Or... If we run through the forest, or the arroyo, or the town and we don't track it with GPS, or post it to Strava, or even calculate our minutes per mile, did it really happen? Does it even count?
Running has become such a tangled community of one with the many. There are occasional group runs and when we post our activities to social media we have the potential to make new friends and maybe new actual running groups as opposed cyber groups. Still so much of running is a solo pursuit, though. We have our various schedules and paces and goals and so almost by default we are sent out into the running world alone most of the time - but not really quite alone anymore. What used to be secret, quiet, dark early mornings alone are now so often shared with our "friends." Some of these people we may see on a regular basis and some of them we might have never even met. How much of our running are we doing for them and how much are we doing for ourselves? Do we ever run unplugged? Or without headphones... or without blogging it!
Running just for running... running on the land... for joy, for fun... for the feeling of being a human running... footfall, footfall, footfall... in nature, on earth... with the spirit... with god...
Saturday, August 4, 2018
Thursday, August 2, 2018
Après Le Tour de France
Another Tour has come to a close but I still have so many images and colors flashing through my head - the riders, the landscapes, the fans, the towns... So much to reminisce about!
And deeper lessons to be found. One thing that I'm reminded of year after year because of my Tour addiction is to ride ones bicycle out in the proper place in the road. We see that these racers get closed roads for all three weeks and wouldn't that be swell! To ride wherever one wants anywhere on the road - even on the wrong side of the road on a screaming descent around blind corners! I don't think I could get myself to ride like that even if the roads were completely closed. But dialing it back a little... I find myself riding further out in the road after each Tour. Out in the proper place. In a safe position to avoid the door zone and mindful, of course, of the fact that many drivers find this a confusing, frustrating place for a bicycle to be and so giving them the impression of yielding towards the right to allow them to pass on the left. It's very nearly a Jedi mind trick. Starting out in one's safe and responsible and appropriate and legal place on the road - I don't want to get into the number of feet/meters from a curb or car because every situation is different and must be adapted to on the fly - as the sound of an overtaking vehicle approaches from behind the bicycle rider ever so slightly slides to the right - and here I'll suggest that it often doesn't take more than a few inches to pacify the passing driver. Of course, if the situation and the surroundings allow for it, go ahead and give more - as much as possible, really - why would one want to ride anywhere near a car - but, as we all know, sometimes we must...
So There. Leçons de Le Tour.
And deeper lessons to be found. One thing that I'm reminded of year after year because of my Tour addiction is to ride ones bicycle out in the proper place in the road. We see that these racers get closed roads for all three weeks and wouldn't that be swell! To ride wherever one wants anywhere on the road - even on the wrong side of the road on a screaming descent around blind corners! I don't think I could get myself to ride like that even if the roads were completely closed. But dialing it back a little... I find myself riding further out in the road after each Tour. Out in the proper place. In a safe position to avoid the door zone and mindful, of course, of the fact that many drivers find this a confusing, frustrating place for a bicycle to be and so giving them the impression of yielding towards the right to allow them to pass on the left. It's very nearly a Jedi mind trick. Starting out in one's safe and responsible and appropriate and legal place on the road - I don't want to get into the number of feet/meters from a curb or car because every situation is different and must be adapted to on the fly - as the sound of an overtaking vehicle approaches from behind the bicycle rider ever so slightly slides to the right - and here I'll suggest that it often doesn't take more than a few inches to pacify the passing driver. Of course, if the situation and the surroundings allow for it, go ahead and give more - as much as possible, really - why would one want to ride anywhere near a car - but, as we all know, sometimes we must...
So There. Leçons de Le Tour.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)