Cuando Llego, Nadie Lo Espera

Tomorrow will be the start of 2023 according to the Gregorian Calendar. 112 according to the Juche Calendar. 2776 as marked by Ab urbe condita. You see, time in a way is always irrelevant from a sequential quantitative perspective. It's constantly starting and ending, allowing us an exponential amount of moments to reflect and resume from modern life's absurdities. The present and past are always vaguely meshing in our heads, thus, allowing us to experience a qualitative intensity of life.

For me, 2023 running frame started 4 weeks ago after a Mexicas post-long run confab. Discussion of this guild of iron neuron brains lies ahead. 

If there's one thing that I have a boundless appreciation for this year, it is a knitting of collective growth through running with the two-legged broncos pictured above. Experiencing qualitative intensity alone has never been an issue for me. In fact, it has been my preferred mode of operating since I was a young child. I thrive in independently creating networks of behaviors & lenses that aid in achieving & seeing my life goals. What's occurred in my life this fall is an addition of life to elevate my love to something close to my heart. 

Mexicas is a class of lads hailing from different birth years who have arrived at the same mental pathway. Somos una colección de piernas ansiosas de vida y muerte. Without fail, you will spot us every Saturday & Sunday at 5:30-6:00 a.m. shivering in the cold at the following coordinates: 32.814125, -96.727576. 

Do honk at us if you see us discussing the art of lucha libre masks. 

Mexicas are no strangers to me. My introduction to them began in 2013, roughly around the birth of this blog. The invitation to join was always open, but when you have tendencies of a hyper independent individual, you don't realize that a preferred mode of operating in some shape or form has been holding you back. I won't go too far into this now, but understanding the machineries of my operation has led me to work on a few things things in 2022. 

Ah, the infinite work of understanding, eh? How she makes us feel like complete suckers sometimes.

To put it quite simply, I've been having a crack at understanding my fears a little more... once again. Fear is a common human emotion that is quietly swaying the behavior of our everyday lives. When it comes to running, understanding the infinite influence this emotion has on our intellectual framework is a step to building what my sensei used to say, una mente de hiero. Training sessions as a group serve as that opportunity for exploring solutions. It is a chance to be observed by a different mind other than one's own. 

Anyway, g2g. Enjoy one of my top songs from 2022 according to Spotify. 

What a beautiful day, 

Erik Tristan

East Dallas 

NYE '22

Aquí les demuestro, Aquí les advierto

Gerardo Ortiz - Aquiles Afirmo

 Tuesday morning before my track workout I woke up from a nightmare. The details are a bit hazy, but a central symbol in my dream was a tornado. A natural association to this observance is destruction and chaos, possibly inferencing some turmoil within myself, but I'd like to interpret it a bit differently. You see, I was actually watching a colleague endure violent winds through a Zoom work meeting. It was a state of helplessness that I hope to never experience in my waking life. I'm no dream expert, but if theories suggesting that it is our brain dumping data (memories) while simultaneously working parts of our brain associated with higher order thinking, surely the opportunity to find meaning is there. 

I specifically remember musing on Monday night about the supplemental things I have stopped doing for running since 2020. Things important to my essence such as writing, reading, and making advances on my research projects. After my rough marathon debut in March, the overall trending decline was even steeper to the point that the aforementioned level of being was nonexistent. I made the  semi-conscious decision 6 months ago to deduce running to a simpler format. One that didn't ask much from me besides getting out the door and enjoying the run. The now. Sometimes that's all that is necessary and enough, but what I'm after requires a je ne sais quoi that lingers all through my central nervous system, and when I am unable to practice at that level, it's discouraging for me. Several things scare me in life, but there's one thing that has dictated me, and that's the idea of not reaching my brain's full potential. Apart from that, my environment suddenly didn't feel the same level of quality that it did before. Despite being an introvert and valuing my alone time, I began to experience a form of cabin fever from WFH and training in solitude that I had never experienced. 

Monday night was not a case of frantic thought, but of peaceful reflection. If this makes any sense, I'd felt all my faults and let my instinct guide me before I even put this all into words. Clearing things out to rebuild has been long overdue. I'm thankful for the place I am in now, and fortunate to be surrounded by peeps who share a similar feeling of transcendence through running. Le vamos a meter con todo.

This week's training menu:

Monday: 6.33 miles easy + 6 x 100m strides

Tuesday: 2 miles easy + 10 x 400m w/ 400m recovery jog + 1 mile easy. 

Wednesday: 2 miles easy + 10 x (2 min. threshold/2 min. easy) + 1 mile easy. 

Thursday: 7 miles easy

Friday: 4 miles easy + 6 x 100m 

Saturday: 2 miles easy + 5 x 1 mile w/ 4 min. recovery + 1 mile easy

Sunday: 12 miles easy

It will be done. I assure you, 

Muta