Dedicated to Webb Chiles

[mamadawn]

So it's 28 degrees in Wisconsin, and I'm off to run a thanksgiving-morning 10k race barefoot. This is part of my attempt to face my fears of cold and pain and exhaustion, inspired by this amazing man.

6 miles in the cold is small potatoes, but it's a start. Has anyone else been moved to action by reading his accounts of valor at sea?

[mikel1]

WWWHHH AAA TTTT? Are you a masochist?? Ya know Rambo and the Duke were just in the movies....

[imagine2frolic]

Webb has motivated me to be strong, and to endure. I think the man is totaly crazy, and once here I called him a loon. It was meant in an affectionate way.

I love the way he writes, and his complete honest & humbling way. INSPIRED? possibly he has pushed me over the edge. This past summer when illness caught me off the coast of Colombia. I could not sleep for 3 days due to pain. A SINGLE WAVE was within inches of my head as I tried to sleep. Belive me I gave Webb some thought for those 3 days before I turned back. BEST WISHES in your run........i2f

[TintedChrome]

Hope you had a good run!

Yeah, I love Chiles too.. Combed over his site at length, have all his books that are still in print, printed off the free ones on his site, follow his journal.. you're right i2f - he *is* a loon (in a good way).. I'm convinced he's a masochist and that through all the agony and complaining, he just wouldn't have it any other way than to bail water for 8-10 hours a day for over a month rather than not be doing what he loved. That story, along with the sinking of Resurgam and subsequent swimming, or the drifting of Chidioc are recounted in an almost nostalgic tone. Hell even the way he told the story of being held prisoner in Saudi Arabia almost (key word here is "almost") makes me wish I'd experienced that..

He's one of the guys that inspired me to set the plan in motion to permanently cast off the dock lines.. While he is inspiring, I'm not gonna lie - I hope to have an easier time of it