My Mr. Myagi of Trail Running
I was running with a friend yesterday and it was HOT. The run started at 94 degrees and I'm pretty sure it was around 104 when we were done. Oddly enough, outside of feeling warmer than usual and my heart rate being higher, I felt all right. It was 18ish miles with 4000ish feet of gain. I went through at least 3.5 liters of water and ate quite a few gels. The hotter we get the more calories we burn. Fun fact: if you stay hydrated when it’s that hot, eating is way more tolerable. You know you are getting pretty dehydrated if your body is hungry but you cannot eat.
I was able to make two summits (Camelback and Piestewa) and didn’t have to stop on the way up. The road running was the hardest for me because it’s constant pavement pounding and I’m just not used to that. However, I made it back to the car. Unfortunately, my friend didn’t…don’t worry, he’s still alive.
James and I have run together many times. I call him my Mr. Myagi of trail running because he was one of the first people I met back in 2015 at South Mountain, showed me the trails there and took me on my first Grand Canyon Rim to Rim (R2R). He also has several amazing races under his belt including the Black Canyon 100k and the Sedona Canyon 125 miler. He has had a heart issue in the past but it seems they finally nipped it in the past couple of years. James is 63 years old. So what’s this all about?
James has shown me that no matter what age you are, you can do many things. He lost his son to suicide during the high point of the pandemic. He divorced a few years before that. His daughter lives in Flagstaff so she isn’t too far away but he’s definitely got an empty nest. He leads a couple of group runs and makes everyone feel welcome. He’s a good guy from Minnesota and definitely has the Midwest feel about him. He is one of my favorite people to run with because even when he bonks, he is still fighting and supporting.
But with that fighting, I’ve seen him stop when he needs to. He has had to DNF races because his heart could not take it and he knew it. He has had to stop in the middle of races and take a slower time because he knew he could finish but needed the time to get his body and mind in the right place. He has figured out how to finish 125 miles when his plan went awry and he realized he had to sleep to get through it. He has pulled himself from training runs because he knows it will do him more harm than good which is what happened yesterday (this is so important).
