A conversation with Mr. Lateral Collateral Ligament (LCL) Injury

Me: “When are you leaving me Mr. Injury? I have two ultras that I would love to run and the first one is in two months.”

Mr. Injury:  “Relax, you just need to take care of me and I will promise to leave you in peace.”

After a heated conversation with Mr. LCL Injury, I decided to abide by his rules; Rest, Ice, compress (massage), and elevate. I hoped that he would be gone in three days. After three days, I check on Mr. Injury by running 4 miles. But what was I expecting? Since when does an injury heal after 3 days? As a result, Mr Injury was indignant with me. He woke up and yelled at me. I clearly heard him as I limped with an excruciating pain in my knee. I felt like Mr. Injury was playing guitar with all my knee ligaments. I had no one to blame but me. At some point I laughed at myself, "So you thought you were wolverine, you heal in three days." I limped back to the house and licked my invisible wounds.

It had been three days and I had not heard from Mr. Injury. This is great, let me just jog 1 mile and see if he is going to respond. After a mile, I felt him turning. Damm, I almost woke him up. What was I doing? Do not be stupid SP. Just do squats, jump rope, and other knee strengthening  exercises and he will leave you alone. While trying to be calm and accept the reality in front of me, voices in my head were screaming, "This is hard!!! I want him to go go nowwwww!! ahhh!" And then the calm one said, "Let me plan, I will ride in the morning for 2 hrs or 30 miles and cross train three times a week. When walking the dogs, I will jog for about 20m and stop." The calm voice has been able to override all the other voices. I patted myself at the back for finally being wise. It has been 3 days and Mr. injury has been sleeping for a while know and I hope he will overeat on all the cross training I am giving him and die for ever!

Even though it sounds like I have everything under control I actually don't. Sometimes I want to scream at him. But I know that won't help. Everyday is war between testing the knee and biking only. It's hard, but I just believe it will be over soon. It's like that stage in an ultra when you want to quit but you just say, “No Nope, not now, and not today... one step at a time.”  I am waiting for the moment I will start saying, "one mile at a time."

With this injury I have resorted to feeding off the energy from all the runners and cyclist I see on the trails. They keep me going strong. Thank you ABQ morning runners and cyclists for the positive energy you give me. You encourage me to not let Mr. Injury win.

Tranquility Sunset

While contemplating about fraction multiplication, division and how we use Math in our everyday life, nature distracted me.  I had to capture it.

Just Look at that

Love the way the sun says good night

"I will paint the sky for you", the universe.

Going down in style. See you in the morning!

2nd annual G.O.A.T.z Gravel Classic Race Report

My alarm was set to go off at 6:30am; however for some ultra related reason I was awake by 6am. Going back to sleep was not an option. I was scared that if I added 5 or even 20 more minutes I might miss the 2nd annual G.O.A.T.z Gravel Classic. I was honoured to have my coach for the day, Alicia Shoemaker. I also had my wonderful girlfriend, Caitlin Shoemaker, as my race mom. We were set to go. 

We plugged in the address to Skinny Bones Pumpkin Patch and headed off.  When I heard the GPS lady say, "Your destination is on the left", I looked around and only saw a cornfield. I started to panic. Caitlin calmly said, "lets call Alicia, she knows Nebraska well." Alicia figured out the address and we were on our way again. As an act of assurance, I put the correct address in my GPS and also gave my friend Tim a call.  Tim assured me that we were going the right direction. Promptly after talking to Tim, I looked on my left and saw a lot of cars. I was at the race, with 20 minutes to spare before the start. 

I began my normal pre-race ritual.  I checked in and paid the pooper potty a proper visit for good luck and a happy stomach. After pinning on my number, I knew I was ready for my first 60km.

It's getting hot in here

Asengicibhe!

When the race began I noticed that my watch was off and every one is excited to race. The race started right when I was fumbling to turn on my GPS to track my run. When I looked up I realized I was in the back of the pack. It was time to dance. I ripped my shirt off and threw it at Caitlin. As I tried to catch up I remembered my mantra, "Run your own race P.S." These words enforce the Pasche way. I relaxed my pace as I wished other runners the best. Soon I was in the fourth position. I looked ahead and saw three guys flying. A debate erupted in my head, "go get them" to "relax" to "sprint, catch them" to "save your energy". I decided to keep them in sight till the first loop to see if they were doing the 60km. 

By mile six, I was in third place and dancing to my music. I marveled at the rolling hills in front of me and remembered the tempo runs that we used to do at college. I missed the gravel roads and the encouragement midwest drivers shouted as they drove past. Even though the gravel roads were not busy, about 90% of the drivers were smiling and cheering me on. 

While soaking the views laid before me, I noticed only one runner was in sight. I picked up the pace with the goal of catching up to him. Fortunately, enlightenment came to me before I did much damage to myself. I remembered that he might be doing the 30km. I relaxed and went for a bathroom break and continued. At mile 12, I skipped filling up my water bottle thinking, "I am a camel, I can go on without water." By mile 15 I was starting to feel thirsty. My prayers were answered when a truck stopped and asked if I needed food or water. "Oranges" I shouted. I grabbed two quarters, took off and shouted, "Thank you!"  Those oranges felt great. I even forgot to refill the water bottle. I was not worried because I was close to finishing the first loop.  

