there's something about larry

Yay!! It's finally up!

It's so weird it should be on TV immediately.
GL.

nicely done

In flip flops, none the less. This was pretty funny. I wasn't sure if he was ever going to stop for the camera.

this is such a great film. you guys have a really cool style. i'm excited to see what the both of you will do next.

Fantastic job, Carlos and Yelena!

Excellent. Unique style and great story. Its not really about the slip flops.

Go Yelena!!!! I liked it and also congrats to your partner Carlos. Great job guys.

do you think he owns a toyota 4runner!!!

yeah he probably does

I know a guy like this, but he is about 40 years behind this guy.

Enjoyed it,
Barry
Realizations in Baja

Good tracking shots of Larry as he runs. You also captured his unconventional style by interviewing him as he runs. It gives the impression that running is his life... that it's all he does. What a fascinating individual! I've GL'ed this pod. Please check out my pods as well. I appreciate honest feedback. Thank you!

<a href=" http://current.com/items/77145332_before_keagan"&g... Keagan</a>
<a href=" http://current.com/items/77154152_watermelon_impromptu&... Impromptu</a>

its great guys...I love the beginning and ending side-by-side shots. I'm excited to see what else you guys do!

Larry is a great character, cool film. Put it on TV!

Larry is a nice guy. I run on the same trail as he does. Every now and then, he wants to tag along while i'm jogging. If you see him and you are jogging he may ask to jog with you. I suggest you agree. At the very least you will have an interesting conversation.

Very interesting edifiable picture of a functioning troubled man. Hats off to Larry

Go yelena!
Say, am i invited to your release party?!
i really liked it, it makes me want to go and find larry and give him a hug and some really nice flip flops.

Fantastic job!
Movement, mystery, humanity....
great sound recording too!

- Carluccio
(Nice meeting you at U of Florida.)

What a crazy cat. I want him to say why runs. For him to try to explain what makes him tick. Great job. maybe cut it down some.

This is amazing. I love this man, and I love this representation of him.

Awesome job!!

this is too long for CurrentTV but they will cut it down to a length that works for them. I love it!!! As a runner I hope to be running as well as Larry. In todays crazy world running can be the only grounding thing. I hope Larry finds that. I will guess he found it but does not yet know.

Great production! Great story!

GL..

I began running at the age of 11 as a dare to see who could run the fastest mile between myself and a friend. I won. In anger my friend said well I could run farther than you, so his brother came down with a bicycle that had one of those huge ODOMETERS on it and challenged his little brother to put up or shut up. He got mad and went in. I took the challenge solo. I ran eight miles and stopped once per mile. Soon I was running it non-stop... then non-stop twice a day. In 1986 I decided that I NEEDED to become a triathlete. I dropped 40 ppl (Couch potatoes) from my personal addy book and moved from Irvington, NJ to Hawaii. When I decided to seriously run a "run only" distance event it was the 1989 Los Angeles Marathon. I never ran futher than a 16 mile run in 1985, so I trained 8 weeks with a max run of 13 (up to Iao Needle on Maui). My one and only marathon was a 3:34 finish. WHAT NEXT? More triathlon stuff. NOw I live in Pinellas County, Florida. I accompany Larry on occasion, pacing him, trading stories and sharing lite-laughter. Being deployed for 4 months at a time on ammo and supply ships, I had planned to make a "Larry" video for YouTube.com once I came home. Yesterday was the first day I have run into him since returning from Guam in October. He told me about this and the newspaper article (Yeah, I was bummed out that someone beat me to this). My focus was there has to be something he is doing that gives him his edge. I want to compare that to what I do. ME? I love ridng my bike, but I don't like riding it less than 100 miles at a time. So far this December, after taking off the first 8 days of the month and traveling bike-less for Christmas out of state, I have 10 rides and 6 of them are over 100 miles with 2 sets of back to back. It is not uncommon for me to ride 100 mile rides back to back to back to back. So yes I find Larry an interesting subject. I tried to talk nutritional sense to him a few times, but it always turns into Larry telling me that he eats a pound of sugar a day and drinks Pepsi or Arizona Iced Tea & eats chocolate. His focus is what really intrigues me. In Guam I ride my bike down a road that is 1.2 long and back until I get my 100 miles completed, I just know that there is something in MY "focus" that has similar threads that weave a pattern which is "Larry". I can see articles in Sports Illustrated, Runners World, Running Times, Outside, and a Scott Tinley article in Triathlete all covering him. Where is Marty Liquori's "Running And Racing" program when you need it most?

