The Man Who Outran a Bus

My current fave run in Oaxaca goes for close to 7 miles--it starts at my house, winds through a couple urban neighborhoods then begins a climb of some 500 feet above the city's richest neighborhood, San Felipe del Agua.
Crowded streets give way to quaint cobblestone avenues, then I pass Parque Colosio and begin the dirt road ascent up the big hill at about the 2.5 mile mark.
I'll tackle the hill with a quick rhythm if I'm feeling good, and I was this morning after a slow start. I cruised the abandoned ridge road at the top at a slow pace at first before settling into a nice rhythm for the run back to town.
The ridge road, at about 5500 ft. altitude skirts the mountain side, winding up and down thru some curves then dumps you at the top of the bus turnaround where San Felipe del Agua hits the mountainside. The view, running at dawn, is a breath taking -- the Mexican baroque city of Oaxaca.
I noted a bus headed down just before me so I ducked through a warren of side streets to avoid running in it's fumes.
Springing back out to the main street, I see I'm about 40 meters behind the darn bus and it's gagging fumes. It stops to let cars by on the narrow cobblestone streets and I ease by it.
Once in the clear I pick up the pace a bit, get a good rhythm going to keep ahead of this beast.
Oaxaca has a great public transport system, but great for riders, not great for runners in their proximity!
Soon enough I hear the driver roaring up behind me. These guys put the pedal to the metal every chance they get. Up ahead, I see a trash truck stopped in the narrow country road, people scrambling out with their garbage.
OK, so I may be past my middle distance glory days by a good 30 years, but those miler instincts rise to the fore. There is no thought, just a burst of acceleration--BEAT THE BUS TO THE GARBAGE TRUCK!
I know the driver will have to slow and inch by, ever so careful.
Once past the garbage truck, I slow just a tick, but with the slight downhill and only a mile and a half to go, I'm feeling my oats. All I have to do now is to beat the bus to the intersection of Colon and Jacaranda, and he'll have to turn right while I continue straight on non-bus roads.
I guess the driver noticed me chuggin' away, 'cause I hear a virtual roar of his engine coming up quick behind me. These guys are given to a somewhat macho approach to driving. I round the bend and see I'm only about 70 meters from the intersection in question. The bus is careening down the road, gaining REALLY quick!
Again, no thought, just BOOOOOOOOOOM! This time I really goosed it. I noted the school drop-off traffic to Colegio Teizcali, on the corner, had virtually stopped traffic in the intersection. Some unconscious part of me plotted a path through the frustrated motorists and I high stepped by them. Bye bye bus!
OK, so I had to slow down then. Paying for my injections of pace. Fun it was, but heck I'd just dusted a bus!

Lincoln Sudbury Indoor Track Team '74-'75

The Lincoln Sudbury indoor track team from 1974 and 1975.
What a wonderful time I had with all my team mates. We were giddy with the challenge and fun of trying to do our best on the track.

What is Running Good For?

If you run a lot, you'll be fit enough to race. This is fun and gratifying. If you run enough, you experience health benefits like a strong heart and immune system. Run far enough and the endorphins flow, delivering relaxing benefits such as peace of mind.
Now that's where I'm at. As an artist and musician, I get the endorphin rush at about the 35 minute mark. I'll never forget a one hour run I took on the side of the mountain range behind the city of Oaxaca in spring of 2009. I looked up at a corn field that was pitched down a slope about 5500 feet above sea level, and started singing to myself.

Ripe Pineapple Drunk. You gotta level the hill, plant the corn. Gotta get in and out by dawn. Don't really wanna be around when the owner of the hill come back from town.
ME & THE BOYS MADE A LITTLE MISTAKE / A COUPLE RIPE PINEAPPLES WE DID TAKE!
And now we're Ripe Pineapple Drunk. I'm an old hippy but I wanna be a punk! Ripe Pineapple Drunk!.

Weirdest thing, these lyrics (and a melody, such as it is) popped into my head unbidden about 36 minutes into the run. I was in the flow, and beautifully so. The run delivered this to me. I didn't want to forget the tune, so I sang it out loud and drummed my dog stick to it all the way home. The Oaxacans who saw me flit by musta thought I was one loco gringo.

In any case, I got home, picked up my Epiphone acoustic and here it is, Ripe Pineapple Drunk.

