My son, his girlfriend and my husband at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. MLK
We just got back from Washington D.C. where I enjoyed four memorable runs. Shown above is one of many Martin Luther King Jr. quotes chiseled into the wall surrounding the memorial statue. I was reminded of other memorable words worth reflecting on this New Year’s eve.
A poem by Rumi, dedicated to my husband.
A moment of happiness, you and I sitting on the verandah, apparently two, but one in soul, you and I. We feel the flowing water of life here, you and I, with the garden’s beauty and the birds singing. The stars will be watching us, and we will show them what it is to be a thin crescent moon. You and I unselfed, will be together, indifferent to idle speculation, you and I. The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar as we laugh together, you and I. In one form upon this earth, and in another form in a timeless sweet land.
Morning run, Friday, December 28, 2012
“When you race, you liberate your soul from the limits of your body. You push your body beyond its limit. In every race, you relive the innocence of childhood and the hope of youth, only to see them dashed in the pain of adulthood and the weakness of old age.” Kamal Jabbour
Wishing you and your loved ones, a peaceful, joyful and healthy New Year!
University of Toronto Masters Track Club in Kingston
Must write something, anything . . . even if it is the writer’s equivalent of running an easy twenty minutes. Over the two years plus that I have been blogging, I’ve been fairly regular, even blogging every day for a few months, back in early 2011. It is an exercise I enjoy and want to maintain but somehow, I didn’t get there in November with zero posts and am in danger of doing the same for December.
I’m never at a loss for ideas and sometimes it is when I have much to say, that it seems harder to say it. For example I wanted to write something along the lines of “Five Things I Learned from My Marathon Disappointment” but the breadth of the topic stopped me in my tracks. I’m going to have to remember to keep it simple and just do it.
Another reason – In early fall my job found me managing our Facebook site, creating email campaigns on MailChimp and assuming the role of webmaster for our new website. I also installed Google Analytics on our website and found myself somewhat mesmerized by the interactions between social media, e-blasts and website visits. I think this left little energy to attend to my personal on-line presence.
Feeling okay after the marathon
But I do want to continue and in spite of the stack of unwritten Christmas cards beside me and many tasks that need doing in the next four days, I am committed to regaining some momentum. I enjoy blogging and while my posts are not deep in analysis, I feel the simple act of recording some aspects of my life is good for my mental fitness and ability to write fast.
The highlight of running in November was taking part in the Ontario Masters Cross-Country championships in Kingston. It was exactly four weeks after my marathon. To recover from the marathon and prepare for the race in tandem, I ran less than I would normally, post-marathon. Instead, I ran a few quality workouts with minimal content including; tempo workouts of 20 minutes broken up into sections and once a full twenty minutes and intervals of 45 to 90 seconds in duration.
Dylan Wykes with 1st place team, F50-59
On race day I felt “sharp-enough” and was happy with my relative age-graded score which was one of the five scores that “counted” for our team placing. I also placed first in my age-category and our team of Women 50-59 placed first. A nice touch was that Dylan Wykes, Canadian Olympian in the marathon gave out the medals. The drive to and from Kingston with fellow teammates was much enjoyed.
Almost two years ago to that day, I ran the same marathon as Dylan Wykes, the California International Marathon in Sacramento. Here my posts from that more prolific blogging period:
I’m astonished to see that I posted 30 times in November 2010. But for now, I’ll take it one-blog-at-a-time and set my blogging goal for 2013 at two posts a month. Ciao and thank you for reading!
A poem by Rumi, dedicated to my husband.
Mind, Motion & Matter 