Post by Sly Fox on Jul 12, 2005 18:08:26 GMT -5
Some of you may have seen this story in the Lynchburg fishwrap the other day. I just spotted it online:
www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=LNA/Page/LNA_SportsPage&c=Page&cid=1041611506951
I remember him running those ridiculously long ultra-marathons when I had him for classes nearly 20 years ago. The fact he is still racing these insane lengths today is crazy.
Running for the Border
Ted Allen
Lynchburg News & Advance
July 10, 2005
David Horton must have thought he was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie on Wednesday as he approached Sierra City near the 1,200-mile mark of his record attempt along the Pacific Crest Trail, which spans 2,655 miles from the border of Mexico to the border of Canada.
The Liberty University professor and extreme ultramarathon runner was plodding along on his mountainous journey when he heard a “Whoosh” behind him, then another over his head. He looked up to see one of two unidentifiable birds squawking and dive-bombing straight toward him. After the first pass, Horton picked up a stick and started “running like mad, swinging the stick in the air.”
The Birds made another pass and then “Wham!” - on the third swoop, one of them hit Horton in the side of the head. It stunned him a bit and when he looked around he saw something on the ground. For a second he thought he had taken out his attacker, but in reality the bird had knocked off his hat. Horton picked it up and high-tailed it out of there.
It was a rather humorous moment in another grueling week for Horton, who was scheduled to run 53.7 miles on Friday, starting out at 3:30 a.m. “Please tell people to keep me in their thoughts,” he said.
On Monday night, the Fourth of July, Horton wasn’t even in the mood for fireworks as he set up camp in Tahoe Basin after running 33.8 miles in 14 hours, 50 minutes. “They are pretty but I wish they would stop so I could go to sleep,” he said. Horton had left Echo Lake and traveled 32.3 miles along scenic terrain to Barker Pass, but experienced trouble staying on track at times with snow covering the trail.
LU graduate Josh Yeoman is Horton’s only crew member through July 25 and he could use some additional support if anyone happens to be headed out to Northern California.
Ted Allen
Lynchburg News & Advance
July 10, 2005
David Horton must have thought he was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie on Wednesday as he approached Sierra City near the 1,200-mile mark of his record attempt along the Pacific Crest Trail, which spans 2,655 miles from the border of Mexico to the border of Canada.
The Liberty University professor and extreme ultramarathon runner was plodding along on his mountainous journey when he heard a “Whoosh” behind him, then another over his head. He looked up to see one of two unidentifiable birds squawking and dive-bombing straight toward him. After the first pass, Horton picked up a stick and started “running like mad, swinging the stick in the air.”
The Birds made another pass and then “Wham!” - on the third swoop, one of them hit Horton in the side of the head. It stunned him a bit and when he looked around he saw something on the ground. For a second he thought he had taken out his attacker, but in reality the bird had knocked off his hat. Horton picked it up and high-tailed it out of there.
It was a rather humorous moment in another grueling week for Horton, who was scheduled to run 53.7 miles on Friday, starting out at 3:30 a.m. “Please tell people to keep me in their thoughts,” he said.
On Monday night, the Fourth of July, Horton wasn’t even in the mood for fireworks as he set up camp in Tahoe Basin after running 33.8 miles in 14 hours, 50 minutes. “They are pretty but I wish they would stop so I could go to sleep,” he said. Horton had left Echo Lake and traveled 32.3 miles along scenic terrain to Barker Pass, but experienced trouble staying on track at times with snow covering the trail.
LU graduate Josh Yeoman is Horton’s only crew member through July 25 and he could use some additional support if anyone happens to be headed out to Northern California.
www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=LNA/Page/LNA_SportsPage&c=Page&cid=1041611506951
I remember him running those ridiculously long ultra-marathons when I had him for classes nearly 20 years ago. The fact he is still racing these insane lengths today is crazy.
