David Horton comes to Charlottesville

David Horton at the Tour Divide, 2011

  "Do you have a bucket list?!"

David Horton, legendary ultrarunner, teacher, race director, and newbie mountain biker, asked that question many times throughout his talk to CAT and CAMBC members last night at UVA.

"Everyone NEEDS a bucket list! What's yours?!"

Mixing humor, self-deprecation, Malcolm Gladwell, sobering facts and stats with passion and candid reflection, David shared both his triumphs of 30+ years of ultrarunning along with his feelings of doubt, fear, and sadness upon learning from two doctors that he could no longer run.

"Do you know those people who can't stop talking about something, whether it be music or cars or computers (or running)? They're the ones to look out for, they're the ones who are going to make it." -Bob Lefsetz

Horton is passionate about running. But he is equally passionate about getting other people excited about being active. His talk was not "woe is me, I cannot run"; it was "find your passion and do it now, before you can't do it anymore!"

It was an honor to hear the endurance "genius" of David Horton last night:  former speed record holder of the AT, PCT, Long Trail, Barkley Marathons winner, Hardrock winner (2x), and, a little over eight months after learning to ride a mountain bike, Tour Divide finisher.

"When you see a genius at work, you feel something. Those Apple keynotes, you could see that Jobs himself was thrilled, the excitement was contagious.
 
 Loving what you do is not enough to succeed. It's just a beginning, it's an ongoing force. It keeps you going when the spotlight's gone, when everybody else tells you to give up.

But it also drives you to innovate, to do it different." -BL

DH greeting a grateful Promise Land finisher, 2011