Choose Strong
For Tim.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/JACK-KIRK-1906-2007-The-Dipsea-Demon-was-a-2620235.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPSheE9Fh5M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8BJW-rxAcw
傑克.柯克: 1906-2007 / 'Dipsea精靈' 生前是一個有名的長跑運動員和倔老頭
在1933或1934的一天，有名的Dipsea山路競賽中, 傑克.柯克在一段陡峭的路段
馬林縣Steep Ravine）上開始了他的傳奇。
當跑向Stinson海灘時，選手們已經很疲勞了。這時候，一個人突然不知道從那兒衝出來。
他滑下陡峭的山坡，越過樹叢，超越其他選手們好象他們是站在那兒一樣。
"那家夥跑得象一個精靈。"一個選手說道。
從那一天起，傑克.柯克就以"Dipsea 精靈"聞名了。他也對得起這個綽號。
他連續67次參加了這一艱難的7.1英裏的賽事直到96歲時在海拔1362英尺的Cardiac山頂上崩潰。
那個在一次比賽中曾經擊敗了John Muir's 的孫子的人周一晚間在Clovis（Fresno County）
醫院去世了。享年100歲。
柯克是一個古怪的家夥，他幾乎一生都住在內華達山麓小鎮馬裏波薩,
多年沒有自來水和電, 駕駛一輛一錢不值的老車, 常和他的鄰居們打架。
如果不是因為他的跑步, 他可能死於無名. 跑步把他變成了馬林縣最被談論的人物之一，
如此受歡迎, 他不得不隨身攜帶一個標誌, 要求觀眾在比賽時不要拍他的背。
生於1906年，他出身貧寒. 有三個兄弟和一個姐姐。他的父親, 一個愛爾蘭移民, 去世時,
他還年輕, 但不得不在一個農場工作幫忙養家。
他是一個小個子，據說, 他跑步(經常光著腳)是為了擺脫他的兄弟和惡霸。
這後來成為一種逃離生活中困難的手段。
他曾在太平洋聯合學院學習數學和生物學，在那裏他最終得到了生物學學位。
他曾一度在馬丁內斯的殼牌煉油廠工作。
他身高5英尺5，體重135磅，是一個終身素食主義者，柯克第一次聽說Dipsea比賽是在1930年.
比賽由一些自稱"Dipsea 印第安人"的奧林匹克運動員成立於1905年. 當時已經享有盛名。
出於好奇，柯克搭乘渡輪和火車到米爾穀, 央求一位老前輩帶他去看看.
據卓爾米勒(獲獎紀錄片聖安塞爾莫電影"Dipsea精靈"的製片人)說, 就在同一年，
他跑了他的第一個Dipsea，就迷上了，
即使在當時, 柯克也是異類. 他的廉價平板運動鞋就像那些受女學生歡迎的鞋一樣。
他對那些不知情的人解釋說他習慣於赤足跑步, 喜歡腳上東西越少愈好.
他每年都很有競爭力，但Dipsea的複雜係統的設限--讓老人, 小孩, 和女運動員先出發--
在早期把他打敗了.
36歲時, 柯克獲得亞軍並創下個人最好的時間. 他終於在1951年贏得了比賽.
16年後，當他60歲時，他再次贏得了比賽，成為最老的冠軍.
柯克沒有結婚. 20世紀40年代, 他有幾年在優勝美地擔任垃圾收集工.
在那裏, 他的訓練是跑到優勝美地瀑布的頂部。
1941 年, 他買了馬裏波薩一個400英畝的農場. 一個人在那裏生活了60年.
除了一些窩棚和自己修複的老舊汽車, 他什麽也沒有。米勒說，
在把小木屋塞滿了垃圾後, 柯克大多睡在車後座上，
“約翰·斯坦貝克叫我們收破爛的," 他告訴米勒，他解釋他愛好收集垃圾。
他脾氣古怪，經常和誤入到他的地盤的鄰居和孩子們對峙。據米勒說，
他蹲過馬裏波薩縣的所有三個監獄, 通常由於開槍嚇跑進入他的地盤的人或和警察口角。
他從未有過電話，他從附近的小河裏汲水, 在河裏洗澡.
60年代初，他與PG＆E爭執, 失去了電力. 自那以後他沒有電用。
柯克總是連夜開著一輛用膠帶和電線捆在一起的大眾汽車,踩著點到達賽場.
比賽的前一天是安息日, 作為一個Seventh-day Adventist,
柯克直到夜幕降臨才會向賽場出發.
他總是妙語連珠。問他為什麽下山跑的這麽快，他會回答，
“他們還沒有廢除萬有引力定律呢，有嗎？”
當他老了，他常說，“老運動員永遠不死，他們隻是到達第676步“，
指的是比賽開始時的675級Dipsea台階。
他的一個傳奇的事跡是, 因為不想鬧肚子, 在本賽當天他會不吃不喝.
即使在炎熱的日子, 他也會跑過山頂的水站而不停，
當有人想給他點什麽的時候, 他會咆哮，“我什麽都不要!”
