by me, Kerry Burgess, posted online here, September 02, 2005
The Running Man
I have always read a lot, since I was a kid. When I was in the Navy I read a lot of books when we were out to sea and one of my favorites authors during that time was Stephen King, not to mention Tom Clancy and Louis L'Amour.
One of King's book that has been on my mind a lot over these past few years is The Running Man. You may have seen the movie, but the book is a lot different and I think a much better work. Anyway, there have also been a lot of similarities between my experience over the past few years and that of the protagonist character in the book.
One notable event happened a few years ago when I was still working with Microsoft, although was soon to quit, and I was living in an apartment in Redmond. Noises bother me a lot and the people in the apartment above me were causing quit a commotion. It sounded like they had a lot of people in there and they were all stomping around. I went up there and knocked on the door. Before they opened it, I heard someone on the other side say, "Shh, it's the running man."
That stuck in my head for a long time. Ordinarily I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought for several reasons. One is that I was literally running a lot because I was training for my Ironman triathlon. But how would they know that? From their apartment, they couldn't see me leaving mine to go out running on the Samm. Trail. Plus that, they were new to the building.
And then I remembered The Running Man by King and that really worried me. It was crazy but it made sense.
So, anyway, there have been about a million little things like this that have led me to where I am now. I know what I heard and I know what I've seen. I still believe without doubt that I will get answers to all this, I just wonder if I am going to have to wait until I am 90 years old before that happens. My best years were ahead of me. There is still a lot I want to accomplish. None of this is helping.
excerpt
http://www.online-literature.com/crane/redbadge/8
THE LITERATURE NETWORK
Literature Network » Stephen Crane » The Red Badge of Courage » Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Parts of the procession limped and staggered to this tune.
Another had the gray seal of death already upon his face. His lips were curled in hard lines and his teeth were clinched. His hands were bloody from where he had pressed them upon his wound. He seemed to be awaiting the moment when he should pitch headlong. He stalked like the specter of a soldier, his eyes burning with the power of a stare into the unknown.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10374610/quotes/
IMDb
The Long Walk
Quotes
Raymond Garraty #47: Hey, you know, that's not a bad wish, Baker. Remember that one kid that, uh, well, he wished for, uh... I think it was pet elephant.
Arthur Baker #6: Yeah, and they gave it to him. They brought it out with a saddle and everything, and he just rode it home. They really will give you anything you want. That's why I'm asking to go to the moon.
Hank Olson #46: I gonna wish for 10 naked ladies.
Peter McVries #23: Oh, shit. There he is. I thought we lost you.
Hank Olson #46: Well, I'm fine.
Peter McVries #23: The fuck you gonna do with 10 naked ladies?
Hank Olson #46: Uh, you said you were gonna be nice, McVries.
Raymond Garraty #47: That's a stupid fucking wish, Olson.
Hank Olson #46: How is that a stupid fucking wish? You fruity or something?
Raymond Garraty #47: No, that's not the point, Olson. All I'm saying is that when you win, you get like a gazillion dollars. You can pay for 10 naked ladies to come over to your house whenever you'd like. It's just, you know, when you win, you should wish for something that you can't pay for.
Hank Olson #46: No. I don't wanna have to fucking pay for my naked ladies. That's gross.
Peter McVries #23: Hey, you do realize if you get your wish, someone's gonna have to play the 10 ladies to get naked for you, right?
developed by me, Kerry Burgess
From 10/28/1955 ( Bill Gates ) To 7/6/2019 ( ) is 23262 days
23262 = 11631 + 11631
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 9/6/1997 ( premiere USA TV series episode "Hang Time"::"Sexual Harrassment" ) is 11631 days
https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf
Department of Justice
Office of The Inspector General
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Custody, Care, and Supervision of Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, New York
This report concerns the OIG’s findings regarding MCC New York personnel’s custody, care, and supervision of Epstein while detained at the facility from his arrest on federal sex trafficking charges on July 6, 2019
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relationship_of_Donald_Trump_and_Jeffrey_Epstein
Relationship of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein
From Wikipedia
Epstein was photographed alongside Trump and Trump's 12-year-old daughter Ivanka at Manhattan's Harley Davidson cafe on October 19, 1993.
