I ran from the Esplanade to OMSI and then out onto the Springwater trail toward Oaks Bottom today. I wanted to run trails and considered running up to the Japanese Garden, but I didn’t want to run through downtown; and when I thought about it for a few minutes, I concluded I just didn’t want to see any people.  City people; rushing, cowering under their umbrellas, hiding in their hoods.

I started fast and when I got farther out on Springwater, past the homeless camps, past the lashed together dinghies on the Willamette that remind me of some PNW post-apocalyptic waterworld every time I pass, I slowed down… and then for a while I ran with my eyes closed.

It’s so flat and straight. With your eyes closed you find your lean. I was tracking just slightly to my left, not much. I tried to run a little longer, then opened my eyes to check my position, corrected and then closed them again. Like running in an sphere of energy, rolling along through 3 dimensions, the wind kissing my eyelids.

I found a trail. About 3 miles out, there is a trail into the woods off to the right, so I took it. And immediately I had to focus on my footing. I ran for a while through the woods and then came to a perch overlooking the river and stopped my watch.  I was directly across from the tower at the top of Council Crest. Looking up toward OHSU from the North part of the city, it looks like the tower is right behind OHSU. It isn’t; it’s some distance South.

I wondered how cold the water was and if there was a strong undertow; and thought about putting on a wetsuit and swimming across the river; just to do it. Something about being tenacious and driven and intense and relentless. Never stop moving. Then I turned around and ran slowly and then more slowly back to the office – just joggin’ on the flats.

Uncomfortable and on the edge of control is my preferred state.

That was my run thought today as I made my way through Forest Park. After 2 days of rest, I was giddy to be moving fast through downtown and up to the intersection of Burnside and the Wildwood Trail. I used the Google Pedometer to map out a big loop over to Council Crest, but it was 10.5 miles. I just didn’t have the time, yes motivation, yes tenacity, not enough time during the work day. 8 miles +/- per hour is what I can do right now. So I cut it short and went through the Arboretum. I always love looking at this shelter when I run by, but I never have my phone with me, today I did.

A photo posted by Chris Rivard (@chrisrivard) on Dec 12, 2014 at 1:22pm PST

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When trail running, I strive to attain that edge of control and hold it for as long as possible; It’s when I feel most alive. It takes complete focus, all my mental energy.  I hesitate to subject anyone else to it.

I worked hard coming over the bridge back to the office. And then I worked harder. In the rain and wind with my clothes sticking to my wet skin I growled ferociously. Loudly.

Burn it down til the embers smoke on the ground;
And start new when your heart is an empty room.

The rain in the forest is different than rain under the open sky. In the forest the moisture condenses on the fir needles and falls in big drops; some landed on my head – PLOP! SPLASH!

FARSTER. It’s a portmanteau I made up today. It means run farther faster.
When you think it, it has to be in ALL CAPS. The other thing I was thinking in ALL CAPS today was:

INTENSE.

http://www.strava.com/activities/228225147

Good resource:
http://www.csun.edu/~dgw61315/fallacies.html

I was trying to find the name for taking an extreme position on something for the sake of argument. I guess it’s a straw man, but I thought there was another name for it –

Something about building character or having *the* experience turn into *experience* or digging deep or suffering or applying a little pain or stressing the system in an antifragile sort of way. Maybe all of the above.

Pouring rain, about 37 degrees at the office. Shorts in my running kit. Iffy conditions. Iffy. Not “full conditions” in the Ben Nevis sense,  but close enough for Portland. A few degrees colder near Council Crest and maybe I’d have seen some snow or freezing rain. It was touching 33/34 degrees up top.

So glad I wore a beanie under my brimmed hat to cover my ears… and I could have used warmer (+ waterproof) gloves. Making a fist and squeezing all the water out of the gloves does the trick and forces some blood back into my hands. I had trouble buttoning my shirt when I got back the office. Kind of numb all over.

The ghost whisperer shell mostly kept the heat in, but I was so soaked from the inside and outside on the way back.  I dreaded stopping at any crosswalks back through PSU – need to keep generating heat.  But I had the Marquam Trail all to myself, I saw not a soul.

I was a little tweaked when I got back to the office and put all the clothes I had including a buff as hat plus hoody; I drank mug after mug of Green Chai to try to warm up standing at my desk.

Good stuff today. Getting after it:
http://www.strava.com/activities/226248312

And my VO2 Max spiked to 66 – which is approaching mutant zone. Huzzah.

Also changed up my runmix to include such chart topping hits as:

• Word Up, (Cameo) listened to that one twice
• Bring tha Noize – Public Enemy + Anthrax
• Let’s Go Crazy (Prince & the Revolution) “…so when you call up that shrink in Beverly Hills, you know the one, Dr. Everything’ll Be Alright…”
• Blue Monday (New Order)
• Push It (Static X)
• My Shit’s Fucked up (Warren Zevon) *2nd only to Lawyers, Guns and Money

You know… just the hits 🙂

The Dawn of System Leadership

http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_dawn_of_system_leadership

Swarm Leadership

Design Explosions: Mapping on iOS

Shipping Out

https://medium.com/message/against-productivity-b19f56b67da6

Stories, adventures and all new things still have to come from messy humans.

(via http://cephas.net/blog/)