In honor of spring, renewal and all of that, Bad Buddha has moved, splurged on a facelift, and changed his name.
Enjoy your weekend.
March 20, 2009
Training Break #144
The past is a ghost, the future a dream, and all we ever have is now.
– Bill Cosby
March 16, 2009
Badwater: a crew member-in-training
I’m very excited about my next running project: helping my friend Nattu finish his third Badwater 135. Teaming with three other people, I’ll be helping to crew and pace him on his third quest for the finish line. As we work together in 8-hour shifts in teams of two, we’ll help make sure Nattu stays properly fed, hydrated, and on schedule to successfully complete his third Badwater.
I’ve never been to Death Valley, and have been duly warned that even Texas in mid-July cannot compare. Should be quite the little adventure. But it will be great to get a chance to pay back Nattu, who helped me to my first-ever 24-hour finish at Ultracentric last year.
No racing plans for now, although I’m looking at one or two things in the fall. But from now until Nattu crosses the Badwater finish line at Whitney Portal, the trail head to Mount Whitney at the end of his incredible 135-mile challenge, I’m training for someone else for a change. And I’m really looking forward to it.
March 6, 2009
Training Break #143
Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like muscles of the body.
- Lynn Jennings
March 3, 2009
Rest and renewal
I’m nearly fully healed from the Rocky Raccoon 100 now, and like anyone who participates in running and racing, the thought is always about what’s ahead – what race is next, and when should I start preparing?
Having a race to train for is a good motivator to get you out the door and busy on the roads and trails again. Having races to train for can also be an unhealthy addiction, a vicious circle of anticipation and feverish preparation followed by that vague sense of dissatisfaction after you cross the finish line, regretting all the things that could have gone better, faster, smoother. Leading you to think, I bet the next race will be different … and you will your body to start training yet again … and soon you’re caught on that old treadmill of desire and dukkha (suffering) once again, without ever really feeling at peace with your running or yourself.
I think everyone needs to step off the train/race/train treadmill and enjoy at least a brief off season, a time of relative rest and reflection. Ultramarathon superstar Scott Jurek takes it even further, not running a step for 4-6 weeks following the last race of the season. Put on a few pounds, he says – take time to visit friends, to put your feet up on the couch, to be Not Running for awhile. It’s okay. It’s even healthy – Jurek attributes it to his consistent string of impressive performances over the years.
I don’t have another race planned at the moment, because I had decided that, after Rocky, I needed a break – an extended break. I probably won’t race again until the Fall, although I will be helping crew a friend this summer for the Badwater 135. I am definitely looking forward to that experience and helping him finish this legendary ultramarathon for the third time. I expect I will be inspired by his example and those of the other runners, which will be excellent motivation going into the Fall.
But for now, it’s time to cut way back on the weekly mileage (which was never all that high to begin with) and let running take a sort of mini vacation, to enjoy running a trail for the sake of the trail alone, and to get up early not because I need to run long, but because I want to watch the sun rise as I run up Flagpole Hill. It’s time to leave the stopwatch in the bedroom drawer and experience every step again – a different sort of kinhin as I loop my way slowly around the roads and trails, with no finish line ahead or start line behind me.
May you find rest and renewal in your own running this Spring.
February 27, 2009
Training Break #142
The Venetians … are reputedly paid by the government to sustain their houses and palazzi in a state approaching a crucial turning point of dereliction. This is kind of a Clint Eastwood approach to heritage: just enough facelifts to stay out of the swamp but not so many you actually lose the wrinkles. Those wrinkles are earned. They signify. Why throw them away?
– Elizabeth Farrelly, “Imperfect Beauty,” Shambhala Sun March 2009
February 26, 2009
Running again
Running again
I’m running – well, sort of a jog-walk combo – for the first time since Rocky Raccoon. For today’s outdoor “wog,” the sun was warm and the wind was lively. What a simple pleasure to move with some minor purpose and speed across the earth’s surface, yet without any specific place to go or goal to be reached. That felt good.
Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone. Thanks Joni Mitchell Roshi.
February 23, 2009
Continuing to heal, committing to sit
Continuing to heal from Rocky. This is the longest I’ve gone without running in probably a quarter of a century. If I’m honest with myself, and I should be, it’s probably another two weeks before I’m ready to start trying to run again. I’ve progressed to walking cross country/trails two miles a day and am back to my yoga routine, both of which I think are helping to stretch out the tightness in the leg and strengthen the muscles, without overdoing it. I can still feel it a bit on the uphills,though, and running is still pretty much out of the question.
I’m also going to start back on strength training today, although I’m expecting there are a couple of lower-body weight stations I won’t be able to include yet. And I’m grateful to be able to sit again, although not in lotus (never was really flexible enough to sustain that position anyway) but definitely back to Burmese – out of the chair and back on the cushion.
Speaking of sitting, Tricycle is (compassionately) throwing down the gauntlet once again for their “Commit To Sit” 90-day meditation challenge. I’ve said before that I don’t intend to be a Zen evangelist, but I would suggest perhaps at least checking out the online materials and, if you’re so inclined, giving it a go and seeing what happens.
February 20, 2009
Training break #141
Signposts are useful when you know were you’re going.
– Robert Fripp
February 16, 2009
Still out for repairs
I guess I really racked up my hamstring at Rocky, but I’ve been assured that I just stressed it to the max and there is no serious damage. Originally I thought I would be running by this coming Saturday, but now I’m thinking that’s doubtful. I am certainly many times better than I was a week ago, but it’s always the last 20%-30% of healing from any injury that seems to take the longest.
In the meantime, I’ve had a lot of free time to witness the healing process of my “skin bag” (the unattractive term Zen masters use to refer to our bodies, just so we don’t get too attached to them). Once you get past all the hair and the occasional off smell, our skin bags really are remarkable. First of all, that someone (not me) could run 100 miles on those trails in 14-15 hours is just mind-boggling. Then, to watch my own skin bag slowly but steadily heal its blisters and frayed muscles – thousands of microscopic processes at work inside me, second-by-second, tiny little hard hats firmly in place as they labor around the clock to make me whole again.
They may just be skin bags, but for all their fragility and relatively short shelf life, they’re still pretty wonderful constructions — especially given all the abuse we often subject them to. Here’s hoping mine continues to heal itself.
