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:She's from the Italian part...but also speaks German and French. We were married over there...pretty crazy wedding..not that I remember much of it
Chunkin'
Chunkin'
I'm keeping a wear and tear journal on the Altra Lone Peak 1.5 trail shoes..got me notebook I scribble in...lining up dates and guesstimated distances
So far...I have a total of 7 runs for only 57 miles. With this current schedule I have put myself on (the 2.5 weeks of consecutive trail days)....I'm mixing up the runs/time of day...but so far..all afternoon...this week shorter ones 6-10 milers
I find that...my shoes no longer wear...they just come apart. I can feel (sometimes) when chunks of rubber are ripped away by rocks...down south chunkin'...feeling technology rip away
^ Chunks gone...but ultimately in the perfect place...in form...coming down steep hills..with speed..as you can see..I'm landing on the balls of my feet...leaning back...letting go...letting body suspension do its job...having blind faith...in foot placement
Not concentrating on distances..more on what I consider to be a stretch and strength style of running (speed and recovery)...where I'll blast a section at full speed..bouncing off the terrain...pushing...balancing off boulders (pulling stalls)...dropping in on steeper sections..more or less..concentrating on riding the terrain...with flair...slipping and sliding...the glory of hauling ass.
Takes a lot out of me...real quick. I'll recover where I can...but I always push up hills...hills are what make you...have no doubts...hills are what I have to ride...so it's best to learn to love them
Fuel:
lemons, pinto bean burritos, buckwheat cereal, flax blend cereal, organic maple syrup (I know..my sugar addiction), teas, veggies, bread, peanut butter, almond milk, coconut water, and lots of Chia seed (in my tea mostly)..........that's about what I'm eating everyday to keep me going...constantly drinking mason jars of water with lemons floating in them
* I find on run binges that I feel better running...then when I'm not running. I don't sleep well for any length of time...but manage power naps...body constantly feels tired/tight...can feel the endorphins working on me...recovering and repairing
...but when I start running...the tightness goes away..I'll feel more numb than tired...and I can kick into gear.
** The vaporizing before runs (usually 3 bowls..one right after another)....doesn't numb me up in the body...but it directs my focus and helps get me out the door
Many days...I don't feel like training. But...I have to...the next level requires more out of me...it does not come easy to me. work work work train train train...without reason
Chunkin'
I'm keeping a wear and tear journal on the Altra Lone Peak 1.5 trail shoes..got me notebook I scribble in...lining up dates and guesstimated distances
So far...I have a total of 7 runs for only 57 miles. With this current schedule I have put myself on (the 2.5 weeks of consecutive trail days)....I'm mixing up the runs/time of day...but so far..all afternoon...this week shorter ones 6-10 milers
I find that...my shoes no longer wear...they just come apart. I can feel (sometimes) when chunks of rubber are ripped away by rocks...down south chunkin'...feeling technology rip away
^ Chunks gone...but ultimately in the perfect place...in form...coming down steep hills..with speed..as you can see..I'm landing on the balls of my feet...leaning back...letting go...letting body suspension do its job...having blind faith...in foot placement
Not concentrating on distances..more on what I consider to be a stretch and strength style of running (speed and recovery)...where I'll blast a section at full speed..bouncing off the terrain...pushing...balancing off boulders (pulling stalls)...dropping in on steeper sections..more or less..concentrating on riding the terrain...with flair...slipping and sliding...the glory of hauling ass.
Takes a lot out of me...real quick. I'll recover where I can...but I always push up hills...hills are what make you...have no doubts...hills are what I have to ride...so it's best to learn to love them
Fuel:
lemons, pinto bean burritos, buckwheat cereal, flax blend cereal, organic maple syrup (I know..my sugar addiction), teas, veggies, bread, peanut butter, almond milk, coconut water, and lots of Chia seed (in my tea mostly)..........that's about what I'm eating everyday to keep me going...constantly drinking mason jars of water with lemons floating in them
* I find on run binges that I feel better running...then when I'm not running. I don't sleep well for any length of time...but manage power naps...body constantly feels tired/tight...can feel the endorphins working on me...recovering and repairing
...but when I start running...the tightness goes away..I'll feel more numb than tired...and I can kick into gear.
