John West Salmon Commercial...and Ultrarunning

I recently showed this old commercial to Mister Tristan (the 7 year old human being, not the blog), I guess because it's a guy thing, and he loved it.  Of course!

So, in case you missed it the first time around, please enjoy it again.  I am continually amazed at old jokes or videos like this one, that given the passage of a few years, basically become completely new again and experience a second birth.  If the embedded video does not play, the YouTube link is here.




The (very tenuous) connection to Ultrarunning, naturally, pertains to enjoying backcountry experiences.  John West is a UK company, I believe, so the red salmon depicted may be from that neck of the woods.  But whenever I see this commercial I am reminded of Alaska, where I had the pleasure of experiencing several business trips during my working career for the Defense Department.

I was able to get away for some backcountry runs; while none were in such a pretty setting as this river, the runs nevertheless were stunning in their contrast to my everyday runs here in south-central PA.

I did find myself continually looking over my shoulder for predators, though, for man-eating critters no longer inhabit Penn's Woods (unfortunately).

My Oldest and Favorite Garment

(Photo by Gary)

Of all the clothing I own--and I am not a clothes horse--this threadbare T-shirt is both my oldest and my favorite article of clothing.

The T-shirt dates from 1980 and I still wear it regularly for running in the summer. Long ago I cut off the short sleeves for hot weather use. I know, I know, it's cotton--AKA the Death Fabric--but technical shirts were not the rage 30 years ago.

I only wear it now for road runs of up to an hour or so, and go with a technical top for anything longer, or if I'm going into the woods.

It'll be a sad day indeed when this shirt bites the dust.  I got it when I had to go to Anchorage (Fort Richardson) and Fairbanks (Fort Wainwright) to work early in my career. I was able to take the bride along, and stay for several days after the work part of the trip was done. We were there over the summer solstice in late June when it never really got dark.

The scale of everything in AK was grand, and beautiful. And the critters! Moose, caribou, Dall sheep, grizzly bears, salmon....I've been back several more times for work, but am eagerly awaiting the time when we can take a purely pleasure vacation.

And I'd better look for a replacement T-shirt.