Posts

Mt. Williamson
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Fear’s a Man’s Best Friend

Oh baby, baby - Oops I did it again. I've signed up for Mogollon Monster. I feel as though I haven't been running well for the last year and a bit. I feel as though age has caught up to me. I feel as though my performances, from now on, will…
Salton Sea, 2004

Slow the Fuck Down

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves. - Alan WattsHold on. We're runners, right?…
Rocky Brown Mountain trail
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Mindful running: I run just to run

I haven't written about running in a while because what is there to write about? Pretty much you just run. Somedays I run fast. More days I run slow. Usually I hike up hills. Running down them is a particular thrill, especially if they…
Eaton Saddle, Christmas Eve

2014: Seeking Quiet, Finding Noise.

Angeles Crest 100 is a 100 mile trail run through the scrappy, tough-like-a-Mexican-boxer San Gabriel Mountains. It’s easily the hardest of all races in California - this assessment is not a judgment call but based on finishing times - and…
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…
Mt. Lukens - trees in fog - April 2011

Zen vs. Oblivion

I recently read someone describe himself as "an Ultra runner trying for Zen oblivion."There seems to be this common misconception about Buddhist meditation as escapism - that it will somehow carry you away as if you were on some sort of cosmic…
Salton Sea, rusted bike.
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Confronting Fear

There is a guy amongst my acquaintances whose stated ambition as a runner (and perhaps as a man) is "To crush fear in all its forms". While it might work for him, it seems to me to be the wrong approach to take when confronting fear. I'm…