The Red Sea...
'Why aren't you on your laptop...?' A voice called out to me as I was jogging along the harbour road....
A couple who are staying at the Grand Hotel, were on the other side of the street....
'Running in the morning, working in the afternoon...' I called, laughingly across the road to the two people standing there watching me run...'
'Seriously, what is it you are both doing?' The man of the couple asked me...
'You both look so engaged, enthusiastic and excited...'
I jogged over to them and told them about Anadi's and my lifestyle, and then asked them about themselves too...
I was actually in the middle of a set of 8 x 200 with the same distance jog/walk recovery....
But for that interval I enjoyed an extra long rest...!
Running fast without pain - with my left side feeling stable - has opened up for me the possibility of track running again...
I came back from my session feeling alive and free... It's been four years since my knee made its 'gunshot sound' when I was running fast along the seafront, in Eastbourne... It was a month after I had run a 3.08 Marathon, May 2011 in Edinburgh...
It feels the first time that I can really trust my running action to just run without being - even slightly - aware of imbalance, restriction and pain....
When I arrived here today - to 'my office' at the Grand hotel; I discovered that Amy had auspiciously sent me an email with the world masters championships newsletter attached...
It takes place a year from now in Australia; I could feel my energy heading there as I looked at the letter...
We will see what unfolds....
I understand that running is my passion, and because of this, it means I have sought how to heal... Again and again, whenever my pain has emerged from within me in the form of restriction or injury in my body and it has stopped me running, I have delved more deeply into my emotional body, to see where I am unresolved; where I am holding tension...
I recognise we are all unique and have different paths to tread, and my way is not everyone's way...
But I notice that my pain shows itself physically, and by exploring it, I have discovered that it has accessed deeper despair and struggle within me, needing to be released to allow me to flow and express in my own art form....'
The words of Steve"Pre" Prefontaine the American middle and long-distance runner who competed in the 1972 Olympics have always resonated with me....
“Some people create with words, or with music, or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, ‘I’ve never seen anyone run like that before.’ It’s more than just a race, it’s style. It’s doing something better than everyone else. It’s being creative.”
Steve Prefontaine...
Later...
'Wow, look...' Anadi exclaimed.... 'The sea has gone red...'
I turned around, and sure enough, it looked like a fantasy world below us... The sky was full of pinky orange clouds above a Red Sea.....
'It looks sort of eerie' he continued....
And it did...
But of course only because it isn't what we are used too...
Suspending any assumption as we journey through this life, is something that is a big challenge... And in many ways assumptions keep us being able to function... That the door will open, the stairs will hold our weight, we won't sink if we run along a road....
But occasions like this demonstrate how much we create the world through the eyes of familiarity...
We see what we expect to see... Or what is connected to us and our experiences....
I spot runners on the road way before Anadi, and the other day, I noticed a small poster in a window advertising a race...
Whereas he sees things that I don't, which relate more to his inner tapestry and the way he sees the world...
How much we must miss...
And how important it is to really connect with others and listen to their experience of the world.... Hear how they see it...
So that our own world can expand and open up too!
