A Brief Chat With Duncan Larkin Subelite Wannabe Times sat down recently with Duncan Larkin for an interview after his lukewarm 2:36:22 showing at the Vermont City Marathon this past Sunday. Duncan Larkin runs for the Ascetic (TM) sock company and is currently the founder of Stickenstone Inc. He holds a 2:32 (AIDED) marathon PR as well as a 15:47(DUBIOUS) 5k PR. Besides running he likes to hang out with painted clowns and prancing ponies; he enjoys candied orange slices and drinking Falernian wine. Never one to hold his tongue or avoid conflict, Duncan has fought recent battles with John Bingham's brownshirts when he questioned the achievement standards of people like Jason Caity who PR'd with a 5:50 at the 1st Annual Anna Graham marathon. He's also dared to call Bart Yasso ubiquitous and accuse Bingham of doing meatball shots while drunk and possibly stoned. Regards to recent running, Duncan struggled in the Vermont City Marathon where he hoped, in perfect conditions, to go for a 2:29 attempt. Subelite Wannbe Times caught up with him at lunch as he was changing the bandage on the wound incurred when his Ascetic (TM) sock slipped underneath his Racer ST. SWT: Tell me about VCM. DL: It was hot for me at the start. I usually race better in low 50 degree temps and I think the temperatures were around 65-69 at the start with some humidity. I went out behind the leaders and was banging out consistent 5:40s until about 8 or 9. 5:40s started to hurt around that distance and so I let go of the goal and just committed to holding on. I pretty much knew that my goal was gone at 8 and I just wanted to end it respectably. I really ate it hard around mile 20-21 and that bothered me because I thought I'd come into this race very strong for the final miles. Also, contrary to the VCM website, I didn't run the 1/2 in 69. It was 1:15:low and I was in 6th place at the time. SWT: Were you in 6th place the whole time? DL: No, I passed Mark Churchill around mile 14th for 5th and then another guy at 16 for 4th. I held 4th until Mike Melfi passed me at 20 like I was standing still. Then some doctor guy from Vermont (not Skirack) passed me on the bikepath around 23. SWT: How does it feel to beat Skirack finally? DL: Who cares. They didn't put anyone up to it this year. Had their new recruit, recent Vermonter Rick Rountree been there, I'd still be writing about the vendetta that will never end. However, I do feel some sense of vindication, b/c had they sponsored me I'd have made them proud. But it's over. No more angst felt. No more bitterness. I even made peace with Leslie Myers. She encouraged me at mile 4 when I passed her (she was on a relay) and I reciprocated. Josh Brown, one of their sponsored runners and a real stand-up, friendly guy, caught my ear at the YAM scram and we shared some good memories of a few races. So the hatchet is buried and the lame boxer-ish grudges are done. My beef was never with the people on the team, but more with the way they allocated sponsorships. It made for good theater, that's all. The theater also helped increase the number of pageloads per day which increased my Google ad check from $.01 per month to $.10 per month. Note to self: conflict always drives revenue--good shit man. SWT: So what's up with your foot? DL: Since I'm sponsored by Ascetic(TM), no comment. Some people are asking about my shoes though. I run marathons in Racer STs and shorter races in T-4s. T-4s aren't cushioned enough for my endomorphic mass. SWT: What's next? DL: Good question, SWT. Damn you guys are on it. After the race, I considered hanging it all up. I stewed on the idea of taking up sailing and perhaps boat building. I've always wanted to sail the ocean and contemplated doing something Thor Heyerdahl-ish, you know, build like a primitive Kon Tiki vessel and take to the Pacific--the whole fucking Pacific. I thought about it during the entire 8-hour drive down from Vermont and when I pulled up into the parking lot at McWorld, I decided to keep running. I'll do the Pacific when I'm40. Until then, I'll keep tilting at a sub 2:30. SWT: What broke down in your training? What would you do differently? DL: Probably marathon pace. I preach Hudson and thump Hudson, but I don't live Hudson. My workouts were either progression down to MP or at the poopy 7:00 pace. In fact, when I tried MP stuff, I failed in the heat--so there you go. For my next go-around, it will be MP from the get-go. MP on the track at increasing MP distances. Another thing that I'll do differently is try and train with people more. I've got some new training partners with similar goals for a fall marathon and we'll all work together this time. I'm also on the verge of running on a local team. I also think the weather during the race was some factor. I felt hot from the start of the race. The Spring down in PA had been cool and my body wasn't acclimated. SWT: Did I just catch you making excuses? DL: Yes. SWT: Did you do striders before the race? DL: Yes, I pranced with the other prancers. I did a couple, but one of them was what I call a "social strider." I strided, and then saw some good friends behind the Parisian barricades and ran over to them and said hi. Social striders don't count as true striders and this may have been a major factor to why I died at mile 23. SWT: Anything you did well in training? DL: Yes, I like to think my mileage was right as well as doing mid-week progression runs. After all, I ran a 10-mile PR and a 5k (NO DUBIOUS) PR in this lead up. It was good stuff. One of my running mentors and friends, Bob Sweeney, told me recently that the dividends of doing the training I was doing won't necessarily get paid right away--it takes time. His words really stick with me. During the race, I hydrated at every stop taking gatorade at the beginning and water at the end. I got by with no GUs. I like to think this part of the race went well. SWT: Anything else you'd like to say about the race? DL: Yes, a couple thank yous. Thanks to the old vet with the ship baseball hat who walked me to the elite tent and got a tee shirt for me because my bag was missing. People like this--people that help you and then disappear unthanked--are the real heroes of these races and in life. Thank you to the entire VCM organization. You guys always put on a first-class event and take care of the subelite wannabes with all our little needy things like cutting in bathroom lines and having our little cattle pen surrounded by orange 'keep-out' signs. Thank you to Ron and Wendi for sharing their house and Rob and Lori for throwing the raging bonfire and the BBQ with the bountiful beer. Thank you to the 1000 of you who encouraged me along the beltline. I felt, as you encouraged me, that if you really knew how much of a jerk I was, you'd root for #7 not #6. Thanks also to all those that came to the race and helped me in this selfish pursuit, including the EMT folks that fixed up my Pickett's Charge ankle in the Civil War triage tent. Their words: "We are in awe of what you do" amazed me. To which I responded,"Nope, I'm in awe of what you do, you are helping people for free, I'm chasing a time for myself." I think it was after that exchange that I contemplated reading up on Thor Heyerdahl and drawing out Kon Tiki plans in my head. SWT: Red Hot Chili Peppers: By The Way, Californication, or Stadium Arcadium? DL: Stadium Arcadium sans the boop de hop de dop songs. Songs like "Hard To Concentrate" and "Strip My Mind"are the real gems. SWT: Lydiard or Daniels? DL: Hudson and Canova.

SWT: What do you make of McMillan's calculator? It nailed you on this one with your recent 5k time.

DL: McMillian's calculator, Avogadro's number, it's all Scotch-Italian math to me. Next question.

SWT (making the same gesture over the heart that Mike Wallace made when he asked the Ayatollah Khomeini if he was crazy): Forgive me, these are others' words, anonymous peoples' words, not mine, but 2:36. It's not that good. Is this the genetic wall or was it a bad race on a hot day?

DL waiting for translation then looking down at the microphone and after a long pause doing his best Ehrlichman: Is there a question in there somewhere? SWT: Now, to your previous novel... DL: Yes, "Wildcat" SWT: Not a success. Why? DL: Well... Wildcat was written in a kind of obsolete vernacular... [long pause] ... Wildcat... Wild... cat... [he stares into space]... pow... wildcat... I'm going to go. ---------------------