I'd ask for the sun to never rise
If God passed the mic to me to speak
I'd say "stay in bed, world, sleep in peace"
3:45 No Sleep, The Cardigans, Long Gone Before Daylight
Yesterday, walking through the mall, I read a sign in front of the Dollar Store, Huge Blow Out Sale. I paused, it's the Dollar Store, what kind of sale could it possibly be and a blow out sale no less? And who could possibly care? I told Tiffany, my hair cutter, she said yes, it's such a rip off, they sell broken stuff for 25 cents. I was disappointed in Tiffany, I wanted her to laugh and share the oxymoron, but her brain was in logical sequential mode, mine in abstract bizarre. She gives a fine haircut though.
Today I answered an email from my cycling advocate friend, KM from Bike to the Future requesting my opinion on how wide a berth a cyclist should give a runner when approaching from behind. It depends, I said, it depends on the speed of the cyclist. If they've slowed to match the pace of the runner and have given audible warning from 10 meters, then a one meter berth is sufficient. If the cyclists' agenda includes time and distance (i.e. speed) than I think they should stick to the road way. I told him my thoughts on runners being on the low end of the transportation food chain only slightly ahead of walkers. I told him that when a cyclist gives warning I always give a thankful yell as they scoot by.. thanks for your kindness, thanks for your consideration... it's really appreciated. I do this for two reasons, I want to educate and I really mean it. I appreciate kindness, I really do. You?
Last week my blogging friend, Jen, received the dire verdict from her doc, stress fractures, no running for 6 weeks (may as well be a year, we're not patient we runners). Jen talks about searching for lows in running because this is where we find the truth about ourselves. In the lows we suffer, but it is here where we also grow our wisdom. In the lows we learn patience, we learn humility, and we learn that all days are good, some are just better than others. This theme, searching for lows, seems counter intuitive, we runners search for the orgasmic rush, the fleeting runner's high. It's good, I"ve been there, but it passes quickly and I don't learn anything about myself. It's while we're in the lows that we learn. The highs are special, but they come and go.
Jen uses yoga as rehabilitation and judging from the pictures on her blog, she's pretty darn good. I on the other hand am not, but in the spirit of lightening the load of a runner down I took the challenge. On a 10 mile run the other day I asked about a dozen strangers to photograph me in the only yoga pose I know, The Tree. The strangers were so helpful and when I told them of Jen being injured they put their heart and soul into their job. I only show 6 because 7 would be crazy! These are for you Jen :)
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| note Canadian flag eh. |
Today I ran 10 miles with D and V. Along the way I met another injured runner friend, J. She rehabilitates through walking and swimming, but she yearns to run. She says not running is like the continual presence of absence. That's what I mean about finding wisdom in the lows... the continual presence of absence, brilliant. We just don't find such wisdom in the highs. Go here to J's piece on injury.
It was a m*gical day to be alive, all sunny and white. In fact at the end of the run I heard a runner say "...like Mike's blog says "it's a good day to be alive". That was nice.
It was a m*gical day to be alive, all sunny and white. In fact at the end of the run I heard a runner say "...like Mike's blog says "it's a good day to be alive". That was nice.
Mike :)