** The vaporizing before runs (usually 3 bowls..one right after another)....doesn't numb me up in the body...but it directs my focus and helps get me out the door
Many days...I don't feel like training. But...I have to...the next level requires more out of me...it does not come easy to me. work work work train train train...without reason
Wall of Topped Mox Mox
Wall of Topped Mox Mox
Believe these plants are on day 52...about ready to start flush
^ this wall has been on its own. Since I tied them up/defoliated...all I've done is bottom feed them...in their trays. Hardly even pay attention to them...real easy plants to deal with..no nanners..just no issues at all. A real "run of the mill" stinky grow
Had to get this Yucca spear tip out of a pinky toe...been in their a few days...clipped a Yucca on an off trail run....in an annoying place..causing me some irritation. Yucca can really fuck you up...run you through if...you slip and fall into a big one...probably so bad..you'd not be able to continue on...thankfully..this one is very minor
spears go through shoes and flesh..doesn't matter to them. The spear tips..tend to break off several derma layers down...hell they'll go to the bone..if they can. I've had tips stuck in me for weeks..until they finally infect enough to work their way out...no fun...
Wall of Topped Mox Mox
Believe these plants are on day 52...about ready to start flush
^ this wall has been on its own. Since I tied them up/defoliated...all I've done is bottom feed them...in their trays. Hardly even pay attention to them...real easy plants to deal with..no nanners..just no issues at all. A real "run of the mill" stinky grow
Had to get this Yucca spear tip out of a pinky toe...been in their a few days...clipped a Yucca on an off trail run....in an annoying place..causing me some irritation. Yucca can really fuck you up...run you through if...you slip and fall into a big one...probably so bad..you'd not be able to continue on...thankfully..this one is very minor
spears go through shoes and flesh..doesn't matter to them. The spear tips..tend to break off several derma layers down...hell they'll go to the bone..if they can. I've had tips stuck in me for weeks..until they finally infect enough to work their way out...no fun...
i slid down a scree slope once and rammed right into a yucca they call a spanish dagger around here...one of the leaves went into my lower calf traveled just above the muscle and emerged about 4 inches higher....but it was the only thing that stopped me from going over a 40-50 foot cliff....had a decent first aid kit that i used up in one injury...hobbled back out to the car,by then my shoe was full of blood which tends to get kinda gross in 90+ degree temps...good fun....had a friend who was a surgical nurse,got it all cleaned out and stitched up for me,packed the wound with cayenne pepper,didnt even leave a scar...
Yucca
Yucca
Probably a hundred different Yucca plants? I know there must be many..but here's a patch of a common one...we have around here. Took the picture from my truck...as I was coming home from today's run
these get really big...and in no way would you want to fall head first into one...yet really...it's the young ones...hiding in the grass..that get my feet (in fact..down in the right side of the picture..I can see a foot sticker hiding by some brush). Once in a while I'll clip a big one though...and man...it's like getting stung by wasps..sends you reeling off in agony..punctured bloody
Yucca
Probably a hundred different Yucca plants? I know there must be many..but here's a patch of a common one...we have around here. Took the picture from my truck...as I was coming home from today's run
these get really big...and in no way would you want to fall head first into one...yet really...it's the young ones...hiding in the grass..that get my feet (in fact..down in the right side of the picture..I can see a foot sticker hiding by some brush). Once in a while I'll clip a big one though...and man...it's like getting stung by wasps..sends you reeling off in agony..punctured bloody
yes,you wouldnt want to but yet i have managed to several times....the desert is really no fun sometimes...it aint a good desert hike unless you come home bloody....i have 15 year old cactus spines still buried in my hands...my legs look like i have been running in barbed wire from all the tiny scratches and scar accumulated over the years....hard to believe i collect all those evil fuckers now!
You've got to respect the desert...breeds some of the toughest plants and animals. Everything seems mean..but really..it's how it has to be. True to...if you spend enough time out there...you'll be carrying scars
its not everyones cup of tea to be certain,and it requires a mindset unique to the terrain itself to appreciate the beauty of the desert and be able to see its just as full of life as any other place....sure, a lot of that life is spiny or thorny or sharp or poisonous or generally in an ornery mood,but its still lovely in its own way...
Deserts, Runners, and Kauyumari
Deserts, Runners, and Kauyumari
The desert is a place of dreams where the mind can travel far....much farther and much quicker than the body. Mountainous areas are similar that way.
Jungles seem different; the mind and body travel at the same speed because you can only visually comprehend up close and personal. Visual distances being short create a finer detail perception....watch that bug out of the corner of your eye as the lizard's tongue grabs it and pulls it in....check out with your peripheral vision the leaf falling slowly to your feet.
Runners like Jericho and another friend of mine speak of the ability to lose themselves in the moment in a different way than runners who run through dense forests. They can watch the distant objects in the landscape be absorbed over time as they fly through it, catch up to those places, and pass by toward the next, maybe miles away.
