Mohican Maxxing

Took Marilyn out to a joint we’ve been wanting to get to for a long time in celebration of her birthday. Good food, fun vibe.

Ceili and Jarod joined us, which gave me an opportunity to inform our son-in-law that he is succeeding admirably in the arena of Mohican Maxxing. What is this? you ask. Yes, this is a thing. Well, it’s a meme, anyway…

Ran across a post from a distance runner (who has an impressive bison skull tattooed on his chest) defining Mohican Maxxing as:

• Run around in the woods all the time.

• Become an expert rifleman.

• Romance a woman who is out of your league. (In this case, her father has no interest in trying him for sedition and related crimes; nor does he anticipate having his heart carved from his chest by a pissed off, vengeful Huron War Captain).

• Defy redcoated authority. 

I told Jarod he had pretty much knocked out the first three and just needs to find some Redcoat popinjay to mouth off to. Actual Redcoats are thin on the ground, but I’m sure he can find an appropriate 21st Century analog…

Anyways… the young man has signed himself up for the Suttle Lake Trail Fest. The event is set for October 24-25 at a lake about 13 miles west of us. The trail around the lake is 3.5 miles, and the “fest” is an opportunity to pile up as many circuits as possible in a span of 24, 12, or 6 hours. Jarod is taking on the 12-hour event.

Mileage over 12 hours would presumably handily top his 31-mile ultra this spring. This kind of event is obviously physically challenging, but there is a particular difficulty to a “race” that doesn’t have a finish line. You’re running the same route over and over, stacking up miles, just grinding, competing really only with the voice in your head that tells you it’s OK to stop now.

Badass…

This news put me in mind of a painting Hawken Horse scouted up.

This magnificent scene  is VERY evocative of the feeling running along the Suttle Lake Trail.

According to the artist, the actual scene is along the Missouri River, I’m thinking from the early 18th Century:

Commissioned by a collector of Osage artifacts, this large painting depicts an historic scene of a hunting party of Sioux fleeing their enemy, the Osage, down the Missouri River to an overland route across a spit of land to escape up the Mississippi River outdistancing their rivals. French explorers later named the place, Portage de Sioux.

So… maybe when the going gets gross in the Suttle Lake Trail Fest, we can conjure  some badass spectral Osage (or Huron) warriors to chase Jarod around the lake. It is happening in late October, after all. And after hours of running, he won’t know a hallucination from a spook anyway.

*

Speaking of our friend Hawken Horse, Mohican Maxxing, etc…

If you haven’t delved into the Aspen Ridge+Hawken Horse soundtrack for The Deerslayer yet, you owe it to yourself to download it, find a nice woodland drive and let it roll. As you all know, when I love something, I want to share it — and I REALLY love this album.

The Deerslayer gets a listen at least once every day. Hawken Horse has done something really special here — something that’s not easy to do. It nods to the greatness of the LOTM soundtrack without being in any way derivative of it.

It conjures mood and scene, and it goes down good with sandbags, kettlebells and rifle fire.

Run it back-to-back with the LOTM soundtrack and your feet will grow fleeter, your hair will grow long and luxurious, your aim will become infallible, and beautiful women who are out of your league will be drawn inexorably to you.

Mohican Maxxing.