First Impressions–Vibram Fivefingers

Gene told me about these. I don’t know what to call them–fivefingers I guess. They are certainly not shoes. I picked up a red pair at Summit Hut. Here’s a picture of a blue one from the Vibram Fivefingers website–

I went to the east end of Broadway and ran about 3.6 miles. I stopped 3 times to dump sand out. I think I need to talk to Joe Dana about custom gaiters. My feet are definitely not used to fivefingers yet. Rocks hurt a lot. My feet are very tired and generally achy tonight. Tomorrow I’ll wear shoes if I run, then I’ll try the fivefingers for 3 miles on Friday. Getting toes lined up right is tricky. They actually felt good on pavement for the last few hundred yards. I think my toes were the happiest part of my feet–they liked being able to flex freely.

This morning I wore the fivefingers to take the trash down to Soldier Trail.  My feet were still pretty sore and tired.  By late morning I’m noticing they feel better.   I was concerned about stone bruises yesterday, but it doesn’t feel like any of the rocks that caused intense pain yesterday did lasting damage.

Molino to Sabino Basin Trail

On Sunday, Sept. 2, I ran from Molino Basin to Sabino Basin and back. The first ascent and descent into Sycamore creek was uneventful and the trail was minimally rutted. In Sycamore and along the creek, especially the first part, the trail is overgrown and somewhat difficult to follow. It helps to know where the trail is supposed to be. There was good water flowing at the creek crossing just before Head Splitter. This is a closed drainage and I don’t hesitate to drink there. I was not expecting the trail from Head Splitter down to have been worked on, but it was. There were several major washouts from last year’s flooding just below Head Splitter. These have been cleaned up and the trail built back up with rock bases so these areas are easily passable. There still are problems, however. The trail is badly rutted in places and this coupled with the fact that the vegetation has grown over the trail (one year of disuse) means slow going with your eyes on the ground. This will never be the trail that it was when it was paved. There are sections here where the trail is barely hanging on to the slope. The good news here is that fewer horses will travel here because of the conditions. I predict few Bear Canyon times under 3:30. As the season progresses the trail will be easier to see, but the ground in many places needs to be worked.

Dire Threat

Humanity faces a dire threat. There is a sinister presence among us. It wants to convert the human race to a source of lean protein. It’s very important that those at risk stop running and start smoking (More on this at Signs of the Times). I’m Nash Wood, a recovered runner, and I want to help free others. I stumbled on the truth at the Pod Farm, and researched this on the Internet (So it must be true!).

Here’s view of the Pod Farm from a hidden camera–

Poison Ivy

On our recent run up Mt. Lemmon, we encountered an unusually large amount of poison ivy. Fortunately, being fall, it was mostly yellow/red/orange and easily spotted and hopefully avoided. What follows is the poison ivy story.