Funemployment and a run up Mt. Wrightson

What, you may be asking yourself, is funemployment? Well...by my own personal definition, it was that awesome span of time (about a week) in which i was no longer employed at my old job where i had given my notice, had been hired for a new job, but was not yet scheduled for any work. Hence the term: funemployment. It lacks the stress of being unemployed, because there's not even a gap in paychecks, so its almost like a paid vacation. To my good fortune, this little paid vacation just happened to fall around the same weekend of the first run of the fall TTR running schedule. So, what better time to head down to Tucson to catch up with old friends and go for a run up the highest peak in the Tucson area, Mt. Wrightson. Oh, also, to add to the awesome, i decided to pack my trusty steed, my most spectacular custom built Saila bicycle...the very same one who suffered 2 separate attacks by cars that left me with broken bones, but through its own superpowers remained mostly unscathed. (confused? read here.)
I made my way down to the old pueblo late Wednesday and surprised some old friends on the Plush patio. Ponies were ridden, fun was had, and i crashed on the most comfy air mattress in Tucson. As usual, i woke up long before anyone else in the house was even dreaming of being awake, so i quietly made my exit, got my saila, recently dubbed the Black Knight for its tenacity, and rode around the sleepy streets in search of coffee.

The Black Knight. It looks like this, but acts like this. Hence the name. Cars be damned.

It felt really great to be back on my bike. Admittedly, a bit tentatively at first, but less than a mile in the saddle and i simply felt at home. My hand was tender and sore, to be sure. Gripping the brifters is still a bit of a challenge for my abused left hand, but i was certainly able to manage. i wandered, found some coffee, and did some writing. After enough time had passed for more of the old pueblo to wake up, i made my way over to the co-op to get the necessities for an awesome breakfast of (vegan/gf) biscuits and gravy, and then went to Antigone's to further enhance my funemployment free time and indulge in some guilty reading pleasures. Fortunately, i found self-restraint somewhere and only walked out with 3 new books. I made my way back to the sleepy household, fed my inn-keepers and left for more wandering about. It felt like everywhere i went i ran into someone i knew. It was awesome, and a bit overwhelming. I made dinner that evening with a great old friend who was also the owner of the couch i would be slumbering upon. We created a pretty spectacular (vegan/gf) shepherd's pie. It was tasty. We rounded out the evening with Roxanne. Such a hilarious classic. Another lazy day followed, filled with monsoon rains and torrential downpours. More random and impromptu reunions with old friends and neighbors, more food making extravaganzas, this night ending in some pretty great pizza (do you need the parentheses? yes, vegan&gf) and an engaging and intriguing game of the Settlers of Catan. Super fun.

Saturday i made my way down to Madera Canyon and the Bog Springs campground. It was beautiful and bright green, thanks to all the rains. It sprinkled here and there throughout the day, which kept the weather nice and cool. After setting up my tent i explored some of the trails around the campsite to try and determine my game plan/route to the start of the run early Sunday morning.

While there were definitely some relatively straightforward routes to get me from a to b, there was a lot of bear scat on the trails, and i even saw some mountain lion scat that wasn't quite covered up. i also saw tons of black caterpillars and a handful of coues deer, butterflies, hummingbirds, blue jays, and more natural awesomeness. Still, the bear scat and incognito mountain lion scat made me opt for running a short bit of trail and then mostly the road up to the trailhead Sunday morning. 

i spent the majority of the evening enjoying cool breezes in my tent and listening to the rainfall as i dove into one of my new books. It was perfect. i woke up around 4:45, stretched, yawned, got my stuff together, made sure everything was zipped up and rain safe or otherwise put away, and headed towards the trailhead. i was excited for the run, but knew that my lack of mileage due to recent injuries was certainly going to make it a slow and steady climb, still, i knew the views would be spectacular and that it would be completely worth it, no matter how slow i ended up being. 

There were some familiar and unfamiliar faces in the parking lot. It was a perfect morning, cloudy and cool and the peak of Mt. Wrightson was elusively cloaked behind the clouds. 

The way up, including the summit of Wrightson, a formidable 9,453ft, would span about 5.2miles of trail upwards, the way down could be the same 5.2, or possibly 7ish, if i chose to take the Super trail route down. As it would go, given my just getting back into it, and the 3.5 additional miles i would be adding in my roundtrip to and from the campground, i ended up sticking to the Old Baldy Trail both up and down. It felt so INCREDIBLE to be back on the trails and getting in some altitude. There was a lot to see and appreciate, it sprinkled here and there and kept the temps down. i had my rain shell in my pack but never took it out, as it actually felt really nice to get rained on after the scorching weather i'd been running through in the valley. While Mt. Wrightson is beautiful, it also has some tragic history. In 1958 a small group of Boy Scouts set out for a hike to commemorate one of the boys 16th birthday, planning to summit and then camp overnight. They were met with a record setting snowstorm, and 3 of the 6 boys who set out were lost to the weather. There are now two memorials on Mt. Wrightson to honor the boys who were lost, one on super trail, and one on Old Baldy. The Old Baldy memorial is simple, but encourages us all to take a moment, to pause and reflect, perhaps celebrate what we have, or maybe appreciate what we or others have lost. It simply asks, 'Strangers Pause Here and Remember.' What made this even more powerful was knowing that one of the survivors is connected to TTR and was there with us at the start of the morning.

