the stairwell and out into the frigid night to locate my family.

When Linda and I had checked in exactly 24 hours earlier we were placed in a “non-smoking room” on a smoking floor. I had no idea smoking was even allowed in hotels any longer, but here we were. I retreated to the front desk and asked if in fact there was a non-smoking room available on a “non-smoking floor”, what a concept. The front desk attendant was helpful enough and we were moved one floor lower. I mentioned my folks were checking in the following day and requested the same for them. Linda and I were initially placed in hotel room #313 and I’d later discover that the person in room #312 (the one we would have been sharing a wall with) had fallen asleep while smoking in bed.

My wife, son and I had arrived in Tennessee 26 hours earlier, and it had already been an eventful first day up to this point, what with an ER visit for our two-and-a-half-year-old son’s first ear infection, and our rental car agency messing up our reservation and not having a child seat available for us upon arrival. I had a full Jerry Seinfeld moment;

“You see, you know how to *take* the reservation, you just don't know how to *hold* the reservation. And that's really the most important *part* of the reservation: the holding. Anybody can just take them.”

Hands up in the air and all.

By all accounts our first day had not gone so smoothly, but that’s why we decided to fly in a day earlier this year, to get all of the rental car issues, hospital visits and hotel’s burning down out of the way early.

I eventually located two available rooms at an adjacent hotel, and at 3am we all attempted some fitful shuteye.

I don’t believe in omens. I don’t subscribe to luck, but it was undeniable by this point, I’d been sensing for quite a time that nothing was going to unfold the way I’d hoped it would at this year’s Barkley. Every time I had this fleeting thought of impending doom, which had been ongoing for weeks, I’d repeat a Macklemore lyric in my head (mock me if you will, I really don’t care. That’s not the lyric, that’s me talking to you) “they ain’t givin’ it, I’m takin’ it” and it was just a reminder that I had to get my headspace right and to not allow any expectations, distractions, or excuses to creep in. Nothing about the Barkley is supposed to be easy, you want an excuse, I’ll give you 100 of em in under a minute, “they ain’t givin’ it I’m takin’ it”… “nobody’s gonna make this happen but you Gary, control what you can control and forget about the rest.” The hotel fire would make for a great story and It was but one night of lost sleep. I didn’t even talk about it again until after the race, because as we drove out of Knoxville and towards Wartburg, it was already literally and figuratively, behind us.

Frozen Head

We arrived at Frozen Head late on Wednesday and were greeted by a familiar site in an unfamiliar location, snow, and lots of it. I managed to get out for a sundown run up England Mountain and the snow drifts along the top were shocking, some being knee deep. “This could get interesting” I thought, but the forecast for the following days was promising enough and most people expected the course to be free of snow come race day.

One of the rules of the Barkley, and Frozen Head State Park, is that you’re not allowed to depart the ‘candyass’ maintained trails at any point outside of the race. If you are caught going off-trail outside of the 60 hours of the race you are removed from the race by Laz immediately and escorted out of camp, likely to never be drawn back into the event again. I was hoping for a bit more daylight so I could scout my end of lap five error from 2017 a bit further, but within minutes of cresting the high point I had all the information I needed. Twenty feet. Six meters. That is the actual margin of error that lead to my coming in from the wrong direction one year ago. Twenty feet at the end of 60 hours of effort. I never did write a race report about it. I sat in an internet café for seven hours on a rainy day in April last year and I had managed to recreate all but one paragraph of my experience. I just didn’t have the desire to relieve it blow for blow. A common misconception that’s taken hold is that I hit the trail and simply turned the wrong way, going right instead of left. I knew I was to go left and was expecting to T-junction with the trail. If I had, I would have turned left and run down into camp to close out the race with a few minutes to spare. I would have become the 16th finisher of the Barkley Marathons, and I wouldn’t have been standing there now, staring down thoughts of why and how, and attempting to put a positive spin on things.

In the end I learned that in 2017 I was about twenty feet too far west, and the trail curls away at that point. When I finally found the trail I was parallel to it, while knowing I was supposed to T-junction with it, then I trended into it, more of a merge really, and somehow as the trail was on my left at this point my 60-hour sleep deprived brain went “left side, left turn, all the same, you’re on the trail now run it in!”

Anyways, they say American football is a game of inches, and the Barkley is no different. Small mistakes rapidly become big mistakes, and that was one of my mantras this year, along with "go slower, to go faster.”

