Sunday, April 1, 2012

Via con Dios, Caballo


The world just got a little bit poorer.

Caballo Blanco, true embracer of the simple life, ultrarunner extraordinaire was found dead on a trail in New Mexico after a four-day search.

Caballo was an inspiration to many, myself included. He did what he loved every day, he discovered a simple way of living the good life, and even as he rose to be a well-known figure in running circles, he was low-key to the point of near invisibility.

I had the pleasure of running with a good friend of his a few months ago, Barefoot Ted. Runners like these are the antithesis of the stressed, rushed, and frantic lives many of us lead. Maybe it's all the dopamine from so many miles and miles logged, but Ted, and Caballo from what I've heard, have cracked the code to happiness.

I can't help but wonder if Caballo had some kind of foresight about his fate last Tuesday morning. He had breakfast, he left his dog as the Wilderness Lodge with his friends, and he did what he loved most, he ran out into the wilderness.

"When I get too old to work, I'll do what Geronimo would've if they'd left him alone," Caballo said. "I'll walk off into the deep canyons and find a quiet place to lie down." There was no melodrama or self-pity in the way Caballo said this, just the understanding that someday, the life he'd chosen would require one last disappearing act. -Born to Run

And disappear you did.  You're running with the ancestors now, and I'd bet good money you're smoking them all.