Monday, January 14, 2008

Welcome to the El Malpais Diner


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.

...

7 comments:

  1. That's a great way to keep a run from getting boring. Good job.

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  2. Personally, I probably would have run somewhere else besides Twisted Ankle Gulch and Lava Rock Canyon. Hope you feel better soon. And learn from the experience.

    (So, you scratched the tweak-the-blog-design itch? Please make the footer font LARGER!!)

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  3. Not really related to the post, but did you really change the color scheme to pink and BROWN?! Nothing personal, but barf.

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  4. I like the pink and brown...
    Geekgirl is all about content anyway!
    Great job on the altitude with attitude training!

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  5. Very true, It's always nice to run someplace new! Didn't SB just get his computer back in shape? Don't break it now:)

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  6. Perhaps Baboo shouldn't be follwing you to places like that to run. His body seems to be injury prone, & I'm really evcited about watching what the 2 of you accomplish this year.

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  7. Cassio: Ouch, dude. Harsh.
    Cody: You think Baboo follows me? LOL! I was following his footsteps and he was miles ahead of me... (Shhhhh - be vewwy quiet - I am hunting Baboo...)

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 I'm no longer involved in multisport or endurance sports. I've started my own business, a psychotherapist specializing in anxiety d...