Friday arrived in no time and before we knew it the map was out and things were getting real. There were three changes to the course for 2018, two of which favoured the runners in terms of appearing to be slightly faster than the previous book locations, whereas one book location was most certainly much longer than the year prior. In the end I guessed this 2018 course to maybe be in the range of 7-12 minutes longer per loop, or 30-60 minutes harder overall.

The total climbing stats for 2018 would come in at 13,484ft per loop, or a whopping 67,420ft for the full pull. If Laz adds one more 500ft climb to the mix in the coming years, the Barkley will be a 70,000ft race! Read that again and let that sink in.

The Conch Is Blown

Save for our fire alarm evac on Tuesday, I’d slept great all week, and thankfully Friday night proved no different. I passed our just after midnight, after already being in bed for three hours, and likely ended up with about six hours of reasonable sleep. When I awoke just after 7am I eased into the morning and the conch was eventually blown at 8:33am for a 9:33am start. Jamil Courey and I were the first two runners to greet Laz as we awaited our official “Barkley watch”, the $10 Timex piece that is the only watch you are allowed to carry for the race. This watch is set to “race time” or “zero time” so when the 24hr watch goes to zeroes you start running. When the watch hits 12:00 on your third day, time has officially expired (60 hours).

My strategy was simple going into the first loop, go slower to be faster, get through it mistake free, refresh my memory as to the nuances of the course and go from there.

Just prior to the start I’d somehow managed to bump my watch and it reset the seconds back to zero. The seconds must’ve been counting up in the 50’s, about to turn over to a new minute, because my watch showed the race starting about a minute early, and I was scrambling just a bit to get through the pack at the back and up near the front as we all streamed past the yellow gate. We were about ten minutes into the first climb when I questioned someone else as to the start time and then realized my watch was out by over a minute. Runners know that the watches will be out vs the “master watch” that Laz wears but only by a few seconds over the duration of the 60 hours, and by coincidence when I initially compared my watch with Laz’s we realized my total time variance for the 60 hours would be seven seconds, meaning my watch, set to race time, could not go above 11:59:53 on day three. Not that any of this ended up mattering in the end, but it is just another example of the attributes that make the Barkley so unique.

As we worked our way up the first climb, on a few miles of candyass trail, this was the slowest I’d ever started The Barkley, following my race plan perfectly. In the previous two editions a lead pack pushes off the front and crests the first climb in about twenty-five minutes. We were closer to thirty minutes and there were at least 8-10 runners in front of or around me. We snagged our first page and proceeded to drop off the mountain towards book two. The race always seems to splinter here, as runners scramble for position after the first backlog of pages being pulled, and this year was no different. By the time we intersected the river below I’d found myself at the front of the race, earlier than anticipated, and already down to a group of about six.

The more eyes the better, was also something I’d been telling myself. No need to shrink the field until we’ve at least collectively located the new books together. I had mentioned to Guillaume Calmettes a day earlier that I intended to up the pace a bit after book seven, which in the clockwise direction would be the third and final “new book location”, but until then I saw no reason thin out the field.

Our now lead group nailed book two, thanks in no small part to Nova Scotia’s Jodi Isenor (a previous fun run finisher) and as the book gets handed around to pull pages I glance at the cover. The book is titled “Six Seconds” and I temporarily lose my mind. “F@#K YOU LAZ!!” He is an expert at mental warfare. As we started up “hillpocolypse” which in the clockwise direction is the first off trail ascent of the race, our group consisted of myself, Jodi, Guillaume, Jamil, a Scottish bloke named Ally Beaven and another overseas runner whose name was James. Before we topped out on this climb we’d be down to four runners and I’d be down to one trekking pole, somehow managing to snap one of my poles within minutes of pulling them out.

Jamil Courey certainly knows the course well and he was a huge asset as we proceeded along without issue. When we arrived at book five, the biggest change of the year, he zoned in on it like a hawk. It was really impressive and I knew my decision to not forge on was paying dividends.

What was really surprising to me was how well Guillaume know the course. He’d done his homework, having travelled out just a month or so earlier to run all of the trails you’re allowed to scout outside of race weekend, and Guillaume took the lead on some sections as he was in fact the person in our group who’d been over some of the terrain the most recently. All in all, we were moving right along and accomplishing exactly what I’d set out to do, which was to put in an error free first loop.

