photo block

Friday, May 11, 2012

running ahead


I had a dream about trail running. I love trail running dreaming. I was running along through low chaparral just below a rolling ridgeline. Someone, perhaps my spirit guide, was running just up ahead, when all of a sudden, the trail disappeared. Not like it petered out or we lost it but it just vanished from under our feet. My guide kept on running, hovering, it seemed, just over the sagebrush. This was a lot for my mind to wrap around. How does one hover-run? I’d felt like I was flying when running before but never actually lifted off. This was a big leap of faith to follow.

I mean, it sounds obvious, but without a trail to follow, running through the mountains would be an altogether different experience. But there have always been trails to follow. Animals, humans that have gone before us. We follow the past and become the future. That’s all there really is to do, actually. And the hovering is just that moment of faith in the present, knowing the next footfall will come, that makes it running, living, dreaming…

5 comments:

Kristina said...

I think that trail running (at least up and down Mt. Wilson) is one of the experiences in which I am more 'fully' present than any other. I have to think about where my foot falls, take in the slope, pick up speed or slow it down.
I've never had a trail-running dream but now I want to!

mindful mule said...

Yes, I think that’s one of the big draws to trail running, even though most of us are probably not aware of the awareness and/or might not put it on a top five reasons to trail run. You’ll probably have a trail run dream tonight… look out for snakes!

amidnightrider said...

We were hiking in the Smokies of NC on Tuesday. Three and a half miles to the top. Naturally when we got there a thunderstorm came over the mountain and hit us with torrential rain and hail.

The trail was washed out so bad a kayak would have been apropos.

amidnightrider said...

p.s. We all kind of liked the experience.

mindful mule said...

Hey Midnight. Sounds like a great, memorable hike. There’s something about encountering the real, the unexpected out there that seems to add meaning to an experience. I love the image of you all streaming down the trail in your kayaks…