My First 1/2 Marathon

Wanted to share a couple of meditations from my 1/2 marathon hike/run this weekend.

First, physical activity at that level engenders meditation / spaciousness / ponderance of the universe. Second, my course was incredibly beautiful: redwood forest, a tight dirt trail, thickly carpeted with leaves...and really tough: 1000ft+ elevation change, hiking straight up through the forest for nearly 2 hours, trying to keep up with a 15 minute mile pace. Third, after my walking partner had an energy spurt and ended up about 15 minutes ahead of me, it was silent except for the sound of my passage.

Out of all these things (and a cocktail mix of lovely bio-endorphins), came the following interesting and 'deep' revelations, walloping my consciousness with all the forcefullness of several consecutive brick walls:

'Extreme' exercise creates spaciousness. It forces a focus on the physical body: How am I feeling? What do I need RIGHT now? Where do I hurt? Where do I feel an intense relaxation? What are my emotions telling me about what I am doing?

Watching all of these things for hours at a time while I was alone with myself, made me deeply understand Jen's "Bit of Earth." The space allocated to me in this life is limited by the boundary of my skin, and it moves inward to my core from there. Nothing else in the world 'belongs' to me, and I can't 'take care' of anything else in the universe. I may effect things, but I can never own them - they are not my 'space.'

Given how very small 'my space' is, it should be a simple task to really Take Care of it. I congratulated myself over and over for choosing to do such a special, wonderful healthy thing, like get out and exercise my body, and feel how welcoming the forest, earth, and plants were.

The running through the woods on a smaller up-and-down-hill slope, was like all the best things a roller-coaster ride can be! I found myself throwing my arms up in the air and whooping with laughter and gargantuan breaths. It was hard to stop running, because the speed and joy of doing so was so exhilirating! The plants were cheering me on - grateful for all that CO2...

When I got tired or thirsty I had EVERYTHING I needed. Water, energy drinks, gels, treats - everything to tell my body and my mind that It and I was/were "O-Kay. No worries." It was an amazing experience to know I had completely taken care of myself and needed nothing else to
be sucessful.

When I came across other runners who had surpassed my pace early on, I had plenty of energy to make sure they were allright, and had brought enough supplies to be generous and offering of the things I did not need. I felt like the super-marathon-trail-mom: ready to bear a little extra weight in the hope that that could help others along my way. It was in my skin, my heart and my core being to notice when those I passed needed a smile, encouragement or just some calories! What a hero I was for several people who looked miserable - with no effort or sacrifice - entirely safely.

I've definitely been TIRED since the event, and almost disabling-ly sore...but again, immensely peaceful. Yesterday I'm sure I spent at least 2 hours with friends engaged in whole-body-belly-laughing about almost nothing. There was a wonderful, deep freedom of spirit to be gained by doing something 'unthinkable' to me - let alone 'undoable.' And now I've done it, and I feel like my very soul has grown new spaciousness for possibilities I have not even imagined yet.