At book seven, the third and final alteration to the 2018 course, I went right to a set of trees that matched the description, had a poke around, saw nothing, and began moving away from there, then Jamil comes in just behind us, goes to the exact set of trees and pulls out the book. This is one of the things that people fail to recognize about this race, you can literally be standing on top of the book at times and you still won’t see it unless you dig for it. Books are buried in tree stumps, under rocks or just anywhere that makes it as hard to locate as possible. Jamil informs us that “this was the location of this book in 2014.” Cool, good to know. Okay, all new books have now been established and it’s mostly smooth sailing in regards to my own course knowledge.

For the first time in my three attempts, the course goes up the infamous “Testicle Spectacle”. Over the past two years the book near Testicle has been off to one side of it, in 2016 it was in the left hip, if you will, and 2017 was in the right hip, so I’ve never done this route in its entirety, and I’m excited as it feels like a right of passage.

It had rained overnight from Friday into Saturday and we were warned of an incoming “weather event” from late day Saturday into Sunday. As we started up Testicle the hill just continues to slop away from under us. It was a complete pile of mud and not a single inch was gained without slipping backwards to some degree. I was no longer enjoying my right of passage. The thrill of the new climb had lasted all of, well, six seconds really.

We crested the climb, now down to three, myself, Guillaume and Ally, and proceeded towards book eight. My line was off a bit and sure enough captain consistent Jamil catches back up to us. I lead us all up Danger Dave’s Climbing Wall and the onwards towards Rat Jaw.

Rat Jaw is a bitch. There is not a single picture ever taken of Rat Jaw that can accurately display its gradient and inherent challenges. Every year pics are posted from Rat Jaw and inevitably people following along online think “oh that doesn’t look so bad” “oh hill x-y-z that we have here locally is at least that steep.”

We were in for a special treat on Rat Jaw this year as the recent rains, not just overnight but over the last few weeks, had turned its clay like dirt into a vertical skating rink. No matter how fast you are moving up until that point, or how strong you might feel, Rat Jaw is am absolute soul destroying grind from bottom to top. There is an old cable that lays on the ground along some sections, and this cable becomes a life line. You drag yourself up this slope, one agonizing step at a time, and then you hang on for dear life on the downslope, using the cable as you would a climbing rope that’s been strung over a rocky slope to allow for safe passage.

By the time we’d topped out it was but myself, Guillaume and Ally. We might have been a few minutes slower going up than I’ve been in previous years on the first lap, but we’d exerted so much more energy in doing so. It was a fight for every step and for the first time in my three years at the race I actually had the thought, on the first lap, of “I can’t even imagine the effort that’ll be needed to get up this thing on laps three, four and five.”

Bottles filled, page pulled and careening down the mountain. I slam hard at one point but immediately bounce back up and keep running. My tricep is screaming at me and I think it’ll dissipate, but it never does. I attempted to arrest the fall by leaning into a pole and ended up straining my arm. Even as I type this almost a week later the tricep still has a ways to go to get back to 100%. Only at the Barkley are you as likely to experience an upper body injury as you are a lower body injury. The amount of upper body strength needed for the Barkley is often underestimated, and it’s a whole-body workout for two and a half straight days.

We went through the prison, up and over the final two climbs and down into camp after what could readily be described as a perfect first lap.

With about a mile to go, Guillaume says to me, “so how long do you think you’ll spend in camp?”

I’ve had a year to digest last year’s failure. I’ve watched Ethan Newberry’s documentary about it 17 times on the big screen (WhereDreamsGoToDie.com). I do not see six seconds as being the difference, I see the better part of 45 minutes that could have been improved upon. Goal #1 for 2018 was to be more dialed in camp, to be better organized from the start, and to “leave no doubt”. Leave nothing for chance. Be better, from lap one through lap five.

Laz changed the rules around camp for 2018 and each runner was allowed but two crew members. This meant Linda +1. This meant no Ethan, no Kim and no Shaun Martin. In the end my crew ended up being Linda + John Kelly, and we shared John Kelly with another runner, the aforementioned Jodi Isenor. John would have his hands full, crewing for two people, but there was no better person for the job. I was honoured that he’d dedicate his weekend towards my own hopeful success. My parents were staying at a hotel in Oak Ridge and would come to camp for Interloopal, taking Reed off of Linda’s hands so Linda and John could focus on the task at hand. Every – second – counts.

