Sunday, June 20, 2010

Perfect Long Distance Weekend

From http://perfectionjourney.org/2010/06/20/turns/
" ‘the sacred loop.’ Those who come back again and again, clearly recognize that the inspiration that calls them here is as significant as any holy pilgrimage. There are no prostrations, no ceremony of any kind, it is instead an all encompassing dedication of the complete being; body, mind, and heart, to a much higher purpose, than can be seen with our mental vision….Doing it with devotion, but also with dynamism, and courage. Letting go of all the things in your life that stop you from being the best that you can be….Aspiring for something just beyond the barrier of impossibility and perhaps just around the next turn….he finds himself focusing on God’s grace and compassion..."

Today, I woke up at 4 and turned off the alarm, which was set to go off at 4:30, thinking, oh heck, let’s work out inside today. I got enough sun yesterday. I got up at 6 and checked the weather: cooler than yesterday starting off at 73F/23C. Then the LSD bug hits me. The dream of endless laps takes over my mind and I decide to go to the little park with the half mile bike path and just go around for awhile. I get out the door at 7 and at 7:05 see that the little park is closed due to flooding. I decide to check out my favourite park in Parkville. I drive by and decide that people are getting by the one problem area from yesterday. Good; as I simply cannot face the levy another day.

Before going running this morning, I wrote this: The ego is not just big-headed-ness or prideful self-centeredness, it is the entire thought system of this world, which is antagonistic to God and chooses to believe it is not the holy Son of God but a separate body (bodies) with special features (better-ness) and special relationships (love and hate), instead of knowing it is the One holy Son of God, an idea in the Mind of God and of one continuous nature of Love immersed in eternal benign constant peace, joy and light, with no specialness at all.

Today I did 8 and 2s for 22 miles and 4h44 minutes. This was much easier than yesterday where I mainly jogged with very little walking. Today I had on one pair of smartwool anklets and compression knee socks and the sugoi compression shorts. So far, that’s my best bet for avoiding heat blotches and I think the compression knee socks help the achilles. FWIT: my achilles feels very good now, 5 hours after completing the run. That is so swell! I can hardly wait to work out again tomorrow. I can hardly wait for my 5 days off starting July 1: time for a personal multi-day.

I could say I'm "training" for an ultra; but really, I don't need to be spending that kind of time every weekend just for an upcoming race. I just like it. I'll be out running as much as possible whether I'm signed up for a race or not.

My attraction to long distance running is not for the glory or the specialness of it; but rather the opposite. My frustration with talking to most people about it is attempting to explain the spiritual depth of the experience and get away from surface level issues of speed, placing qualifications, awards, etc. The dregs of a long distance weekend are the closest I come to being just a soul, with no ego at all.

Crimony, it is so awesome that I ran 20 miles yesterday and 22 miles today. Just impossible to explain how wonderful that is to me.

No comments: