I am a false prophet with a lot to say and no idea what I am talking about
not gonna complain, not gonna complain, not gonna complain....
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beautiful winter day, not gonna ruin it by complaining about a crappy run. not sure what the problem was but just never got in the groove. every single step was an exercise in labor. it happens. as it's been cold and dry as opposed to our usual not so cold and rain, i welcome the dry weather. reminds me of back home in tennessee. although that was many years before i became an outdoor endurance junkie. it was just plain junkie back then. my reasons for spending several hours outside in crappy weather were much darker in those days than they are now. now it's just getting out in nature and trying to be "epic." having a bad run doesn't bother me so bad as it does knowing what a great experience i was actually having but due to my "not feeling it," that experienced was minimized. think it's my diet. it's been pretty crappy lately. the last few days i've tried to pick it up with less meat and more greens but still taking in a lot of stuff i shouldn't be. peanut butter, bananas, cliff bars....like i said earlier. it could be worse. anyway, i got in a decent 11 miles with only one more workout day for my first week back in the saddle. i guess feeling a little out of step is about right
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...
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...
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...