Michael reflects on his Facebook status, special needs kids, running and resting.

September 29, 2010
Children with special needs only want what we all want: to be accepted. I have been asked to post this and leave it on my Facebook  status for at least an hour. Perhaps you who read this might do the same. It is Special Education week and this is to honor all of the children — each made in a unique way and each who learns a little differently — and, equally, their parents and teachers.

There are a couple of folks who deliver the morning paper who I often see on my run. I’m just guessing but they seem challenged, almost furtive except with each other. It’s tough to find a place for to be safe. For everyone. I run … they walk and talk and make a few bucks and contribute. I think of them from time to time when I encounter difference. It’s why I posted this on Facebook. I posted it as well because one of the toughest runners I know runs a school for children diagnosed with autism. Inspiration is where one finds it.

Don’t wanna run. Not gonna. Can’t find the right shoes (there are several wrong pairs in my closet). Back hurts. Facebook sucks. Legs sore. Need to write. “Nothing to say but it’s okay.” (John Lennon). Can’t find my lucky sox. Don’t actually have lucky sox. Whining is. Trails. Hills. Morning. Going now.

Update

Ran. Light step downhill, walking uphill. No Nano. Slower out, faster back. 4 miles. Deep fog above the valley. A soft-edged trail in the kingdom of my imagination, a misty morning mellow run. Hear the forest breathe. Listen for the fog lifting through in the trees. Remember. Dream. Let it flow. Back to coffee, a voodoo donut/cruller, a laugh and the words. No experience, no expectation.

September 30, 2010
Track workout. 35 minutes. Pretty tired. Trail run took a toll. Some days I leave my day on the run. Trying not to do this today. Thus far? Moving slowly with figuring how to work things out. A friend says, go to work, stay at work, work at work. Works for me (::ruefulgrin::).

September 31, 2010

Rested yesterday. No workout. Today? Going now, Boss, gone.

Photo Credit

“Run Logan, you’re free” Glenn~ @ Flickr.com. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.

Sometimes true freedom means giving up control and trusting the miles.

September 25, 2010
Down the long hill. Under Orion to the path. Strides, 2 lamp posts on, 1 off. Back up the hill, steady, arms and legs. Head full of gnarled and seemingly deeply rooted stuff. Trust the miles, Michael, trust the miles.

September 26, 2010
Stayed up late talking. Woke up late, after 6 to CBC classical music, the dark roast in a heavy mug, and a couple of thousand images from the race yesterday. Going to sort them and then go for run on the ridge line. It’s grey but okay for a Sunday in the early fall. Feels like old times. But. It’s not. Time’s winged chariot moves on and so apparently do I.

September 28, 2010
Track work again. Quiet morning, fog in the south valley. Good set of reps. Still slower than I used to be. R and M ran well. My hammy tweaked and my old breathing issue showed up again. The early fog has gone to mist and the rain is moving up the valley. It is close and humid. Unusual out here. Even so, I have things to finish today and other things to begin.

Only when you are able to completely detach yourself, can you be free. When things are complicated, be a leaf floating in a river, not knowing where that river might take you. This is true freedom. (I have to stop reading other people’s horoscopes.)

Photo Credit

“Floating Down the River” cdw9 @ Flickr.com. Creative Commons. some Rights Reserved.

Whether he’s running or not running, Michael’s mind is never far from thoughts of … running.

September 19, 2010

Ran the straightaways, walked the curves. 45 minutes. Fog to the south went from a Japanese landscape with mountaintops in the mist to a Winslow Homer sky. Felt like I was running in a holy place, every step and breath part of the liturgy, a prayer — a morning cathedral in which to celebrate a grey day.

Ate pizza. Feel lousy. Don’t feel like running in the morning. Go figure.

September 21, 2010

Walked. Ran. 100 on, 100 off. 3 x 400. Walked back. Coffee. Meeting. Fence repairs. Miles to go. Promises to keep. Gratitude.

September 22, 2010

Earlier I said I was gonna run later. Then I was gonna lift. It’s now later. Not running. Haven’t lifted. Funny how that works, no?

September 23, 2010

Ran the track again this morning. MB and BG were there as were others who I didn’t know. There was a Russian-speaking coach and her husband training a couple of long striders. It all seemed like memory what with the repeats and the slow getting up to speed, the miler’s stride, the heavy breathing and the sense of something done. That and finishing 10 yards up the track in each and every rep. That felt like home.

September 24, 2010

I thought about running to the gym by the longer route, about 4 miles.Then thought about doing a leg workout or upper body workout. Then thought about whether to have a protein shake before or after the homemade muesli. Gathered some notes about a story to write. Then turned over and went back to sleep on account of it’s Friday, the sixth day and that means a pre-rest day rest.

Sometimes I just can’t help but wonder. Other times, not so much. Today is slippin’ away. ‘Trane and Miles are drifting up from down below. (Must have left the computer on in the office.) It’s quiet now. Serene will have to take its turn. C’mon tomorrow, do your stuff.

Photo Credit

“Misty Morning” Freefotouk @ Flickr.com. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.

A runner discovers the common cold runs its course on its own time — no matter how much you whine.

September 14, 2010

Fundamental Truth: a cold lasts a week. If you sleep it off, it lasts a week. If you run it off, it gets worse and then lasts a week. If you whine it off, it still lasts a week but people care less. If you run and fly and work and don’t sleep, right, it’s still a week but you feel worse. Colds last a week. Get over it. I will as soon as my head clears and I can stop coughing…you know tomorrow when it will be a week.

September 16, 2010
Eight days. Cold, get thee to a nunnery and be damned quick about it. Yelling at a cold does not help. Sleep does, but only for awhile. Bitching helps but only if done privately. Push-ups are illusory. Bench presses do not replace mileage. My new NB 1064s are watching me warily from the closet floor…do they know something I don’t? What do they mean by their mocking stance? Are they closet Marines? is there such a thing? Argggggghhhhhhh.

September 17, 2010
Should have written something today. An update of some sort. Perhaps an insight of some kind. A poem? A story? A shopping list? A joke? Something, anything. Good thing tomorrow is Yom Kippur so I won’t be able to do nothing again until tomorrow after sundown AND I get to atone for today. This book of life thing keeps a guy on his toes.

September 18, 2010

Sundown. Another year in the book. Start sinning early is what I say…afterwards, come morning, go for a run.