'Without Prejudice...!'
Anadi's and my "plan' was to get up early and set off to run the ten miles to Portugos together and then for me to run back...
The getting up early, ish bit happened... We were out of bed by 7.20am... But the 'setting off' didn't happen for awhile...
We went onto the terrace and sat chatting over coffee, Anadi found a slice of chocolate cake in our very empty fridge, which held milk, lemon juice, a muesli yoghurt and this one slice of cake...
We cut the cake into small squares and talked as the mist over the mountains slowly cleared... The lady appeared, as she does each day, to water the flowers... We waved and called 'Buen Dia...'
At 9 o' clock we set off up the mountainside...
The run to Portugos was glorious, streaky sun through misty clouds, a group of mountain bikers gathered by the waterfall; a healthy bouncy fox gambled on the sandy path ahead of us... She wore a lustrous golden coat, his bushy tail held proud... This fox was much fatter than the scraggy town foxes, which darted about, when I lived in Eastbourne...
This is what I discovered (actually in truth, it was Anadi who did the research!) about the fox totem...
'When the fox appears in you life as spirit animal, it encourages action and quick, swift moves. You may be called to take action in a way that shows your adaptability and ability to move quickly through obstacles and resistance.
Being inspired by a fox totem, you can work at developing the sharpness of your mental skills: Analytical intelligence, power of deduction, observation can come into play more powerfully in how you deal with daily matters or bigger projects.
The spirit of the fox may also imply that you are sharpening your physical alertness and responsiveness.'
The long uphill passed with relative ease, and the winding track through the fir trees with views of the mountains all around, seemed to carry us to the village... Time stilled. A moment and another as we talked and ran side by side.
We arrived at our destination and sat in the shade on the grey stones outside a house, quiet, no one about, except for a lady and her tiny dog...
We drank water and a can of coca cola each... My body revived and I set off back up the mountain...
I felt strong and free, my fitness is much improved, twenty miles in the mountains now 'easy'...
Anadi drove ahead of me up the steep track. He waited for me at intervals, providing water, which I gulped with delight and more coca cola...
The words I am now about to write are those of the author only!
Not to be taken as sports nutrition advice in any way... You might not find this suggested in running magazines...
However, 'without prejudice', I have discovered today that cake and coffee as my pre run 'meal', and coca cola as my 'fuel' along the way, were the perfect ingredients to help me feel as if I were 'flying on land', and enabled me to arrive back in Bubion in record time, for the third execution of this fabulous run....
In every moment we make a choice, according to Buddhist philosophy, there are 3,000 possible outcomes ... So in each moment we take our life this way or that... And whichever 'whichway' we might go, we are responsible, and for the outcome...
Therefore the more clear we are, and the more we are not invested in any outcome, out of an inflated sense of 'I' - the more the choices flow... And then our actions disappear into the past and the next moment gives us another possible future...
What a limitless journey, vast vistas of possibility and infinite experiences always there for us in each step...
About four miles from home, I heard a sound above me, and looked up to see two agile goats jumping across the rocks; then another appeared...
They stopped and stood still. I stopped too, 'hello' I said, and we all stood watching one another; I heard another sound and two more appeared higher up on a rock and stood looking over at me...
I had no camera and so I paint the picture for you with words...
High on a mountain path, sandy and rocky I stood, sweaty and dusty, speaking to five goats who stood gathered in a semi circle above me...
