#ACI2023
  • Get Out. Get Lost.
  • ACI UPDATES
  • ACI - Acadia Cross Island
  • The Acadia Round
  • Past Races, Hikes & Adventures
    • Barnhardt Loop Trail 2008
    • Cascade Crest Classic 100 Mile Endurance Race
    • Copper Basin 50K 2010
    • Crow Pass Crossing 2010
    • Elephant Mountain 35K 2013
    • Flagstaff 50K 2010
    • Kahtoola Race Series 2010
    • Mazatzal Wilderness 18M 2010
    • Mesquite Canyon 50K 2010
    • Mesquite Canyon 50k 2011
    • Mesquite Canyon 50K - 2013
    • Mountain Mist 50K 2010
    • Mt. Lemmon 50M 2011
    • Pass Mountain 50k
    • Phoenix Summit Challenge 2009
    • Ragnar Relay del Sol 2010
    • R2R2R 2009
    • R2R2R October 2010
    • R2R2R June 2011 - Another Notch on the belt of Humility
    • San Tan Scramble 50K 2011
    • Superstition Wilderness 50 Mile Adventure Spring 2011
    • Tucson Marathon 2009
    • Tucson Marathon 2013
    • Zane Grey 50M 2010
    • Zane Grey 50M 2011
  • Bucket List
  • Contact Me
    • Contact Me

Get Out. Get Lost.

The World of Recovery vs. The World of Survival

12/21/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture


I've been running fairly consistently since 2009 now and as of yet, have not had any real injuries beyond minor day to day issues or overall extreme.  There were a few short sections of time where I was on Dr's orders to stay off the trails for other reasons but not for a running specific injury.  In fact, since I started this endurance running thing after the 2008 Tucson Marathon my only injuries were heat related (Rhabdo), a few torn ligaments in my left ankle blocking a shot on goal in soccer where it spun my foot around in a circle.  Oh and that one time my liver was working on overdrive after my bachelor party where for at least three to five hours I thought for certain all my major organs would shut down simultaneously, I'd shat myself and I'd be found lying dead on my living room floor in my own vomit.  I blame every single one of you bastards that were with me.  I'd rather have someone split my foot open than have that again.  

So despite the non-runner's typical comments of "your knees are going to be shot" and "you're going to be crippled if you keep this up."  

Right.  Don't leave any of that 32 oz Coke in that jug fatty.  Make sure you get it all down before you finish judging me.  

Inevitably, those comments of impending paralyzation come from those that fell significantly behind on their workouts back in the Carter Administration.  

But in all reality, I've been fairly unscathed and my legs and body have held up well.  I rarely fall on he trails, stay off pavement like it's Herpes, and my overall weekly run totals are less than most road marathoners.  

That is until late November when I started to feel this sharp pain in my left hip flexor.  

Given there is almost always some kind of ailment plaguing my body somewhere and knowing that if you just run long enough most anything just goes away.  So I'd run through it and keep up my runs, running more and more hills, running a higher percentage of every run and running every run faster than I have before. I felt stronger, faster and could really feel myself turning that proverbial corner.  

So naturally thats when my body breaks down.

After the South Mountain 30K I had to shut it down.  That entire 22 mile run was a pity party that nearly resulted in me sitting on the side of the trail in frustration.  Every step was painful and every step up was worse.  Being on the National Trail wasn't the best location to be dreading every uphill step.  

Eleven days later I hadn't run.  My legs were aching to do something.  

Anything.  

Something.

I thought about waiting longer, two full weeks, maybe even three, but I couldn't keep watching these 72 degree days disappear after suffering through the miserable summers exactly for these days.  So I tried it out last Friday night, a short four miles of mostly flat Preserve trails.

No pain.

Ok, we're getting somewhere.

Next up came a run of Pemberton Trail and it's 15.4 miles of generally flat, rolling trail with Jay Danek and a couple of some fast runners two days later on a foggy, cold, wet Sunday morning.  2 hours and five minutes later we finished and I was beat.  But my hip held up and I didn't have any pain like I had before.  I was excited to be able to get back to it and now after two weeks I could train again.  I ran the next day, Monday, and then took four days off as precautionary in not overdoing the return to training before running tonight.  

