The JOY of Running

Again, for no good reason....except for good fuel and a weekend rest (as opposed to fretting about work)... I take the Griffin loop over from 56th and up SW 40th, a road I have not been on in some time....

The crisp light of early morning cradles my eyes as they adjust to the rhythm of footfalls, until I get my gait and begin to ease into the atmosphere. Over Emerald Hills I just focus on keeping everything on a smooth move....nothing was terribly sore, no hitches, so the shift of gears from slow shuffle to respectable pace (for me now) happened effortlessly. Instead of constant walk breaks, I seemed to have the pace right to go and go....on up to Griffin, enjoying the peace and quiet of lovely open roads with hardly a car out: Sunday mornings are the ideal day for the long run!

Griffin to my Publix pit stop. I was over-heated but feeling triumphant. I would like to push it to Angler, but something in me said, don't take the risk just yet...a good thing can turn south and any one of those vulnerable places lock me out of making it back in one piece. So instead I took my time and ran the branch back to Park, keeping up a nice little gait to Tom Petty all the way down to Stirling. I am in the habit now of walking the last mile, a 'homage' to an article I read about a NYC runner who figured out if he walked his last mile home, made it back in good shape, allowing his legs to recover. Walking does just that; while still on a brisk move, it feels as if all the connective tissue can stretch back out, while muscles remain active...plus I work on swinging out my tense shoulders, neck and arms...

The JOY of running comes unexpected...and usually under pressure from set-backs, challenges and obstacles along the way. In the photo, from MCM, this was mile 18-19 before I saw a familiar face; my 'team' waiting for me along the DC mall...Michael, Yu, CeeCee and Vitae- triumphant for me, spiriting me on with hugs, shouts, kisses and love....

There are times when I feel I hold the vision of everyone I love like a flower in my hands...while the fragrance of such solidarity generates the wind at my back each time I go it alone.

Summer Running 2010

Up and out between 6:30 and 7 AM, the sun having just hit the roofs of the condo buildings, preparing to heat up the moist night air into a sweat bath, but not for a few miles yet, as I head up Park. It's been a tiring week; nothing at work is ever balanced; either too much chaos or a dull roaring calm before the next storm, I am ever on my guard against too much stimulus pushing me into frenzied compensation. None of which really relates to my clients who are always the best part of what I do! By Friday, the first one I hadn't taken off in a month, my reserves were down. Sleep is the only antidote to fatigue...so I was optimistic that today I could run on more rest.

I try not to compare what training this time last year was like to now. The Marine Corp marathon was creeping up on me all summer, and my mileage was also increasing from the 30's per week, to 40's until at my peak I had a few 50 miler weeks with the long long runs. It was the summer of beach loops with my training buddy on the bike, out for hours and hours in the brutal heat. It was strength training and yoga, and so much attention to diet. The anticipation on the one hand and the stress and grief over losing my Dad just prior, and the last class before completing licensure requirements. Everything piled on and I mastered it, suited up, finished up, and ... crashed.....

This year's summer running is the antithesis of last: no meters, watches, fuel/fluid belts, no gels, gu's or extra anything. No weekly mileage 'requirements', no strict dietary no-no's. The goal this year is, "just run!" whenever I can, however long I can, where ever I feel like it.

While my post-menopausal body continues its transmigration into elderhood, a process I am not the least on board with yet, my mind struggles to find its footing in the constraints of aging's demands. I remain convinced that if I made it my absolute priority, I could find a way to build back to a bigger, better base and STILL become the ultra-runner I have inside my head! And even so, the dream-sojourner in me also realizes that the long trekker who keeps moving me place to place is responsible for this inherent self-image; I am always, somewhere deep inside, on my way...

It's a lucky thing we evolved this universe inside of us. The medicine people know there is no need for bodies when it comes to travel. For me, I hope to hang on as long as possible to the alchemy of weaving into one the twin trails of inner and outer movement. For me, the power is amplified, the juice is on. I 'see' my way through any obstacle thrown my way.

Happy 75th Dalai Lama!!

Thanks to Facebook where connections of connections posted the pix of the Dalai Lama's birthday which took place across the world in an earlier time zone. Even the photos themselves are a tribute to DL, filled with intense color and pageantry, and the grateful smiling faces of his many many devotees. And again thanks to FB to write my regards, which was "I hope you live long enough to help us through this transition..." because many great spiritual leaders and teachers are passing away.

It was the story of the DL which all those years ago inspired me to accept my own 'exile' on Planet Earth, and to understand the bigger mission behind place and time, nationality and identity. A young monk who understood his purpose, uniting the many like-minded people from all over the earth in a quest to alleviate the insidious effects of political and mental violence through compassion. A teacher who seems never to decline an invitation to sit with students. A symbol of all Tibet has not yet completely lost, but is in danger of...Truly may he live long enough to see some resolution to his own cultural crisis.