Rupp's 10K Record

After the world championships this year in Dagau, Galen Rupp ran an American record of 26:48 in the 10,000 meter run at the Brussels Diamond League meeting, placing third behind Kenenisa Bekele, the great Ethiopian world record holder and Olympic Champ.
I was greatly amused to see Rupp's naysayers erupt as usual with criticisms of him on the message boards at the Let's Run site. One wag complained that Rupp will never get anywhere, as Bekele gained a good four seconds over Rupp on the last lap.
While Bekele and a Kenyan runner did indeed out sprint Rupp, let's take a look a the race. With just a few laps to go, the lead pack of seven or eight runners quickly winnowed down to three contenders for the win, Rupp among them. Why was Rupp's final lap a bit slow for an international 10K race at this level? Simple. The man was giving his all in pursuit of the win.
Rupp was not content to let any runner get away from him, and he did not back off to protect his finish. He went balls to the wall.
He could have run a 56-57 last lap if he'd backed off the pace. Instead, Rupp bent his will towards winning, and paid a price for it.
When a guy wipes more than 10 seconds off his national 10K track record, I define that as getting somewhere.
Can Rupp win a medal in next year's Olympics? I say yes, it is well within his capabilities. But, there are a dozen guys who could put it together on the day of the Olympic 10,000, not the least of who are Bekele and Rupp's training partner Mo Farah.
But anyone who saw the Birmingham Diamond League 5,000 last summer knows Rupp can do it. He ran second in that race behind Mo Farah, outkicking Ethiopian great Merga.
Merga is a top echelon runner with a splendid kick, and Rupp handily out-sprinted him in the stretch at Birmingham. That tell me that our man Galen has medal potential.

Custom T-Shirt Printing for the Running Community

It's safe to say that two mainstays in my life are running, and printing T-Shirts.

I've been a runner since March of 1972 -- I went out for the track team as a freshman in high school. Like most kids, I loved baseball, football and basketball. I enjoyed playing these sports but didn't have much talent, to say the least. We are talking NO HITS in two years of little league, although I did get on base on balls (and the odd wild pitch that hit me!). In hoops, my height made me a good 6th grade rebounder, but my shooting? Non existent.
So it was gratifying to be the #1 junior varsity miler for Longmeadow High School in Western Massachusetts as a freshman. Training hurt like hell, and racing was worse, but I quickly became addicted to the thrill of crossing the finish line first, which I managed to do twice that first spring. I started with a 5:23 mile on my first outing and improved to 5:10 by the end of the season. It's hard to believe in retrospect, but it was heady stuff at age 15; I fell in love with track in general and the mile in particular.

I've been a screen printer since 1978. As an undergraduate at UMass, I found that the straightest line between an empty wallet and enough money for beer and girls was printing T-Shirts for dorms, clubs and the like. I've been at it ever since.

So here I am, still running and still in the custom T-Shirt printing business, as Manx Media. I work with David Perkin up in North Portland, Oregon, in the St. John's neighborhood, and Mats Stromberg in West Oakland, CA. These fine fellows are my colleagues of many years, expert journeymen who pull the prints. I handle all the logistics and graphics.

I ask for the chance to quote on any and all custom shirt printing jobs, we will do a great job and provide stellar service. Check out our web page and the Manx Media blog. Happy running, and do get in touch when you need shirts!

Steve Lafler
Manx Media
503-213-3671

Resuming Training Post Surgery

Started running again last week, five weeks plus after hernia repair surgery. Was able to run a couple miles three times last week with no problem, even pushing the pace a bit.
At age 54 and living at 5000 plus altitude, it was really nice to start running again. I kicked around the web a bit to check on the experiences of other runners post hernia repair surgery. I'm about normal in being able to resume running about five weeks after surgery.
This is pretty good, considering that I have post surgery bruising that was around for a good 2 - 2.5 weeks after the procedure.

Starting Over

Just started running again today after a near three month layoff. It's rare for me to take that long a break, but a strained muscle in early June, plus a summer of heavy travel saw me take my longest break in 17 years!
I returned to the city of Oaxaca this week, which is slightly abouve 5000 feet, and now I'm ready to get fit and find some races. This morning I got out for a slow 20 minutes, rounding the beautiful Parque Llano in the center city of Oaxaca, a successful first day back in the saddle.
I was ready to race in early spring, working up my fitness to run a 5K race in the center of town, only to find out it had been canceled due to road work! I was bummed, but went to a local track and ran rhythm through 5K in 21:11, not too bad for a 53 year old at altitude (but far off the pace I was running in Portland, OR before moving to southern Mexico).
I'll look to write more about running and racing in Oaxaca here. Hopefully I can keep it interesting!