As of writing this on June 3rd, 2025, it is 10 days from the start of the Tahoe 200, a 200 mile foot-race around Lake Tahoe in northern California and western Nevada.

At this point I am in the “taper” period of my training for the race. The intense weeks of training are done and I am running minimally. My feet are a bit sore from multiple weeks of hard training, so I am giving them time to rest up before a 3 day journey through the Sierra Nevada mountains.

This past weekend was the second annual Powerlines Vert Challenge, organized by my good friend and runner, Helen Payne. The main event is a 3 hour challenge to see who can accumulate the most repetitions on the uphill “Powerlines” route here in Santa Barbara. The “extra” event is a 24 hour challenge, starting 21 hours before the 3 hour starts. Local trail running legend, Patty Bryant, opens up her beautiful house to use as an aid station for the 24 hour runners and hosts a potluck after the 3 hour. I participated in the 24 hour challenge last year and worked the aid station in the after-midnight hours this year. The event is a fantastic time for the SB trail running community to come together and support one another. I am so grateful to Helen for this wonderful creation. I always leave this event on a major high and heavy amount of sleep deprivation.

As a bit more training for Tahoe, I went for a short run after the event, having slept only about 90 minutes in the previous two days. While on this run, an interesting thought came into my mind. A concept of creativity and what it means to create.

When an author creates an intriguing story of fiction, where does this story exist in the universe? Does it exist only on the pages it was written? In the mind of the reader? And what is fiction? If a story feels so real to the reader, mustn’t it exist to some degree?

Maybe there is a creative dimension that we can access and manipulate as a creator. A dimension that is not easily measured or observable, but does certainly exist.

When a violinist plays a melody while a cellist plays an accompanying melody, harmony is created. The listener perceives this as a single, enriched sound that can evoke emotion. We could analyze this creation by measuring the sound waves, but this type of analysis does not really explain the harmony of the violin and cello. It seems like there is something more going on in the way humans perceive these sound waves.

Maybe the violinist and cellist are acting as creators in the creative dimension and listeners enter the creative dimension by perceiving the melody and harmony.

Animals seem to exhibit this behavior as well. Birds with their morning songs, dogs with their barking, etc.. Maybe different kinds of beings have developed their own creative dimensions in which they can interact.

This thought seems to connect to the concept of consciousness. To my knowledge, we still do not really understand consciousness and what it means to be conscience. Maybe this creative dimension is intertwined with consciousness. A being must have some level consciousness to be creative and perceive a creation. The sound waves and light waves exist in the world no matter the existence of conscience, but to perceive the waves, consciousness must be present.

This, of course, would lead to the question of whether anything exists without consciousness. If we were not able to perceive, how would we know the world exists?

In preparation for Tahoe 200, I will make myself more aware of my consciousness and creative ability. When problems arise during the race, I will need to be creative to solve them. I am starting to feel excited and nervous as the race draws closer. I have been thinking about and preparing for this event for a year now. It is almost time for the celebration of the hard work.