Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Lost and Confused: Our Very First Platinum Group Member Guest Post

By Brian Boyer, PSU 1980, 1982, 1984, 1992 (I kid, I kid...)

Intro by Skwilli,

Brian successfully ascertained that it was Willie Nelson running quite well in a road race in the late 70's or 80's in the photo in the previous "I hate Mondays" post. I am assured that this is real.  His reward was a frivolously made up title of Platinum Group membership, which I have now made official.  Like everything else around here, I'm likely to forget about it after awhile, but for now it's real.

Part of the spoils of attaining Platinum status is a chance to write a guest post for "the blog with it all".  I asked Brian for anything and suggested he rip me for the time he beat me in an indoor 5K at Syracuse.  I assume it was his PR, as it is mine.  He only alluded to it, but opened up more on my other suggestion of discussing those times he became lost during mountain runs back in 1979 or so.  I think he actually did it 2 weeks in a row and has previously discussed the ruining of Coach Groves' car on the rutted back roads of Bear Valley, or wherever the heck he, Jim Clelland and Dave Felice ended up.  I remember hearing that they only made it back to campus by nightfall from a 9:00AM run!  Probably missed the Chicken Cosmos in the dining hall.

So here's Brian's first ever Guest Post:

Syracuse 5k loved that race….

I still get lost….
I got lost in Germany in the dark in the woods in the rain….
I miscalculated in Czech Rep.  and made a hour run into 2hr.   Kept thinking a bridge would show up and I could cross and go to the pension…had to backtrack and run across a RR bridge to get over the river and not run for another 30 minutes.
Got lost Germany again in the woods in the gray of Nov.  Ran into hunters in the woods.  I barely made it to our tour of Karlsruhe that day.  My legs were killing me.
Got lost in Vienna in the city a few times.
Got lost in the woods in L.I.  Even a bit this summer.
Got lost in the woods in the dark in Los Alamos years ago before they burned down.  I have miscalculated the trails here still….longer than I expected to run….more than once a year.
I got lost in the snow in the setting sun in the woods in Lithuania.
I got lost in Oregon in the woods in the mountains as it was getting dark.
I got lost in Richland WA…18 mi run….wanted a long run but not that long in the dark.
I miscalculated the distance in Oak Ridge and I had to follow some runners with headlamps out of the woods.

I would have gotten lost more places in Europe but they had signs and it was impossible to get lost in the city or town in some places.  Or I would have.




4 comments:

  1. Isn't getting lost in the Czech Republic the basis of the movie "Stripes"?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Have you considered becoming a tour guide?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was lost one time in Guangzhou China trying to find a McDonalds. The official map from the American consulate was a horribly rendered and outdated fiasco. We trudged through the city and finally found the golden arches. The meal was really what my brother needed, as he was reluctant to eat anything after my episode of food poisoning and what we saw at the "best hospital" in Western China. My wife wouldn't let anyone drink anything and we wolfed our food and tried to head back to the 5-Star (top 10 Hotel in the World at the time!)White Swan Hotel only to find ourselves in the worst slum any of us had ever seen. Push carts were selling rats on a stick and poor people were lining the streets (all with a free cell phone 10 years before USA caught on to that!) We were scared and finally hailed a taxi, payoing extraordinary monies up front if he would drive us to the hotel entrance. The taxi driver chuckled and pretended not to know English and pocketed about $50 for a 1 minute ride. We didn't care, though. The worst part was driving right past the McDonalds at the Hotel entrance!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Got lost in fog once on the east side of Kilimanjaro. It was open country above the forest line and after three hours we came across our own tracks. Sat down another three hours till the fog lifted. Long afternoon.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting. Keep up the good work! (Try to mention others to encourage them to comment too!)

 
Web Statistics