Photomania!

Ok, so all my camera needed was new batteries. I was confused because it was turning on, just not all the way. So I fixed it up and took some photos. I've only added a few new ones, but they are a selection of about 60 I took yesterday.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47977673@N00/

wildlife

I haven't really seen that much wildlife. There was a very small elk on Mountain Ave the first time I ran up it. Today I saw a weasel on the porch of my studio. It looked kind of like an Aryan squirrel or something: Big boned, strong jaw, obviously works out. I've only seen one magpie--last time there were many.

There are no photos of these specimens because my camera is still broken. It caught, and it was ready to go, but by the time I walked out to take a photo of Sulphur mountain, it bailed on me again.

UPDATE: two mountain goats on Norquay last night, and a medium-sized elk on Sulphur today. Char, the camera is broken because the lens won't come all the way out. I'm not sure why. It works sometimes, but rarely. I'm hoping I can get it fixed in the day or two I am back in Montreal but I doubt I will have time. Oh well. Ya'll will just have to imagine the kebabs and tavuk gosu tatlisi.

Triple threat

What a day for running. I almost ran three times, but luckily, when I got up from my chair, my legs made an executive decision, based on the two previous climbs today. I just feel like I am ready to fly, despite the hard runs I've been doing up these mountain. Here is what happened:

First, I have discovered breathing. How I got through 29 years without it, will forever remain a mystery... No, I mean breathing as a tool for mountain running. On his website, Jason talks about the breathing (breathing in unity with movement). It makes a huge difference in being able to keep going, and in pacing. Breathing every third step is very different from every second step. It's like gears in a car. I know if I want to make it up I have to keep it in "three-step" gear. If I go to "two-step" (apologies to my cowboy friends), it burns out, too fast. I did two-step on the easier slope on the road, but it didn't last long on Sulphur. Knocked 40secs of the ascent and it felt easier. More impressively (for me) I knocked 5min off the descent! The down is just not my thing, but the last two I've done (10min this morning and 25min this aft) have been unconscious.

I think that Daniels (or someone) talks about this 2-2, or 3-3, or 4-4 breathing, but as far as running flat goes, I don't think it applies in the same way. Well, I suppose you can go by that as a physiological clue, but I think cadence is much more important. I can run at many different speeds and still keep 3-3 on the flat. Yes, there is a point where I will be forced into 2-2 and even 1-1, and I guess it would be interesting to know that point. I just don't like theories of running that try to solve everything. I would file it under good to know.

In mountain running, though, the cadence does not vary as much. The cadence is still very important, but a 3-3 cadence is going to allow me to continue to run uphill for an hour, while a 2-2 is not. The faster I can do the 3-3, the better, but as soon as I hit 2-2, I am breathing too heavily to be able to maintain it. I did slip back into it a bit, on some very steep parts, in order to get through it, but I tried to relax back into 3-3 as soon as I was able. I suppose a real monster like Wyatt can keep 2-2. I wonder, or his is more controlled breathing just faster?

Anyway, that was a great discovery. I feel much more at one with the mountain now, which is going to be important for when the mountain kicks my ass (hopefully I will be able to kick back). That is also the reason I DIDN'T do three runs today. Breathing aside, 2:20 total of running is probably enough for one day.

The reason I almost DID do a triple (which I have actually done before) was because I finished Running with The Buffaloes this afternoon, before dinner. If you are taking my ENGL 212 class (Lecture I) this fall you will get to read this book. And there is no better time to read it than cross country season. I guess my reaction to things (good or bad--and this was good) is always to go for a run. Now I'm trying to decide if I should watch Without Limits or On the Edge tonight. I will probably be up all night if I do. I am up all night anyway (it's hard to sleep at altitude, I find) so what the heck...

results:

Here is something I've written in the last couple of days. Some of you may find some familiar refrains (a run is a series of decisions, etc...)

Losing

A run is a series of decisions, questions
that must be answered on the run. Every
second spent in doubt is lost forever,
and that is why there is a constant threat:
that of having a lover and knowing
you could lose her—because one can
not exist without the other. Those lost
seconds bear you on like sideline jeers,
a company that is worse than loneliness.
The moments when you think you’ve lost
her: the sting of the click, the moan
of the dial tone, like one of her friends
giving you a look dirtier than your best
racing socks—they hurt most. The last third
of the race, when the leaders have slipped
away, out of sight over the last hill, left
you to thrash up it, wishing for that
aloneness, is the hardest question. The struggle
to open that coffee shop door, order a tea
you won’t drink because you know
what’s coming—your name too far down
on the results sheet to satisfy your heart—that
is the toughest time to get through. But when
you do, and you see the other runners are all
smiles, because they know you’ve all done something
no one else can do, you can at least be a little bit happy.
When she says she can’t take the risk,
it’s a credit to you because you can, and you do,
every time. It’s good practice, losing.

