Wholistic Fitness

THE TURQUOISE MOUNTAIN CHRONICLES
3 Racers,

1 Sacred Mountain,

275 competitors …

One Amazing Day Of Mountain Yoga…This is their championship story…

by Coach Ilg

Until we toe a start line, until we force ourselves into the limelight and perform against others who have
trained just as hard as we, our inner Sacred Essence…the very gut of who we are, the extremely concentrated spiritual
nectar of our consciousness remains untested, undeveloped. Humans need to compete to truly know
who the hell we are. Some say, “I am not competitive.” Bullshit. You are a human being in a global Tribe called,
“the Human Race.” Our very natures have been Divinely Designed to win, or at least compete nobly, within the Human Race. The Unawakened refuse to honor this Divine Design and thus grow fat in their bodies and lazy in their minds. Content, are these sheepish masses, to allow their souls to whither when all about them is God’s glorious nature! I choose to Dance, not sleep.

In case you are new to DL or have been so stuck in the illusion of the outer world that you have forgotten what is the goal of the Human Race, let re-mind you; Enlightenment. Thus, to me, training, carving out the time to train, doing the homework of pre competition, and then doing what is required to get yourself to the Start Line surrounded by the adrenalin pulsation of hundreds of like-trained Warriors each out to beat the bolts off of you…this, Oh Mighty Armed Travelers of the WF Way, is vital to the spiritual development of what each of us must confront at our final exhale. Any other way of living is false, any other way of living is NOT living at all but is an addiction to comfort and violates the very nature of the Human Spirit
which is to Rise Above.

Though most of my life i have been a competitive athlete in as many forms of Brahman’s sports and arena’s as you are probably capable of imagining, these days, since moving to LA nearly 10 years ago, i don’t race much. At least not at the Level to which molded my fibers. I, perhaps like you, am now Very Busy. LA will do that to you. A little over a year ago, several things, toxic things where happening to my Vehicle (body/mind) that told me i needed to refill the Sacred Chi, i needed to compete again. Ultra races are the best for InnerAttainment. I mean, the Skill Sports are fine, but they are not It.
Ultra endurance sports are It. They push you into the Divine Bardo and because of this there is no more effective Path for dying (and thus living). Not ‘having the time’ to train for the ultra events solo as i am accustomed, i imagined myself gathering a team of like-minded Fitness Warriors and apply my spirit beside theirs, and race. Soon, the first manifestation of this dream came to me through Chris Kostman, Race Director of the FURNACE CREEK 508. I did that race and with my teammates, we set a Course Record through absolutely hellish conditions. The LA Times covered our story and put me on the cover of the magazine pullout. The AfterGlow from Furnace Creek was so great, and my fitness level was so…21 years old again, that i thought, “Shit, i should get a team together to do Mt. Taylor.” From that spirit-soaked dream of mine, came not only another Chi Filled Sanctuary of Higher Growth for me and a hand picked team…it also brought me my second Championship in as many outings since my retirement from sponsored sport.

Mt. Taylor, known as Tsidool in Tewan, means The Turquoise Mountain. Back in the seventies, a Nordic Ski Racer (leave it to us whackos) was living in Grants, New Mexico and needed a place to ski train. The only snow was located several thousand feet above the high mesa, only the slopes of Tsidool. Claude, his name, loaded up his bike with snowshoes and skis, rode up as far as he could, then ran and hiked to the snowline, whereupon he could ski and snowshoe. Thus began the notion of the best Winter multisport event in which i have ever competed; the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon. I have never done this event as part of a Team, yet i know Tsidool well. I have finished as a Soloist in the top twenty several times. You can read all about this four sport, 75 kilometer event at: www.mttaylorquad.org