1997年，90歲的柯克打破了波士頓馬拉鬆傳奇人物約翰尼·凱利的連跑紀錄，
大家都如此喜歡他以至於會陪他舉著牌子，上麵寫著“不要碰Dipsea 精靈"
當他的連跑在2003年結束時，主辦方安排他最後一次走過終點線。
“他在成百上千的人們歡呼中走過了終點線.” 米勒說:“這是一個非常感人的經曆."
他的弟弟克洛維斯的Earl.柯克還在世。
葬禮安排仍在進行中。
-----------------
The legend of Jack Kirk began one day in 1933 or
1934 on a steep slope called Steep Ravine in Marin
County during the famous Dipsea Trail race.
The runners were tired as they headed toward
Stinson Beach when suddenly a man appeared out of
nowhere tearing down the slope, sliding and
leaping over brush, passing other runners like
they were standing still.
"Boy," one runner said, "that guy runs like a
demon."
From that day forth, Jack Kirk was known as the
"Dipsea Demon," and he lived up to the?nickname,
running the arduous 7.1-mile trail race out of
Mill Valley 67 consecutive times. He didn't quit
until he collapsed at the top of the grueling
1,362-foot elevation Cardiac Hill -- at age 96.
The man who once beat John Muir's grandson in a
race died Monday night of old age at a hospital in
Clovis (Fresno County). He was 100.
Kirk, who lived almost his entire life in the
Sierra foothills town of Mariposa, was a bit of an
odd duck, living for years without running water
or electricity, driving old junky cars and
fighting with his neighbors.
He might have died a complete unknown if not for
his running prowess, which turned him into one of
Marin County's most fabled characters, so popular
that he had to carry a sign asking spectators at
races not to pat him on the back.
Born in 1906, he grew up poor in Mariposa County
with three brothers and a sister. His father, an
Irish immigrant, died when he was relatively
young, forcing him to work on a farm to help
support the family.
He was a small child and, according to legend, he
began running, often barefoot, to get away from
his brothers and bullies. It later became a kind
of escape from life's difficulties.
He studied math and biology at Pacific Union
College, where he eventually got a degree in
biology. He worked for a time at the Shell oil
refinery in Martinez.
A 5-foot-5, 135-pound, lifelong vegetarian, Kirk
first heard about the Dipsea race in 1930. The
race, founded in 1905 by a group of Olympians
calling themselves the "Dipsea Indians," was
already renowned. Curious, Kirk took a ferry and
train to Mill Valley and perusaded an old-timer to
take him on the trail.
That same year, he ran his first Dipsea and he was
hooked, according to Drow Millar, a San Anselmo
filmmaker who produced the award-winning
documentary, "The Dipsea Demon."
Kirk was recognizable even then for his footwear
-- inexpensive flat sneakers like those popular
among schoolgirls. He explained to those who
wondered that he was accustomed to running
barefoot and preferred minimal covering on his
feet.
He was competitive every year, but the Dipsea's
complicated handicapping system -- which gives
head starts to old, very young and female runners
-- foiled him early on. Mr. Kirk came in second
and had the best time in the race when he was 36.
He finally won the event in 1951. Sixteen years
later, when he was 60, he won it again, becoming
the oldest runner at that time to win.
Kirk, who never married, worked as a garbage
collector in Yosemite for several years in the
1940s, where he trained by running to the top of
Yosemite Falls. He bought a 400-acre ranch in
Mariposa in 1941 and lived there alone for 60
years with nothing but a couple of shacks and the
old cars he fixed up. Millar said Kirk mostly
slept in the cars after he filled up the cabins
with debris.
"John Steinbeck used to call us scroungers," he
told Millar, explaining his penchant for
collecting junk.
He was cantankerous, often confronting neighbors
and children who strayed onto his property. He had
the dubious distinction, according to Millar, of
spending time in all three jails in Mariposa
County at one time or another, usually for firing
his gun to scare off trespassers or mouthing off
to a cop.
He never had a telephone, bathed in a nearby creek
where he also got his drinking water, and lost his
electrical power during a dispute with PG&E in the
early 1960s, never again having electricity.
Kirk was famous for barely making it in time for
the race, often driving all night in Volkswagens
held together with duct tape and baling wire. A
strict Seventh-day Adventist, he would not leave
for the Sunday race until after nightfall on the
Sabbath, the night before the race.
He was always quick with a quip. Asked why he was
so good running downhill, he would answer, "They
haven't repealed the law of gravity yet, have
they?"
As he got older he would often say, "Old runners
never die, they just reach the 676th step,"
referring to the 675 Dipsea stairs that start the
race out of Mill Valley.
Part of his legend was the fact that he would not
eat or drink on the day of the race because he
didn't want to upset his stomach. He would run
right past the watering stop at the top of Cardiac
Hill, even on blazing hot days. When someone
offered him something, he'd bark, "I don't want
anything."
In 1997, at age 90, Kirk broke the record for
competing in consecutive foot races held by Boston
Marathon legend Johnny Kelley. He was so beloved
by then that runners would accompany him holding
signs that said "Don't Touch The Dipsea Demon" to
discourage fans from patting him on the back.
When the streak ended in 2003, organizers arranged
for him to walk across the finish line one last
time.
"He crossed the finish line with hundreds and
hundreds of people cheering him," Millar said. "It
was a very powerful, moving experience for
everybody."
He is survived by his brother Earl Kirk of Clovis.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