It was a run that was one that you want to be over from the minute it starts to the minute it finished.  Painful, slow, hurt, stomach hurt, ankles hurt, and with every step you question why the hell you feel like this.  Was it the lunch I had?  The 22 Christmas cookies?  Half pound of fudge?  All coffee hydration strategy?

A garbage run if there ever was one.   

Yet somehow I was still moving along ok, and on a climb up the backside of Stone Mountain on trail #100 I started to click and in climbing up the washed out rock pile of a trail I came up on a guy on a bike.  He was pushing it, the bike that is, wearing blue jeans, a pair of white sneakers you get at JC Penny, a grey bedroll strapped to his back with clothesline rope and a long sleeve denim shirt.  I jogged up on him and said, "Merry Christmas" as I passed.

He looked to his left towards me as I trotted up on him.  

His face was sunken and dirty.  Five days deep from his last shave, giving him a disheveled look. 

He looked over while pushing his bike up this scree trail.  Making terribly slow time through the rocks, his back burdened by the pack and weight of his gear on his bike.  

He was a homeless man, likely on his way up the trail and over to the Cave Creek section I've seen many make their homes in washes over the years.  His look came with no response, no smile, no grin, no return of greeting.  

It was a look of pure despair.  A look of, "Merry Christmas??  Are you f-ing kidding me?  Are you seriously saying that to me as you run past me while I push this bike up this mountain???  F-you."  

I trudged on like someone had kicked me hard.  Right in the stomach.

Here I was fretting over a strained hip muscle that was keeping me from training for an insignificant hobby that has no bearing on the improvement of anyone's life around me.  

And he was pushing his bike up a cliff towards the pile of dirt he was going to make home for the holidays.  Or maybe not, I don't know.  But that's what was crossing my mind after that one singular look.  

I kept on, thinking about that guy and came up on the long stretch of steep rocky switchbacks to the saddle heading west.  I picked it up and started to push harder and harder up this hill, faster and faster around one switchback after another, driven by some unknown desire to punish myself on this climb.  

The last 100 meters is bedrock and scattered shale, making the footing loose in places.  I simply started sprinting from one open spot in the rocks to another, not looking towards the top but simply watching my feet land with each step.  Closer and closer to the top I made it, far faster than I had ever done that hill before, a hill I've run so many times before.  

As I reach the top there stood a man.  

He was not a hiker.

Not a biker.

Not a man walking his dog.

Not a runner.

Just a man standing there.  He carried nothing in his hands, nothing on his back.  He was portly in size, older in age and standing there looking at me.  He had a big white beard, an overgrown one rugged in appearance from years of neglect.  

He seemed so out of place, out here in the desert with no apparent reason for being there.

Yet there he stood.  There he was.  Standing there as I sprinted up this hill, out of breath and fighting back the warm spit inevitably bringing on some dry heaving. 

He stood there and as I looked up he was smiling.  

He didn't say anything.  He just smiled.  He looked at me and smiled.

I said, "Merry Christmas" and he smiled.  

I crested the saddle and dropped down the backside of the trail and after a minute I looked back towards that man.

He was gone.  

A couple miles along I climbed to the top of the highest ridge and stood at the top.  Looking out over all of Phoenix, the center of the city, the meager Downtown to the south and miles and miles of houses in every direction.  So much to see, so many beautiful views.  You can see forever up there and yet all I could search for was that man on the trail.  I could see every trail and he was nowhere to be seen.  

I headed down and sprinted back to the spot hoping to find this man.   I'm not even sure why.  Not sure why it was so important to find this man. Who was he?  What was he doing out there?  He didn't look like anyone that lives there.  Was he homeless?  Was he the other guys friend with the bike?  Was he still going to be on the trail when I headed back the same way?  Maybe I could give them my headlamp?  I could head back home and grab some food for them maybe...

One turn on the trail after another there was nobody in sight.  I was alone this night on the trail, in the center of Phoenix, not a soul in sight.  

Alone.  

Bewildered.