I asked my old Motorola bike racing teammate, Richard “Gram Man” Verderame to do the Bike Up and Down; a 13 mile uphill time trial that sears your lungs and legs to smithereens. His duty was kickstart our effort by remaining in the top ten on the Bike Up, hand off to WF Teacher Haku Sheader, our runner. Haku was to blitz the pig sloppy Run Up, and hand off to me, waiting up on the upper reaches of the 11,300′ mountain…i would do two events, the Ski and Snowshoe to the summit. Then, i would turn around, do those two events in reverse, hand off to Haku, who in turn would fire off the Run Down, and make a lightning fast hand off to Gram Man who would be perched upon his racing bicycle, ready to soar us home and to the top of the podium…that was our PLAN anyway…

here is the way it turned out in the words of Team Mountain Yogi themselves;

THE BIKE UP;
written by “Gram Man”

The Biking leg of Mt Taylor:
With the constant changing weather in this area
one of the most difficult things in preparation for
the biking leg was what to wear. Was it going to
rain? Snow? Hail? Will it be windy? Will it be
freezing? Will there be any Sun? Especially after
Fridays deludge and the approaching storms from the
west the decision was tough.
As it turned out the ascent toward Heaven started
a little cool-cold as the pace from the start was
constant powerful attacking and then the group size
was immediately pared down to about 20-25. After we
hit the TT mode and entered the climbing mode the
group was now down to about 15. There was one racer
way out in front by this time and no one took to the
chase. Instead the chase group now have been spread
throughout the mountain course. I was pushing myself
to the limits. I manage to stay pretty close
improving on my Personal Best by 3 minutes and
finishing within the top 10. I realized that my
clothing selection was just perfect as I finished with
minimal perspiration and did not overheat. I handed
the microchip transmitter to Haku who ran like a deer.

THE RUN UP,
written by Haku
“When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.”
-Shunryu Suzuki

A reflection from the field..errr… trial, mud, ice, wind, snow, ice,CHI FEST!
There are few expressions of being that feel as truly human as running freely upon a mountain.
As with climbing, it is not about conquering the mountain, (how presumptuous) it is about conquering oneself. That, as the Buddha taught, provides the real victory.
Thus as I prepared the past several weeks for my fleet sojourn up and down the run section of the Turquoise Mountain to the moment the flying Grammage man came zooming towards the transition area I directed myself towards this approach. Merge…merge…befriend the sacred with authenticity not arrogance, draw strength from her slopes.
Racing in this context, with the common-unity of fellow fitness warriors about you draws this deeper. Racing is not about �beating� anyone it is about bringing out the best. It is a concentrate of what living deeply and authentically means. As in meditation, if brave enough to peer, you are enabled by pushing the edge to look into the abyss to see both where fear and struggle are hiding and effort and courage await to be unleashed.
Watching the time and more importantly feeling for Gramman�s approach I go thru my inner and outer warm-ups. I am well hydrated with my Sunrider herbs and Mountain pran. The sky is dark, its windy, its wet, its cold, its perfect. Before I hear our number called I sense �his pounding heart and shed my layers. (always wear one less layer than you think you ought). We make the chip exchange and its off. Running up and down a mountain is like a challenging asana..you don�t force it ya let go. Let the mountain move under your feet and pull ya up. I have nine or ten team runners ahead of me..some several minutes. Here is what is important. Not to resist discomfort, pain, do not seek escape from these. Simply embrace the difficulty as Coach Ilg says and they dissolve. Secondly, do not anticipate the outcome. Just go. Now. In other words, have FUN!
The 5th mile arrives soon. The incline steepens, snow pack and ice increase..I strap on the yaktrax mid-stride and change gears unleashing my inner miler from days past. I have moved by five team competitors. �I FEEL Steve�s fire up ahead…its powerful. Over the lip and there he awaits like frigging Tibetan Snow Leopard quivering with an oncoming pounce. Ilgbro flies off. The hard cold winds generated near white outs on the way to summit and down…I think the com trail coming off of Ilg must of have contributed to the effect!

NEXT UP: COACH’S ACCOUNT OF HIS SKI and SNOWSHOE UP THE SACRED MOUNTAIN IN BLIZZARD CONDITIONS!

Direct Lines; Daily Meditations From Coach Ilg
a karmic gift for Awakened Fitness Warriors since 1982