Barbati Beach Breakfast
Another sunshiny glorious day greeted us in Barbati...
I had chosen to take a day off running and so Anadi and I drove to Barbati beach and immersed ourselves in the Ionian balm. It feels to cleanse and rejuvenate with its magic elixir, it's life giving energy; and then to breakfast...
I made an unexpected choice of feta and melon salad... It was totally delicious...
We sat together for awhile under the olive trees, a peaceful, sunny start to the day...
Now we are in our 'office' at Dwight and Angela's bar in Ipsos... We come here each day to work, the beach is fifty metres away, the air is warm and life feels good...
Yesterday I booked myself a flight to San Fransisco; Anadi cannot come (his past means he is not welcome there!) and so I am off on a mini solo adventure...
I have only booked for a couple of weeks, to reccy really... To see if it is somewhere I would like to spend more time...
We will see...
Running in the states has always appealed to me...
And yet I haven't run a race there since 1987!
I ran the New York marathon back then... I was part of the British team that won second or third place... I can't remember which now.
I ran a disappointing 2.41... Ha ha! Oh for the days when to run 2.41 would be disappointing!
But I was on great form and I had seen in the weeks leading up to the marathon, that recording a 2.32 could be there for me... But by race day, I knew deep down I had 'over cooked' my training, I had lost some sparkle a couple of weeks before and felt flat and drained...
When the gun went, I still set off at the required 5.50 mile pace, but knew very early on that it wasn't 'there'... I had chased it away by over training.
If it's not in there, it can't emerge...
It is something I know deeply now, that training isn't about pushing and forcing... It's about committed hard training of course, but with a view to discovering, uncovering, bringing forth what is within...
We are all unique, we all have a different energetic make up, and so it follows, our own gift to offer... And if we allow it, if we get out of the way, it will emerge almost of itself.
In every area of life, when we truly relax, what is needed becomes obvious... Whether that be a working practise, or how best to train for our sport, or the best course to take for any endeavour we might engage in to blossom...
The path becomes more obvious when we are not trying too hard, when in truth we are not trying at all, but instead doing what is necessary from a place of relaxation, and self trust born of knowing that being ourself will allow the expression of our own unique contribution to the planet...
