And We're Off

Supervictory's 2010 Resolutions are off to a solid start. Ran the Atlanta Track Club Resolution Run 10k in a modest 53:14. Great Race. Bright, cold sunny winter day, with about 1,700 in attendance. The best part of the race however, was getting there.

New Year's Day. With about 20 minutes to go until the starting gun goes off, the Supervictory Team Wagon blew a tire on the way up. We pull over on the shoulder of the highway, about 50 yards behind some other poor fools with car trouble of their own. And while we're futzing around with the lugnuts, one of the guys from up the shoulder walks over and volunteers the use of his floorjack. I crap you negative. This guy runs back to his truck, grabs a floorjack, and changes our tire fast enough to make a pit crew blush. Talk about setting the karma tone for the year. We've barely finished our first cup of coffee of the new year, and already we've been done solid kindness by a North Georgia redneck. Awesome.

So off went. We got our numbers and a quick whiz in the woods before lining up to run.
Great race.

Stay tuned for more race reports soon.
Huah!
-SV

2010 Resolutions Announced

Was 2009 as bad as everyone said?
Was the whole decade a wash?
Not here at Supervictory. We've been having a high old time a-runnin' and a-bloggin'.
But it's time to bid 2009 a-fucking-dieu, and the best way to do that is not by looking back, but by announcing how we plan to shake our things in 2010.
So, here's where we netted out.

Resolution #1: Run Faster. This year SV has vowed to pick up the pace. We'd like to get cozy in the 8:30 or zippier per mile pace.

Resolution #2: A race a month. This shouldn't be a problem at all. Whether it's a turkey trot, a 5k, 10k, funrun, half or whole enchilada-thon, we're gonna get our butts out there with bibs pinned to our shirts at least once a month.

That's it folks.
Sta warm, stay hydrated and Happy New Year!
-SV

A Very Good Drug

The other day a car rolled through an intersection, nearly killing me and T-Lo a few minutes into our Saturday run. Birdie fingers blazing, I opened my lungs and let the driver have it.
We kept running.

And then the best thing happened.
All traces of old foot and knee pain, in addition to the usual warm-up creakiness instantly vanished. It took me just a few seconds to realize that it was the surge of adrenaline working its age old evolutionary magic. Brilliant stuff that body of ours. All it takes is a good scare for the brain to whip up a quick and potent batch of protection.

My first thought was, man, I wish I could bottle that and run with zero pain and heightened awareness all the time. And then I realized that would constitute doping, as well as a departure from the purity of running. So my second thought was just to be thankful for one of those little lessons that running is so masterful at dispensing to the those willing to listen.

Thanks running.
-SV

Fuck Stress

Every runner knows that running has the magical power to keep us from ripping people's heads off. Now science knows it too. Welcome to the party science.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/phys-ed-why-exercise-makes-you-less-anxious/

Finish Face

Before we talk about this killer piece the NY Times just put on their site, let's just take a minute to congratulate Meb Keflezighi on being the first American to win the NYC Marathon since 1982.
Big up Meb!

Ok, cool.
So with that, here's a sweet piece of inspiration for all of us.
Ladies and Gentlemen, singlets and sportsbras, I bring you Finish Face:

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/sports/20091101-marathon-finish-line/?ref=sports

Who's That Ugly Bald Chick?

If you look closely at the photo above, you'll see an ugly bald chick at the back of a pack of elite women. That's no chick. It's Chris Wiley, an old friend I recently had the pleasure of running into on a morning run. Chris and I used to sling pizza at Fellini's back in the day, and even played music together a little bit back when he lived in the green house on Kennesaw Street. I remember he had this menacing Chow mix who was always judging me, waiting for me to slip up.

Anyway, Chris is not only one of the nicest guys I know, but it turns out he's also one of the fastest.
He was way more into cycling back then, but over the years he began to see the light and leave the stuffy world of spandex-wrapped gear snobs for the purer, more nobler sport of running. These days Chris runs mostly trail races, and from what I hear on the internet, he evens win some of them.

So I was pretty stoked when I ran into him on the street a few weeks ago. I figured I'd join him for a few miles. Wrong. It took me about half a minute to realize that we were going faster than I'd ever run before, and another half a minute to start completely doubting myself. We could not have made it more than a mile before I had to bail and get back to a more humane pace.

And even though it screwed up the rest of my run (think of it like warming up with an all-out sprint), it was great to see Chris, and also great to get a little taste of what fast really feels like. I'll try to work on my fast, and maybe the next time I see Chris I'll be able to keep up with him for two miles. Until then, Supervictory salutes local ATL badass Chris Wiley.
You go girl!

