Adaptation and the Unexpected

Hurricane Irene is lurking around Puerto Rico, with a bulls-eye on South Florida.  In the lead up to big storms, the skies here always take on mythic proportions:  this was my view off the catwalk this AM as I headed out to run.   By mid-week we will see the large arc of feeder bands;  that's IF she decides to take the projected path our way.

Meanwhile, my debut run yesterday, back from my 10 day hiatus was better- and worse- than expected.  I took the Park west route to have a long stretch to do nothing but allow my body to regain it's 'muscle memory' of a gait, and to keep distractions to a minimum.   This first couple of miles was amazing stress-less....clearly,  a break from constant impact was not a bad idea.  That said,  as I continued a loop up 56th and over Emerald Hills,  I could clearly feel the drop in stamina,  and walked a good bit of my last bits.

The Uber-runner in my head, and the reality of the Me in this world are often out of sync.   While visions of marathons and quirky trail runs dance in my fantasies, the challenge of doing even my usual 6 miler, run or walk, is now where I am at- actually.   Today,  more or less the same route in reverse, I walked even more as I caught the sun full on with a few miles left, and could feel my body wilt under the forces of heat and humidity.  What I could more easily cope with a month ago has become, again, an up-hill slope as I re-acclimate to everything:  weather, distance, endurance and stamina...building strength in connective tissues and muscles which were throttled down to a snooze-mode, and just long enough, apparently, to lose a lot I'd gained this summer.   SIGH.

I told myself, on that walk home, that I am grateful to have the full faculties of my body, senses and mind, even if the diamond is a little more 'rough around the edges'.... the brilliance of inner soul seemed reflected in those big gorgeous skies and full sun.  Clouds which carry ever changing banners of color and wind feel full of portent;  I will always have a passion for jaunting out in the open world, whether my aim is to run or not...and Nature will always Call me to join Her.

Often adapting is little more than a shift in our mind-set.  In my professional work I can watch the pattern of cognitive distortions like patterns which lay themselves out like plot-lines, often tangled and twisted up into cul-de-sacs of assumption and pain, laying wait for the unsuspecting nuance of meaning to come along and pull on some unopened door, creaking on rusty hinges when knocked upon, and opened.   We are such creatures of habit, that even when the amazing new insight introduces itself, we don't always recognize or welcome it.   We change with a chip on the shoulder, or we hide from the assumed threat- of change.

Then sometimes,  change comes without our consent.   Illness is a reminder.  Irene is another, and soon enough we will find out just how close to 2005 things will come again, and whether we adapt to our stormy horizons any better than we did then.   Expect- the Unexpected.