* Yesterday I asked him about his hat and shirt (both were NOT being used and it was hot. Larry said he stashed one of them in the bushes.

* When I asked him if he remembered me from the spring of 2007 and I refreshed his memory of my pacing his miles on my bike, while out on one of my century rides, he stated that he has Alzheimer's and didn't remember.

Well it is 2:30 AM and my next century (100 mile ride) starts in 4 hours... Maybe I will see Larry out there. Maybe you will see me.

PS: I don't ride in Flip Flops, but I root on a runner who does! GO LARRY!! GO!!

During my last ride, mentioned in my previous post, I spotted Larry twice. The first time was just after I joined the Pinellas Trail a couple hundred feet south of Curlew Road (Mileage for me 6 miles). The next time I spotted him it was just north of the "East Bay" trail bridge... (Mile 48? 49? for me). He was a bit drained - He drinks hardly any water at all - he claimed that chlorine and ammonia are put into the water - I worry about the fact that certain organs, if not all, need water to function properly. Which reminds me, last spring he stated that he enjoyed seeing how far he could go without water... Not me... I have a countdown timer that goes off every 15 minutes in the winter and every ten in the summer and with that I have two beliefs: 1. Drink when ever you are thirsty. & 2. Drink when the alarm chimes(even if it is just one second after your "I am thirsty SIP/DRINK... Take another small sip). This will ascertain that you will not dehydrate in the Florida heat & humidity.

Well, we both stopped long enough to carry on a bit, Later a friend who was riding a tandem with his girlfriend on Friday was passing him when, according to my friend, Larry yells out "252 miles since Sunday!" as they rode by. As soon as my friend was finished with his ride he calls me (I was at mile 87) on my cell. He asks me if I had spotted Flip Flop Man out on the trail I said, "Yes, Twice. Why?" Then he told me about the 252 mile thing. I asked "What is weird about that? His goal this week is to beat or tie his P.R. (Personal Record) of 289 miles in a week, even if it was only by one mile." My friend goes on to explain that what was eerie to him was that number -252- was exactly how many miles my friend had ridden on his bike that week, at that precise moment. My explanation to my friend was basically to reassure him that, "No, Larry is not a psychic. He is just a proud mileage junkie like the rest of us.

As for my century that day... It went well. One more today Sunday December 30 and a Suncoast Cycling Club century event tomorrow - the 31st. This will bring my total December mileage to 1161 with 9 centuries in 13 rides and it will put me at my goal mileage of over 6,000 for the year, 24 centuries for 2007 & 56 mi. avg over 108 2007 rides.

NOTE: I will be sure to bump my December ride total to 1170 so I will have the most miles in a month during the last two years & it will also raise my monthly average to 90 miles a ride ... So many personal records... so little time.

If you see Larry out there take mental notes and journal it here... Also, if you are obsessed with your sports or harmless addictions log them here & perhaps, just perhaps it will spur someone to make you a film-short star.

PS: Please make my film 15 minutes in length... I wouldn't want Andy Warhol's 1968 quote to go unrealized in my life ... "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." - A. Warhol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_minutes_of_fame

I first met Larry after his 2nd or 3rd hernia repair. Doc told him to stop running so it could heal; therefore, he was walking instead. Which gave me the opportunity to chat with him. When we departed, he told me that if say "Hi Larry" he probably wouldn't remember me, but he'd wave anyway. Sure enough, and life goes on. I'm glad I stopped that day to offer him some water, I like to greet him with "Hi Larry" as I pass by on my bicycle.

Hi! Larry
It's Wendy

Larry is one of the Beaver Valley Bikeling Club's most revered trail characters. We see him at least once every Sunday and sometimes twice as we are traversing the Pinellas Trail. Sometimes he tells us about his 200+ mile runs of the week.
Next time we see him we're going to invite him to breakfast at Iris's resturant in the enchanted land of Dune-din, and I'm picking up his tab.
He often reminds the Beavers of Forrest Gump as he runs across America and back.
Larry is another cog in the gear that makes this country tick.
Thanks for the video. I feel like I know Larry much better now and consider him an important of our Trail Character family.
SpeedRacer1