Monday, November 23, 2009

My First Run (pt. 2)

To set the scene, about twenty minutes before I got into an accident with a lawyer from the Justice Department. I had to talk him down and jump in a cab to get to the start of the run I was responsible for leading. I was already late, and when I arrived everyone was waiting around impatiently and some people were starting to get upset. I jumped out of the cab, grabbed my bag of flour and the three of us, me, Dave, and Ben, started running. Together, we ran up a short set of steps to the ridge top, but then we split up. Dave and Ben went straight down the hill on some farming trails. I cut across the side of the hill on a path made out of recycled railroad ties. I took a short cut because we only need one person to go over each section of the run, this allowed us to finish the whole thing faster and avoid getting caught.

Dave and Ben ran down the hill all the way to the bottom, before coming back up some stone steps to the 200 ft. Silver River waterfall, still in beautiful form. Dave’s day finished right there because he was in charge of the beer check – a special treat for our group, the China Hash. Some other hashes have a beer check every time they run, but we only have them once or twice a year. I though the spot was special enough that people would really enjoy a cold drink there. I found out later it was a big hit, all the drinks went quickly. Dave even made a video of some of the people coming up the stair just before the stop. (I’ll see if there’s a way I can put it up here.)

Ben took over laying the trail after the waterfall/beer-stop. He went up a few more stone steps before the trail evened out a lot. That’s also where my railroad-tie shortcut met up with the real trail. I had already gone ahead to mark a different section. Ben moved through this flat part quickly. It was a great elevated forest trail overlooking a stream on its left side. If the weather had been a little drier, this section would have been nearly perfect. It was shaded from the sun, so not too hot. It was wide, so not too restrictive. It was flat. All those factors make for some fun and fast trail running. But, because it was at the bottom of a valley, it was muddy. I say that only makes it more exciting.

That section led us up to a “bridge.” Just after the “bridge” the trail split for the Short and the Long. -- Sometimes the hare will plan to possible routes. One is longer or significantly more challenging for more intense participants. One is shorter for those so inclined. -- Ben was responsible for marking the Short route with flour leading back up to the mountain ridge. For the first time that day, at the beginning of the Long route, I started marking. I went off the trail straight into a stream. The stream quickly shrank and the trees and vines reached in from banks. It was slow going, but I knew anyone who followed would have to contend with the same obstacles. After several meters going up the stream, it opened into a broad pool. Ahead was 6+ft. stone wall with the streamwater running down the side. I put my bag of flour on top of it and climbed up. From head to toe I was soaked and muddy. From there I was able to skirt the streambed taking small stone staircases up from one deserted paddy to the next. Someone probably farmed here 10, 20, or 30 (100?) years ago. Then it was back into the stream, but it shrank as went uphill. I spent about twenty minutes following the stream up as high as I could. Then I found a section of jungle that we had all worked to clear the week before.

That section wasn’t too long, but I remember how much work it was to make it passable. Dave and I took turns with my cutting tool – a one foot steel blade on a two foot wooden arm. Ben was armed with a hand saw. I offered it to him before we left, but I was skeptical of how well it would work. He swung it around like a madman and it really did the trick. Dave and I always stayed thirty feet away from him, but I have to admit he was effective.

[I’ll have to stop here, but I should be able to finish next week.]

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

One Run, Up and Down

Dave said there’d be no long hills. I’m pushing upwards on just the balls of my feet – think of Flashdance. That’s the problem with long hills, the thinking. There’s no sharp turns, no logs to duck under, nothing dynamic. All you can do is grind and grind and grind. And think. Think of walking. Think of finishing. Think of punching that farmer who didn’t want you going through. Think of flying. Off the side of this fucking mountain. Think of who’s ahead. Think of who’s behind. Think of pushing harder. Think of walking. Think of walking. I come over the top of the hill and battle against the urge to walk in celebration of my victory over the climb. I run on.

I turn onto a shady trail, my vision sharpens, my feet fall naturally one after the other. If I showed you a picture of the path you’d see branches and rocks, roots and leaves, small boulders and bamboo pikes. But that photo would be a lie. None of those things are on my trail. My feet don’t slip on leaves, don’t trip on roots. I don’t slow down for branches, boulders, or bamboo. I slide on through.
It’s natural.

