So Sunday Sweet Baboo and I went out to El Malpais to do long runs. This was the idea, anyway.
El Malpais means, "The Bad Country" And, what better place than to go for a long, Sunday run than a place whose name in Spanish tells you that this is bad country?
Indeed.
On the menu today, your choice of three entrees for your running pleasure:
1) Slippery mud shoulder studded with base-ball sized lava rocks.
2) Sharp, hard lava field covered with a blanket of snow, enough to hide the crevices and bumps and turn your ankle.
3) "Chef's surprise" This is a road that is covered with snow that is sometimes 1'' deep, and sometimes 6'' deep. Sometimes the crust of the snow will support your weight....and, sometimes it will support it long enough for you to push off a running step and then allow your weight to sink down, causing you to lurch forward ineptly, waisting most of your energy.
The "surprise" part is not knowing what's underneath. Hard ground? Small boulders? slick mud? SURPRISE!
Oh, and there's no place to pee, just a few scrubby junipers spaced 20 yards apart each that hide nothing.
Oh yeah, and it's all at 7100 feet above sea level.
OF course, I chose the "chef's surprise," and I have the sore ankles to prove it. Nothing seriousl, though. Like I told Baboo, you have to try new things. If you don't take a chance on the possibility of an unsatisfying run, you might not have fantastic runs, right?
I still don't have a computer. I've hijacked Sweet Baboo's until he gets home from work.
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