Me to Guillaume, “five minutes best case, seven minutes worst case.”

Guillaume, with a pause…”okay”.

We hit camp in 8h38m.

In 8h45m, after a full gear change from head to toe, socks, shoes, shirts, lube, everything, I was sprinting back out of camp. It was, easily, the best I’ve ever felt after a lap at the Barkley. Things were going perfectly.

I spotted Guillaume and Ally scrambling to get to the gate to claim their second lap bib, as I was exiting the campground. I did not have a desire to move on without them, I had a desire to finish the race. Every – second – counts.

There was about ninety minutes of daylight remaining when I departed camp on lap two. For 2018 the direction of the loops was set as;

1. clockwise

2. counter

3. counter

4. clockwise

5. choice

The Second Lap - Counterclockwise

I put in a good push to get up and over the first climb, claiming book #13 (or the first book going ccw). As I dropped down the first off trail section of lap two I thought it about the right time to pull out my headlamp. The weather, as had been predicted, was setting in and it was foggy, cold and starting to rain. They were calling for up to 30mm of rain. The “weather event” had begun.

I clicked on my headlamp but nothing happened. I tried again…nothing. Tried one final time, but still zero. I always carry two primary headlamps of 350 lumens, the Princeton Tec Apex rechargeable, and a third emergency light of just 100 lumens, the PT Remix.

I attempted to fire up my second Apex light but it too was dead. This had never happened before. I pulled out my backup, backup light and turned it on. There was no way in hell that this emergency light was sufficient for navigating in the dark, and I didn’t even have spare batteries for it. I was far too far out of camp to head back and fix this. The sun was all but gone, the fog had rolled in, and my race, was about, to end…

“GUILLAUME! ALLY! GUILLAUME!! ALLY!!”

I knew they’d be close, but if I was unable to locate them I’d be hooped as there were no other runners close to us at this point.

Thankfully Guillaume started whistling back to me and we worked towards each other through the dense laurel brush.

“Oh my god, thank you! My headlamps are both dead, do either of you have a backup main light?”

Neither did but both offered what they did have. Nothing added up to a working solution though (extra batteries specific to each lamp) and I was forced to continue with my “AAA” powered Remix. I need to explicitly state at this point that my headlamps were not malfunctioning. It was not a product issue but a user mistake. We as a crew made an error and learned a valuable lesson in real time. The lamps were both dead, but through no fault of the manufacturer.

Myself, Guillaume and Ally were a team again, whether they liked it or not 😊

I lead us to our second book and as we made our move towards the third book a pack of runners headed our way at the end of their first lap. I asked everyone if they had any light source or “AAA” batteries to spare and a TN runner was kind enough to spot me his emergency light which was also “AAA”. This would at least get me closer to being able to cover the 12hrs of darkness we were now confronted with. (if you are reading this please message me so I can get your light back to you)

As we navigated towards our next book the epicenter of the storm started to unleash on us. We had curtains of rain rolling over us and visibility was down to about a foot or two at most. Neither Guillaume nor Ally had ever been on the Barkley course at night before, this was their first counterclockwise loop, we were in a rainstorm, on a pile of mud, in the Tennessee wilderness, with temperatures in the single digits, and their fearless leader had 100 lumens of light to work with.

The death by a thousand briar cuts had begun.

We blew this book in significant fashion and by the time we did locate it we were all soaked through to the bone and on the cusp of hypothermia.

“Guys, put on every layer you have, this is not going to get any better and we won’t regret it if we somehow end up being a smidge too warm on the next climb up Rat Jaw.”

I was now wearing a long sleeve merino wool base, a short sleeve tech shirt, and hooded wind jacket, a waterproof jacket, a buff, a toque, I had a second thicker pair of gloves that I switched into, I had on a short pair of tights under a full pair of tights, and now pulled on my waterproof pants. On the bright side, my pack was now much, much lighter.

Guillaume Calmettes is certainly one of the most positive people you’ll ever meet, and he exclaimed with a smile, in his thick French accent, but with perfect English “ADVENTURE!”

Ally Beaven possessed a great sense of humour, the ability to tell a good story, and most importantly he understood the golden rule of not complaining out loud.

I would have classified us squarely in the middle of being a “Dream Team” and “The Three Stooges”.

