It's Been A Year...
A year ago I was just starting to take some tentative steps towards running again, having been nursing my injured achilles for some weeks...
We were in Eype in Devon and the plan to write a daily blog suddenly came to me....
365 days on and I am running free in the sun in Club la Santa, one of my favourite play grounds...
And not just running; I am feeling confident enough in my body to head towards a destination...
To stretch again to find out what is possible...
When I was sidelined, Greg Funnell - body worker extraordinaire - helped me heal. He said to me that the achilles injury is a re building injury, as it is important to to 'go back to basics' in the recovery phase.
And that is what I have been doing...
All the strengthening and stretching, re conditioning, and my achilles feels springy and willing....
The injury did me a favour... It asked that I pause and go back to the beginning, that I don't rush any aspect...
I was also glad of my injured ankle, because when we were staying in Brighton for the month of October last year, it took me back into the treatment room of my dear friend Kader...
Kader and I met in 1991, when we were both competing in the Brighton 10k and finished within a few seconds of each other...
We struck up a conversation that day, and an enduring friendship....
I saw him two or three times a week for that month last year, as his magic hands worked on my Achilles heel and we caught up and talked and shared and laughed again...
He also told me then, that the cancer had returned to his body, but that we was fighting it still...
But in May this year he passed away, and I was grateful that the pain in my heel had taken me back to enjoy some treasured last hours of conversation...
This morning...
I took Anadi on my six mile 'morning run'... A hot, dusty, red black, hilly loop... It felt so good....
And then straight to a treatment with the osteopath here.... He used to compete in ironman triathlons, but the training is too big a commitment now...
He has instead been taking part in the much shorter Olympic distance, but they do not suit him so well and he has just recently committed to an increase in training to aim for half ironman....
The environment here lends itself to accept what might be thought of as extreme in other circles as the norm...
It is quite restful to see people heading out on big bike rides, and glance up to see swimmers traversing a large stretch of water outside our window...
And across the bay surfers surf huge waves...
Big physical expressions the norm.... And I notice again how we are influenced by our conditioning, by what we 'expect', by the stories around us.... By our piers and our culture....
Challenging it all can free us. Challenging everything we think, everything we believe...
To find what is our own truth...
Where did I get that idea from? Who told me that...? Does that resonate? Is this really true for me now?
What stories do we tell about ourselves? What stories do others tell about us?
Do they resonate? Are they our truth? Do we collude?
After my treatment, Anadi and I drove to a village nearby for 'elevenses' to drink cafe con leche and eat homemade cake....
Judging by the amazingly delicious array, I can imagine this is a cafe popular with cyclists!
