Charlie Horse in the Desert

President's Weekend, spent in the Mojave Desert helping (along with Ken Rockwell) with noted photographer Dave Wyman's workshop "Cultural Mirages" for the 7th straight year. An outstanding trip, with an accomplished group of participants. See my gallery soon, and gallery from past years here. After the workshop, I looked forward to doing a trail run through beautiful desert mountains. Drove out to Rainbow Basin, parked in a wash, prepared, did my stretches, packed my water and powerbar, sunscreen.... and turned to head off. My run lasted exactly 1 step. One! and I got the mother of all cramps in my right calf (my strong leg). Yow! I worried I'd really pulled something, but in fact it slowly got clear that it was just a bad cramp. But that was the end of my run. Can I log it as 0.0003 miles? What happened? Was it the fact my body's used to 2 bananas (potassium!) a day and I'd had 1 on Friday and none on Saturday or Sunday? Was it the food-on-the-road syndrome making for mineral deficiency? Seems far-fetched; don't minerals last longer than that? My eating hadn't been totally nutrient-free. I'd rested for 3 days since my last workout, so that wouldn't account for it either. It's a mystery. I bought a hand massager, am OD'ing on bananas and Ca/Mg tablets, and we'll see.