Summer in the Ice Palace

It's very much a done deal, we are moving toward the better part. At first it seemed like a decent idea to run through the summer months, but below the surface there is the fact that it is not easy. The reality is you endure hot days and hot nights. If the night was any choice it would be the best one, although a good sleep in your nighly abode would be the sacrifice. This is a choice I would make only if it was a 100 miler or a 24/48 hour event. Each run with the Capt. would be at a different place and varied in terrain, Muleshoe and Colorado bend would not disappoint with challenges.The shorter loops over again would be an act of will power. Then after you began from behind would flash through the trail the shorter distance runners, and you got to practice good trail etiquette. When the transition hit between light and dark thirty it played a mental change that at first caught me by suprise, that was the first race and my resolve sank very quickly. But night running takes a mental, as well as all the other details like lighting, nutrition, hydration with the heat, blah, blah, after all 37 miles is 37. Sure the moon, stars, fox, deer, rattlesnake, scorpion, mice, stinging nettle, the armadillo that had to v-line thru my legs, and the ups and down gave a new attitude to things, but your still pushing forward to get it over with. The awards and apparel are good quality, and the aid stations are close in mileage. Next  thing you know it's over, it's getting to be dawn and you load up and drive the distance home. Tracing our steps from the beginning, until they vanish in what was past, we continue now to some future game and nothing ever lasts.

It's a Rotten Life

The world is a vampire sent to drain. A secret destroyer, that will  hold you to the flames. What do I get for all my pain? Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game. Even though I suppose I' ll show, all my cool, I am naked, just an animal. Someone will say what is lost can never be saved.  But can I fake it for just one more race? Tell me I' m the chosen one. But I still believe that I can never be saved. Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in the cage.

Hanging on by a Thread

Boodini had to lay down, she didn't like it, but that limping leg stuff plagues most runners. Even when the heart says go the body needs rest. So for a good week nothing doing, but even patience with a cure is tough to take so off we go. This time at a shortened distance and so far so good. Now gently we tread the waters of caution. Finding the right mix is never easy, but it beats a lifetime of downtime. On the other side of the spectrum we have a couple of clowns running some of the best the hilly area has to offer, Jeff and the ole dude trek across some fun terrain, there were no junk miles to be had. Is this all there is? Yes it is a rotten life!

Magic Potion

Whatever gets you inspired, enthused, motivated, convinced so be it. You may believe  it's a shoe, a nutritional supplement, a wonder pill, and for that time you know or at least you think you have the ticket to success. Yet, on any given day you find what you had confidence in leaves you short and once again looking for the edge. In running, so in your own life, it is a trail ahead. All the tricks in the magician's hat lay before you and you grasp at what gets you just slightly farther on the journey. At the end of whatever day is left for you, it is simply the same place you started out, but now there is a past marker. Nothing but persistence, determination, and assurance carry you farther, and naturally doing the neccesary work. There is no forgiveness or being lucky with the final product. The past just reminds you of where you've been, and right now the marker you see is your start if you have drive to do the load. Face in the right direction and keep on moving forward.

Our Father

In words one might depict a person who is not easily noticed. But in the persona of being you begin to feel a calmness. It comes from a still disposition that is filled by patience and humbleness. Carrying his daily tasks with a demeanor of pleasantness and attentiveness, as if you were the only important focus of everything around. At the same time you wish to understand how can one possess this magnetism, that draws all the good forward. There doesn't seem to be anything worth getting upset about, and nothing ever gets him distraught, it is always,"go with the flow", "penza la salute". Always there, always listening with full intent, your problems are all that matters when you run to him. Not many times in this life will one walk in the midst, and when around you feel safe and cared for. Probably as an example to strive for, when in actuality he wouldn't pay much to striving as much as being. He just is, and that is good enough in his eyes, because you are accepted as you truly are. Penza La Salute, Pappi, RIP!

Dog Days of August

It is living up to the story of High Hot Temps this week for the start and end of our "Heat is Our Friend" Summer. Even though for the next few weeks we do have the very worst of times, imagine those days ahead of cooler months. Ok don't even think that far ahead. For now Boodini is on a deserved break as her paw has acted wrongly again and there has been a slight limp or stiffness. Like any good running plan even the Dog needs to run hard then rest, and that is what she will get. Why not lay out by the pool, chew on your favorite toy, have a few treats, and just kick back.

Lampasas Toughest 10K X's Six

Don't miss understand me, I realize it ain't easy to take, Colorado Bend 60k at night has some feet busting trails. Prime time rolling in the park with a blown tire, but made it back in a place with no cell service. Hills with distinctive cliffs made it feel like an ultra with teeth that would bite. Managed to get eight miles in before the sun went out, making things like the real McCoy, that's when the rock bed struck, ouch, ouch, ouch. At twelve a very steady uphill climb, mixed throughout are some very runnable spots. This years course had the last four miles heading up the hill and then down the other side. Then it was time to go out for the same eighteen and change to make sure your butt was served up and respectively handed back to you. It took me ten hours and fourteen minutes which was good for third masters, and at sixty two I was the oldest homey with the 50 year gang. Well that's the trifecta, one more to go and it's a  place similar to Inks which has always been a favorite of granite hard stuff, up and down, it will be tough, somehow I will need to run a heads up race. It's the same old story, same old news, tell me when will this end, the same old ultra blues again.