From 5/4/2005 ( the incident at the police department City of Kent Washington State after my voluntary approach to report material criminal activity directed against my person and I am secretly drugged against my consent ) To 9/12/2025 ( ) is 7436 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 3/13/1986 ( the Bill Gates-Microsoft IPO ) is 7436 days
From 7/6/2019 ( ) To 9/12/2025 ( ) is 2260 days
2260 = 1130 + 1130
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 12/6/1968 ( premiere USA TV series episode "Star Trek"::"The Empath" ) is 1130 days
From 10/19/1993 ( ) To 9/12/2025 ( ) is 11651 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 9/26/1997 ( premiere USA TV series "Teen Angel" ) is 11651 days
From 4/3/1946 ( ) To 2/11/2006 ( ) is 21864 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 9/12/2025 ( ) is 21864 days
From 10/8/1883 ( ) To 6/29/2003 ( ) is 43728 days
43728 = 21864 + 21864
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 9/12/2025 ( ) is 21864 days
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10374610/releaseinfo/
IMDb
The Long Walk
Release info
United States September 12, 2025
Full cast & crew
Stephen King - based on the novel by
from my private journal, as me, Kerry Burgess, typed after being released from the USA Veterans Affairs psychiatric hospital enduring many months sitting in a grungy two-computer room in a homeless shelter on the waterfront in downtown Seattle:
From: Kerry Burgess
Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2006 6:52 PM
To: Kerry Burgess
Subject: as of a drama
[ Stephen Crane writes: ] In regard to his companions his mind wavered between two opinions, according to his mood. Sometimes he inclined to believing them all heroes. In fact, he usually admired in secret the superior development of the higher qualities in others. He could conceive of men going very insignificantly about the world bearing a load of courage unseen, and although he had known many of his comrades through boyhood, he began to fear that his judgment of them had been blind. Then, in other moments, he flouted these theories, and assured him that his fellows were all privately wondering and quaking.
His emotions made him feel strange in the presence of men who talked excitedly of a prospective battle as of a drama they were about to witness, with nothing but eagerness and curiosity apparent in their faces. It was often that he suspected them to be liars.
He did not pass such thoughts without severe condemnation of himself. He dinned reproaches at times. He was convicted by himself of many shameful crimes against the gods of traditions.
In his great anxiety his heart was continually clamoring at what he considered the intolerable slowness of the generals. They seemed content to perch tranquilly on the river bank, and leave him bowed down by the weight of a great problem. He wanted it settled forthwith. He could not long bear such a load, he said. Sometimes his anger at the commanders reached an acute stage, and he grumbled about the camp like a veteran.
http://www.online-literature.com/view.php/redbadge/2
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1931/warburg/facts/
Jun 5, 2021 by me, Kerry Burgess
Last night I had one type of recurring dream that happens sometimes
More vivid than usual
I was standing among a group of people
We were waiting for the signal to begin the 2.4 miles course of Ironman triathlon. Presumably in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho,
but that's not clearly established.
I'm ready for it, amazingly, because I certainly am not now, after all those years ago when I last finished successfully that course, on the best day of my life, and that I intended to continue over the following years
In my sleeping dream today, I'm standing there, and I actually feel sort of fatigued. I look at the clock in the distance, is only 6:35 AM, meaning we have to stand there another 25 minutes
Is now 6:56 AM
With a gasp, I realize that I'm still carrying my car keys and wallet, in the pair of athletic-shorts over my athletic-wetsuit
So I take off to leave those in my Jeep Wrangler
Then I'm back. The race has started without me and I'm sitting there
I'm sitting there on the beach in the sand at the swim-start and I'm struggling to get off that pair of shorts over my wetsuit. The material is blocked by the athletic-shoes I'm still wearing
Just before I awake, I'm worried they won't let me start the race now because I'm a few minutes late
How well I remember that day I finished the Ironman CDA triathlon, 06/27/2004
I had numerous races under my belt by that time and I had started long-distance bicycling about 10 years earlier, only participating in organized events after moving to Seattle from South Carolina
That day in 2004, I remember standing there at the finish-line with my shoulders slumped, and such a great sense of accomplishment
2.4 miles swim in cold lake, 112 miles bicycle in moderate heat, which can't train for in Seattle, and then 26.2 miles of running, under 17 hours
by me, Kerry Burgess, 28 August 2015
I was working at Microsoft in the Seattle suburbs and I specifically remember being sick in June 2003. I remember that because I took two weeks vacation and traveled to Coeur d'Alene for that first Ironman triathlon. I was staying for the first week at the Comfort Inn on Northwest Blvd just on the northern edge of downtown Coeur d'Alene and I can still visualize myself in that motel room and I was in the final stages of what I guess was the flu and I was still feeling pretty bad just a few days before the event would start. That was June 2003. The next time I got sick was a mild cold just after they kicked me out of the homeless shelter for veteran's and sent me to a general homeless shelter in downtown Seattle. I was keeping track of that in my mind because I suspected I was being poisoned somehow. So that was September 2005. Then I remember being sick after going to see that West Point apartment as I have written in my journal and then the next time was late December 2013, just three months after I moved away from the Seattle suburbs and to the other side of the state.