We dropped down towards the prison in the most deranged conditions I’d ever witnessed on this slope. It was like the ground was no longer solid but had somehow decayed into a foreign, much more malleable surface. If I could not visually process that I was moving across a supposedly solid slope I would have guessed it to be ice and snow underfoot. Each time we slipped, and we slipped plenty, we’d go for a ride downslope of about five to six feet before coming to a halt, often against a rock or tree, and then we’d be forced to pick ourselves up and attempt a few more feet of actual forward progress. It reminded me all too much of this:

I mostly nailed this descent, placing us just a tiny bit south of our intended target. We claimed our book and proceeded to the prison tunnel.

I have done the prison tunnel and Rat Jaw ten times in my first two years, this was now my 12th pass of the tunnel. Down the center of the tunnel is a cement strip that’s about five inches wide and six inches high. If you are not wearing a headlamp you loose site completely for about 25% of the tunnel in a complete blackout. Jared called this one of his Barkley games, to see if you could navigate this while essentially blind and I’ve adapted this game. On lap one I’d make it through the tunnel without falling off and getting wet, now on lap two, by headlamp, I was presented with something new to me. The tunnel no longer offered a slab of concrete down the middle as an option. There was one steady stream of water flowing through the tunnel, seven plus inches deep throughout. We still tried to stay on the concrete as the water was only an inch above this, but unbeknownst to me there are “inflow” pipes up above and at one point a rather vicious waterfall from above forced us to hug a sidewall. We were essentially fording a river, through a tunnel, at night, under a prison. It was right about then that I started questioning where I’d gone wrong with my life? Up until that point I'd mostly believed that I'd made reasonably good decisions with my life, but in retrospect, my epiphany was that I’d just managed a positive spin on a series of really bad decisions. I do really stupid things, and I do them with stunning regularity.

Anyways, not like I'm making any big life changes at 41 year's old, might as well forge ahead as is...at the exit of the tunnel there was genuine concern for not getting washed over the edge, into a five plus foot drop.

“ADVENTURE!”

We cleared the tunnel and heaved ourselves up Rat Jaw, crawling through the mud and briars every step of the way.

John freaking Kelly was waiting up top yelling encouragement at us through the fog. There’s a fire tower up top and I couldn’t help but picture the captain in the Forest Gump film, sitting on the topsail yelling out into the storm,

“IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT!?”

John informed us that we had at least another six hours in this weather, but that it should start to ease through the night and, as forecast, it would blow through and the next 48 hours were in fact promising. He also admitted to me later that he got lost in the fog, on maintained and sign-posted trails, while heading up to the fire tower to cheer us on. I was uncertain in that moment who was more miserable, us, while plodding through this thing, or John, wearing every layer he owned and standing out in this mess awaiting our arrival.

We were effective through the next few books, skiing down a mountain of mud on both Rat Jaw and then Testicle, and fording the New River to start up what’s known as Stallion Mountain and the back-half of the course going CCW. I couldn’t help but think of Blake Wood, a true legend of the sport and Barkley finisher who during one particularly rough year found the New River impassable on lap five due to heavy rains, and he subsequently was unable to finish that year through no other reason than he didn’t have a boat with him. Laz instituted a workaround for any future years should this happen again, with a prescribed reroute, so we couldn’t even claim that this was the worst year on record, though we were later informed that it did rank right up there.

We made good time all the way to the top, snagged our book page and then turned to descend towards our next book, dropping through a feature known as Cougar Rock.

Guillaume was on lead, he was near perfect through this section in daylight on lap one, but this was a different beast entirely at night. In hindsight, I became a passenger, and it cost us dearly. When you’re dealing with conditions like we were it hinders your judgement, there’s no time to stop and reset because stopping for even a moment leads to a deep shiver that originates in your core. To move is to stay warm, to stop is to freeze. If you start shivering you might not be able to recover from it, so you push on. It is not until we are fully cliffed out that the severity of our situation overwhelms us. We’re in a bad spot, we’re lost, we’re bleeding time, and a misstep by any of us could lead to a serious incident. We retreat, we reset, we work together to figure things out, but the damage is done. We right the ship, find Cougar Rock, nail our next two books through what’s known as The Garden Spot, and find ourselves correcting for a small error on the third to last book.

We’re now down to the final two books and our best case scenario for this lap is 13hrs – high.