I experience a bit of the same through hiking, though it's much slower and allows time for stopping, examining, and reflecting on the view or perhaps even the insects at my feet. Running encompasses larger views, bigger chunks. Riding my mountain bike through the desert landscape is as close as I get to that passage of time.
Once my good friend Mike and I ate a decent number of Peyote buttons while camped deep in the Galiuro Wilderness at an old pioneer cabin. We went for a 3 hour hike up a trail that topped out on the western edge of the mountains above the inner valley where we started. From that western divide trail we could see ranges 100 miles away.
Somehow we decided to run down the trail and back to the cabin and its crystal clear spring. It took only 30-40 minutes down and I remember leaping off small 2 foot rocks as I dashed down the trail, chunks that peppered much of the downhill path, and sailing through the air for several yards at a time when I did this. We felt like deer, free and nimble, able to leap over obstacles and turn suddenly if danger arose. At the bottom we found the 1920's springbox made of cement and dunked into that beautiful energy. Revived, we thought about how wonderful that 3 mile run downhill had been and how the Medicine had allowed us to feel like another member of the desert animal world. Peyote and deer have deep continuous association in the history:
http://www.tribesofcreation.com/knewwords/K%20-%20knew%20words.htm
Kauyumari - In the Huichol creation story it was Deer Spirit, Kauyumari, that was sent to find the celestial tunnel of light that would lead the other gods and goddesses from the chaotic sky world into this world. But when they came through the tunnel they had forgotten who they were and where they came from. Slowly, though, by listening to their dreams, they began to remember. Together they journeyed a dangerous path to the center of this new world to perform the rituals that would give birth to Taupa, the Sun, their central deity, that he might bring Kupuri, light, to this dark place. After performing their rituals the Sun emerged and turned the sky bright blue and made the plains and mesas and valleys appear for the first time. It was so beautiful that everyone was filled with tears of joy. But soon the sun left again because he was so greatly missed by those who remained in the sky realm that they too performed the appropriate rituals to bring him back. The gods and goddesses were saddened by his departure but soon learned if they perform the proper rituals and live their lives in a sacred way, like those in the sky realm, the Sun will return for a while each day, sharing his time between worlds. Although it was Kauyumari, the Deer Spirit, who discovered the tunnel between worlds, he was the last to enter through because, being a trickster spirit, he felt more at home in the chaotic sky realm. When the gods and goddesses turned from the center of the world to disperse in the four directions, they noticed the tracks of Kauyumari were fuzzy green disks on the desert floor. They learned to ingest these disks and found themselves filled with Kupuri from the Sun, God’s light. They called these disks peyote. The Deer Spirit left them as tracks so those who come through the tunnel later will also be able to find their way, be filled with divine insight, and remember who they are and where they come from. - Todd Eklof
What do you feel like in this way, Jericho?
Deserts, Runners, and Kauyumari
The desert is a place of dreams where the mind can travel far....much farther and much quicker than the body. Mountainous areas are similar that way.
Jungles seem different; the mind and body travel at the same speed because you can only visually comprehend up close and personal. Visual distances being short create a finer detail perception....watch that bug out of the corner of your eye as the lizard's tongue grabs it and pulls it in....check out with your peripheral vision the leaf falling slowly to your feet.
Runners like Jericho and another friend of mine speak of the ability to lose themselves in the moment in a different way than runners who run through dense forests. They can watch the distant objects in the landscape be absorbed over time as they fly through it, catch up to those places, and pass by toward the next, maybe miles away.
I experience a bit of the same through hiking, though it's much slower and allows time for stopping, examining, and reflecting on the view or perhaps even the insects at my feet. Running encompasses larger views, bigger chunks. Riding my mountain bike through the desert landscape is as close as I get to that passage of time.
Once my good friend Mike and I ate a decent number of Peyote buttons while camped deep in the Galiuro Wilderness at an old pioneer cabin. We went for a 3 hour hike up a trail that topped out on the western edge of the mountains above the inner valley where we started. From that western divide trail we could see ranges 100 miles away.