I headed up the trail around 5:50am and fell into a decent pace. i didn't want to push it, as i knew both the altitude and the overall challenge of the run had the potential of being a rude reawakening to my post-broken-bone summer return to training. Still, i kept my head up, took it all in, and continued to put one foot in front of the other. i made the determination before all the brokenness to really be serious about training this year and to show up to races not just as a participant, but a competitor. That is still my goal, and while the lack of run training over the summer due to injuries has been really frustrating, i chose to leave this at the base of the trail and make my distance from it. This would be the start of my new training schedule, and i was excited to shake off the disappointment and frustration of injury thwarted summer and fall racing plans. This was my place to start fresh, to refocus and to get excited about what will be my 2014 racing schedule.

So, all of this in mind, i made my way up towards the summit. Slowly, without a doubt, but surely. At one point i was just a bit zoned out, in a section of swithcbacks, when i was startled back to myself and the world around me by a very enthusiastic individual approaching from behind. 'What?! No way! No f'n way! It can't be, Scout! What the hell are you doin, come on, lets go, lets move it. Move those feet kid.' Of course, i turned around, but i didn't need to, i knew it couldn't be anyone other than a TTR legend, Bob Bachani. This guy is a beast, and hilarious, and has done pretty much every incredible trail 100 that is on my bucket list. I love this guy, and was stoked to see him on the trail. i picked up the pace a bit and we caught up with each other, but my legs and my lungs just didn't want to work that hard on a Sunday, so i fell back. We caught each other again as he was leaving the summit and i was a couple tenths of a mile away, he told me 'Hurry up, i want to see you in that parking lot, now go get it.' i smiled, pushed my way through the last bits of trail and made it to the summit. It was spectacular. Right as i made it to the top, looking north, there was a break in some of the clouds and a full rainbow. What a fantastic reward. 

Can you see the rainbow?

I had told myself that when i reached the top I would run through at least one round of surya namaskar. What better place to do it? I love yoga, and i love my yoga practice, but nothing feels better than practicing in the places where i feel most at home- outside, connected to the world. My legs and lungs both appreciated the pause and i felt energized and ready to head back down the trail. i did my best to try and take a panoramic series of pics. Admittedly, my phone camera has suffered a handful of drops (and car vs bike accidents) but i think you can get a feel for how incredible this was. i was in the clouds and above them, surrounded by greenery and wildflowers, the rubble left behind from an old fire watch tower cabin, so much to take in. So worth the small amount of work it took to get up there.

Knowing i would summit the highest peak in the Tucson area (9,453ft) i proudly sported my Run Steep Get High shirt courtesy of those fantastic folks at Aravaipa Running.

I made my way down, making much better time than the climb up. i found myself being a little more cautious in some areas than i may have been in the past, concerned with the thought of taking a fall, trying to catch myself and re-injuring my recently mended and still mending bones. It will be interesting to see how that develops over the next few months. Downhills, scrambles and picking a good and fast line on a trail have always been a strength, i really don't want to see that be lost due to timidity picked up from non-running related broken bones. All the same, one step, one stride at a time and i know i'll get to where i want to be. 

The parking lot reunion was great. RD and another TTR legend Gene Joseph had a pretty great spread on his tailgate. I ate a monster nectarine, a couple dill pickles and drank an izzee. It was just what the trail doctors had ordered. After catching up and even meeting some new TTR members, i made my way back to my campsite. Knowing i had the advantage of daylight on my side, i took the trails back, and saw more deer, birds, caterpillars, wildflowers and just generally beautiful awesomeness. 

My Funemployment vacation was everything i could have hoped for and more. I'll see y'all out there on the trails. 

Special thanks, in no particular order:

dr. theopolis, kristen, shanaynay, hansel, carlyn, squid, daxve, holly, the co-op peeps, mr. robbins, aisha, logan, all the TTR folks, the grand puba mr. bachani, gj (i hope your femur continues to heal quickly!), mia, bowie, saya, pansie and everyone else who either directly or indirectly helped me have such a fantastic time.   

I miss the dirt...

