The Progression of Reflection

  

    At the beginning of this week, I committed to running a total weekly distance of 50km in the mountains. I surpassed my goal by 5km, which infuses me with a new sense of strength, capability, and determination. I'm exceedingly eager to see where I can take this ability and how many more goals I can accomplish. Prior to this week, I was absolutely unaware I could successfully complete 55km running up and down mountains and through winding, technical trails. 

   Running, to me, has become the most lively defiance of mortality that I've been able to experience. In my old age, I'll be able to say that, while I had it, I used it. I didn't squander my youth by constantly waiting for the opportunity, instead, I created the opportunity. I want to be able to say that I didn't let the enormous burden of mortality prevent me from exerting my youth to the fullest. 

 Environmental integration is also a massive part of why I run and why I choose to identify as a "trail runner." When I'm immersed in the bellies of the rain forest, exerting myself and breathing heavy, I don't feel like an anomaly that's just passing through. For the period that I'm in a particular area, I feel an intimate connection to that landscape. This sounds a little woo woo, perhaps, but I'm of the conviction that simply because my sensory magnification doesn't allow me to see it, doesn't mean it isn't happening. We're in a perpetual state of symbiosis with the environments we're in. We just can't ordinarily detect it. 

  Of course, also, running simplifies and purifies life by removing the trivial exigencies and restoring the basic necessities. When you're out there on a long run, the only thing you're concerned with is ingesting oxygen, drinking a bit of water here and there, and moving. You can only be concerned with the fundamentals of existence. I think it's what you'd call a Pure Experience. An experience absolutely unadulterated by prejudice or pre-conception, you're just living in that moment engaged in that activity because there's absolutely nothing else you'd rather be doing. At least, that's how it is for me.