Hades, Halle and Tweet

June 12th, 2009 Posted in Story

Our race numbers for Western were issued and mine is 171.

Now the number 17 is apparently a pretty symbolic prime number with all sorts of religious and zodiac symbolism - at least according to some fairly whacked out web sites I stumbled upon (my Son’s Drew favorite web site).   It’s all good - mostly - with then few exceptions of references to Hades, Satin, evil doings and some kinky sexual acts.  Let’s put it this way, I’m guessing when I crawl past Devil’s Thumb at mile 48 as I ascend a 2.5 mile steep-ass climb, the Thumb might just

give me a high-5 if you know what I mean.  I also now believe, after reading some astrology sites, that I will have the power to set my fellow runner’s feet on fire if they don’t move aside when the Diesel wants to pass.  And furthermore, I will be able to turn Gatorade into blood and Ike’s & Mikes into Hot Tamales.  What fun I will have……..

Actually, the number 7 has always been a pretty lucky number for me.  And the fact that it is surrounded by two ones gives it symmetry.  Bob is a palindrome and so is 171.  The ones could represent my two previous attempts at finishing Western and the 7 is my third try - a lucky number representing a finish.  27 (1+1, 7) has been one of the luckiest numbers in my life.  We have lots of 27s running through our families in the form of birthdays, house numbers, et al.   So, I guess, in spite of the devilish overtones, I’m pretty darn pleased with good ol’ 171.

This year Western has added a new feature to help friends and family members track their runner during the race.  It is an animated webcast which can be accessed by clicking here on raceday (http://webcast.ws100.com/).  I believe all you’ll need is my name and race number.

Also new this year: “Where’s my runner” by email.  For those of you with a Blackberry or iPhone who want to track me, an email-based service that will send brief emails reports on me as the race progresses and I arrive at each checkpoint, finishes or drops (shutter at the thought!).  Sign-up for this service will be offered starting in mid-June (I guess next week) via an option on the webcast site referenced above.  So check that site out if you want to be super hip and impress all your friends by showing them that you are getting updates about some maniac that is running around in the wilderness in the dark.  Trust me, you’ll be the only person in the bar - the city - the state for Pete’s sake, that has this

Although tempting, and I do actually have a Twitter account, I’m not planning on Tweeting my way across the Sierras.  I still haven’t figured out why anyone frankly cases what I’m eating, what pot I’m pissing in or how funny I think Conan’s guest tonight is.   Call me generation challenged, but there are only a few people in the world that I’d actually like to know what they are up to from time-to-time: My wife, Halle Berry and I guess if I were under house arrest, my parole officer.