RE: [Philmont] - Philmont conditioning

As an accomplished runner I can sympathize with your desire to run at
Philmont. In 1998 I planned to run while on the trail, but soon realized
that was a foolish idea. I also considered running in Base Camp, but I never
had any spare time. It also seemed selfish for me to be off running while
the crew attended to more important matters. Doing things as a crew is very
important, and running may put your personal desires before that of the
team.

Here are some additional reasons I would strongly discourage you from trying
to run while on the trail.

1) Most trails are not conducive to running, and you might jeopardize your
trek by spraining an ankle. Think of the impact on your crew.
2) You will not have much time for running, and if you do, you should spend
that time recovering for the next day, not burning more energy.
3) Mountain lions' hunting instinct is triggered by running. Even with two
people running together, a hungry cat just might attack one of you.
4) No one should leave camp unless as a group of four or more.
5) If something happened to you while running, how would you get help? You
would have to leave one of you alone while the other person went for help.
6) If you are in good shape before going, the trek itself and the altitude
will allow you to maintain a high level of fitness. I speak from experience
on that.

Take your running shoes, but use them as camp shoes. Forget about running
and just enjoy your trek.

YiS,
Earl Owens
Former professional runner, triathlete, and cyclist
Current/former American record holder for 15k, 10mi, & 1 hour runs
Two world record relay teams
Two time Ironman Triathlon World Championship finisher

----Original Message Follows----
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 23:24:04 -0400
From: "Ken Weir" <kaweir@stny.rr.com>
Subject: Philmont conditioning

My son and I are both runners--he is on a cross country team and I will be
running a marathon in the fall. We'd like to try to fit in some high
altitude 'training' at Philmont. Since I have never been to Philmont I
don't know what the logistics are, i.e. when and where we could fit in runs
of 4-6 miles (30-50 minutes). I would suspect we could run in a time slot
before or after the afternoon program. The course would need to be on a
well traveled 'path'. Has anyone tried this? Any opinions on the
possibility?

Thanks,
Ken Weir
Troop 236

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Received on Thu Jul 8 23:37:40 2004