Endurance

The beach called to me as I woke up to get ready for my Sunday long run.  It has been a while since I did a real one,  not a substitute, and last week I took a rest day altogether.  A while too since I wrote here, so long runs are key to fueling blog posts, apparently!   The warmish night had given way to a cool early morning, with the sun just climbing from the horizon and the humidity low.  The sky was free of clouds and the crystal quality of the light just pulled me east.  I was packing light, thinking an out and back would be just right.  I wasn't keen on passing a few nostalgic points, but pushed on,  feeling the weight of my sleep slipping off the longer I went,  catching my first pit stop at the Publix.   Took the final 2 over passes and hit the beach ready to soak up the morning sun.....

The water lay like a magic carpet of light;  I was caught full on in the shards of brilliance and got my breath while the league of tourists and exercise rats crossed by.   Felt somehow lifted off the calendar, as it becomes increasingly hard to tell, just what season we are in.

I headed out once more finding a beautiful rhythm to my stride as i took the overpasses again, and found a new alley just parallel to the main drag which gave me blocks and blocks of privacy even from the houses themselves.  Lost in the motion,  I began to feel the lighted joy of the run, remembering my many beach loops in training,  the meandering neighborhood streets,  the miles criss-crossing my many weeks of busy work, busy prep, busy times.

Endurance is a trait many runners innately possess, or acquire,  and about every runner needs it to commit to the sport.   Endurance is learned once the body has built a strong base, and the quest to increase the capacity to take the pounding of running, to hit the transcendence begins.  I flew several stretches....I walked many too.   It was this wonderful mix of pace which gives me the feeling of internal focus...I was fully adrift in the magic of my dreams. 

My visions seem echoed everywhere.  And the peace I feel is the reflection of synching up the synapse with change, as it flows through me and around me.   It is captured, at times,  like butterflies, gently perched on days not yet hatched.  I follow them....one by one.....by one.