Above the clouds
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Quiet, Please

It's beautiful and sunny up here at 7,000 feet. Meanwhile, in the city, it's cold and dark.I can't see you. I can't hear you.Nature is working with me today, as it often does. It's created a barrier between you and me. It's symbolic only,…
Bear Canyon
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Wandering

Wednesday Morning.My people skills are not great. It doesn't take much for me to feel like I am under assault. People do extraordinary and often very short sighted things. People are always hustling to do less and get paid more and often…
Sandstone, mile 30

Coyote Backbone 68 Miler

I set up camp at the finish line the day before. Full moon, in my tent at the finish line at LA Jolla campground in Pt Mugu. It's bright outside, which is good because I've forgotten my headlamp at home and tomorrow I will use a borrowed…
Trumpet, Barcelona, 1993
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Rattlesnakes, Wild Parrots, and Meditation on Sound

"We are immersed in a soundscape of enormous depth and variety. Just take a moment to listen. What do you hear?" [1] It's 6:31 am. My kitchen window faces east. Highland Park isn't awake yet. There are some gloriously brooding storm clouds…
Scree, mile 18

Calico 50K, 2014

The race begins with a two mile or so gentle downhill, and then there's about 16 miles of gradual uphill. I don't run enough uphill, it seems. The climbing in the San Gabriels is usually too steep to run, and only the guys in front will be…
Rim Trail

North Side of Mount Wilson

The sun was setting as I approached Mt. Wilson on the last stretch of trail. By the time I reached the top, it was dark, and a brilliant almost blood red sunset stretched across the horizon, interrupted in the middle by a low blue cloud.I'd…
Train tracks, Austin Tx 1980

Buffalo Gets Evicted

This morning I took a run along the Lower Arroyo Trail.There's a guy who lives under the San Pascual bridge, near the ball park. He's been there for at least three years, (that's what he says) and maybe as long as five (which is what others…
My father, Pure Oil.
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Freight Train

Joseph Cordner. My father. When I was a little kid I had a thing about trains. Canada is a big place, and the Canadian Pacific went all across it. Not up, not down, just a shortest-distance-between-two-points-is-a-straight-line across.…
West Mt. Lowe

The First Week of Winter

It's the first week of winter here in Los Angeles.That means something completely different than it means if you are from, say, Canada, where I grew up.In Canada, this would also be around the first week of winter. In Calgary, right now, they…
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Gimp Shoes

When I was a little kid, I had gimp shoes.I had managed, somehow, to tear my Achilles tendon, and so the Doctor prescribed them.They were specially built orthopedic wingtips. I already didn't fit in with the other kids in this rural western…
Saguaro, runners, sunrise

Javelina Jundred 2013 Race Report

Javelina Jundred consists of 6 15.4 mile loops, run washing machine style, followed by a 9 mile loop, for an official total distance of 100.8 miles, even though the actual distance mathematically adds up to 101.4 miles. (I guess there is some…
Olive Motel

Bright Lights, Big City

I've been spending a lot of time in the city lately. A project I've been working on for years is suddenly racing to a conclusion against a tight deadline, which means long hours and not as much time running. Weekend long runs training for…

Urban Trail Running

Straight out my door, across Figueroa and a few blocks down, past old cars and even older houses, and I hit the bottom of the Arroyo Seco, or, if I turn the other direction, Debs Park. A few miles away is Griffith Park. There's also Elysian…
Pacific Crest Trail heading down to Sulpher Springs Road

Triple Digits Lonely

Pacific Crest Trail heading down to Sulphur Springs Road 3 PTS TO MT. HILLYER. 6.36 miles, from mile 42.72 to 49.08, elevation just below 6,000 feet. The middle of the AC100 race, and the last section of heat. It starts with 4 miles…
Me at Chantry

Whistling Past the Graveyard – AC100 2013 Race Report

Welcome to the 265th annual AC100.Friday August 2nd, at the Best Western pool just off the 15, on the edge of the high desert, facing the freeway. Traffic is loud. I'm pretending it's the ocean.The lady at the front desk has cleaned up pretty…