-SV

South African Hardcore

No coach.
No trainer.
Just love.
And a soft 2 mile loop.
That's right, try training to win marathons on a
2...Mile...Loop.
Supervictory big-ups Hendrick Ramaala.
New York Times reports. Check out the article linked below
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/an-elite-athlete-training-without-a-coach/?hp

-SV

Running Makes It Real

There's this hill.
We won't name names, but it's a certain hill that starts right around mile 2.5 on the Supervictory ATL chapter morning route. Now this hill is, to put it diplomatically, a motherfucker. It is long, it is steep and it is merciless. And lately some of us (again, no names) have been avoiding this beast.

Maybe it's the fact that even at 7am it's already 80 degrees in this part of the country. Maybe it's the sense of entitlement that comes from just recently having gotten back to full strength after some nagging injuries. Maybe it's just plain laziness. Whatever the reason, we've been avoiding this hill.

And the more we avoid it, the larger it looms.
One of these days, we say to ourselves, we're gonna have to buck up and run the thing. One of these days, we're gonna have to go to bed an hour earlier, and put a little extra peanut butter on our pre-run bagel, and maybe even carry a bottle of water with us. But one of these days, we will have to run up this hill.

That day came today.
And guess what, it wasn't anywhere near the beatdown that we'd been dreading.
We simply took it easy, and tried not to think about it. And when the time came when we could've turned away, we didn't. We just looked at each other and nodded.

We ran the hill. And now it doesn't loom quite as large.
Running the hill took it down a notch from myth status, and made it real.
Running makes it real.

-SV

Run Positive

Yesterday.
Beautiful sunny cool morning run before firing up the Supervictory machine for another day. 3 miles in I realize I've spent the last 3 miles worrying about my flat feet, and my tweaked knee, and how long before I injure myself again, and what kind of distance dreams will die along the way.

And then...
I pretty much had to slap myself across the face and say:
Hey Idiot, you've spent the last 3 miles of this beautiful cool morning WORRYING about running instead of enjoying it. It made me question the power of mind over matter, and whether thinking injury-free can actually help keep you there.

I don't know.
But why not?
It can't hurt.

-SV

Summer of '77

Thanks to John R. for this gem depicting some old school punks limbering up for Atlanta's Peachtree Road Race on July 4th 1977. Note the go-to-hell slogan on homey's singlet. When the Supervictory apparel line is launched, rest assured that'll be the first jam we print.

NRD

National Running Day.
Act like you know.

Thought of the day

Having legs fuckin' rules!
Y'know?
Sometimes it's hard to put on your shoes and get yourself out the door.
But then you do, and you get out there and you start running, and you're like...
having legs fuckin' rules!
It totally beats not having legs.
Just sayin'.

-SV

The Whole Fixie Thing

Here at our bustling Supervictory world headquarters, there's one thorny topic in particular that keeps coming up lately; the whole fixie thing.

Some of us in the office have ridden them, some of us haven't. But there's no denying that it's gotten way out of hand. Now look, we want be real careful not to turn this into an anti-hipster rant, because that's not what we're about. We're about being positive, and about doing your own thing.

The problem is, that with the recent popularity explosion of these bikes, we have to ask ourselves: Are the kids really doing their own thing? Or are they just getting on the bandwagon on because it's THE thing?

Now, shit. The same thing happened with skating.
There was a time when riding a skateboard could get you beaten up.
The same thing happened with surfing and BMX.
Now they're all multimillion dollar industries.

And now that we're talking about it, we realize that the same thing happened with running. Yeah, that's right. Back in the day only boxers and weirdos ran, and people thought they were fucking lunatics. Then in the 70's and 80's the whole thing blew up and everybody started running. Now it's a multimillion dollar industry.

So, I guess we just settled our own discussion.
Everything is underground and cool for a while, until it catches on, blows up and becomes a multimillion dollar industry.

So the Supervictory verdict is in:
Fixies are okay.
But real punks run.

-SV

We're Number 3! We're Number 3!

Well Boston is over, and American hopefuls Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher did not win. BUT THEY BOTH CAME IN 3rd!!! 3rd place at Boston! How killer is that? They trained their asses off, they ran hard on race day, and they both came in 3rd.

Now, we here at Supervictory would've been stoked if either of them had won, but at the end of the day we really don't care. We're just stoked that we still have underdogs to root for. And in all seriousness, let's have a big SV hats off to men's winner Deriba Merga of Ethipia (2:08:42), women's winner Salina Kosgei from Kenya (2:32:16) and everybody else who went out and helped make Boston one of running's most legendary events.