I finished the last two miles to my car and sat in the drivers seat thinking about those two men and all the little things in this world that often go unnoticed and under appreciated.  

Like a working body.  A warm bed.  A hot meal.  A single look.  A single smile. 

I started the run pissed off my Ipod was dead when I tried to turn it on.  

What?!  No music?!!  I already feel like garbage and I'm going to run without tunes now?

"I'm going home.  F- this." 

I'm really glad I didn't.  




0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Archives

    September 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    May 2017
    May 2016
    February 2016
    February 2014
    December 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    May 2010
    February 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009

    Categories

    All
    100 Mile Training Schedule
    #AcadiainWinter
    #acadianationalpark
    Acadia National Park
    Across The Years
    Adam Campbell
    Alaska Wilderness Challenge
    Andrew Heard
    Andrew Skurka
    Antelope
    Anthony Culpepper
    Apache County
    Aravaipa Running
    Aravaiparunning.com
    Arizona
    Arizona Road Racers
    Arizona Trail Running
    Arizona Ultrarunning
    Arizona Wilderness Trail Series
    Arr
    Art Bourque
    Asu Study
    Az 100
    Banff National Park
    Bar Harbor
    Barharbor365.com
    Bar Harbor Inn
    Bataan
    Bear Canyon
    Born To Run
    Boulder
    Cabin Loop
    Cadillac Mountain
    Calvary
    Camelback Mountain
    Camelback X-T-R-E-M-E
    Canyon De Chelly
    Cascade Crest
    Cascade Crest 100
    Castle Hot Springs
    Cave Creek Thriller
    Ccc100
    Chiricahua National Monument
    Chiricahua Wilderness
    Chirunning
    Christian Bale
    Christian Griffith
    Christian Griffiths
    Chugiak
    Coachwhip
    Colorado
    Copper Canyon
    Cougar
    Crow Pass Crossing
    Dallas Stevens
    Dave James
    Dave Matthews Band
    Death March
    Debbie Leftwich
    Diana Nyan
    Dominic Allen
    Double Crossing
    Dutchman
    Eagle River
    East End
    Eiger
    Escalante Trail
    Evan Honeyfield
    Fat Ox
    Fat Ox 50
    Florida
    Fred Willet
    Freedom
    Friends Of Acadia
    Fstpkr
    Gary Allen
    Geoff Roes
    #getoutgetlost
    Getoutgetlost.com
    #getoutside
    Gmr
    Gopro Hd Hero 2
    Grand Canyon
    Grandpa Jim 50k
    Grandpa Jim's 50K
    Great Enchantment Trail
    Green Mountain Relay
    Hal Koerner
    Harvard
    Highline Trail
    Honey Albrecht
    Hotel Explora
    I2p
    Imperial Dunes
    Impossible 2 Possible
    Injured
    Injury
    Inov-8
    Inov-8 Roclite290
    Iron90.com
    Jaguar In Arizona
    Jared Campbell
    Javalina Jundred
    Jay Danek
    Jeff Jones
    Jeffrey Bryant
    Jennifer Pharr Davis
    Jeremy Dougherty
    Jerry Armstrong
    Jf
    Jj10
    Jj100
    Jody Chase
    John Pearce
    Jon Roig
    Josh Meals
    Kahtoola
    Kalahari
    Karl Meltzer
    Karsten Solheim
    Keys 100
    Kilian
    Kilian Journet
    Kilian's Quest
    Kilian\'s Quest
    Kilians Quest
    Killian
    Killian Journet
    Killian\'s Quest
    Kofa Wilderness
    Kyle Maynard
    La Sportiva
    Leki Poles
    Liza Howard
    Liz Everly
    Macho B
    Maine
    Maine Life
    Maine Trail Running
    Maricopa County
    Maroon Bells
    Matanuska Peak Challenge
    Matt Hart
    Matthew Mcconaughey
    Matt Schmidt
    Matt Schmitt
    Mazatzal Wilderness
    Mcdowell Mountain
    Mcdowellmountainman
    Mcdowell Mountain Man
    Mcdowell Mountain Man 50k
    Mcdowell Mountain Park
    Mcdowell Mountains
    MDI
    MDI Marathon
    Mesquite Canyon 50k
    Michael Carson
    Michael Duer
    Michael Miller
    Mike Duer
    Millinocket Marathon
    Mission Kilimanjaro
    Mmm
    Mogollon Monster 100
    Mogollon Rim
    Monument Valley
    Motorcycle Diaries
    Mountain Lion
    Mount Desert Island
    Mount Desert Island Marathon
    Mount Olympus
    Mt. Lemmon
    Nadir Manor
    National Geographic
    Navajo Nation
    New Mexico
    Noah Dougherty
    North Mountain
    North Rim
    Norway
    Painted Desert
    Paria Canyon
    Pass Mountain 50k
    Patagonia
    Paulette Zillmer
    Paul Rondeau
    Pemberton
    Peralta
    Peter
    Petrified National Park
    Phantom Injury
    Phoenix Mountain Preserve
    Pvcc
    R2r2r
    Ragnar Relay
    Ray Zahab
    Reign Of Fire
    Renee Stevens
    Rim To Rim To Rim
    Run100miles
    RunMDI
    Running
    Running On The Moon 50k
    Run Toms Thumb
    Sabino Canyon
    Salomon Running
    Sand Beach
    San Tan 50k
    San Tan Scramble 50k
    Sarah Dasher
    Sean Cunnif
    Shaw Butte
    Shirts
    Siphon Draw Trail
    South Mountain
    South Mountain 20k
    South Rim
    Squaw Peak
    Steve Prefontaine
    Superstition Wilderness
    Superstition Wilderness 25k
    Superstition Wilderness 50k
    Superstition Wilderness 50m
    Sweden
    Tanner Trail
    Team Red White & Blue
    Team RWB
    The Arctic Light
    Thehikeguy.com
    Thompson Peak
    Timelapse
    Time Lapse Photography
    Tombstone
    Tom Gormley
    Tom St. Germain
    Toms Thumb
    Torres Del Paine
    Track
    Trail Running
    Trails
    Training
    Travel Alberta
    Tucson
    Tucson Marathon
    Tucson Trail Runners
    Two Men
    Ueli Steck
    Ultraladies Running Club
    Ultrarunning
    Usery Park
    Utmb
    Vermilion Cliffs
    Vermont
    Video
    Vimeo
    Visit Bar Harbor
    Visit Maine
    Warren Haynes
    Wednesday Morning Running Club
    West Slabs Of Olympus
    White Sands
    Wmrc
    Wyatt Earp
    Yasso 800\'s
    Yosemite
    Zane Grey
    Zane Grey 50
    Zane Grey 50 Mile Endurance Run
    ZG50

