How to Wear Your 2-Bottle Waist Pack

 

 

 

[image credit IMDb]

Behind Richard Boone's left hand one can partially see the buckle of his gun belt, clearly riding below his regular belt.  That low-slung, on-the-hip location was where I thought the best place was to wear my 2-bottle waist pack.

I was wrong, but your mileage may vary.  Read on.

In our Appalachian Trail run of a couple weeks ago, one of our group, sorta new to trail running, was trying out his new twin-bottle waist pack.  I don't know the brand, but it was a typical pack, with a pair of bottles flanking a central pack compartment into which you could stuff some food, a camera, a couple gadgets, etc.

His pack was flapping noisily with every step and I could well imagine that there was a chafe, somewhere, well underway.

I offered the suggestion that I have had good luck cinching my pack at the thinnest part of my waist, as opposed to low like a gunslinger's gun belt.

I previously posted on this topic, where I wrote the following, still true today:

Well, it was only a short distance run with my spanking new waist pack before I realized that the pack and bottles bounced all over the place. I finally devised the solution that the pack could not ride like Paladin's gunbelt. It had to ride several inches higher, actually around the smallest part of my waist. There I cinched it down as tightly as needed to preclude the dreaded bounce.

It took only a little getting used to, and with the right amount of cinching—up to but not past the point of uncomfortability—I could run bounce-free. And what’s more, the actual weight carried did not seem burdensome. It was like it (almost) wasn’t there.

 

Post script confession: I fully admit my man crush on Richard Boone as Paladin in Have Gun Will Travel, a 1950s TV western that I find to still be quite relevant today.  Besides the post quoted above, I've also blogged about Have Gun Will Travel here, here, here and here.

 

Have Gun Will Travel

Image credit Wikipedia.

While I was recuperating from arm surgery, I watched High Noon (Gary Cooper) and Hombre (Paul Newman, Richard Boone) via Netflix. 

A friend and I had had a discussion about Richard Boone, and I had to agree that he was quite right--Richard Boone was a bad dude in Hombre, not the dark antihero of the TV series Have Gun Will Travel.

I commented to the bride while in the midst of my Have Gun Will Travel marathon that although Paladin (Richard Boone) was dressed all in black etc., the show was anything but black and white.  It was decidedly gray, with all kinds of moral ambiguities and situational ethics.  It's about, I guess, a gunfighter with principles.

As a kid in the 50s I was smart enough to realize that this show was somehow different, unusual.  It took 40 years for me to finally see it on DVD and syndication and confirm my opinion as a child.

Love me some Have Gun Will Travel! You should check it out on DVD or Encore Westerns on cable.

 

Ultrarunners and Gunslingers

Way back when, as a newbie ultrarunner, I got my first waist pack with the double water bottles (I didn’t then, and still don’t embrace, the Camelback style). I figured it’d ride low on my hips, much like the way gunslingers from the Old West wore their gunbelt for their six-shooters (or at least, that’s the way they are portrayed in film and TV).

See photo above (credit here) of Richard Boone, playing the antihero Paladin, in Have Gun Will Travel (my previous post here from January where I rave about the show).  Note his pants-holding belt is at his waist, with the gunbelt much lower.

Well, it was only a short distance run with my spanking new waist pack before I realized that the pack and bottles bounced all over the place. I finally devised the solution that the pack could not ride like Paldin's gunbelt.  It had to ride several inches higher, actually around the smallest part of my waist. There I cinched it down as tightly as needed to preclude the dreaded bounce.

It took only a little getting used to, and with the right amount of cinching—up to but not past the point of uncomfortability—I could run bounce-free. And what’s more, the actual weight carried did not seem burdensome. It was like it (almost) wasn’t there.

Figure on 2 x 22 oz of water—call it 3 pounds—plus any gear, gadgets, and food inside the pack—say another 8 oz.  Oh...what about keys, cell phone, the weight of the pack itself, plus whatever else floats your boat for suitable equipage for a backcountry jaunt, to the tune of another 16+ oz and you’re easily approaching the 5 pound mark.

One thing that still drives me nuts while running with others is when somebody’s pack flops up and down noisily. I can only imagine the abrasion that is being carved into their lower back by the time the run is over. And the affront to my ears!

One more Paladin photo (same credit as before).  I guess I have a man-crush:

 

 

Set Your DVR to "Paladin"

(photo by Gary from the TV, credit to Encore Westerns)

Reminder that tomorrow morning, Wednesday 21 July, 6:30 (that's EDT...not sure if this'll vary in other time zones) the cable channel Encore Westerns will air an episode of Have Gun Will Travel in which Paladin reveals how he became a gunfighter.  I have not seen the episode and am only relying on the Comcast channel guide info, but I am excited about it.