Photos!

Ok, ok, so I have posted the photos elsewhere:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47977673@N00/

Not sure if that link will work. Let me know.

Thanks Yvonne.

Banffing it up in Banff. Banff, the town with the name like the word "smock" that you just want to keep saying over and over...

7:49pm Banff AB.

Banff is like Quebec West, I’m telling you. I was at the grocery store and the cashier started going off about the “asti’d vache” qui ne lui “calissait pas la paix, crisse de tabernac” because even though there were too many people working, she wasn’t allowed to go home. Then there was the shaggy kid with the wide-brimmed ball cap and the fake I.D. (his buddy’s Quebec license). Christine, the secretary at the registrar’s office is also from Montréal. You walk down the street and you are as likely to hear French as English. I even told the dinning room guy “Merci” out of habit. It was because I’d been talking to Marie, one of the opera singers (there is an opera singers’ convention) who is also from Montreal.

As far as the work goes, it is great. The environment is really conducive to writing. I’ll probably get the last of the sonnets drafted by tomorrow (a full 10 days ahead of schedule!), which means I’ll get on that play for sure. Also, the New Canon review is not going to take that long either—it’s just the reading, which doubles as “inspirational” reading anyway, that’ll take a few days.

Maybe I should explain about the reading. I usually need to read some poetry first, before I can actually write any myself. I think because I work in so many different head spaces (coaching, training, teaching, reviewing, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, plays) I need to really isolate each space. So for now I am in poetry mode, and to get there I need to be reading some. A preview of the review: I like Bruce Taylor, Noah Leznoff, Iain Higgins and George Elliot Clarke, so far. The rest of the first 20 or so poets I found to be, well, exactly what Carmine said he was trying to avoid: “the plain, the soft-spoken, the flatly prosy, the paraphrasingly simple, the accessibly Canadian.” I’m a little surprised because Carmine is usually quite rigorous, but then again, there is still his unexplained appreciation for Robyn Sarah…

Running-wise, I ran for over two hours yesterday afternoon, 36min of which were spent on the Sulphur Mountain trail. Today I ran up Mount Norquay, but it was all road, and not that steep. Still a solid 20min climb. I am still not really feeling the altitude like I did last time. I must be in better shape. Not sure what else to say: more of the same to come.

Still working on getting those photos up.

Welcome to Banff!

10:34pm, Banff AB

So, here I am. The flight was uneventful. Actually, that’s not true. On the Montreal-Toronto flight, I got to see a new Doctor Who episode—missed the last ten minutes though. On Toronto-Calgary saw The Sentinel—secret service agent is having an affair with the First Lady. Also, I managed to bring liquid on board. So much for security. They let me bring an empty water bottle through, and then I filled it at the water fountain before I got on. I was well-hydrated for my arrival at altitude.

Met a nice French woman—Sandrine—from Toronto, who is camping here for a few days. She works for Sanofi-Pasteur, which is, though after several changes in ownership, descended from the lab of Louis Pasteur himself.

Upon arrival, I checked in and promptly went for a run up Tunnel Mountain. 6:38 to the trailhead; 12:00 to the top; 11:11 back down; 5:45 home. 35:34 total. Felt it pretty bad going up, but coming down was ok.

I put my socks on the balcony of my room and one of them got blown off!

The studio I’m in is called “The Hemingway” but not that Hemingway…it’s named after Peter Hemingway, an architect. It’s the same one that Ross was in. Also, Jaspreet is next door in number 2.

I took some photos of the studio, but for some reason the blog won't take them. I'll see if it works later.

Not bad. What is bad is the movie Flight 93, which I watched last night, back in the room. I guess they took the exact transcripts from phone calls. The script is awful. Still, I’ll bet they don’t show this movie in-flight.

Anyway, the plan is to go up the mountain again in the morning, and then get started on the writing. I am feeling like it will be productive. The room smells the same as when I was last here. It’s not necessarily a pleasant smell, like lavender or something, but more like pungent soap. Anyway, the smells seems to be initiating a Pavlovian response. It worked out well last time I was here…

Update: 12:09pm. Just posting this now. Second run up Tunnel Mountain was faster (good). Breakfast was awesome—eggs, little potatoes, pancakes (sorry no photos of the food yet). Going to have lunch now.