from my private journal, as me, Kerry Burgess, typed after being released from the USA Veterans Affairs psychiatric hospital enduring many months sitting in a grungy two-computer room in a homeless shelter on the waterfront in downtown Seattle:
From: Kerry Burgess
Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 3:47 PM
To: Kerry Burgess
Subject: Re: 841 days
Kerry Burgess wrote:
It's been 841 days since I ran the Seattle Marathon. As I was waiting for the race to start, a very attractive young woman kicked my foot and I started talking to her. She was going to college in Provo and I described being out there the previous year for Ironman Utah. She told me that people say to stay out of that lake now because of "dead bodies" in it. I saw her later and she was far ahead of me in the race. I remember also thinking that people were watching me, beyond the normal spectating. I passed by a group of people and heard someone say "there he is." The next day at work, the director my group told me she had been there to watch the finish of the race. She described how she had accidently showed up or something like that, but I wasn't buying it. A cute woman at work that day was wearing clothes that looked suspicously similar to what I had wore for the race.
I think this was the 4th of 5 marathons I finished in a year period. I'm not sure of exact dates offhand but between Dec 2002 and Dec 2003, I completed 5 marathons, 2 sprint triathlons, and I trained for and participated in Ironman CDA, but I dropped out at the midpoint [ of the 2nd of 3 event courses ], completing the 2.4 mile swim and then 56 miles of the bike. I had developed serious cramps in my legs during the swim and a cramp in my lower leg [ correction: lower back ] was very painful. It was also extremely hot and I let myself get dehydrated. I could have probably taken some advil to relieve the pain in my leg, but being so dehydrated, I was worried about taking anything. I dropped out of the race and didn't really start regretting it until about 3 or days later, so that was an indication to me that I should have dropped out. If I had started regretting it right away, then I probably could have kept going on and at least finished the bike course.
From 1/13/2002 ( premiere US TV series episode "E! True Hollywood Story"::"Fast Times at Ridgemont High" ) to 2/6/2004 ( as me, Kerry Burgess, my final day as full-time employee of Microsoft Corporation in Seattle beginning 12/07/1998 ) is 754 days
http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/americas/ironman/coeur-dalene/results.aspx?race=coeurdalene&rd=20030629
IRONMAN
06/29/2003 Results: Coeur d'Alene
http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/americas/ironman/coeur-dalene/results.aspx?rd=20030629&race=coeurdalene&bidid=754&detail=1
IRONMAN
Kerry Burgess
Overall Rank: DNF
BIB 754
Division 35-39
State WA
Race Summary
Overall DNF
From 3/16/1951 ( premiere US film "The Red Badge of Courage" ) To 6/29/2003 is 19098 days
19098 = 9549 + 9549
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 12/25/1991 ( in non-aviator related duties boots on the ground as United States Marine Corps chief warrant officer Kerry Wayne Burgess I was prisoner of war in Croatia ) is 9549 days
From 4/25/1957 ( premiere US TV series episode "Lux Video Theatre"::"The Man Who Played God" ) To 12/20/1994 ( in non-aviator related duties boots on the ground in Bosnia as Kerry Wayne Burgess the United States Marine Corps captain this day is my United States Navy Cross medal date of record ) is 13753 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 6/29/2003 is 13753 days
From 7/27/1997 ( premiere USA TV series "Stargate SG-1"::series premiere episode "Children of the Gods" ) To 6/29/2003 is 2163 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 10/5/1971 ( premiere USA TV series episode "Marcus Welby, M.D."::"I Can Hardly Tell You Apart" ) is 2163 days
IRONMAN official
NEWS
June 27th 2003
the inaugural Ironman USA Coeur d’Alene triathlon taking place on Sunday, June 29, 2003.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043961/releaseinfo
IMDb
The Red Badge of Courage (1951)
Release Info
USA 16 March 1951
Full Cast & Crew
Audie Murphy ... The Youth
http://www.online-literature.com/crane/redbadge
THE LITERATURE NETWORK
Literature Network » Stephen Crane » The Red Badge of Courage » Chapter 9
Chapter 9
The youth fell back in the procession until the tattered soldier was not in sight. Then he started to walk on with the others.
But he was amid wounds. The mob of men was bleeding. Because of the tattered soldier's question he now felt that his shame could be viewed. He was continually casting sidelong glances to see if the men were contemplating the letters of guilt he felt burned into his brow.
At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.
- by me, Kerry Wayne Burgess, posted by me: 3:19 PM Pacific-timezone USA Saturday 01/03/2026
