The Caballo Blanco: Born to Run out of Time

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“We are the messengers, fueled by the message. When the message is of peace, truth, beauty, and love, we ill always have the strength to find our way home, on this, our beautiful mother earth”.

- Caballo Blanco (Micah True)

I read the book “Born to Run” in 2009. It was a big part of the equation that transformed me from a “want to be a runner”, into a “Caballo Albino”… My nickname since I am kind of pasty white.

If you have read Born to Run you will understand what I am talking about. Weather you believe that we as humans evolved an upright stance so that we could breath independently of our stride, or that there exists superhuman tribes ofTarahumara Indians in the remote parts of Mexico’s deserts that can run 200 miles at a time…  The book will definitely have you thinking:

Were we as humans “born to run”?

Mark Sisson would definitely argue on the contrary, and I respect him for this.  Honestly, excessive running is absolutely not necessary to maintain a healthy physic, in fact it would be easy to say that most long distance runners appear to be the exact opposite of healthy; at least when it comes to their body composition.

The Caballo, was found dead last week in New Mexico’s rugged Gila National Forest with no signs of trauma or incident. This leads me to believe that the man who defined “ultra” in the word  ”ultramarathon” and inspired me to buy my first pair of Vibram Five Fingers may have died from natural causes at the age of 58… Possibly from a heart attack.

This of course strikes me as ironic.  We often think of runners as being at the peak of cardiovascular wellness but I wonder, in view of his death, if super long distance running may be hazardous for your health.

The collumnist in Caballo’s home town said

Rationally it’s understanable, because when you go off into the wildrenss things happen.

Is that “rational”?   I never thought that.  The “wilderness” to me is a place of peace and utter contentment.  Since I trail run twice weekely, should I prepare for “things to happen”?

I usually practice these 3 rules for safe trail running alone: 

1. Always let people know where you are: I have a deal with my wife that involves at least a text message before I hit the trail. This is a good idea especially if you are running alone and it makes me feel better knowing that if something does happen at least there will be somebody looking for me when the sun goes down.
2. Bring a phone if you have one: I think this is a good idea. Although most trail runners like myself enjoy the thought of disconnecting for a couple of hours, this is a good insurance policy. Even if you don’t have cell reception, now a-days you can probably use your iphone to start a fire.
3. If you are headed in the back country bring some water: I just invested in a new fuel belt and now always carry a little water. This is a good idea, you may need it for more than just drinking.  Food I think is still optional, most of us have enough stored body fat to survive the night and as long as I am not too far into the back country I tend to leave added food out of the equation.

And that is all I usually worry about. That, and a wonderful book to listen too, a sun visor and I always make sure to tuck one ear-phone into the back of my hat to make sure at least 50% of my auditory senses are fully operational.

Born to Run… Out of Time

This brings me to my last wondering thought:  We are all born to run… Out of time.

I wonder sometimes if the ultra-fitness, ultra-nutrition and ultra-vitamin crowd is in search of a holy grail. Trying to find that secret formula for the “perfect” life. Sometimes I find myself going down this path, maybe it is the product of one too many self help books.

For every article like this, which claims “six years of extended life with just 1-2 hours of jogging a week” one may think they have found a better diet “pill”, in this case one that involves a 6 am hill training session. Or maybe like the Caballo retirement in the Copper Canyons.

But I think the life extension benefits that one sees with regular exercise has more to do about passion than just exercise.

Caballo surely had a passion for running, and it didn’t extend his life. But did he die happy? You know he did.

No matter what diet or exercise you decide to start this week, make sure that it is one that aligns with you short and long term goals. One that makes you smile just thinking about it.

This activity is the one that will give you the most return.

Because who knows when our time will come. All I know is that I hope mine is more like a stand up paddle boarding session with the AM sunrise in my view, versus 30 minutes in the “fat burning zone” atop the eliptical machine at 24 hour fitness.