It's been a while. Not for lack of inspiration, necessarily, but more due to circumstance. At first, I couldn't find time. Then, I had time, but no computer. Then, I got a chromebook, but again had no time. Then I had broken bones that made typing difficult. As they healed, I lacked inspiration. Eventually, I found myself here, today, with that fantastic combination of time, technology and inspiration.
So, what's going on? Its been a long while since I've written anything here and to say a lot has happened would potentially be the understatement of the year.
Again, with the cliffnotes:

• still in school working towards the necessary hours to be a certified Yoga Instructor and Licensed Massage Therapist
• I've broken five bones and spent over $2,000 on my left arm since April due to fights of the bike vs. car variety (word to the wise, cars generally win)
• the broken bones temporarily wrecked a lot of my plans/timelines, but i'm finally getting back on track
• the return to Phoenix and the desert has involved a welcome return to the trails I grew up on and love, as well as discovering some new ones
• currently living vampire hours baking overnight for a local restaurant

So, why the title? I miss the dirt. I miss life in my carhart overalls where running water might mean the nearest creek and the dirt under my fingernails and embedded in the creases of my hands is like a natural tattoo. I miss the everyday musty smell of the earth, the sound of birds and animals over cars and planes and radios and cellphone ringtones. I miss the incredible and sometimes crushing sense of solitude, smallness and isolation. I miss being surprised by the sound of my own voice after realizing I haven't spoken or sung to myself in days. I miss the overwhelming sense of excitement and community, the rush of conversation, the power of a smile and the strength of a friends embrace when people come to visit after weeks of solitary living. 

Okay, so I got that out into the open. Reality is this: I live in Phoenix. Estimated population 4,329,534. That's OVER 4 MILLION PEOPLE. Before I moved back here, to put that number in perspective, I was living in a county that had a population of approximately 134,761. Okay, let me break that down for you. That is the population of a COUNTY. That's 3,568 square miles with 134,761 people living in it. Phoenix, whose approximate square mileage is 516 miles, has over 4 million people living in it. Are you overwhelmed by those numbers yet? Here are a few more: my former spot equals about 38 people per square mile. Phoenix, equals approximately 8,390 people per square mile.

So, why don't I just leave? Well, as mentioned in the cliffnotes bullet points, I'm in school. It's a commitment I've made and plan to stick to. It's a commitment I've made in the hope of having more tools in my proverbial life-skills tool box that will allow me to make a living doing things that I love...and back in the environments I want to be in. Commitment often comes with sacrifice, and that is certainly the case here.

What do I do to soften the blow? I was bike commuting everywhere. It was challenging, it took a lot of time and planning, but it was awesome, until I started getting into fights with cars. As a self proclaimed pacifist (admittedly, to a fault sometimes) I can guarantee that I did not start the fights, nor did I seek them out. The first scuffle was in April, I was on my way to work, a car wasn't paying attention, blew through a red light, I avoided being hit by the car (bonus) but nailed a (arguably completely arbitrary) median, was launched from my bike and broke my left radius. Of course, this was on a Friday night, I still went to work, worked the next 2 days, and finally went to urgent care on Sunday morning when I couldn't fall asleep due to the pain. The doc at urgent care was not amused by my tough guy tenacity of working with a broken bone. He was equally annoyed with my refusal to be put in a cast that would completely immobilize my arm and prevent me from being able to do my job. I tried to explain to him the correlation between my employment and my ability to pay for his services. We settled on a compromise, which I knew meant a longer mending time, but also knew meant I could maintain my employment and continue to pay the bills. I tried to run with my awesome sling, and while it was manageable, it was super painful. In an attempt to not be a completely bullheaded idiot, I recognized that the pain was my body's way of telling me to back off, and I chose not to push through it. So, no biking. No running. Not happy. 

in case you were wondering, your elbow isn't supposed to look like that This was taken 2 days after the crash, just before the x-rays drove home the fact that my radius was busted.

Fast forward. The last of the x-rays taken (all said and told, I've had 12 x-rays since April) my radius was finally healed. SO STOKED, I went for a run. It was slow, it was a challenge, it was awesome. My quality of life went up instantaneously. I had a full week of awesome. I rode my bike everyday, I ran almost everyday, I was able to work with both arms without making any major modifications, it was great. 

