Don't fight the trail. Take what it gives you

Rest in peace Caballo Blanco...

Michael Randall Hickman, later known as Micah True and better known as White Horse or Caballo Blanco was a simple man who became a living legend for ultra-runners after Christopher McDougall published his book Born to Run. Caballo passed away last week while out on a routine 12-mile run in New Mexico. He was on the way to Arizona from Mexico. Along the way, he stopped off at the Gila Wilderness Lodge in New Mexico, a place he visited many times. On Monday, he went for a 6-hour run with Guadajuko, a Mexican mixed breed he had adopted and called "the ghost dog". On Tuesday, he decided to do a 12-miler before hitting the road. Guadajuko's paws were sore, so Caballo left him on the porch with a bowl of water and told the innkeeper he would be back in two hours. It took search parties 4 days to find him as he did not give any indication which direction he would go. He was finally discovered by the side of a cool mountain stream not far from the lodge. His death is still a mystery. Everyone came to look for him in those days, including Chris McDougall, Scott Jurek, Kyle Skaggs and other friends. His friends, tweeted remembrances of his passing…

His race, the Copper Canyon 50 miler in Mexico, has grown beyond even Caballo’s wildest expectations – on March 4, 2012, more than 400 Tarahumaras and 100 outside runners participated. Here are a couple of links for the 2010 race:  Race Report   Pictures

I learned a lot from the book but the biggest advice I took from Caballo is how to learn the art of running… this is what he said to the author in the book: "Don't fight the trail. Take what it gives you. Lesson two - think easy, light, smooth and fast. You start with easy, because if that's all you get, that's not so bad. Then work on light. Make it effortless, like you don't [care] how high the hill is or how far you've got to go. When you've practiced that so long that you forget you're practicing, you work on making it smooooooth. You won't have to worry about the last one - you get those three, and you'll be fast."
... I am still working on easy and light,  I don't worry about how high the hill is or how far I have to go