Have you ever heard of Buddy Lee? I’m not talking about the Lee Jeans doll mascot. No, I mean Buddy Lee the Olympian and 10-time World Medalist. Buddy Lee is also a fitness trainer and jump rope expert, and a couple of years ago, I bought one of those ropes. Last week while prepping for a garage sale, I found it in the bottom of a plastic bin and gave it a try.
Jumping rope is a great work-out, but landing funny meant that I almost missed The Other Half marathon in Moab. If that had happened, I would’ve had 2 rather expensive t-shirts from Moab this year. Fortunately, my ankle felt fine after a couple of days and I made it through Saturday’s event in good time. As usual, it was a beautiful run down Highway 128 along the Colorado River with 2200 other people.
My training hasn’t been very consistent this past month. The songs that got me through the resulting hip pain were, coincidentally, a bit halloweeny:
- Flyswatter by EELS – Alt /Indie
- I Never Want to be Young Again by Gogol Bordello – Gypsy Punk
- Zambra by Ojos de Brujo (Sorceror’s Eyes) – Flamenco/Folk/Hip-hop
- Ndeleng Ndeleng by Orquestra Baobab – Afrobeat
- Conmigo Quedate by Dark Latin Groove DLG – Salsa/Hip-hop/Reggaeton
This is the second time I’ve run in this event, both times with my mom and a friend of mine. It will likely be one we continue to run in. We head down a day early, hang out in town, and visit the abundant galleries and bookstores – my favorite: Back of Beyond Books, which has an amazing selection of titles, and which always features artwork by Serena Supplee. The bookstore and the artist both highlight the Colorado Plateau beautifully. Next year, I think we’ll make more time to visit Arches and some of the other parks in the area.
At the end of the run, we stopped to get water at a spring at the mouth of the canyon and settled in for a 4-hour drive back to Salt Lake. I do not recommend running and driving these distances in one day, but it had to be done. We did make time for a fantastic breakfast-for-lunch in Price, and then drove through the treacherous canyon to Spanish Fork. With rain, twisty roads, and the need to stay awake, we didn’t stop for photos, but I have to say that the changing leaves of yellow, red, orange, and pink against the blue and purple backdrop were amazing to see.
Just one last image. On the way to Moab, we visited Helper. It’s an historic town outside of Price, that, unfortunately, is mostly history. We saw few occupied buildings along Main Street. This one, with the old-time Piggly Wiggly sign, is now home to a tumbling gym with a 2×3′ paper sign in the window. Helper is an Old West mining town that could benefit from a little tourism at the moment. Drop by, if you have the chance, maybe on your way to run in Moab.
About Stormy Sweitzer - Maoomba-in-chief