Of hawks and tigers carried to the mountain
Fall in full swing--first weekend in October...so using fall coloringOctober 2
Workout consisted of
Warm-up approx 2.5 miles
2.9 mile xc course on Belmont Plateau
3x batting cage rpts (approx 700m)
Cooldown via River Drive loop across Falls Bridge to Kelly Drive and from there to start
Highlight--seeing a hawk swoop overhead as we started the 2.9 mile run. In some cultures, that's considered a good sign--to see a hawk before a race.
Lately I’ve been so goal oriented that the goal becomes everything, even driving me to risk injury to reach it. I hear of someone saying she did 3 20-milers & so I have to get in my first, even though my previous longest run was 15 miles, and a more gradual increase is called for. Joe, my.t'ai chi instructor, reminds the class to listen to the wisdom of our own bodies, not force a move or a pace that's out of harmony w/ that wisdom. In t'ai chi, movements have names based on nature--stroke the peacock's tail, parting the clouds, carry the tiger to the mtn--so mysterious in origin. We are invited to meditare, relax, power up, “step out onto the ice”--accepting yet trying to improve our skills. If I carry that into running, perhaps that's a way of “carrying the tiger to the mountain,” as in bringing what is stong in us to our challenges.
October 3
An hour total today. Once again, ran the xc course, with some random trotting around before and afterward. This time, I started out a little harder than just a jog, maybe what I'd call "briskly easy." But found myself wanting to push a little harder and a little harder--except that during the second mile, I really slowed down--that's the section when I'm least sure what I'm doing because I can't find my map, and that's where the trickiest terrain comes. There's a section that involves running over a rooty, rocky path and either up a mound that leads down steeply on the other side or along a grate and after I took a bad fall one day on a grate in Smedley Park, I am very cautious. Either way seemed risky, so I chose the grate and walked it. Good thing. Little bits and pieces of rock caught in the grate could have tripped me. I chose not to run through the stream, since I have a run tomorrow and I want my shoes to be good for it. So that meant some back-tracking, which might have added distance. Once past the obstacles, however, I began running harder...and harder. I became aware that I was in a race--with myself. But I also felt a sense of community with cross-country runners past who shared the course with me in spirit. Reached the playing field and sprinted across the imaginary finish line with imaginary crowds cheering. Time, however, was 34something. This was all right with me. My ambitions on this course are tempered by the terrain, and I will now work on 30 minutes. "Small steps," as Mike always reminds me. Sometimes they feel very small. But take them anyway.
posted by DPMcManus @ 3:35 PM
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