AMORE Runners!

2018 Started out with such promise! But as the days and weeks and months wore on, I simply wore out. I think my ambition got the better of me. It’s not that I didn’t embrace the idea of running several big audacious ultra’s - Hard Rock, Bighorn and Rocky Raccoon to name a few - because I loved the idea of it. It’s just that, well, the idea is all I could muster. It was when the idea needed to transition into reality that I kind of hesitated, stumbled. The old “I’ll start my training next week” syndrome started rearing its head. This lead to “I’ll skip this race and focus on that one” which pretty much is an apathy spiral which, I believe, plagues even the most ardent runners (admit it folks).

But so what? So I took the year off from formal “racing” and kind of chilled out. No big deal. Instead, I had some great hikes up Mt. Whitney and San Gorgonio. I did some camping, some philosophising, and even some tree analysis, among other things. All in all a good year!

Looking back I’m pretty sure I forgot the basic rule of running which contributed to the spiral. I’ll describe that rule here as AMORE!, which is Italian for love. If you are thinking I’m using AMORE in the context of love running, or the love of running, you’re on the right track. But there is more here than meets the eye. To me AMORE means more than love. It is an acronym about running that always proves to be true. The rule is it’s better to slow down and go easy on yourself. Not push the pace all the time. Because when you do this, you: 

A - Avoid burnout, stay fresh

M - Minimize injury, stay healthy

O - Observe your surroundings, get outside of your head 

R - Run longer, wear down your prey 

E - Enjoy the darn sport!!

Keep if real runners!

The Calm and the Quiet

Equanimity, defined as an evenness of mind, especially under stress. A few years ago I wrote about it. I’d been struck by the sight of two “monkish” people sitting, ever-so-calmly, in the middle of New York City’s Central park, meditating. They appeared like living statues in quiet   defiance, keepers of calm in a chaotic world swirling around them. I felt a tug of attraction to their solitude.

A few halfhearted attempts to seek equanimity through meditation followed. Then there was the clobbering. The realization that developing a ritual of this sort isn’t going to just happen from my on-again-off-again curiosity. Some meditation books and a few teachings followed. But that is where it stopped.

This is a running blog. Which is why I’m writing about meditation. Because, from my perspective, the two are intertwined. Running is meditation. Just not the sitting part. Awaken. 

More to come on this topic in the new year…

The Mountains Are Calling

Looks like it will be something new for me in 2019. After throwing my proverbial hat in the Hard Rock 100 keep-the-newbies-out lottery system, I’m setting my sights on something different - 200 miles on the Tahoe Rim Trial.  

The absurdity of this aside, I’m actually looking forward to the extra miles for several reasons. First, it’s something I’ve never attempted let alone completed before, which keeps me on my toes more than logging yet another 100 miler. Second, I’m anxious to reevaluate my training approach by logging lots of exploratory miles in the mountains with some overnight thru-running. It’s kind of strange, but recently I’ve been intrigued by the idea of trekking overnight distances that require real gear to shelter from the elements. I guess it’s time I put this intrigue into practice. Third, after taking a year off from ultra events, I’m coming around to the realization that it’s really not the event that matters in the end, its the experiences we encounter along the way to get there. Experiences that, well, kind of keep things real in the surreal world we live in today. 

To borrow a phrase from a fellow blogger/adventurer…the mountains are calling.

Finding Your Dopamine

“The way I train is based on my feelings, that is, on my desire to climb a mountain or to discover a valley.”

Kilian Jornet

If I didn’t know better, I’d say these words were from some new-age hippie prepping for the John Muir trail, not the best ultra runner on the world stage. It is an interesting twist to us runners, me included, that training should be based on the whimsical – feelings and desires – not the more austere discipline and commitment.

I’m not surprised, however, given what little I know about Kilian. Like the fact that ultra running is just one of his athletic pursuits, the other being skiing, which he focuses on exclusively in the winter months. Or the fact that in a typical week of ultra training he climbs between 30,000 and 65,000 feet, training for some 30 hours. (that is just his climbing, not his descending). In a typical year he trains everyday and gets in 1,000 hours.

Why this doesn’t surprise me comes down to something very basic. There is no way in hell he could do what he does – the massive training, racing, and winning year after year – if he didn’t love what he does! No way!

Here’s another quote from this endurance guru…

Enjoy every day and every outing. Training should not be an "obligation", just a way to improve. Training should be spending time doing something you love.

