
At the XTERRA Trail Series MA #1--Wallum Lake in Douglas, MA (May 17, 2014)
I haven't run a trail race since last July.
(That race ended badly.
While running a precipitous rocky trail
up and down a mountain,
I found I could barely see.
A massive blind spot from a migraine
made the trail, and my feet,
a flickering blur.
Neurologists call it a scintillating scotoma.
The world looks like a bad neon sign--
broken and fragmented. Strobing.
Half of what you see is just an illusion.
Half of what you see is just an illusion.
I couldn't see where to step.
And any misstep would make me tumble!
All the way down the mountain.
All the way down the mountain.
Next stop: the ER.
So I quit.
There are three letters every runner hates:
DNF.
I did not finish that race, last July.)
Haven't run a trail race since then.
But an invitation to run the XTERRA Trail Series MA #1--
at scenic Wallum Lake in Douglas, MA--
sounded mighty appealing.
So I went!
What a great race!
Leaping and romping up and down the rocky trails,
I felt like a porpoise:
not swimming in the ocean blue,
but gliding through the deep green forest!
As this photograph shows,
I flew toward the finish line
and my feet never touched the ground!
Thanks, MRA Multisport and XTERRA
for a great trail race!
(A camera I'd placed near the finish line
captured this photo. So it's a self-portrait:
an action selfie!)
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