Back in the swing

Now that my broken foot is no longer broken I can get back into the saddle again. It’s been quite awhile since I have last exercised before the previous Tuesday. I’ve put on 7 pounds as a result, thanks to Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I look to get tone and fit again. The worst part about all of it was being so restless when going to bed, and being up much later than I would have liked. It threw my schedule out of wack, and when I wasn’t taking vicodin, I wasn’t sleeping, I simply had too much energy.

Running is a most beautiful thing. It is my favorite form of exercise, and I not only use it to stay fit, but to process things through my mind. It’s on my run that I think of jokes, converse with the Lord, think of friends, and search myself. It’s psychological, spiritual, and physical. Hopefully always rigorous and exhausting. Steve Prefontaine, the greatest distance runner in American history has said that a runner who knows no limit to his physical realm will be most successfull in the runs ahead. While I may not be at that point in my life now, I know to blank out the perceived limit and then think about nothing at all so I can push myself to the next level of the run. The 3rd wind if you will.

Truthfully, it’s something I learned at Jordan Camp. The 1 week of hell I endured my freshman year for wrestling. I thought I knew what my limit was there, but the truth was, I had no idea what it was. A mental toughness has been built up over the years to endure extreme levels of excruciating pain while running. Which is funny, because my pain tolerance in everyday life is not so much the same. If I get a paper cut I freak out, and if I jam a finger I do more than my fair share of wincing.

My life in itself is a paradox in so many reflections. A few of which can be expressed solemnly.  I love to run, but hate to lift weights. I enjoy tv, but hate to sit still. I like speed but deteste roller coasters. Paradoxes, everyone, scattered throughout my insides. Who doesn’t experience these things? Can you think of some paradoxes inside yourself? Pretty perplexing, is it not? It’s what makes us quirky, it’s part of what makes us human, male and female. Phenominal, and fascinating, wonderfully complex, and intricate beyond the woven lace within us.

Without any desire to have a good transition sentence, I drift back to running.

It’s peaceful and serene. My heart pumps steady and hard matching the ferocity in which my legs drive. I cannot run like a gazelle or a cheetah, but I can utilize these two legs, and push on in my run as a metaphor for life. To be fit, bring praise to God, and try to keep my body healthy and as a temple to his gain, and not my own. Hopefully the only loss will be those 7 pounds. Haha, and for a goodbye, I say happy new year! I am sorry I didn’t do that earlier!

Push your limits, not only physically, but everywhere else too. So many human beings have no idea what tests and “limits” they can excel in and acheive. They need only try.