Rock on.
-SV

The Boston Punk Scene

Boston has always been punk.
And I'm not talking about Slapshot or SS Decontrol.
Think way back, to the three-cornered hat wearing fancy boys who started the place.
They were fearless hardcore bastards who told England to suck it before going off and starting their own damn country. Which is about as punk as it gets.

So it's perfectly fitting that, in two day's time, a small handful of American runners will try to pull another coup and throw off the yolk of East African supremacy that has dominated the distance running scene in recent years. You see, an American hasn't won Boston since Greg Meyer in 1983. But on Monday, April 20th 2009 four Americans in the elite field will try to change that. They are Ryan Hall and Brian Sell on the men's side, and Kara Goucher and Elva Dryer in the women's field. All are at the forefront of a small movement dedicated to getting America's fat, slow ass back into a seat at the table of international distance running contenders.

And whether they win or not, let's give a big Supervictory salute to these American asskickers for going out there and trying their hearts out. Oh, and while we're handing out SV salutes, let's not forget the other 25,000 motherstompers who've logged long months and many miles working their asses off to qualify for Boston. The punkest marathon around.

Gettin' The Band Back Together

Welcome back SV diehards.
It's been a few months, and we here at Supervictory are very glad to be back.

Basically 2009 got off to a fucked up start and the zine had to go off the airwaves for a few months. First the Brown House got shut down by the cops, then Squirrel's parents took him away and tried to put in the loony bin, and Mel got busted for running bandit at a 10k in Carlsbad. As for me, I needed some time to regroup and heal after royally messing up knee while training for my first marathon, which I had to sit out.

The good news is spring is here, my knee is better, and we've got a whole mess of new editorial talent ready to bring you the best in punk rock running.

Stay hydrated.
Stay punk.

-SV

Happy New Year!

Let's have a good 2009 out there people.
Stay warm, stay positive and run your balls off.
Love,
Supervictory

Questions for Henry Rollins

Why did you choose weight-lifting over running?
Running is such a better way to leave all those awful feelings of low self-worth behind. Lifting weights just packs on the bulk, bulk borne of hate and rage, that you then have to carry around with you all the time. Talk about baggage. Sounds heavy.

Will you ever own up to being a total jock?
Everybody knows you've made some kickass music over the years, and nobody is doubting your status as one of punk rock's monster action-hero gods.
But c'mon, all that angry weight-lifting can only be the result of having your ass kicked by jocks so many times that you seek revenge by transforming yourself into a bigger, meaner jock so you can out-jock the jocks who made you feel so small. And there's nothing wrong with that. We're just saying that in this day and age, and on this blog, it's perfectly OKAY to be both punk, and a jock.

Where can I get some of those sweet Dolphin running shorts?
Did you and Richard Simmons team up and go on a Dolphin running shorts buying spree in the 80's? Because I can't find them anywhere.

Fred Lebow

Forget about all the doctors, lawyers, professional overachievers and millions of marketing dollars that make it easy to think that running isn't punk. There was a time when the only people who hit the pavement for exercise were boxers, who called it "roadwork." Beyond that, there were little pockets of nutjobs here and there who knew they were on to something good.

One such pocket was a small group who ran in NYC in the late 60's.
If the Sex Pistols' legendary first show in Manchester can be pinpointed as the cradle of punk rock music, this crew of weirdos can be credited for birthing the punk rock running scene.

Of these, there was one dude named Fred Lebow. A Transylvanian Jewish immigrant born Fischel Lebowitz, Fred wanted to get the word out, and turn people on to running. So he fought long and hard, battling city officials at every level until finally he got this little project called The New York City Marathon off the ground. Oh, and in the process, he helped launch a worldwide movement that to this day attracts doctors, lawyers, professional overachievers and millions of marketing dollars.
If that's not punk, I don't know what is.

NYC Hardcore

Yesterday's NYC Marathon was beautiful.
Unfortunately Supervictory's travel budget didn't allow for on-the-scene coverage, but hopefully we'll be there next year.

Sweaty mesh hats off to British badass Paula Radcliffe for going out strong and dominating the race the whole way through for her 3rd NYC victory.

And can I get a "hell yeah" for Brazilian Marilson Gomes dos Santos for running a smart strategic race and going in for the kill in the final mile.

And lastly, much respect to every last runner and wheelchair competitor who filled out the roughly 39,000 strong crowd.
Each and every one of you rocks.