Somehow we decided to run down the trail and back to the cabin and its crystal clear spring. It took only 30-40 minutes down and I remember leaping off small 2 foot rocks as I dashed down the trail, chunks that peppered much of the downhill path, and sailing through the air for several yards at a time when I did this. We felt like deer, free and nimble, able to leap over obstacles and turn suddenly if danger arose. At the bottom we found the 1920's springbox made of cement and dunked into that beautiful energy. Revived, we thought about how wonderful that 3 mile run downhill had been and how the Medicine had allowed us to feel like another member of the desert animal world. Peyote and deer have deep continuous association in the history:
http://www.tribesofcreation.com/knewwords/K%20-%20knew%20words.htm
Kauyumari - In the Huichol creation story it was Deer Spirit, Kauyumari, that was sent to find the celestial tunnel of light that would lead the other gods and goddesses from the chaotic sky world into this world. But when they came through the tunnel they had forgotten who they were and where they came from. Slowly, though, by listening to their dreams, they began to remember. Together they journeyed a dangerous path to the center of this new world to perform the rituals that would give birth to Taupa, the Sun, their central deity, that he might bring Kupuri, light, to this dark place. After performing their rituals the Sun emerged and turned the sky bright blue and made the plains and mesas and valleys appear for the first time. It was so beautiful that everyone was filled with tears of joy. But soon the sun left again because he was so greatly missed by those who remained in the sky realm that they too performed the appropriate rituals to bring him back. The gods and goddesses were saddened by his departure but soon learned if they perform the proper rituals and live their lives in a sacred way, like those in the sky realm, the Sun will return for a while each day, sharing his time between worlds. Although it was Kauyumari, the Deer Spirit, who discovered the tunnel between worlds, he was the last to enter through because, being a trickster spirit, he felt more at home in the chaotic sky realm. When the gods and goddesses turned from the center of the world to disperse in the four directions, they noticed the tracks of Kauyumari were fuzzy green disks on the desert floor. They learned to ingest these disks and found themselves filled with Kupuri from the Sun, God’s light. They called these disks peyote. The Deer Spirit left them as tracks so those who come through the tunnel later will also be able to find their way, be filled with divine insight, and remember who they are and where they come from. - Todd Eklof
What do you feel like in this way, Jericho?
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Sometimes I feel...that on the right day..with the right rhythm..on the right path..I'll get through. The land is too rich...to be completely upfront...it's a matter of me paying my dues..and learning the language..conditioning
Some days I'll be running..and I'll look up..and I can see San Jacinto off to the north...and Salton Sea way out in the heat waves...in the desert....and the hazy mountains in Mexico...everything is so there...but lost in the vastness.
* Day 5 today...put in 9 miles...feeling scrawny...so tan I look cooked..sipping tea (infused with maple syrup and chia seeds)...vaporizing Mox Mox...pacing my way
Some days I'll be running..and I'll look up..and I can see San Jacinto off to the north...and Salton Sea way out in the heat waves...in the desert....and the hazy mountains in Mexico...everything is so there...but lost in the vastness.
* Day 5 today...put in 9 miles...feeling scrawny...so tan I look cooked..sipping tea (infused with maple syrup and chia seeds)...vaporizing Mox Mox...pacing my way
Nor'Easter
Member
yeah I love nature! I heard saw whets once and only once.. too too over and over again but love them and their sound! Barred owls with their "hoo hoo hoo hoo" (2x) or sometimes full ape noises as we call them, which just make me laugh and fill me with joy! even saw some up close and heard great horns as well. some may find it annoying or creepy, not me, love every second of it! Try to imagine what they are doing at the time and wish them the best. Hope they enjoy it in some way, I know I do. From hawks soaring overhead, to a family of foxes whose youngsters scamper about playfully and even did backflips over the compost pile once, to all the day time birds from one time visitors to those that visit in migration to those that are here every day. From the common and seemingly plain like juncos kick-boxing to song sparrows singing their hearts out with beautiful songs to titmice plucking the hairs from a squirrels tail for a nest, and the phoebes nesting on the downspout and the bluebirds in the boxes, I love them all! Orioles eat jelly and this year inexplicably cling to the windows while gently pecking and twittering. A hummingbird that guards his favorite feeder much of the day by sitting above it. Warblers too, I could go on and on! every day is unique and magical thanks to my feathered friends, I wish I could return to them all the enjoyment they bring me!