What does this have to do with the dopamine? Let me explain. Kilian talks of mountains and valleys. He talks about running in the mountains is not really running. He calls it “a 5-sense experience.” He calls for enjoying the scenery, smelling the earth and feeling the wind.

Ok, dopamine is neurotransmitter, a chemical that transmits signals between the brain’s nerve cells (neurons). Turns out, the brain neurons that produce dopamine become activated when something good happens, like seeing an amazing sunset, or when we come across something novel, like finding a new trail or discovering a new summit. It’s all about chemicals. Turns out, dopamine is also produced when something negative that is happening to you (pain from grinding up a mountain trail) ceases to happen.

So, it appears to me, Kilian Jornet, the most accomplished ultra runner in the sport, has tapped into the most natural formula for training motivation – dopamine production – by keeping things fun and enjoyable.

I think it is time time to modify my training!

Life In a Center of Influence

His voice breaks through, and from the background comes a softer, female one that subtly follows the highs and lows. They move through the song with elusive grace, tying notes together from varying octaves, like a cat and mouse.

Ever since listening to a certain album in 5th grade, music has been a HUGE influence on me;  from Neil Young’s edgy Rust Never Sleeps, to the Clash’s political classic Sandinista, to New Order’s Power, Corruption and Lies. Surprisingly, I’ve even embraced Bruce Springsteen, who I despised early as a west coast punker, but who’s lyrics cannot be denied by anyone who seeks authenticity in people, and in life.

That said, the last time I listened to music during a race was at the Bishop High Sierra 100k five years ago. I concluded then that I would never listen to music during a race again. I fell so many times I think I lost more blood than a visit to the Red Cross ;-/

Hardrock 100 - Who Will Be Chosen this Time?

I’m keeping my fingers crossed. My application is in (again) for the Hardrock 100 mile endurance run lottery. That’s right, another 100 mile race lottery, which seems to be an annual ritual for me as I head into the holidays. Seems like yesterday when I was at my daughters swim meet 10 years ago checking my phone for updates on the Western States Lottery.

That one I remember, because I got in. It was my first 100 mile race, and I got in! Everything changed for me because of it. My training, my commitment to running, my dedication to make it to the finish line. Lotteries are weird like that. It’s kind of like throwing the dice and seeing what happens. If you come up a winner in a lottery, you feel chosen. Chosen over others who didn’t get selected. Chosen to step up. Chosen to go the distance.

It’s not the same to sign up for a race without a lottery. Heck, I’ve signed up for many a race and not made it to the starting line. It comes down to being distracted, lacking motivation, or just letting life get in the way. It can happen to all of us. Life is complicated!

I’ve never failed to show up for a race after getting accepted through a lottery. How could I? 

I’m looking forward to the odds of being chosen at the Hardrock 100 lottery on December 1.

Fingers crossed!

Into the Mist

It started out as just another run. El Moro state park to Nix center and back. What emerged was surreal - a marine layer of clouds nestled in every canyon along the coast and across Irvine valley.

Another One for Our Little Roses

Another day full of fun and mischief with the peeps from Run for Our Little Roses.

Where Continents Collide | Mt. Whitney

Ranked up there with the best hikes in the world, including Salkantay Trek in Peru (Machu Piccu), and the Narrows in Utah, is the Whitney trail in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. It’s a hike to the summit of the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. I had the good fortune, thanks to my friend Jinii K, to hike this challenging trail with three friends last Friday.

Morning Moon - Sierra Nevada.

The Whitney trail requires a bit of planning and logistics. Carrying enough food, water and proper clothing is important to make it to the summit and back safely. If the 22 mile round trip and 6,000’ vertical gain doesn’t get the best of you, the 14,505’ elevation at the summit of Mt. Whitney most certainly will. At that altitude the air contains a mere 57% of the oxygen at sea level, which changes everything.

Rob M

Rob M and Scott M beginning the switchbacks

With Dennis G and Scott M

We began our trek just before 6 am under a virtual full moon. The weather at the summit was expected to be mild (low 40s) so I packed light, stowing a windbreaker, gloves and a beanie for the summit. I also brought my water pump/filter to take water from the streams which allowed me to carry less than 40 oz of water at the start.

The Whitney trail approaches the summit of Mt. Whitney from the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It is here where you find the jagged, granite cliffs that rise thousands of feet into the sky, a stark contrast to the western slope which is a more gentile approach up to the snow capped summits of the range. As I read about the history of these mountains and how they were formed, the visions I captured on this trek began to meld into a tapestry of geologic wonder. I say wonder because I’m struggling to find the words to describe the setting.

