Welcome to Elevation Trail with Tim Long and Gary David. Today we introduce our series on nostalgia. Remember the good old days of ultrarunning? We also lament about the dark side of the holidays – Happy Jesus Birthday!
Please share your shitty Christmas (holiday) memories. Suggest a name/title for the nostalgia series in the comments. The one we select will receive the coveted Elevation Trail trucker hat.
Local Mind Media 
Hey guys, your podcasts are always thought-provoking. I enjoy listening while out on the trails.
You asked for suggestions for this nostalgia series and I’ve tried to think of something that might be a unique suggestion so will toss “Romancing the Stone” into the ring.
1. Nostalgia: you guys talked about a hypotethical Jurek buckle going up. Jessie Owens’ 1936 Gold Medal just went for 1.5 million at auction.
2. Nostalgia: I think Carpenter has quite a collection of all things related to Pikes Peak, For example, his book library: http://www.skyrunner.com/story/pp_books.htm
3. Nostalgia: I have my crib. Yes the one I was in as an infant. My brother also was in it, and so have been my kids. Names of all that have slept in it are written on the bottom. Might not be legal, but it will be passed if I become a grandparent. They can do with it what they want.
4.) Gary made a great point about looking at history through rose colored glasses. Last I checked women were only allowed to run the Olympic Marathon starting in 1984.
5
Is GZ still thinking about #5?
Old man moment.
“Uphill both ways”
When I was about 10 or so the family, all eight of us, got stuck in a classic east coast ice storm on the way home from the relative’s Christmas party. We had to ditch the car about 2 miles from the house and we all hoofed it home. My dad had a heart condition and my mom was wearing heels. Good times! We made it home okay, but everyone complained the whole time (except dad).
Keep up the good work and Merry Christmas!
Here’s a sad-ish Christmas story. My family was very poor growing up. There were 8 of us and I was the second to the youngest of 6 kids. Christmas wish lists didn’t mean too much in our house. Our stockings were filled with nuts and oranges and I didn’t even know that other families had a REAL Christmas dinner until I was an adult. Anyway, I didn’t ever get many things that I could call my own and one Christmas we were asked what we wanted for Christmas because we were those kids on the anonymous gift tree. You know you pick a tag off the tree that says what the person wants. Well, I wanted a blanket. Not just a blanket, a comforter. Something that was thicker than the old threadbare one I had. I indeed got my own comforter. It was simple, handmade and I loved it. It was mine. I just recently had to get rid of it because all the seams had come undone and the blanket had no more structural integrity. Even though we were poor, Christmas was always happy so don’t feel bad for me. Just think about those kids that anxiously hope for something as simple as a blanket under the tree.
Thanks for the podcasts. More chick shows please.
Shitty Christmas story: In 2002, on a solo backpacking trip through Turkey, I came down with pneumonia about a week before X-mas. I kept up the sightseeing for a few days, valiantly insisting that my cough was due to chain smoking Marlboros, and the fever, too much Raki. Finally, the day before Christmas, my fever spiked & I was basically immobilized. I spent the next 4 days holed up in a cheap hotel somewhere near Antalya. I watched Turkish music videos & BBC World non-stop, drifting in and out of sleep, while hotel staff (wisely) avoided my room, except to periodically come by to offer “injections” (which I was clear headed enough to decline). Trip wasted, I eventually took a 12 hour overnight bus back to Istanbul & managed to suppress my cough, which sounded like something the WHO reports global public health statistics on, long enough to be permitted to board a flight back to N. America. 300 hours later I was home. But actually, I recommend traveling to Islamic countries for Christmas. The Santa scene is there too, but significantly toned down.
Had a somewhat similar one, but in Dubai. I got some kind of sickness and had a major bug. I wandered over to the pharmacy by my hotel to get some tylenol or something. The person at the counter didn’t speak English well (was Indian or something). I kept pointing to my head to indicate a headache. I got a comb, hair gel, shampoo, and a hat. Never did get medicine. Was able to get a flight a day earlier so I could hopefully die in my own bed.
Nostalgia….her we go!
My best Christmas memories were centered around the church, after all Christmas is “supposed” to be about someone’s birthday…even though that birthday isn’t in December 😉 I actually can’t stand Christmas now with all the commercialization. The whole thing I try to avoid…
My bad Christmas memory is as a child? How about my oversmoked, over boozed uncle died 2 days before and along with it our Christmas. Tree came down and no word of Christmas was spoken again that year.
As for Nostalgia in Ultrarunning….it’s funny Gary mentions DRB. I ran the first in ’97 and many more after that and don’t look back to those days when we waited for each finisher to finish with beer in hand. My ultra days are in the past…yeah, I’ll still “participate”, but at 62 the wheels are a little rusty…so no thinking back to those fun earlier days of ultrarunning.
As for a name of the series? Hmmmmm…the past is gone, the future ain’t here yet, why even bother thinking about the past? How about “Fruitless efforts?” 😉
Merry Christmas and may the podcast continue on into 2014…
Shout out to the Pero’s!
As always, I look forward to your podcasts.
I love Gary’s discussion about the different kinds of nostalgia….I can’t remember his terminology but basically nostalgia that you experienced and nostalgia that you imagine happened. And even if we did experience it we filter out all the bad stuff. We sure are suckers for all of it.
I don’t think we are at the point where Scott Jurek’s socks would raise more than a couple bucks on eBay, maybe ultrarunners just don’t go for that kind of stuff. Maybe if he autographed ’em. I imagine anything Steve Prefontaine would be in demand, but that’s a different game.
Name for the throwback series? How about “Tales from the Ultrarunning Crypt”.
Good to see that you got into Hardrock, TIm. I look forward to hearing about your training, race prep, the race itself….. should be fun.
Names for the series, stolen from episode:
Aunt Jemima Series
Serious Disjunction
Peaks of Nostalgia
After this episode I want a “Looking towards the past is a way of trying to establish order in a changing present and a sense of direction for the future” bumper sticker AND a college credit for SOCY 101. 🙂
Not sure if you’ve chosen a name for the series but did think of another suggestion while snowshoeing today.
Listen To The Greybeards
I was nostalgic myself and remember all the advice I’ve gained from “the greybeard folk”.