Second round. The score now stands- CARS 2 Scout 0. Biking from school, headed to work, lit up like a christmas tree. No joke. Three lights on my saddle bags. A headlamp on my helmet and a front light on my handlebars. A fourth red light on my rear seat post. A reflective vest on my body. I was visible, to an obnoxious degree. I was riding IN A BIKE LANE. Enter the oblivious driver. They chose to turn right, while looking left. Again, I managed to avoid the car-bike physical connection, I end up tossed from my bike, and having a hard time picking my bike back up. (a quick digression, I'll admit in retrospect I've reconsidered the benefit of avoiding the actual car-bike contact, as both of these accidents ended up being completely shouldered financially by myself, as neither car stopped/was aware of what happened.) So, i get my bike upright, and my left hand is in a significant amount of pain and doesn't really look right. I made my way to the lightrail and took the easy way in to work. By the time I got there, I was pretty sure my hand was broken. So, I splinted it, worked my shift and went to urgent care the next day. X-rays confirmed, I broke my hand, and I did an incredible job of it. The 4th&5th metacarpal were spirally fractured, as well as 2 hairline fractures in 2 different carpals (for you geeks out there, it was my hamate and triquetrum). 

Taken about 5 minutes after the crash, note the awesome inflammatory response, oh and the fact that your fingers aren't supposed to lean to the right like that.

Casts in the summertime, in Arizona= the polar opposite of awesome. 

This was sure to be a challenge.

The challenge to keep things in perspective, stay positive, and make the best out of yet another bad situation...the results:

Fashionable cast-cover/sock puppet

Magic plastic bubble, excellent for taking showers, and hanging out in the pool.

I tried to go on a few runs with the cast. This resulted in an incredibly swollen and painful hand, that was also sweaty and extremely itchy. For those of you unfamiliar, sweat is this incredible thing our body produces to help us cool off. It helps us cool off through the process of evaporating from our skin. So, you've got a hand, encapsulated in fiberglass and other fun materials that are the opposite of breathable. Are you with me? So, I run, my whole body sweats, including my hand. The sweat on my hand has nowhere to go, and no way of evaporating. So, my hand gets even hotter, the heat makes it swell, and the cotton and fiberglass around my hand get itchy. This, was not good. End result, running remains off the docket. 

This was extraordinarily frustrating. In March I had been training consistently, pushing myself in ways I hadn't since my collegiate racing years. I had made the decision to no longer show up to races and participate, but to show up to races...and race. Even if my 'racing' wasn't the same as the fastest guy on the line, it would be my best performance. It would be an effort that left me exhausted, but exhilarated. It would make the chase of PR's a perpetual quest of personal improvement. I had chosen my first race, the Moab Alpine to Slickrock 50, and I was prepared to train my butt off to get there, perform well, and surprise myself with the results. This running hiatus was starting to really bring me down. I had to have a serious reality check, and make some adjustments. Reality one- I've just spent more than $2,000 on injuries, I have no money for races and traveling. Reality two- even if I did have the money, if I showed up to the Moab race, I would be participating again, not racing. This, is not what I planned to do. 

Time to revisit the game plan. I focused my extra, non-running time on studying. (this paid off, I managed a 102% on my kinesiology midterm) I watched the pounds I had lost in an attempt to be a leaner runner come back, I created a diet and training plan that would be reasonable, but aggressive in getting myself back on track, as soon as my hand was free of its fiberglass tomb. I took all races off the docket, and decided to focus solely on quality training. While I definitely have some races running around the back of my mind, I won't be making any decisions or registering for anything until I've had some solid training time under my belt, without any broken bones.

The cast comes off, my hand smells gross, looks gross, but freedom is fantastic!

I celebrated the freedom of my hand by jumping into the pool without a plastic bubble around it. Then, I took a shower without a bubble, and it was great. All dressed up and somewhere to go...I went out to a movie to continue the celebration, (it was funny, here's the trailer) and went for a nice little run the next morning.

Rewards from the trail, a monsoon morning on the mountain top.

What it all boils down to...
Time back on the trails is great. I really feel lucky to have the mountain preserves and trails right here in the heart of Phoenix to go to for an escape. It helps me stay grounded, it helps me feel quiet...but its still not quite enough.
How to find balance...
For now, I'm keeping my eyes on the prize with school. My yoga program got completely sidelined by broken bones, and I'm looking forward to that starting back up in a couple of weeks. While the extreme urban nature of life in Phoenix is a bit overwhelming, I'm doing my best to keep it all in perspective and focus finding time on trails to keep the dirt connection. I'm going to start a small garden at my folks place to get my hands in the dirt...but I'm still looking for more outlets. Unfortunately, between school and training and commuting and work, there's not much time for extra projects. Still, that doesn't mean the wheels aren't turning. I will find more ways to get back to the dirt, even while my life is bound to a city.

Those are the basics. Much like my running training regimen, I'm working on a writing training regimen as well. So, here's hoping I can stick to it, and bring the blogiverse more (hopefully entertaining) ramblings in the near future.

Thanks for reading. As a kind and wise gentlemen I've never met, but have corresponded with occasionally always ends his e-mails:
RGOT, run gently out there.