The lead is back to me and with limited light I struggle. I’ve already gone through two sets of batteries for my own headlamp and am now borrowing Guillaume’s backup light. A major marker I’m searching for is a sign off the side of the trail, it is less than two feet from the trail, I know this, I am looking for it, I completely proceed right past it and start down an unfamiliar trail and am confronted by a sign I’ve never seen before that reads “legacy tree”.

“F#@K.”

I scream back up slope to Guillaume who is third in our line,

“Did I miss the sign!? Can you see it?”

“Yes, it’s here!”

We retreat, reset, and then struggle with this descent. For the second straight lap, I snap my pole in pretty much the exact same location. We are anything but smooth and the clock is ticking. We eventually locate the second to last book and start up the second to last climb of the lap.

In the fog mistakes are made, I miss by a few degrees and we’re once again scrambling. I have a deep pit in my stomach. This feels fatal.

We locate the trail right at daybreak and I ask the guys if they’re okay with me pushing onward, saying every second is vital right now. They’re totally cool and off I went, somehow feeling like I was up against the clock on lap two, instead of lap five.

I got chased off the trail a short time later by four wild hogs but no harm was done. I get up and over “Checkmate Hill” snag my page and absolutely careen down into camp. Lap time was something like 14h30m. My entire body is numb, not from pain, but from fear and frustration.

The weather has passed and the forecast for the day is nice. I did a full gear change and bathroom stop, but there was a lot to address after that loop.

To add insult to injury I was up against the absolute worst chafing I’ve ever experienced in my life. My Squirrel’s Nut Butter had more than done the trick on loop one, but something went wrong on the second lap. I was continually reapplying but things were getting worse. It was not until I stripped down that I could spot the cause. I was caked in mud from head to toe, and we were so cold overnight that removing gloves just wasn’t an option. Every time I relieved myself I was inadvertently introducing mud into my tights and I’d created a sandpaper grit effect. I was officially no longer having any fun, though at least I knew it’d help keep me awake from here on out.

Linda learned to make sushi in the months leading into the race. If you want an idea of how all encompassing this race has become for our family, Linda spent months this year helping me with my food options for race weekend, and Reed has a tattoo across his shoulders that says “My Dad has made it further in the Barkley than your Dad.” Of course this means we can’t hang out with John Kelly, or Jared Campbell, or Blake Wood, or David Horton, but that’s besides the point, this thing never really leaves us alone for too long at a time. Linda stuffed a sushi burrito into my hand and walked me to the gate for my third lap.

I got out of camp before Guillaume and Ally arrived, and it was once again daylight. There was 12h15m left on the clock for the 36hr cutoff to begin my fourth lap. I knew I could manage an 11h30m lap if I pushed hard, and if I was calculated and focused. This wasn’t over yet. I also finally established my favourite direction of travel, clockwise, which would be the direction of the final two laps should I make it that far. In the CCW direction the “handrails” into books are a bit subtler than in the CW direction, and I am therefore faster and far less prone to errors going CW. I just had to lay down an 11h30m lap and to leave 12h45m on the clock for lap four. I believed in my heart that going clockwise was faster and that this was still within reach.

“I can do this, and I will do this.”

Lap 3 - Counterclockwise

I ran out of camp and focused on going fast when things were certain and slowing right down when they were not. I tripled checked everything, and though this lead to a few more minutes being eaten up, it subscribed to the “go slower to go faster” race plan.

I arrived a Rat Jaw a full 40 minutes quicker than lap two and there were a ton of people there to cheer me on. I was getting into some eating issues now, as I approached 27 hours of continual movement. I’d find myself dry heaving a bit here and there, but was thankfully still keeping things under control. It is a fight to keep the calories coming, and if you’re not dedicated to the fight than you’re all but done. At one point I opened an Endurance Tap maple syrup gel, sucked it into my mouth, but realized I was going to dry-heave again, so I promptly spit it right back out, but I spit it back into the resealable pouch, got over my dry-heaving, and then sucked down the vital 100 calories on my second attempt. I actually patted myself on the back for that one. “Nicely done” I thought, “that’s a first”.

I dropped off Rat Jaw and had legs. I was moving well and the rains were behind us. I just had to keep pushing and stay focused.

I made great time through Armes Gap, across the New River, and back up Stallion. A small bump once again near where we messed up one lap earlier, but I was triple checking things so my small mistake stayed as just that, a small mistake.

