running with antlers

I haven’t been running much lately, but I was inspired to get out yesterday from reading an article about Iceland. Did you know that there are elves in Iceland? I thought I’d check to see if we have elves, too. I ran up the El Prieto canyon/trail. It was a cloudy day. We’ve had some rain - lots of moisture in the air and in the ground. I always find it a little creepy on days like that/this – today is the same. More a day for finding trolls, than elves. El Prieto is a deep shaded canyon with several small creek crossings. It’s a great place to run and I’d like to go there more often. It’s about three miles to the top of the trail where it meets up with the Brown/Millard dirt road. My heart was really going by the time I got to the top. I need to do more trail running if I’m going to run the Mt Wilson race again this May.

On the way down, since I was in the otherworldly mindset, I started thinking about Antler Man, you know, the guy that runs next to the cyclists with those giant antlers attached to his head/helmet. I’m really impressed with that guy. Those antlers must be quite heavy – they look it anyway. He’s got some really nice running form, too. With all that weight on one’s head, I guess you have to keep good posture and a methodical stride. I imagined running with antlers down that trail and it seemed to help my form. Running with antlers creates a solid, stoic, yet agile style of movement. And it seems to help crack open that door into the world where elves and trolls and other hybrid animal spirits probably live.