Swimming....
In the weeks following my first 100 miler I've run through the normal post ultra hangover problems: Weird sleep patterns, temporary bi-polar disorder, sore bones, and some mild(very mild) depression like feelings. Knowing that this was coming is all part of the deal, the pact you have to make with your wife, kids, cat, dog, bearded lizard or whomever your malcontent is likely to affect. It's time to make amends and apologize because the time nigh for clearing the schedule for 2017 racing season!
"The fish don't ask what the water is, they just swim." -Hondo Crouch
Ultra running reminds me of a lot characters real, fictitious, and possibly hallucinated, today I'm thinking about Hondo. Hondo Crouch was a famous character around the hill country of Texas but his notoriety rose to a crescendo following the release of the song Luckenbach, Texas alternatively delivered by Waylon and Willie and most of the other bastions of Texas' strong outlaw country movement in the 1970s. An All American swimmer at the University of Texas in the 1940s, Hondo eventually purchased Luckenbach in 1971 and set the stage for the resurgence of Texas nationalism and the outlaw country that eventually birthed the Texas country revolution.
When I was at Camp Champions in the early 90s Hondo was long gone but the legends of his swimming acumen still haunted the swim bay. It was said that Hondo was capable of diving off the tallest platform at the swim bay without getting one of his feet wet. My young and vulnerable mind was warped by the idea of this silver haired older fella diving gracefully off the rickety wooden platform and as he was falling to the surface using some sort of mystical technique failing to wet one of his feet.
Hondo was a modern day Siddhartha, cruising around the hill country in an old pickup talking about the frogs and the fish and endearing himself to the people all around. Hondo might not have been an ultra runner but he would have understood it, the idea of it at least.
That's why when we start questioning ourselves and our abilities its important that we remember that we just need to run, keep going, moving forward, and we will achieve what we came to do, time stops and we can just revel in that moment in the mountains or wherever the journey has brought us.
So, today I'm grateful for being here uninjured and happy to continue to do what I love, and the miraculous cure for the ultra hangover....I just signed up for JFK 50, strap up your Hokas Walmsley, I'm coming for you!
PS: This is a rad crew report from Tommy Rivers Puzey cool read about him and the Iron Cowboy bringing it for 5 time Marathon Des Sables Champ Mohammed Ahansal.
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