Cold Rain & Mud

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One of the hardest things for a runner is to be stuck at home when a friend or loved one is off racing somewhere without them. Add in extreme weather conditions and the waiting and the wondering can become unbearable.

The Winner of the "URG From the Hill CONTEST" is...

...Kevin P. is the WINNER of  "The URG From the Hill Contest". Kevin's calculated guess of 9380 miles was indeed URG from the Hill's yearly mileage!! Kevin is now the owner of an advanced personalized autographed copy of Bryon Powell's new book
"RELENTLESS FORWARD PROGRESS" .

Congratulations Kevin, you were the only one to guess correctly so the Bonus Questions did not come into play. Many others were close, very close and a few unfortunately appeared to have misread the distance markers. After you see my calculations I know some of you will be kicking yourself however I hope you had fun with it and I really appreciated the time it took for everyone, even the guessers to enter so thank you all so much. (Note: I have entered my calculations at the bottom of this post if you want to compare yours to mine.)

Kevin's Bonus answers were-
a - Mom & Dad - 840 miles
b - December
c - 72 days
d - How many days does URG have to substitute a Big City Run for a run to Town to make it an even 10,000 miles for the year?
Ans: 31 additional runs to the Big City vice running just to Town.

A few people seemed to have fun with Bonus Question d- where they were asked to make up a question and answer it themselves. See a few of those inventive and amusing self made questions and answers below.

Alissa L
d) How old is URG from the Hill? Under 30 because he never needs a rest day. :)  

Roger H
d. Bonus Question: What do Granma n Grampa give him for Christmas Dinner
Bonus Answer: 1 teaspoon of cement.
Bonus bonus question: Why only 1?
Bonus Bonus Answer: 100 mi in 23 hours? He's hard enough already!
: )

Tom B
d) When does URG rest? He rests every 4 years on February 29th.

OK so there was also the drawing for the 2 Power Balance wrist bands from all of the entries plus my Followers. Just a reminder to please Follow URG so you don't want to miss out on future contests and comics.
The winners are: Tatianna and Derrick. Congratulations!

My calculations and explanations-
The best place to start was at the "meat and potatoes" of the question which was to figure out how many times URG ran to Town and then figure out the distance using that number.

He ran to Town everyday of the year(365) except when he ran further so you needed to count up the number of times he ran further.

52 days to the Big City, 14 to Mom and Dad's, 4(Oct, Dec, Feb, Apr) to Brother's and 1 day to run to Gramma and Grampa's plus 1 day to run home from Gramma and Grampa's. 52 + 14 + 4 + 2 = 72

Then subtract that number from 365 to get the number of days of running to town times the distance to get the total number of miles to town. (365 -72) x 20 miles = 5860 miles to and from town per year.

Now all you have to do is calculate the distance to and from URG's other destinations-
Big City 52 x 40 = 2080
Mom & Dad's 14 x 60 = 840
Brother's 4 x 100 = 400
Grandparents 1 x 200= 200

So the total number of miles URG from the Hill ran is 5860(Town) + 2080(Big City) + 840(M&D) + 400(Brother) + 200(G&G) = 9380 miles

Note: there was one entrant who pointed out that all of my calculations were based on a house of cards that could come toppling down if for some reason URG decided to leave late for his long runs. If URG did not leave just after the crack of midnight then some of his 1 day runs could in theory have lasted 2 days and his 2 day run to the Grandparents could have lasted 3 days. I call this theory the "Human Factor Monkey Wrench" and it made my head spin. However I did determine that this was a guessing game where URG's mileage was a predetermined "X" and the hints were there to help you guess that predetermined number. Just to be safe though next time I will probably run my contests past the above unnamed entrant just to be sure; )

Bryon Powell's Rejects ; )

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OFF COURSE
(remake of the original)



   I thought I would put up the two comics that will NOT appear in Bryon Powell's new book, "Relentless Forward Progress". As you can see both comics feature the author himself in one form or another. Using the table of contents of the book as my guide I submitted a re-make of "Off Course" for the chapter about navigation and "Good Water" for the chapter about hydration.  I really enjoyed trying my hand at capturing Bryon's likeness as this was the first time I actually looked at a picture of someone while I was sketching a comic. This then inspired me to attempt another caricature of three well known ultrarunners(the fourth being  mentioned by text) who's picture I found on Bryon's site. That comic called "Out Too Fast", is indeed the one that Bryon accepted for his book.  I am not sure why Bryon rejected the other comics however I have a theory that his modesty may have played a role and or he didn't appreciate seeing himself depicted  hanging from a cliff or as a pillar of salt. Go figure.

I would also like to mention that you still have time to enter the contest to win an advanced copy of the book so check it out here . Good Luck to everyone and thanks to all of those who have entered so far. Come back Sunday to see who won.

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GOOD WATER

URG From the Hill CONTEST!!

WIN Bryon Powell's New Book

"RELENTLESS FORWARD PROGRESS"

*All you have to do is GUESS URG's yearly mileage.
Guess Here Now or see the map below for clues.
Hint- It is between 5000 & 10000 miles

*Whoever's guess is closet without going over WINS plus everyone who enters will have a chance to win a Power Balance Band(see details below)

CLICK TO ENTER the contest or e-mail your answer to ultrarunningguy@gmail.com

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THE CONTEST

I am very happy to announce that the winner of "URG from the Hill Contest" will win a personalized autographed advanced copy of Bryon Powell's NEW book, "Relentless Forward Progress". The book is sure to become "the standard for ultramarathon training books for a long time to come" and will be available to the public in late April at iRunFar.com . I would also like to give a quick mention(brag) that one of my comics was personally chosen by the author to appear in the book. "Out Too Fast" is a new comic that I drew especially for "Relentless Forward Progress". I can't say enough how very honored I was when Bryon accepted one of the three comics I had submitted to him(OK I was a bit offended that he turned down the other two but I got over it).  

I am also giving away 2 "Power Balance" wrist bands. The winners will be randomly chosen from the entries submitted and my Followers so if you are not Following URG please do so for another chance to win.

HOW YOU CAN WIN THE BOOK

All you have to do to add this great book to your library is to answer one QUESTION- What is URG's yearly mileage? (see the map). Your answer can be a guess or your best calculation. Whoever's  guess is the closest with out going over WINS!!: ) You don't need to answer the Bonus Questions, however if there is a tie then The Bonus Question/s break it and failing that the winner will be chosen by a random draw of the tiees(is that a word?). Only one guess per person per question.

E-mail your name and answer ONLY to ultrarunningguy@gmail.com.

 PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR ANSWERS AS A COMMENT.

GOOD LUCK to everyone! CONTEST ENDS  Saturday, April the 9th at midnight.

HINTS

*Copy and print map if possible

*Read the Clues & Details along with the Question and Bonus Questions before beginning your calculations

*I shouldn't say but please note the distance key or you haven't got a hope; )

*The calculations are very easy so take it bit by bit and have fun.

*If I think of anymore HINTS I will add them here

*If you have any questions post them as comments so everyone can see them and my response

ENTER NOW or e-mail your answer to ultrarunningguy@gmail.com