Stories of people living the Ass Kickers United lifestyle.

He eventually managed to pin down the mountain lion's back legs as he reached for sticks and rocks to strike it and force it off him. All the while his arm was still trapped in the animal's mouth.

Kauffman managed to get his foot pressed down on the mountain lion's neck and held it down until the animal suffocated and let go of his wrist.

Kauffman had to run 3 miles down the trail, bloodied, injured and warily eyeing his surroundings for more mountain lions.

In the summer of 1968 The Sunday Times newspaper sponsored the Sunday Times Golden Globe race, the first unassisted, solo, around the world sailing race. The story of one sailor going mad during the race and committing suicide was covered in the documentary Deep Water, and was adapted as film in the then Soviet Union and dramatized for anti-capitalist propaganda, but this is arguably not the most interesting part of the race.

Bernard Moitessier, an avid sailor reluctantly participated in the race, and was well on his way to completing the race and winning the prize (£5K) for fastest finish, but he let the winds decide his fate.

As he passed Cape Horn he had only to aim north to sail back to England to collect his accolades as the winner of the race and the first to sail solo and non-stop across the globe. Moitessier wavered and thought perhaps he'd let the winds decide for him how to proceed. If he was carried far north, he'd continue to England. To the east, he'd continue sailing the globe.

He saw a passing ship in the distance, drew near the vessel, and used a slingshot to launch a message to the boat's deck. Moitessier would not be completing the race, his message said. He was happy at sea. It had saved his soul. Moitessier changed his course for east again and began to retrace his steps for a second circumnavigation, aiming for Tahiti.

Moitessier hallucinated a passenger to keep himself company. He stopped shaving or bathing, grew an impressive beard, and continued to practice yoga. He attempted to befriend sea creatures, including birds and dolphins. Yet he felt at peace. 'I look to the sea, and it answers that I escaped a great danger,' he wrote. 'I do not want to believe in miracles too much. Yet there are miracles in life. If the weather had stayed bad for a few days longer, with easterly winds, I would be far to the north by now; I would have continued north, sincerely believing it was my destiny, letting myself be carried by the trades like an easy current with no whirlpools or snares, believing it was true…and being wrong.'

The back story behind the creation of the LT 100 racing series, and its founder Ken Chlouber:

It all began in 1982. Leadville’s local mine, the Climax, closed. In that instant, 3,250 jobs were lost and in the Leadville community of about 5,000, that affected everybody. All too quickly the community began to feel the effects of economic devastation. Unemployment breeds its’ own abuses and the community had more than its share. The cavalry wasn’t coming. We knew we had to grab our own bootstraps and yank hard. Without an economy, we would lose our schools and our hospital. If that were to happen, we’d lose our Leadville. Thoughts, ideas, suggestions to save Leadville’s economy were many and varied. Ken Chlouber came up with a plan for a 100 mile footrace; the highest, toughest, meanest, baddest 100 miles ever—the spittin’ image of Leadville. In 1983, Ken lit the fuse to the Leadville Trail 100. An immediate and overwhelming success, runners came from around the globe to earn their silver buckle. Soon they became not only athletes, but family. They learned in Leadville, to 'DIG DEEP'. It became much more than a race. It was a way of life—'Do more, Be more'.

Economic impact of the race to Leadville:

In 2012, Colorado Mountain College in Leadville conducted an economic impact study that found that the 2012 edition of the races pumped more than 15 million dollars into the local economy

From the wikipedia page, about the Leadville 100 running race:

Race co-founder Kenneth Chlouber, an avid marathon runner, conceived of the race as a way to make Leadville famous and bring visitors during a period of economic downturn. When he told the local hospital administrator about his idea he was told, 'You're crazy! You'll kill someone!' Chlouber responded, 'Well, then we will be famous, won't we?'

From the WSJ:

When winter approaches the Rockies, Joshua Onysko has extra motivation to work out. He needs to chop wood to heat his home in Boulder, Colo. 'Lumberjacking is harder than any exercise I’ve ever tried,' says the founder of the Pangea Organics skin-care line. 'Within minutes you’re dripping in sweat. It also takes my mind off of the stresses of owning a company. Nothing releases tension like taking an ax to a dead tree.'