Keeler Needle from the west

These mountains were created essentially by two pieces of the earth’s crust colliding. The North American Plate and the Pacific Plate, one moving north and the other south. What remains is the Sierra Nevada Mountain range, a massive, tilted block of the earth’s crust angling to the sky. Looking at Keeler Needle from the western side you get a sense of the tectonic scope of this place, where literally the crust of the earth points to the sky.

Approaching the summit plateau

Whitney Summit on the left

In all we spent around 9.5 hours on this hike not including roughly 40 minutes on the summit. The weather was perfect, as we avoided the big winds that were coming the next day and the snow and ice that will befall this trail in several weeks. The hardest part? Easily the altitude, especially from Sierra crest to the summit, which is 2.5 miles of climbing above 13,000’. Everything slowed down here which wasn’t so bad. It gave me more time to enjoy the views!

Dennis G and I at the Summit

Shuffleboard at Lone Pine’s Finest - Jakes Saloon

The Religion of Solitude

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Our Bio-Rivers of Serotonin

Have you ever been focused on a goal? A specific, measurable, time sensitive goal? One that is aligned with your plans to accomplish something big in life? If you are a runner, my guess is, yes, you have. If you are not a runner, my guess is, yes, you still have. As members of a “can do” American culture, like it or not, I believe, we are nurtured to think we are more worthy if we win, succeed, achieve, perform, or accomplish. From this neurosis, we grow extra hormone reserves, or little bio-rivers of serotonin. These rivers keep the process alive.

Stay with me people, this is you, too!

I started this post with the concept of chromosomes and DNA, thinking that we are somehow born with this neurosis. This need to succeed, for others. Then I quickly corrected myself.

Running ultra’s, like anything difficult in life, is all about motivation. You either have it, or you don’t. You either feel it, or you don’t. You either cross the finish line, or you don’t. And it all comes back to this one simple thing. Motivation.

Which leads me to the next question. Where does it come from? This thing called motivation? Is it really from the bio-rivers of serotonin in our own head? Or is it from somewhere else? Is it in our DNA?

I don’t have the answer. But I do have an insight that lends itself to what might be a way of thinking. It is from Lao Tzu himself, uttered centuries ago. It is simply this:

“Care about what other people think, and you will always be their prisoner.”

Just Stillness

When we came around a bend in the trail, I could see them in the distance, frozen in their tracks.  I reached for my camera. Would they move? Run away? I just keep reaching until I grabbed the camera and positioned it for the shot. Still, no movement. Just stillness. Click. 

Running in the mountains. Is there anything better?

I haven't found it.        

Like a Sharp Knife Into the Back of My Leg

Running In the Red Zone - Heart Race at Xterra race

Being a runner has its advantages. You can pretty much do it anywhere. City streets, mountain ridges, country roads. You can even do it on a cruise ship.

Then there are the disadvantages. One being the lingering tendency toward obsessive compulsive disorder. Like the need to monitor everything possible under the sun. You know, like distance run, elevation gained, resting heart rate, max heart rate, calories, hydration, cadence, weight, pace and sleep, among other meaningless metrics.

A couple weeks ago I kind of threw all this in the toilet and went out a ran in a 15k (9.3 mile) Xterra race in San Diego. I was supposed to do a 50 mile race on the east coast the same weekend but cancelled on account of a snow storm in the forecast. As I was driving to the race I started to think about how fast I could run it, given I only needed to run 18.6% of the 50 mile distance I was supposed to run. Fast I remember thinking.

I started in the front of the pack and quickly found myself running at a pace I haven’t run since...uhm….high school? But it felt so awesome! I was flying down this single track trail with all these young speedsters. The adrenaline was pumping through my veins like nitro glycerin into a dragster. Sparks were surely flying behind me. Then I glanced at heart rate. 178 bpm!

I don’t think I’ve run over 170 bpm in several years, the last time being when I injured my Achilles tendon and spent months on the road to recovery. But this was different, I thought, as I pounded down the trail. This was a race! So after a couple of miles battling it out with other runners I simply stopped looking at my heart rate.

Around mile 6 and 7 things were going amazing and I started passing other runners. Then it happened. It was like a knife going into the back of my leg. Sharp, sudden and serious. I immediately started walking, preying it was just a simple cramp.

No such luck. Oh, well, I thought as I walked the next two miles. Sometimes things happen for a reason. Especially when being a bonehead.