The next few books were uneventful and I have ten pages in my pocket. I was doing some math and figured I was on pace for 11h45m at worst. I would have 7-10 mins camp time and be out on lap four with maybe 12h20m or so to work with. I was thinking about a lot of things, about if it were possible, about how this had gone wrong, about what it would mean to finish under these circumstances, about how fortunate I am to have such a wonderful family, my parents, my wife, our beautiful son. I was thinking about how much I wanted this, how much me and my wife have invested into this already, how much a finish would mean to us, forget everything else, that’s all white noise, this is for us. I’ve dreamt of becoming a Barkley finisher for ten years now. I was thinking about how good I felt overall, now having eclipsed 32 hours. This is probably the best I’ve ever felt at this point, though I was already on loop four by this point in my two previous attempts.

I was thinking about so much and getting into a nice running rhythm, I was thinking about absolutely everything BUT the one thing I should have been thinking about, book three.

There are varying levels of difficulty between books and some are considered “a gimme” compared to others. Book three is a gimme so you can often treat it as such…

“Whoa, did I miss Bald Knob!?”

I continued around the corner, seemingly confirming in that moment that I had gone too far, then I backtracked and headed up to claim my page.

I was about ten minutes up the slope when things started not adding up so much…

“Did I f@#K this up!?”

I pulled out my map, confirmed direction, moved up slope about another minute, and there it was, the Emory Gap Campground site…

“F@#K! F@#K! F@#K!”

Jared and I ended up here two years ago, at least I knew where I was. I shot a bearing and went to work on correcting my mistake. Maybe ten minutes later I pulled my page from the third book. This error, in and of itself was shitty and detrimental, but not fatal, it’s what happened next that buried me. I somehow dropped down off of Bald Knob too far North, thinking I was West. I thought I’d missed a prominent trail intersection and that I was South of where I needed to be. It’s at this point that I should point out that I’ve never gone more than 31 hours at the Barkley without sleep. I didn’t feel like I was necessarily sleep deprived, but this entire thought process is rather inexplicable to me post-race. I ditched another fifteen minutes piecing this back together, then really wanted to puke when I did a time check.

“GO, for f@#k sakes Gary, GO!”

I ran to my next handrail and then did something I’ve always struggled to do, I got the CCW descent into book two absolutely perfectly. I was still in this thing! About a quarter of the way down I spooked a dozen hogs of varying sizes though, and they continued down the exact line that I was. The last thing I needed was a standoff or a charge from one of them so I made as much noise as possible and after what felt like an eternity they finally dropped off of my line and to the west.

I ripped my page from book two and leaned into the second to last climb in the CCW direction. The sun was setting and my headlamp, which we’d figured out, was back on my head and shining brightly, all 350 lumens of it.

I made good time up Checkmate Hill and ripped my final page. I know my best case time from here to the campground and it didn’t look good. I had to get up and over England in record time and then lean into the descent to camp like my life depended on it.

I got over England, found the trail, hooked a left, and flipped my watch…I double checked the math, then triple checked it…checkmate.

Even if I found another plain to exist on for the next few miles I’d still come in about 90 – 120 seconds over time. I took my time dropping down into camp, not wanting Linda to worry about me once time expired, but also not wanting to rush the inevitable. I wasn’t ready to step aside, I hadn’t even gotten to the hallucination phase of the race yet. I trained for a 60-hour effort, not a 36-hour effort. “I’m not even going to lose all my toenails” I thought. Is there a greater indicator of failure at the Barkley than NOT losing all of your toenails? Probably not.

The Barkley Marathons is a personal goal that I am dedicated to. To finish, is akin to breaking a course record at a lot of other events, things have to go right, and some years it can feel like the odds are stacked against you. I want to go on record right now as saying the race was doable this year, I have no doubt of that. If you look back through the history of the event there is a higher likelihood of a finish when two knowledgeable veterans are able to work together through four full laps. Just one year ago John and I formed a great team in which we were continually correcting each other’s errors to prevent any small mistakes from becoming big ones. Having said that, the course has been completed numerous times by an individual, Jared being just one of them, and I believed that I had the skills to do that myself as well. I have the physical capabilities to outwork many of my mistakes, but until I eliminate those “zone outs” and “passenger periods” for 60 full hours, a finish will elude me, for as John Kelly so eloquently stated,

“The Barkley will find your weaknesses, and it will exploit them.”

