..And somehow we all get to the same place?
Ran today, on my own. Rebekah is MIA. For a few weeks. I want it to be November so Coach can start running and everyone will start running together again. The end.
However, I found tranquility so maybe it's all for hte better. I've found that sometimes theres a simple pleasure in being on your own, in taking time to breathe and quiet your head with no interuptions. I've learned so much about myself from running with others, but there are times I learn a great deal more when I see what goes through my head when I'm on my own.
I ran the extended Chip Route today. Why did I extend it? Because I wanted to challenge myself and see if I could do it, and I did. I noticed how my attitude at the bottom of Chip itself was, "I'm giong to make it today". I've learned that the hill is there regardless of whether you think you're going to make it or you don't, regardless of whether you feel like it or not. Might as well go into it with a smile. I have never had a day i think I'll do it when I don't...I've encountered many though when I go in dreading it and I don't make it to the top.
I noticed a lot today. I noticed how the trees to me didn't look like dendrites so much as they did the vessels in the cardiac muscle. It was gorgeous. I love the heart, it brings tears to my eyes to think of the day I saw open heart surgery- how intricate life is and how a human being can literally take another's heart into their hands. The trees, they reminded me of that...how everything in the world is so interdependent, nothing stands alone or on its own. I love that about life...
I met a few people along the way. They joked, 'turn around, I'm about to go uphill, we could do it together' and the other just commented on what a nice day it is. People are so funny. You never know who you can trust and who you can't, but we all have such an innate desire to be connected somehow. I just wish it was that easy again, like when I was a kid and I would've run side by side with that man I didn't know. Yes, I was a naive child.
I thought of coach's words about being 'on the other side' as I approached Chip Hill. I thought about how I took this round about way of getting there today but I still got to the same place. I guess in life there are millions of different roads and trail: some harder than others, some more dangerous then others, some longer, some shorter, some more scenic and some more direct- but the beautiful part is that somewhere along the line someone will meet up with you- and somehow, you all wind up in the same place. It isn't about the end, its about the journey...its not coming back to saint a's that makes the run -its how i got there. It's what i've noticed, the struggles i've had, the thoughts racing through my head, the peace and the prayer...And it's about the people I find in the same place when I come 'home'. So why do we fear the end?
I thought about Uncle Jean, I sort of envision him at the end of every run, and I've been doing that for a solid year now. It makes me finish strong. Today i guess more than anything I saw the simplicity of nature along the way- accompanied by the idea that no matter where everyone else was running today they were encountering similiar things whether they realized it or not. Everyone has their hill, their climb, their struggle...but in the end, it astounds me the number of trails that lead to exactly the same place...
..and i can never wait to see who's waiting..
However, I found tranquility so maybe it's all for hte better. I've found that sometimes theres a simple pleasure in being on your own, in taking time to breathe and quiet your head with no interuptions. I've learned so much about myself from running with others, but there are times I learn a great deal more when I see what goes through my head when I'm on my own.
I ran the extended Chip Route today. Why did I extend it? Because I wanted to challenge myself and see if I could do it, and I did. I noticed how my attitude at the bottom of Chip itself was, "I'm giong to make it today". I've learned that the hill is there regardless of whether you think you're going to make it or you don't, regardless of whether you feel like it or not. Might as well go into it with a smile. I have never had a day i think I'll do it when I don't...I've encountered many though when I go in dreading it and I don't make it to the top.
I noticed a lot today. I noticed how the trees to me didn't look like dendrites so much as they did the vessels in the cardiac muscle. It was gorgeous. I love the heart, it brings tears to my eyes to think of the day I saw open heart surgery- how intricate life is and how a human being can literally take another's heart into their hands. The trees, they reminded me of that...how everything in the world is so interdependent, nothing stands alone or on its own. I love that about life...
I met a few people along the way. They joked, 'turn around, I'm about to go uphill, we could do it together' and the other just commented on what a nice day it is. People are so funny. You never know who you can trust and who you can't, but we all have such an innate desire to be connected somehow. I just wish it was that easy again, like when I was a kid and I would've run side by side with that man I didn't know. Yes, I was a naive child.
I thought of coach's words about being 'on the other side' as I approached Chip Hill. I thought about how I took this round about way of getting there today but I still got to the same place. I guess in life there are millions of different roads and trail: some harder than others, some more dangerous then others, some longer, some shorter, some more scenic and some more direct- but the beautiful part is that somewhere along the line someone will meet up with you- and somehow, you all wind up in the same place. It isn't about the end, its about the journey...its not coming back to saint a's that makes the run -its how i got there. It's what i've noticed, the struggles i've had, the thoughts racing through my head, the peace and the prayer...And it's about the people I find in the same place when I come 'home'. So why do we fear the end?
I thought about Uncle Jean, I sort of envision him at the end of every run, and I've been doing that for a solid year now. It makes me finish strong. Today i guess more than anything I saw the simplicity of nature along the way- accompanied by the idea that no matter where everyone else was running today they were encountering similiar things whether they realized it or not. Everyone has their hill, their climb, their struggle...but in the end, it astounds me the number of trails that lead to exactly the same place...
..and i can never wait to see who's waiting..