Never one for patriotic Independence Day instead a time to reflect on the various forms of repression which seek to take away our precious freedoms, and to give thanks for independent thought and action. For a woman nothing is more important than protecting this right and we all too often give it away in the name of money, romance, power and security, all the while losing ourselves to the repressive grind. For anyone on a spiritual path, the stakes rise on the temptation to parrot your guru, your sage, your favorite healer...all the while your own unique voice, your talent is waiting to express itself into the world.

While I work through the new challenges in running I never take a step anymore without a 'thank you' to the Powers that Be which keep me moving. Running is like a gift from the gods, bringing me closer to their presence in every bit of Nature, air, breeze, swoosh of my feet along the pavement, along the grass...Today the pain from new meds was almost eliminated after a long night of discomfort. The run reminds me of my potential, power and position on the earth....and that intention is nothing without action - nothing without the heart which nurses a dream and brings it to fruition.

So now, it may not be marathons, but its each loop I set out to finish...its each day at work, every client, every chart. It's fighting for my life and those of others in searching for healing and functionality to keep me in the game. It's devotion to Cause, to DL, to all the Teachers who have helped me along the way. While my heart weeps for the Gulf and The Mother's tremendous journey towards Her own wholeness, I hold onto Hope for the Vision She gives us; to never surrender to repressive forces, to embrace the creativity in change, to keep moving!!

Higher Cause

Michael's been getting a lot of air time lately in the glider. Flying seems to put him in that place where everything falls into a zen-like, seamless reality of earth and sky melding together. I know how it feels to have that 'right place'...what running has been for me in those magical moments when my body feels strangely at ease in the motion. Saturday's run brought me this insight: despite the need for strength, endurance or 'form', there is a distinct lack of normal controls to running. Meaning, in every other area of life, there is a deliberate sense of posture, positioning, presentation. But in the run, its a flat out goal to keep moving forward, and hey! it's not always pretty!!

When the factors all come together, running movement is a meditation motion. It lifts the mind from it's usual frame of reference and allows a kind of sideways slide into an alternate perception of reality. This 'slide' brings relief from the constraints of all that other sitting, standing, laying down; a freedom in motion that seems to allow the brain to release itself from the any mental urgency. The motion gives 'permission' to move a lot, a little, a little bit more; to grimace, laugh, sing, cry. To contemplate universal truths, to indulge fantasy and day dream. Without the Editor (unless of course it's the critical coach...) the hour or 2 on the road is an escape from any other role in life. For me, FREEDOM. No matter how poorly the performance, I am most completely myself...open to whatever the run brings.

Any time we seem to 'plug in' to those magical processes, we serve the Higher Cause of our own path and practice. I know Michael does this in the glider. His excitement comes through and is the proof it takes him to that place. For the folks I work with, the message comes back to Joseph Campbell and 'find your bliss'...the connection to something Greater than you is there!

Solstice Solidarity

To my northern family: I have absorbed the images of Solstice 2010. I walk the path, wave the flags, and show the colors of my rainbow nature, in sync with the spirits of the land, air and all elements of life. I pour my heart into the core of your circle where our hopes and prayers for our Mother shoot into the Soul of Universal Light and change. May the Beneficent Ones, who wait in our good future, help us build the bridge which sustain us all!

With you always in the Work, and Love. With Her, and Them. And it IS SO!!

Viktor Frankl: Why to believe in others | Video on TED.com

Viktor Frankl: Why to believe in others | Video on TED.com

Momentum

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Today's run on the same Griffin loop was much tougher than yesterday. No active storms, lots of blustery winds and very high heat and humidity gave me plenty to work against, the active resistance making me dig deep to keep up an active gait for a few stretches up Emerald Hills, 35th...walking the last mile home.

My thoughts have been deep into the process of change we are undergoing. When I saw Mom on Sunday, she was tucked into her little bed for a nap; we exchanged a few "i love you's" and small talk before I left, as if I was watching her curling up inside herself, ready to launch anytime into the next world. How does the body disconnect from the mind's control? Or is it the body which digs in and demands presence in life? I'm reading research on the brain which proves to me that we are so clueless about how the interplay between the seen and unseen forces in life interact. What drives us forward? How does this next generation, my children, see a future when all around them is the devastation of their world? Once the momentum of hope is in motion, can it be taken out from under us?

Watching HBO's Gasland last night; if you missed it, find it on the web. When I was a kid in the midst of suburban development which stole every bit of natural land away, I was keenly tuned to this loss. At mid-life I see nothing has changed. From Rachel Carson to Loren Eisley, to the many expressive activists working to make The Shift a reality, the voice of Mother Earth has been out there. Has the Gulf disaster finally given it a megaphone...and can enough 'shift' happen to save ourselves from the destruction we so carelessly court?

Momentum comes from 'practice', from the consistent application of your discipline of choice, whether you find it in self-help, religion, service, neighbors, love or work, whether your 'mission' speaks to you in traditional- or non-traditional- channels... we are summoned to our life to choose sides. Will you go blindly into the vortex of black doom, letting the industrial pirates prevail? Or will you find your way into the Eden which is our birthright, our mandate, the necessary place to put things right? Never believe you are powerless...once in motion, you are unstoppable. It may take time to build endurance, but the inner strength is there, amplified by millions like you who search for their own good road.