Wholistic Fitness

okay first things first Most Noble Sangha;  BLUE CORN MUSH!!!  

1. Blue Corn Mush is the Lifeblood of America’s OG and Most Winningest Distance Running Olympians wh(om) came from the Navajo and Hopi Reservations just down the street from where your feeble ilg still lives beneath the Diné Sacred Peak of the North;  Dibé Nìt’sáá  (aka; Mount Hesperus to the white people)
2. yeah, no, ilg did NOT get 2nd Overall in the Shiprock Marathon – voted one of America’s TOP 10 Marathons (as well as a Boston Qualifier) 

pre-race few spoonfuls of Blue Corn Mush while reflecting on the lineage of the great Native American runners born from this soft red earth  and red sandstone spires … the Shiprock Marathon has been around for 30+ years…

pic by; Sandra Lee,  my Diné partner who was raised and lived in Beclabito just several kilometers from Tsé Bítáá  (aka; Shiprock to the white people since the Diné never ever lived close to an ocean,  WHY would they call this now world famous geological feature after something – a ship – they never knew existed?  Their native name for this precious rock formation? Tsé Bítáá  – Rock With Wings)

Tsé Bítáá  – Rock With Wings – pic by ilg a few weeks ago

after receiving my race bib,
I was stoked to do this “Elder Run” – only 55+ allowed.  ilg is 64 this month, so, ilg passed well beneath the Velvet Rope. Been following feeble ilg?  you know ilg has enjoyed a successful (meaning in ilg realm;  Sacred) lineage of race results in the Half Marathon (i.e; 2nd Place AG two years ago) version of this precious race and have coached others to fast times in both the 1/2 and full marathon versions.   was representing Dewa’s college throughout race day sporting the Luther College (Go Norse!) singlet,  yet, the high heat on the Rez mandated feeble ilg to race shirtless.   thankfully Native Runners are well known for running basically naked which def the way feeble ilg prefers to run!  

Ilg thought this Elder Race was to be a 5k on the road, yet turned out to be even more brutal for us old boned ones;
1.4 miles on dirt!

You see, younger running warriors?
the older your joints grow?
the harder the shorter, faster, high concussion/impact race distances are.

so, for this 1.3 mile effort?
ilg warmed up three times as much!
Pro Tip:  the shorter the race, the longer the warm up!

see my STRAVA Stats to enjoy my two warm up efforts and my race stats at Steve Ilg on STRAVA

pic by Sandra Lee:
s(om)e times?
feeble ilg loves being predictable;  even on the Start Lines… yeah, ilg is the only White Dude with 5 minutes to start… and, oc, the only shirtless runner.. 

literally seconds before the Gun Goes Off? 
whereupon ilg’s ego is like, cool, gonna take this out hard and see…probably an easy win.

that’s when Donovan showed up.

yup… not even pictured above cuz the young kid of 57 pulled a pro move and simply rendered himself like 30″ before the gun… right next to ilg.  looked at me.  ilg looked at him.  we Recognize each other in the capital “R” version that only warriors as seasoned as us know.  Warrior Brothers, toeing yet another BattleDance two-gether, why?

cuz Sacred Sweat is the ONLY WAY WE KNOW!

I kept my game face and smiled at Donovan while simultaenously realizing, well, so much for the “easy win”…

if you know about ilg’s pretty famous history, you know that ilg has spent my entire life quasi-completely self healing from spinal paralysis during a winter ascent of the Diamond on Longs Peaks (14,000’+)  in 1981.

ilg knows hard reliance on self.
ilg knows solo family caregiving for a dying M(om) of dementia for over 10 years while co-parenting an amazing young daughter.

that type of character kicks in when a younger, stronger, far more specific athlete suddenly toes the Start Line next to you.

ilg literally felt my thankfully ASEA (sacred redox signaling molecules), SUNRIDER HERBS (sacred whole food regenerative herbal foods), and BODYHEALTH (Perfect Aminos)  simply upshift from “perhaps an easy W”  to;  holy crap,  need A Higher Gear for this one!

THE RACE:
tactically,  knew that ilg’s only chance to challenge was to go out fast without blowing up and swimming in lactic acid 800 meters out…
it was an out-an-back along a Rez footpath;  soft earth, several sharp turns, running into a head/cross wind going out,  tail/cross wind home.

nothing much terrain specific ilg could do.  just test Donovan early, see what happens.

Donovan played ilg like the vet he was… I went out hard (Strava had ilg at an average of 5:56/mile pace) and ran hard into the headwind thinking of Dewa and just Mantra Focused Running to help suspend ilg above the incredible Pain Cave into which ilg willing ran… sensed Donovan and ilg had a big gap to 3rd.  knowing ilg had a podium finish no matter what, help to decrease the pain by approximately one one hundredth of the immense hurt… old dudes aren’t support to run this fast since we were trying to lure Saber Toothed Tigers away from our family like a super long time ago…

HELD DONOVAN OFF until?  well?  about 1.3k to finish… heard his much quicker footstrikes bridge to old ilg and felt the same old familiar feeling of being like a Wildebeast  chased down by Lions on the Serenghetti.  some things never fucking change, i swear.

when D passed ilg:
ilg: Great Job Brother;  crush it?!
D: {no response}

ilg took zero offense at his no-response… you can see on my Strava how high ilg’s HR was and hopefully,  this Elder of Donovan was being pushed by his Elder, right!?!?

after receiving Donovan’s well timed bitch slap,  ilg dug as deep into my Pro Trailwork “training” for this race as ilg could… his tempo was literally just a few half strides faster than mine no matter how Full Send ilg sent myself to stay with him…

OFFICIAL RACE RESULTS were not kind to ilg:

yet in the end?
losing to sport specific runner Donovan?
that’s the coolest thing ever about being a Wholistic Fitness® athlete…
could he keep ilg’s wheel in my last race before this one;  a 50k Nordic Ski Ultra Marathon?   could he even lift his ass off the ground trying to do ilg’s last boulder problem at V3 on a 40-degree panel?

yeah,  ilg bites hard into this 2nd Place Medal (1st place 60+)… cuz?

pic by Sandra Lee

Running is ilgs weakest discipline these days as a Pro Trailworker,
so you know what?
go run yourself a mile at 5:56… (feeble ilg will spot you any Age Difference),  then?

C(om)ent below on what you TAF’d about this Blog…
(and if you don’t even know what TAF means?  seek deeper into this Proven Path of Transformation through Personal Fitness since 1981)