Intention

These ski-trekking poles hang in a tree near an old training trail near my house from my ultra-running days. These were given to me by the organizer and promoter of the ‘Silverton 6-day Run’, Roger Wrublik .The event was simply, show up on a certain day on the outskirts of Silverton, Colorado, check in with your name and weight, find you a place for a cot and supplies in the event tent, and when the gun goes off-run as far as you can in 6 days…..it was simple.

The track was a 1 mile loop at 9400 ft altitude, straight up and straight down….simple. The run was always a spiritual event for me, or I wanted to think it was, till my mind would leave me–and it would leave, usually by day 2. Then after the mind and the ego were small enough, grandeur would set in! The hallucinations would come when you least expected them, usually giving way to sobbing or silly laughter-and then the next step would happen. The run would keep going day and night.

In summery, when the body is almost gone in whatever circumstance, the Being is there even closer-till its over. The body, the form isn’t the enemy, it’s our tool to carry the divine Being till it doesn’t.

Life: check in, find a place to camp, and live! Simple, not easy……

I would usually stop after 350 to 375 miles, some went farther, some not so far–all who showed up were treated the same-after 6 days we were one person running, go figure.