Myriam Gurba on the Pacific Crest Trail
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Racism, Ultrarunning, and San Diego 100

Sunrise Aid Station, Cuyamaca 100K, 2018 Back in early June 2019, Myriam and I took a weekend to head down to Cleveland National Forest. We’d been there before, just a few months earlier. The town of Julian doesn’t look or feel at all…
Kearsarge Pass selfie
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Kearsarge Pass

Extremely good news. "Chaos should be regarded as extremely good news" - Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche I was in Albuquerque in April to run Cedro Peak 50K on my birthday. Ken Gordon said "You're running High Lonesome!" Ken is running it…
Cedro Peak singletrack
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More Songs About Cornbread and Jail

Harvoni treatment, month 1 My history with drugs is a colorful one. The colors are mostly shades of dark. For a very brief time, forty years ago, I was an iv drug user. It all ended a long time ago, I stopped shooting dope not long after…
Harvoni
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Hepatitis C, Harvoni, week one

Newly sober, 1997 It was spring of 1997. I was just a few months sober, in a women's clinic in Santa Monica, because in those days there weren't that many places that you could get a free HIV test, and an HIV test seemed like an urgent piece…
Driftwood, Vancouver Island, 1994
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Depression: Neither The End Nor An Easy Beginning

Silver Moccasin Run. For about 3 years I have been planning to do a run along the length of the Silver Moccasin Trail. This morning we got up at 3am and headed out to Vincent Gap. Andrea would drop me off, and meet me along the way as…
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Jemez Mountain 2017

New Mexico Clouds There are extraordinary clouds hanging over the Sandias right now. There are always extraordinary clouds in New Mexico. The air is incredible here, and the Sandias, out the back window of Ken and Margaret's house, are beautiful. It…
Rosedeer Hotel, Wayne, Alberta
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Ashes to Ashes: 2016 in the Rearview Mirror

New Year's Eve at the Blackfoot Truckstop Diner Blackfoot Truckstop Diner, in Calgary, watching fireworks go off at the zoo across the river with a handful of folks all of whom had seen better days. New Year's Eve, Rhubarb Pie, having spent…
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Family

Election Day. 95 degrees in sunny LA. I came back from a short run, took a shower, and turned on the TV, looking forward to the end of this awful election, history being made with the our first woman President, who aside from being female was…
Mohave Desert
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Hello, Everyone! I love you all!

There's too much noise in LA. I've been back in LA for 2 days, after a 2 week accidental vacation in New Mexico when the car died the day before Mt. Taylor 50K. Mt. Taylor is a wonderful race, run by runners for runners, on a gorgeous course…
Griffith Park Trail
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Eleven Minutes Per Mile

Moises AvelarI was running in Griffith Park one evening when I ran into Moises. Moises is one of those guys who advocates running slow. He's also someone who finished AC100 in about 20 hours, and when I hear fast guys talk about running slow,…
The Salton Sea

Desert, Ashes, Fire, & Water

The Sand Fire The Sand Fire is burning in Acton. The air was already a little smokey from a fire that burned briefly on the edge of Griffith Park. Friday around 2:15 in the afternoon the sky quickly filled with smoke. By the next morning,…
New Mexico Storm

Desert Beauty

"Each thing in its way, when true to its own character, is equally beautiful." -Edward Abbey, Cliffrose and Bayonets Driving back to Los Angeles from Silverton, (and from Hardrock 100), we drove alongside a storm. It came fast, but we…
Layers
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Calico 50K, 2016

Calico 50K was the first ultra I ever ran, six years ago. My bib number for that race was 666, which disturbed a lot of folks who urged me to request a new bib or at least wear it upside down. This year, 2016, was the sixth time I've run the…
Trans Canada Highway
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The Old Man’s Last Winter

The old man is dying. This is a series of notes I wrote while visiting him in Canada.Return of the Prodigal Son1974. I was touring artist colonies in the French countryside with my Grandpere, a retired French diplomat and hobbyist painter. He…
Salton Sea
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Smell the Barn

The old man isn't getting any better."Experience Vibrant Seniors Living!" says the brochure for Rocky Ridge Retirement Community.It doesn't seem like his experience was all that vibrant.He took a spill 5 weeks ago in his apartment there. The…