Today’s run: 5 miles, 1 hr. Blue jetstreamed skies and 70 degrees. But I felt like I was carrying last night’s buckets of wine and midnight Hinano burger around my ankles for most of it. Superfun night, not a superfun run. :-)
In yoga, they’re always talking about “lubricating the joints” with bends and stretches. After a great run, I feel like every cell of my body has been lubricated. I feel purposeful, and clear. I can handle every challenge. Everything else seems relative to my run: That is the ultimate challenge, the real life, the center of things. I feel grounded, and yet completely light. Is this “runner’s high?” Endorphins, fairy dust, whatever – it feels good and solid.
I started Murakami’s book on running, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running – his purpose with it is so close to mine here that reading it makes me feel honored.
Anyway, I loved this: “This book does contain a certain amount of what might be dubbed life lessons. They might not amount ot much, but they are personal lessons I’ve learned through actually putting my own body in motion, and thereby discovering that suffering is optional.
Suffering. Is. Optional.
I’d like that to become the mantra of this blog.
Sara — thanks for stopping by my blog and posting a comment. Good luck on the thousand-mile-year. You can do it but it does take focus and a solid commitment. I’ve run 1000+ every year since 2006. Last year, 2008, was my best year in that respect with 1569 miles. The reward is feeling great, better health, and, at least for me, an increased joy in running.
i read his book before a triathlon and it was such a great companion! i actually wrote to him too and he was very kind in sending me a note!
Mariane, that is so awesome!! I am so thrilled he wrote back!! Have you read his fiction, or just the running book? He has been one of my favorite writers for so long I am fascinated to read about his process. And its super motivating to me that he became a runner so that he’d be a better writer.
Someday I’ll write him…