Apache Tears

"Maria Walton" (C) 2012, Miachelle DePiano Images

On March 27, 2012 the running world was rocked to hear that running legend Micah True, aka Caballo Blanco, was missing.  On March 31, 2012, True’s friend, Ray Molina, found him.  True was lying beside a stream, his legs dangling in the water, his eyes looking up to the sky. The White Horse had gone for his last run. 

True’s love of running and his desire to help humanity continue to inspire. Thrust into the limelight after Christopher McDougall’s book Born to Run became a national best seller, True sought to balance his popularity with his desire to remain authentic. One rewarding aspect of his sudden popularity was meeting his girlfriend, Maria Walton. Walton sought him out for advice on marathon training, and the two connected spiritually.

On May 6, 2012, Walton held a memorial run for True at the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Friends and fans alike in the Phoenix area attended the run, and presented Walton with tributes to True. She held up well until it was time to speak to everyone before the run. She was choked with emotion as she thanked everyone. After the run, she opened up about her life with True, the difficulty of representing True, and  recounted fond memories.

SHE

"SHE" (C) 2012, Miachelle DePiano

She became the driving the force of all that I do and all that I am. From conception I swore to protect her, naively thinking I could do so by sheer will power. I have learned will power is not enough; it takes stamina, endurance, patience, and perseverance. She challenges me metaphorically and literally. She tests my resolve, questions my reasoning, and confronts my beliefs. She makes me contemplate what I stand for, makes me consider what battle is worth waging, what war is worth winning.

She reminds me constantly that dreaming is not only ok at my age, but fundamental to my own existence. Her presence demands I give birth to my dreams; her survival demands I nurture and raise them to full maturation. Her future successes require I achieve mine, that I not let age or fear or gender hinder my progress and development. My job is to remind her that not only must you have the dream, but you must work to make the dream reality. She is not yet remarkable to the world, but she is remarkable to my world. My cause, my campaign, is to be her champion and show her how remarkable she truly is. My hope is that she learns she is worthy and deserving of all that she desires, on her terms, in her time.

Listening to the Voice

"Twisted Steel" (C) 2011, Miachelle DePiano

You cannot interview an inanimate object, but that does not mean the object cannot talk to you. And just because the inanimate object talks to you that does not mean that it says the same thing to you that it says to another human being. But sometimes, there is a magical moment when in the gathering of a mass of humanity, you can see that the object’s voice and the object’s message is heard clearly by all gathered in its presence.