Where are they?

The oranges powered me through the first loop. I was feeling great and looking forward to start the second loop. As I was finishing the loop, I saw Caitlin and Alicia and felt like a professional/elite ultra runner as they ran towards me with stuff I might need for my next loop. I quickly gave Alicia my water bottle to fill and grabbed more cliff gels and cliff blocks. I found the two guys I kept in sight relaxing at the finish line. 

Loop number 2. Yasuka futsi

Feeling replenished,  I took off feeling great and knowing the course now. I met the orange truck again and got more oranges. I think I will find an orange sponsor. I continued to run the second loop, I wished some one was biking by my side, because I started to feel a little bit lonely. I decided to focus on the music and think of myself dancing. So, the gravel roads became my performance stage. The music kept me company. I started to compare this race to life. I thought, Sometimes you are alone, but you have to keep doing what you love. Do not stop just because no one is looking. I continued to dance on the gravel carpet that laid under my feet on my dancing shoes. At mile 25, I filled my water bottle and felt a minor crap on my right hamstring. I brushed it off thinking I scared it away. At mile 31 while running up hill, I felt something grabbing my hamstring. I stopped and stretched it. It felt better. While focusing on my hamstring, my right arm started to cramp too. I had to run with the water bottle on my left hand. It felt weird but I was just happy that I was moving. I was praying for the finish line by now because I did not have my iodine pills with me.

With about 5 miles to go, fatigue was settling in. For the next 30 seconds all my tough workouts  and mantras came to mind and pushed me to go on. My favourite mantra was, "Hello fatigue. Where have you been? I have been looking for you since I started this race. Come on now, lets go. We will do this together." I pulled out one more cliff gel. The gel helped to balance the relationship with fatigue. We continued to run, me and fatigue. About 2 miles to go, I told myself, "One step at a time Otono! Do not slow down." Even though I could feel my body slowing down, these mantras made me feel as if I was flying. I imagined burgers, sweet potato fries, and cherries. Food was the mantra I used to finish.  Again, the RD heard my prayers, I found Cherries at the finish line. I was done and ready to demolish that food that helped me finish the race. 

DONE!!!!!

I want food

I did it!! Awesome!

We Met Again - Happy "Weeklyversal" My Friend

 I met this puppy last week Friday. Today as I passed the house where I met her, I thought of her.

 100m from our meeting point, I looked back and I was greeted by the biggest smile I have ever seen. I could not believe it.

 I continued to run, and she caught up with me. We ran for about a mile. We stopped and played. We had a great time.

 I do not know her name, I call her buddy.

She just wants to play

The Sunset lifts my Spirit High

                  

A Friend I met A friend I had to shout "GO HOME!!!"

On my run today I met one of the happiest pit bull puppies I have ever met. All he wanted to do was to run with me. Unfortunately I had to tell him to go home. A home I could't even see. I wanted to take him with me, but after having a great time, I had to shout "Home Home!!" With a very sad face, he jogged away with his eyes on me. I had a hard time resuming my run. I captured the great moments we had.

Wish I had treats. He looked hungry

I can smell something

The Child in me Wants to Play - Let's Run

As a kid, every street was my playground. It was the perfect place to build an entire community with sand and sticks. Sticks of different sizes were the perfect material to carve all the community members. River sand was the best raw material to built houses (boguca sthandaze). Our hands were the only excavators needed to create roads that connected the different homesteads and other villages built by my friends. New constructions around our homes knew we were coming to get raw materials for sculpturing cars. Additionally, the streets were the perfect football (soccer) field and best track for our most valuable toys, car tires. It's where we polished out football skills and mastered tire racing skills. Being outside was the best way to make new friends and bond. Those were the great fun days.

Looking back now, it seems like age is inversely proportional to the great fun days. For some reason, as my age increased I stopped spending a lot of time outside playing. I felt like I was grown up, hence I should do grown up stuff. I would spend a lot of time in the house doing school work. My dad was strict with the TV; we were only allowed to watch only one show a week. Therefore, I spent a lot of time with my books. The only thing that forced me to go out was either going to school or when my mama sent me to town. However, things changed when I attended Waterford Kamhlaba United World College (WK). That’s when I started running.

Running took me back to the great fun days. It is where I found that young adventurous undefeated self. Today, the trails have become my new playground. On the trails, I feel young again. I feel like I am 6 or 7 years old. I am free of worry, free of homework. I am just in-tune with my surroundings. The synchronisation of the pounding of my feet and the sound of my breath becomes my music. It takes me to the world of possibilities. A world full of joy, peace and freedom. A world where human and nature are one. As I run down hills I spread my arms like an eagle gliding on the mountain. I feel like a kid again.

Fortunately, I am not the only one who plays on the trails. 99% of the time, when I meet a trail runner, he/she leaves me with one of the following; words of encouragements, high five, a nod, or smiles. I always reciprocate such gestures.  Such encounters remind me of my experience as a child. With both the trails and my childhood play, I have made friends and unforgettable memories. I engage with my community better by being outdoors. Trail running has made fond memories, just like my play as a child.  Luckily, I have just begun my journey on the trails.

Live.Love.Run.