Friends Re United
I have just watched a short film; it is of Mark Cooper running fifty marathons from Amsterdam to Spain...
I loved watching, it brought back memories of sharing the penultimate Marathon stretch with him....
It was July 2010, I arrived at Girona airport and on finding the bus wasn't leaving for two hours, I jumped into a cab and was in Alicante half an hour later....
As my car pulled up, I saw Mark crossing the road right in front of us, so I knew I was in the right place...!
His girlfriend Ferelith - now his wife - and he, welcomed me warmly and we all had dinner on the seafront....
Mark looked remarkably fresh for someone who had run 48 marathons, virtually one a day for the past 6 or 7 weeks!
I had met Mark on twitter...
His endeavour had caught my interest, and I asked him if he would like to be interviewed for one of my weekly podcasts....
I later found out that his Mother had died when Mark was fifteen, and so he was raising money for the charity that had supported his family through their troubled times...
I reflected on how we are unconsciously drawn to one another, and often attracted to people with the same wounds...
It is the unconscious that creates our lives more than we recognise, which is why investigating our deeper yearnings, and spending some time exploring our programming and our beliefs; understanding how we have adapted to our childhood, means that we can live and relate more clearly and in the present moment.
With self awareness, we can consciously heal one another in our relating, interaction by interaction, rather than unconsciously rewounding one another by playing out the past over and over ....
Mark and I both lost our mothers, when we were about the same age...
We recorded an interview first in Edinburgh and it was there that I decided I would 'find him' in Spain....
The run the next day was wonderful...
The weather hot, the route awesome; we were supported brilliantly by Ferelith and we talked and talked, sharing ourselves with one another, transparency on the run...
United in the running step, and in the healing of our past pain and losses...
Running to a new, bright future and our clearer self, in the simple act of one foot in front of the other...
We haven't seen one another since that day in 2010, but our bond remains, and I was delighted to watch this film and connect again with my friend...
After the race we recorded another podcast, and even listening to the opening words takes me back to that special 24 hours we shared
Today was a walk day not a run day... I set off for my short 7k loop, along the road to Qala village, and then down to Hondoq and back along the cliff top....
I headed out and started to jog, but body wasn't keen on jogging today....
So I walked my loop instead...
I like the walking pace on occasions, the scenery going by slowly, the people sitting outside the tavernas in the sun, greeted me as I wandered by in my running kit; a woman ran past me, her pony tail swishing... I smiled and said 'Hello', she smiled and nodded in response as she went by, a forefoot striker I noticed...
On the road down to Hondoq, men were building a wall... I waved 'hello' they responded...
I went to our lagoon, for a private skinny dip, but it was swirly and churny, a wild wild sea...
As I clambered over the rocks a big wave came and soaked my feet and my legs...
I laughed involuntarily....
My laugh echoing around the rocks...
Just me, I was all alone....
I looked at the sea and felt a longing for its healing balm, the blue blue nectar immersing my body and cleansing and bringing me her magic...
But it did look very wild....
I stripped off my clothes and walked down the iron steps and held onto them while the waves crashed and swished and swirled me about...
I held onto the steps and they anchored me to the land....
I stayed awhile for my 'sea treatment', and then clambered up and lay on the rocks, not a stitch on, melting into time, my eyes closed, the heat on my body, feeling the water running off me...
My body drying fast in the Mediterranean sun...
