The Stubborn Tortoise

It's coming up on the nine-year anniversary of my first 20-miler, with my friend, Orly (aka Hundo). I look back on that experience and talk about the importance of having another person to mentally help you get through something hard. I've mentally Sherpa'd a couple of friends through 100-milers (doing a 20-mile or 31-mile segment -- usually in the middle of the night because I'm a talker.) There are also times, though, when you need to decide if someone you run with at a race needs your help or whether you need to run your own race. Sometimes, it's good to help someone through. Other times, you can give yourself the permission to run your own race.

Also, looking ahead to next weekend, I'll be heading up to Hill Country SNA (aka: Bandera) to help the folks at Tejas Trails build and maintain trails. I'm not especially handy but I do have a sweet set of Fiskars limb cutters (which I employed this morning after discovering that a HUGE tree part was in my side yard.) We'll be camping and eating and running/hiking at one of the most beautiful places in Texas.)

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I have no idea why people cheat at races, but they do. It's not a good idea.

Yes, it gets cold in South Texas. It's a humid cold. If you don't dress properly, you will be a sorry, sodden mess. Paz and Hundo, two veteran sweat-ers in both heat and cold, take you through their best tips. Paz also shares some offerings from her San Antonio-based running group.

This is a podcast about a podcast. Hence the Russian nesting dolls reference. I got to watch the recording of my favorite running podcast, "Ten Junk Miles," and meet its host, Scott Kummer. He shared a little podcasting intel at the end of the evening. I tried not to fangirl.

Inexplicably, I manage to work in a reference to my new favorite artist, Orville Peck, whom I also met a month ago. Peck has an incredible voice and his debut album, "Pony," is so listenable that I haven't yet tired of it.

Anyway, so yeah, that's about it for this episode. Lots of fun.

This is the first in an occasional series about master's runners. My good friend, Louisa Escamilla, was picked as my first guest. She is a cancer survivor and recently broke her ankle on a descent at Bandera. She's healing up but is eager to get back at it. She is one of the toughest runners I know.

Photo: Sullivan City trails a few years ago.