Have Gun Will Travel is a show from my youth, and I recall that it was dark and with some moral ambiguity relating to the fact that the protagonist dresses in black, is a gunfighter, and an antihero to boot.  I can't wait to see this episode.

See here for a previous post I did on the subject.

Also, yesterday I posted on my C + O Canal run and how tough it was.  Today when I ran on the perimeter with my work buddies, I also had a tough run.  It was only 6 miles, but my mutual consent we took 2 brief walking breaks.  Getting old, I guess.

One thing I forgot to mention, that was a plus of the run yesterday, relates to what I'd call the "smugness factor."  Williamsport, MD is a central Mecca for Canal usage--good parking, easy access, etc., so many people park there to use the Canal.  My route was such that I parked at Williamsport but did not start out on the Canal. 

Typically runs on the Canal have to be out-n-backs, but I find that psychologically difficult.  I much prefer a loop course.  So I began my run along the roads east from Williamsport in the downstream direction (Potomac River), in effect running the end road miles of the JFK 50 Miler in reverse.  I then cut over on other roads to intersect the Canal towpath, and then run upstream to return to Williamsport.

By starting at dawn I was returning along the towpath to Williamsport around 8:00 am.  As I approached the town I encountered more and more people coming the other direction (i.e., downstream from Williamsport), people who had just started their run or bike.  And I was just about done, and I secretly had to smile knowing that fact. 

Yup, I was smug.  And I liked it.

 

11 Miler on the Canal...and Paladin

Today I got up at daybreak and headed to the C + O Canal.  This particular run starts out in roads and then intersects the Canal. 

I had 2 choices: 6 miles of road, then 12 of Canal towpath, for 18; or again 6 miles of roads followed by 5 miles of towpath, for 11.  I opted for the latter because when I started out at 6:00 am, the humidity was thick.  Quickly I had sweat dripping off my eyebrows, nose, chin, and elbows.  I figured that going for the longer distance would have been unwise, as I have not gone beyond 10 miles for a couple months.

Good decision.  I was done in at 11 miles and very glad I didn't have to death march another 7 miles.  Did see a raccoon up close (30'), which was the wildlife highlight of the run.

Change of gears: Wed morning at 6:30 (that's EDT...not sure if this'll vary in other time zones) the cable channel Encore Westerns will air an episode of Have Gun Will Travel in which Paladin reveals how he became a gunfighter.  This is a show from my youth and I can't wait to see this episode.

See here for a previous post I did on the subject.

Have Gun - Will Travel (or, the Antihero)

The bride got me Season 3 of Have Gun--Will Travel for Christmas, and I am LOVING it!  Plus, our cable provider carries the Encore Western channel, which has also begun to show episodes.

Ever learn about the concept of the antihero back in literature class?  Antiheros were BIG back in the 1970s when I was in college but I seldom hear about the concept any more today.  Nevertheless, a quick Google reveals that some univesities still teach such a class--see Dartmouth for one example. 

Anyway, back to the concept of the antihero: think Rambo and you pretty much have it. 

Wikipedia tells us that an antihero is "...generally considered to be a protagonist whose character is at least in some regards conspicuously contrary to that of the archetypal hero, and is in some instances its antithesis."

Well, Richard Boone, playing Paladin in the show, is just a more genteel Rambo but still embodies the antihero concept.  His "normal" persona is that of an educated, suave gentleman, dressed in fine clothes, living in San Francisco.  Paladin seems to spend his days scouring the newspapers for stories of the downtrodden, or someone in distress.  He then sends the needy person his terse, 8-word business card, and the person responds by hiring the gunfighter.  Typically the next shot shows Paladin--this time dressed all in black and riding a black horse--arriving at the place where he is needed for a showdown with the "bad" guy(s).

Not every episode contains a gunfight, although many do, and Paladin is a quick draw.  But frequently he solves the problem without resorting to violence, often by convincing people just to do what is right rather than what is expedient.

Paladin is a man with no first name, a good guy with a dark side.  He is a hired gunfighter who does what's right and helps the downtrodden.  As the lead-in to the show, Paladin always draws his gun and gives a short hard-ass speech as a teaser to what's about to happen.  The show is replete with situational ethics and moral dilemmas, and sometimes is unclear as to who really is the good guy.

Maybe I'm nostalgic for the formative days of my youth, but I love this show and can't get enough of it right now.  Perhaps it's the appeal of ambiguity and the parallels with contemporary life, which seems increasingly fraught with moral dilemmas and ethical conundrums.

No UlraRunning connection here--again, I just love Westerns!

(Photos taken by me from my TV)