I do still have running thoughts!
I don't know how I manage to let so much time pass between posts...but let's get back to this idea of running and life: my running-life.
I had a glorious summer of zumba and running. Seriously, glorious is the word. I have enjoyed attending a zumba class on Mondays and Wednesdays as well as kicking my own butt as I instruct a Tuesday/Thursday zumba class. I thought I'd never again weigh in the 120's, but I was wrong. I just needed to add a little punch to my fitness life. Zumba is fun and awesome, says my 126 lb self.
But running, oh, running....the accomplishment, the solitude, the rhythm, the predictability, the unpredictability, the landscape, the meditation, the stretching of limits, the moments of knowing oneself and knowing God, ....I could continue with this list, but I'll stop here for now...... Oh, running.
Zumba takes all my energy until Friday. Friday is my day to RUN! And sometimes Sat. and/or Sun., but a body needs a little rest too. And Autumn is my favorite time to run. :) So, I take what I can get and give what I can give back, and run.
I have enjoyed a summer of taking my daughter to a nearby town very similar to my own mining town in the mountains to volunteer at a vet's office. 4 hours each Friday I've had to myself on the trails around that little quiet town. It was really very..re-focusing (is that a word?). This week is my last week of that scheduled journey, so I will honor the pause of this opportunity by expressing the favorite thought that I had while talking to myself on those trails:
I started out on a lovely little trail that still sparkled with spring snow. Alone, in the quiet, I noticed that mine were the first footprints of the season...an accomplishment in my book. :) The sparkly, solace run lingers in my memory. Later, hearing tales of mountain lion activity around the lazy little town just waking up from winter, I decided I should make more noise as I ran along those trails that had been territory of the lions over the winter when humans stayed in their pajama pants by the fire. Time for the trails to wake up and resume homo-sapien activity! So, as I continued with my runs, very aware of my surroundings, I began singing, humming, whistling. I'd clap every so often...clear my throat. You don't want to surprise a bear or a mountain lion. I was making noise as a defense mechanism. I was keeping myself safe. My thoughts shifted, as they always do, to deeper connections with life. My life. As my feet beat a rhythm on the dirt, I thought about my son, Kaegan. My special, autistic little man. I had reminded myself of him in my outbursts to protect myself. He sounds nuts to the world as he verbally "self-stims"..."isms"...always has a script to quote. Everywhere. Whatever is happening, he is chattering. To no one. Here I was alone on my favorite trail, chattering. To no one. I was keeping myself safe...from wild animals. Isn't that what he is doing too? He is keeping himself safe...from a wild world he doesn't understand.
You see, that's why I'll never give up running.
I had a glorious summer of zumba and running. Seriously, glorious is the word. I have enjoyed attending a zumba class on Mondays and Wednesdays as well as kicking my own butt as I instruct a Tuesday/Thursday zumba class. I thought I'd never again weigh in the 120's, but I was wrong. I just needed to add a little punch to my fitness life. Zumba is fun and awesome, says my 126 lb self.
But running, oh, running....the accomplishment, the solitude, the rhythm, the predictability, the unpredictability, the landscape, the meditation, the stretching of limits, the moments of knowing oneself and knowing God, ....I could continue with this list, but I'll stop here for now...... Oh, running.
Zumba takes all my energy until Friday. Friday is my day to RUN! And sometimes Sat. and/or Sun., but a body needs a little rest too. And Autumn is my favorite time to run. :) So, I take what I can get and give what I can give back, and run.
I have enjoyed a summer of taking my daughter to a nearby town very similar to my own mining town in the mountains to volunteer at a vet's office. 4 hours each Friday I've had to myself on the trails around that little quiet town. It was really very..re-focusing (is that a word?). This week is my last week of that scheduled journey, so I will honor the pause of this opportunity by expressing the favorite thought that I had while talking to myself on those trails:
I started out on a lovely little trail that still sparkled with spring snow. Alone, in the quiet, I noticed that mine were the first footprints of the season...an accomplishment in my book. :) The sparkly, solace run lingers in my memory. Later, hearing tales of mountain lion activity around the lazy little town just waking up from winter, I decided I should make more noise as I ran along those trails that had been territory of the lions over the winter when humans stayed in their pajama pants by the fire. Time for the trails to wake up and resume homo-sapien activity! So, as I continued with my runs, very aware of my surroundings, I began singing, humming, whistling. I'd clap every so often...clear my throat. You don't want to surprise a bear or a mountain lion. I was making noise as a defense mechanism. I was keeping myself safe. My thoughts shifted, as they always do, to deeper connections with life. My life. As my feet beat a rhythm on the dirt, I thought about my son, Kaegan. My special, autistic little man. I had reminded myself of him in my outbursts to protect myself. He sounds nuts to the world as he verbally "self-stims"..."isms"...always has a script to quote. Everywhere. Whatever is happening, he is chattering. To no one. Here I was alone on my favorite trail, chattering. To no one. I was keeping myself safe...from wild animals. Isn't that what he is doing too? He is keeping himself safe...from a wild world he doesn't understand.
You see, that's why I'll never give up running.
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