Wholistic Fitness

continued from Part One..

Micah, the Race Director, uses a cholla stick to help us see where the Race Course would take us. A Hopi who is also an archeologist, Micah later took me on a ethnobotany walking tour of the native plants around Homolovi by which his Ancestors survived in this harsh environment.

it was deep honor to toe the Start Line with 58 year-young Ray Lobato, whom is an icon of southwest running. Ray took off fast with Micah and Andy. i met Andy (from Tucson) at the campsite the night before the race. super, super, super sweet guy…absolutely humble and deeeeeply respectful of the Hopi culture and their social challenges. we talked beneath Grandmother Moon about the plight of the two most kind, most deeply spiritual cultures on the planet; the Hopi and the Tibetans – and how dark the irony that both of these most precious People and spiritual cultures have sustained the absolutely most horrid of persecution, multi-leveled rape, and irreparable annihilation.

if this series on my Hopi Running does anything to inspire you,
it is my prayer that you make an offering to either the Tibetan plight
– see SPONSORS page on my website –
or to:
The Hopi Foundation

doing such Appropriate Action (WF Lifestyle Principle #4) supports the Hopi concept of Naya which means people working together for a common good. Naya means that every Hopi individual has a valued role in building a better community.

the first half-mile was downhill, along a path by which the Ancient Ones walked each day, over several times, to get water from the Little Colorado River, which swerved lazily through cottonwood and tamarisk a mile from their homes, which they began building here in 1260 AD.

that’s right, 1260 AD.

think about it.

i ran past Hopi corn plots; of this food source the Hopi’s call it their “mother” for without “Anasazi corn” these people would not have survived. like the Hopi, this tough corn is little compared to our white man’s steroid corn. it is deliciously sweet and is drought and cold tolerant. are you?

after the race, all of us were treated to roasted Hopi Corn…YUM!!!!!

Ray and Andy began stretching their lead, with Micah a few seconds off their pace and i settled into 4th place…making Micah’s elegant Hopi running style my bouncing mandala upon which to focus externally. inwardly, my personal mantra had already taken root. as my back pain leaped to the forefront of my consciousness within moments of the Start, once again, wrapped in a neural pain far greater than the effort of running, forced me into the refuge of my mantra.

at mile 2, we hit a dirt road, the first solid ground after two miles of sandy, effort-sapping, speed killing wash-running. my experience at Sandshoe Racing paid off during these Hopi Footraces as i created a significant distance between myself and 5th place. my heartrate was running in the 180’s, i could tell from direct experience. i ran shirtless, adorned only by two malas; my neck mala and my arm-band mala…i would need the dual mojo.

off the dirt road and back onto the sandy mesa and up toward a ceremonial Rama-da…the route was nothing but a sandy arroyo, flecked by Hopi bystanders who seemed to appear from another Realm…skinwalkers perhaps? back in the early eighties, as a rock climber on a trip, i was forced by a Monsoon Storm to pull off the highway near Tuba City to camp. during the night, after the storm passed, i was shook awoke by an astral velocity that rocked every cell in my body…i bolted upright in the back of my little sport pick-up (Vince) and my eyes were locked in the red-eye’d tractor beam of a Skinwalker who towered above the back of my tail-gate by several feet. i cannot tell you more of this experience. it would confuse you. let me just say this:
keep training, Oh Noble Yogis, for the Bardo Realm.
for the intensities which dwell there are beyond, beyond, beyond the beyond of what you
can
imagine
in this life.

know your Teacher.
Trust your Teacher.
know your Mantra.
Trust your Mantra.
know the Buddha of Intensity.
Trust the Buddha of Intensity.
revel not in comfort or lazy spirit,
for the Great Spirit
calls you much
much
much
HIGHER
than where you are now…

i must go now.

this Series reflects the timelessness of the Hopi’s…

as i leave you with the image of my chasing after a Hopi up a remote
sandy arroyo on a far away mesa,
racked by neural and racing pain,
entrenched in mantra,
sweating in the early morning sun…

do this for me today:

“Don’t worry…be Hopi,”

and, as the Hopi Runners – that most distinguished, elegant warrior tribe of Turtle Island (research; Louis Tewanima and Nabokov’s book; Indian Running)…

yes,
as the Hopi Runners say,

“If you are lucky enough to be a runner,
you’re lucky enough.”

that is all for today…

love,
your warrior coach

last photo; 2006 Soulstice Mountain 10k Footrace, cranking through searing back pain to a 3rd place overall.