The October edition of Trail Runner magazine had an article on the Lung-Gom-Pa Runners of ancient Tibet. Descriptions of these runners bounding along hardly touching the ground sound like another one of those myths about the wonderous things that happen on the other side of the mountain. But like most myths there is always that faint hope that it has some basis in reality. Tales of Lung-Gom-Pa runners spending over 3 years alone in a remote cave doing breathing exercises and chanting don’t sound like the most attractive of training schedules but if it would make you really fast…hmmm.
Certainly I don’t expect to be doing any bounding when I am huffing and puffing my way through the Everest Marathon, but it will be interesting to see if there is any knowledge of Lung-Gom-Pa practices while trekking in Nepal. Maybe I’ll even see a Lung-Gom-Pa runner chasing a Yeti, but if I do it will probably be another altitude induced hallucination!
In any event I should be able to start my field research soon since we will be leaving for India on Wednesday. This will be the last regular post that I will be able to do, but I will try to add additional material when I can access an internet cafe. In the mean time fund raising efforts for Nepal will continue. If you are interested in supporting my run and fund raising efforts there is still time to make a donation to Nepal School Projects. You can even get a tax credit if you donate more than $25.00
Running for Nepal 