a day on the beach

-

 a drive to the beach, though the coastal mountains with ice, snow, and even a coyote watching with a full winter coat. always a good omen. standing on the edge of a continent facing an ocean of karma and consequences. has it all caught up to me? have i really ran out of land? there's an ocean in front of me that leads me to believe there's a whole new land of opportunity if i can make it across. fire and angry, hostile natives on land, sharks and undertow at sea with only the promise of the unknown as an option. 

Popular posts from this blog

The Power of "No More"

-
    From the first time I picked up a guitar, paint brush or pen & paper, I've sought only to represent the ideas in my own head. Mixed in with whatever outside influences, of course. The idea and goal has also been to make at least a partial living doing this. This requires the "approval" of others. Now, decades after the first time picking up a guitar, paint brush or pen & paper, I've not only realized that the idea of "approval" has it's own influence on my "art" but I've also realized (I've always felt this, actually) that there's very few people (IF ANY) who's opinion I could even pretend to respect enough to make this "approval" make sense. Don't want to be a part of this process anymore. For the last few years I've sought the purest route to the "source" as possible. Just the idea of putting it "out there" compromises the work. Wether it be music, painting or writing, it was a...
Read more

Answers....

-
    A few years ago someone I knew was going through some incredible health issues. "health issues" being a couple months out from dying. They knew this was happening and I knew it. It really just gave us an opportunity to sit and talk a little more openly than usual. One morning during this time, we were just sitting on the back porch on a late spring morning. Sun was already warming up, dew still on the grass and we're sitting in a screened in porch drinking coffee when they say to me, 'I wish I could run. I wish I could just go run and run and run until I can't take another step. When I was little, I used to love to run and that's all I want to do right now. I think about it all the time.'     This person had never been particularly athletic or anything like that nor really "outdoorsy." no more than the average person anyway, but I understood what was meant with this.     Being a recovering addict who finds a lot of relief and spirituality f...
Read more

The "Volcanic 50k+" running around Mt. St. Helen

-
Image
First, let me get this out of the way. Calling this a race is being very open minded....and optimistic. This event is a DARE. Running this course will definitely challenge your perception of things. First of all, your perception of running. There's very little running involved. Of course the talented freak of nature elites at the front manage to somehow finish in the 6-7 hour realm but most of us mid-packers and back-of-the-packers who usually finish a 50k somewhere in 5-7 hours end up somewhere between 9-12 hours on this course. Don't get me wrong, there's lots of runnable sections, VERY runnable sections but the rock crawling, boulder hopping sections in between can leave you so drained physically AND mentally that you're just happy for the momentary break. That's actually one of the really cool things about this race too. A lot of times when you end up walking during an ultra, even though everyone does it and it's totally accepted and expected, you would st...
Read more