I had described the experience going into this year like I was a prize fighter. One year ago, after being decisively ahead on the cards going into the 12th and final round, the Barkley got me with a lucky punch and left me TKO’d. It was the hardest defeat of my life and I’ve had to wait a full year for my rematch. This loss is more shocking, but somehow slightly less devastating, since I never even made it to the championship rounds.

As I sit here typing this I have but one “Barkley toe”, not ten (a completely numb toe). I will likely loose but three toenails, not the full set. I am tired, but not obliterated. I am sore from head to toe, cut up by briars, and flush with the usual unique recovery issues post-Barkley, but I will probably head out for a short run sometime this weekend. I did a 36-hour race, not the 60 hour event I’d set out to, and I am unsettled and rife with emotion.

A Barkley finish likely means more to me than it should at this point and there’s been a crescendo through three years now that would have made for a perfect storybook ending this year, but that’s not how life works sometimes. I simply cannot express my true gratitude to everyone who has followed along and sent well wishes and words of encouragement along the way. This is my purge, please understand that this is my way of telling my story, and it is my preference to not have my life and every single interaction become about the Barkley Marathons. This has evolved into so much more than it should have. There was one goal, it was not accomplished, I’m proud of what I did do, but finishing a Fun Run is not even close to finishing the actual race. I don’t want to be “picked up from this”, that’s the reality and that’s where motivations are forged from. If I was okay with this already I would question how much I really wanted it to begin with. I will stand tall again when I am ready to, but right now I am processing my shortcomings and this is as valuable as any BCMC mountain lap repeat I’d perform in training. This is a period for introspection.

I will return for a fourth go, but honestly we don’t know when that will be. This is not like a year ago where we knew we were going again the following year but we didn’t want to talk about it, we really don’t know when we’ll go back and a decision won’t be made until well into the fall. I’ve missed my skis quite a bit this winter. I’ve missed having more days to teach my son to ski. I’ve missed having more adventures with my wife on a day to day and week to week basis. There are a lot of variables here.

In the grand scheme of things, this is just a race and these are trivial matters. My wife and I have our health, we have our happiness, and we have each other, and in the end, that’s all that I’ve ever wanted or needed. I will say that in three years the Barkley has brought us closer together and for that I’m forever thankful. Linda and I have always been a team, but we’re a tighter more cohesive unit than ever before, and our son Reed will reap those benefits throughout his life. Linda said this to Laz before we departed the park;

“In the end this is just a stupid race, put on by a funny man.”

True dat babe, true dat.

You can’t put yourself out there without expecting to fall flat on your face from time to time, sometimes literally. Life is not easy and pursuing the limitations of who you are will certainly be wrought with unforeseen challenges, but as long as you keep your head up and keep pushing onward towards your truth, towards your belief in who you can be, you will learn to enjoy and cherish the journey, to find positives where others only see negatives…even if you end up reaching your ultimate goal a little later than you may have expected to. Even if you find yourself at that destination a few years further along than your planned arrival time.

To the Kelly family, John, Jessi, kids and John’s parents and cousin: Thank you for extending your home to us and for taking such great care of my wife, son and parents while I was on course. You’ve taken a race that’s already special to us and brought it to another level.

To the Barkley family, Laz, Sandra, Rawdog, Kathy, Dave, Ed, Gail, Keith, Rich, Mike and on and on, and all of the runners from around the globe. You are what make this so special. You are why we keep coming back. You are why we as a family will return again, at some point, because believe it or not, we really like you guys 😊

To my sponsors, thank you for believing in and investing in me. Salomon, Suunto, Princeton Tec, Drymax Socks, Trail Butter, Endurance Tap,

To my parents, I love you so much and I'm so happy you were there and that you got to establish such a wonderful bond with Reed throughout the week. (this is but the second time my father has seen me race and the first time my mother has been to one of my races, given that we live over 7000km apart and I didn't start running till I was long free of the nest.)

To my son. You'll regret that tattoo when you're older.

To my wife. I'm sorry you learned to make sushi for nothing, maybe we should have relied more on the ketchup this year. #backtoketchup20??

The following eight images are thanks to Howie Stern Photography

These final eight images are some of my own from the week

#Barkley #The Barkley Marathons #The Barkley #Gary Rolbbins #frozen head #lazarus lake #salomon #suunto #prin #squirrels nut butter #trail butter #endurance tap #Drymax Socks #Princeton Tec Lights

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