Change in the Air
Working through difficult times.
Audio narration by David Marlow
As I finished the run, something finally felt different.
Running is my release, my art, and my chance to connect with life.
Returning from a run, my stress is gone, my head cleared, and my creative energies renewed.
That stopped happening a while back.
It is tough to pinpoint when it started exactly. I had been under stress and dealing with frustration and noticed one day after a run I felt no different.
It felt the same as when I had laced up my shoes and headed out the door.
Hmmm.
The next day, the same thing.
And the next.
And the next.
I did what I always do when I hit a dry season. I changed things up.
Started running different routes, changing the distance, varying the speed.
No change.
Then I did what I’ve only come to do in recent years when changes don’t work.
I decided to embrace or accept it as a season and then continue running.
Keep Going
The summer, my favorite season to run, passed, and still no change.
Each day I embraced running with no attachment to an outcome and, in the process, grew stronger. I accepted the run for what it was: a run.
Something was different
The leaves started turning a few weeks ago. The season was changing.
The air was still summer-warm.
While my post-run routine of toweling off and hanging my shirt out to dry was unchanged, something felt different.
My head was clear, my stress gone, and my creative energy restored.
Suddenly and without declaration, the old season had vanished.
It was a new season, and I was different from having experienced the one before.
I felt this deeply.
I've been through seasons like that... this summer was one of them.
"Everything is energy" is quite evident when you're a runner. Feeling stress, or heaviness, will be felt in the runs themselves, as you wrote about so eloquently here. And I, too, just continue through— each run is just a run... And I know, continuing on, that someday, my love for it will be felt again. It's just a different love at the moment... Maybe not butterflies... maybe more like "income taxes." But all is sacred.
I wish you a great fall filled with the best feelings.