Now the downhill. It’s natural to be careful. It’s natural to take it slow. It’s natural to be nervous. But there’s nothing natural here. I’ve learned that my ankles are tough and my eyes will find a way down. They’ll tell my legs first. I’m just the last to know. It’s like having the front car on a roller-coaster on the first test-run. Can’t wait to find out how it ends.

I hit the ON-IN and finish a minute later. Toothpick hands me a beer.

Monday, November 16, 2009

My First Run (pt. 1)

At the end of October I planned and hared my first run for the China Hash House Harriers in Taipei. This is the group I run with on Sundays. Each week we meet at a different scenic place just outside Taipei. Two people (the hares) plan a trail ahead of time, and we give them a 15 minute running head start. The hares lay a trail of flour as they run and everyone follows trying to catch them. I took my first turn as a hare just three weeks ago. The club’s most senior member was quoted beforehand saying, “I’m not going to a run done by that bunch of rookies, you’ll all be lost in the damn jungle!” Just because he was right doesn’t mean it wasn’t a foul thing to say. But that’s still ok because everyone had a great time – even me.

This story is actually going to start one day before the Sunday run. Saturday morning, Dave (my co-hare) and I went out to survey the run one last time before we had to perform for a crowd. We rode my scooter up the hill to Mao-Kong which overlooks all of Taipei from the South. The trail started up some stairs until it went over the ridge, down through a farmer’s plot to a service road. Then a steep drop on some cutbacks all the way to the edge of a little town before taking a hiking trail next to a stream back up into the forest. It’s not considered great form to have huge vertical drops and gains, better to even them out. But in this case it was worth it – the trail went straight past the 200 ft. Silver River waterfall. There’s a temple in the cliff side behind the fall. And it had rained hard for three straight days before our run, I’ve never seen the cascade so full.

At the end of our run there was a short section where you had to trace a stream with a small six foot waterfall. We were so hot from hiking and running that I couldn’t resist jumping in – it’s such a rush. We headed back, but when I got to the scooter I discovered my pockets were empty…no keys. No scooter keys. No house keys. They had come out in the fall. We went back and looked for them, but there was no hope. The water was too fast, too turbulent. The keys were gone.

I’m proud that I was able to remain calm. Living in Taiwan has helped me develop my patience and my problem-solving skills. We coasted the scooter back down the hill to town and found a repair shop that could put new locks on the scooter. I finally got my cell phone out of the trunk and called my roommate to see if she could help me get back into the apartment. I got her key copied and everything was resolved. I bought Dave dinner to make up for the delay and thank him for his help. I finished the night by driving my scooter back up to Mao Kong and running home. I went to bed early and nervous.

I got up on Sunday and immediately started checking over everything. I had the flour ready. I had added the food dye to keep it visible even if it gets wet. I reviewed the timetable and the job flow-charts for me and my two co-hares. There were a lot of separate things to take care of, even with three of us, we still had to split up to get it all done. I had to pick-up Dave and Ben from the subway. Then we drove up the hill, stopping at all the turns to leave flour marks so everyone else could find it later. Once we got to Mao Kong, Dave took a bag of flour to mark the trail for a foot race that started at the Subway came up to the start of our run in Mao Kong. Ben took my car and drove down the hill to pick up Dave. I got on my scooter and drove on the farm roads to get over the mountain and set up a beer-stop next to the giant waterfall. All of that went off without a hitch, but I didn’t get back until 20 minutes before the run was supposed to start. But I got worried when people told me that the marks on the road driving up had faded, people were having trouble. I grabbed Dave and jumped on my scooter so we could re-mark the road before starting. We got to the bottom of the hill and go into an accident with a car. [Great!] The plastic on the front end of my scooter was smashed up. There was a small scratch on the bumper of the car. But the man was upset and frightened. It took me five minutes to get him to move his car to the side of the road before I could start and try to talk him down. He was a lawyer. [Fantastic!] With the Justice Department. [Awesome!]

After about 15 minutes he calmed down, we exchanged information and went on our way. We jumped in a cab and encouraged him to drive up the hill as fast as possible. We were late and everyone was waiting.