You're only tired because you think you're tired. Keep going.
  • Get Out. Get Lost.
  • ACI UPDATES
  • ACI - Acadia Cross Island
  • The Acadia Round
  • Past Races, Hikes & Adventures
    • Barnhardt Loop Trail 2008
    • Cascade Crest Classic 100 Mile Endurance Race
    • Copper Basin 50K 2010
    • Crow Pass Crossing 2010
    • Elephant Mountain 35K 2013
    • Flagstaff 50K 2010
    • Kahtoola Race Series 2010
    • Mazatzal Wilderness 18M 2010
    • Mesquite Canyon 50K 2010
    • Mesquite Canyon 50k 2011
    • Mesquite Canyon 50K - 2013
    • Mountain Mist 50K 2010
    • Mt. Lemmon 50M 2011
    • Pass Mountain 50k
    • Phoenix Summit Challenge 2009
    • Ragnar Relay del Sol 2010
    • R2R2R 2009
    • R2R2R October 2010
    • R2R2R June 2011 - Another Notch on the belt of Humility
    • San Tan Scramble 50K 2011
    • Superstition Wilderness 50 Mile Adventure Spring 2011
    • Tucson Marathon 2009
    • Tucson Marathon 2013
    • Zane Grey 50M 2010
    • Zane Grey 50M 2011
  • Bucket List
  • Contact Me
    • Contact Me