Mox Mox IX1 sprouts
Mox Mox IX1 sprouts
The sprouts coming from the Queen Mox beans...the ones that were germinated..fresh off the vine
Took a little longer to show..about 5 or 6 days..and they have been started outdoors...so not under consistent conditions. They're coming up in #s now
* Day 6 of the run binge...woke up with the birds..and the 1st light. Feeling hydrated...but I'm tired...heavy...and clumsy. Got some stuff to do (been planting/harvesting veggies..almost nonstop..it seems..for days on end)....but I'm fueling up...and will hit the trails later today. Slept like a log..surprisingly..the last 2 nights..even with the coming of the moon
** I was thinking about endurance running. You can knock it out in one run...or you can stretch it out (like I'm doing) over weeks...day after day. I'd imagine the sensation...the exhaustion...is the same..but then..I think..that the longer stretched out duration is maybe more the trip
*** the sun and heat are taking their toll. Summer running is way harder. After a session...I'm just spent...going through the motions
**** Run binges expose tendons and muscles...all become unique, defined, and exposed. My hip straps...are becoming something else..it seems..I can feel them as individual species
***** I want to keep on with the 6-10 mile runs for another 5 days or so...then if I'm able...the last chunk of the binge will be longer runs.
****** I might have to wear a water belt for the last chunk of the binge. I'll see where I am then...but June is acclimation month (July, August, September..true heat months)...and I'll have pushed so many days...might have to be conservative as I wear down
Mox Mox IX1 sprouts
The sprouts coming from the Queen Mox beans...the ones that were germinated..fresh off the vine
Took a little longer to show..about 5 or 6 days..and they have been started outdoors...so not under consistent conditions. They're coming up in #s now
* Day 6 of the run binge...woke up with the birds..and the 1st light. Feeling hydrated...but I'm tired...heavy...and clumsy. Got some stuff to do (been planting/harvesting veggies..almost nonstop..it seems..for days on end)....but I'm fueling up...and will hit the trails later today. Slept like a log..surprisingly..the last 2 nights..even with the coming of the moon
** I was thinking about endurance running. You can knock it out in one run...or you can stretch it out (like I'm doing) over weeks...day after day. I'd imagine the sensation...the exhaustion...is the same..but then..I think..that the longer stretched out duration is maybe more the trip
*** the sun and heat are taking their toll. Summer running is way harder. After a session...I'm just spent...going through the motions
**** Run binges expose tendons and muscles...all become unique, defined, and exposed. My hip straps...are becoming something else..it seems..I can feel them as individual species
***** I want to keep on with the 6-10 mile runs for another 5 days or so...then if I'm able...the last chunk of the binge will be longer runs.
****** I might have to wear a water belt for the last chunk of the binge. I'll see where I am then...but June is acclimation month (July, August, September..true heat months)...and I'll have pushed so many days...might have to be conservative as I wear down
i recently watched a documentary about an underground informal race that happens every year on the continental divide trail on mountain bikes...starts in banff canada and ends at the mexican border,a bit over 2700 miles,totally unsupported,the cyclist have to carry everything and do all their own work on the bikes,they do stay in hotels many nights when convenient but the do have to bivy on occasion...anyway,pretty cool doc,amazing trail and an awesome accomplishment to even finish the thing....that trail is maybe 40-50 miles from here.....getting a new mountain bike and trailer next week finally....
lol,yeah,summer is great,im frickin ripped from all the water fat being gone,getting pretty vascular myself...veins popped even at rest....
lol,yeah,summer is great,im frickin ripped from all the water fat being gone,getting pretty vascular myself...veins popped even at rest....
Crazy How it Works
Crazy How it Works
Ran out the front door at 10:52...the heat of the day...not yet upon us. Felt strong right from the start...ended up running a nasty 12 miles...up some trails to a fuel break...the fuel break to an SDG&E power line...power line to an abandoned/overgrown highway....overgrown highway to an unofficial trail down a canyon...down the canyon to where it confluences with a bigger canyon...no trail here..but followed the bottom until coming to a place to start heading up...path of least resistance until reaching an official trail...stayed on the trail...'til I was back to my front door
Had it all to myself
* That dead fox is still there...I call that trail duh..."Dead Fox Trail"...nasty looking thing..can't believe it's still there
Crazy How it Works
Ran out the front door at 10:52...the heat of the day...not yet upon us. Felt strong right from the start...ended up running a nasty 12 miles...up some trails to a fuel break...the fuel break to an SDG&E power line...power line to an abandoned/overgrown highway....overgrown highway to an unofficial trail down a canyon...down the canyon to where it confluences with a bigger canyon...no trail here..but followed the bottom until coming to a place to start heading up...path of least resistance until reaching an official trail...stayed on the trail...'til I was back to my front door
Had it all to myself
* That dead fox is still there...I call that trail duh..."Dead Fox Trail"...nasty looking thing..can't believe it's still there
the doc is called "ride the divide",its on netflix....
Cool..I'll have to watch it
