more normal than not

I fell asleep with Nate last night at eight, then woke up in his bed at one, moved to my bed and talked with Jenny when she woke up until two, then got up at five fifteen to start my day.

Where does the time go?

I’m learning a new route at the Post Office….one that’s longer than mine and in unfamiliar terrain.

It’s beautiful and wild….and…for a good part of the early hours of the route, completely in town.

That’s a lot of range in a 75 mile daily journey….town to deep country. It’s interesting and challenging.

I could do my route in my sleep after all these years.

It’s an easy drive and I can sometimes finish it early.

So….it makes you wonder why I’d choose to attach myself to a behemoth route like this new one.

I think that I’m going to like it.

That’s the funny part….in spite of how hard it is right now, I do think that I’m going to like it.

Maybe that’s what I needed….the challenge.

A comfort zone can be sustained forever….but, man, it’s boring.

I’m not going to get into a spaceship anytime soon.

Why not drive a couple of miles up Miller Mountain?

It’s steep….but a whole lot safer way to exit the comfort zone than jetting off into space.

I’m no spaceman, I’m a mailman.

I can do this.

 

I didn’t run as far this morning as I usually do.

My excuse was that I needed to get to the Post Office to run my route and to practice the new route some before I run it all by myself on Saturday.

In a town with no numbers on most of the mailboxes, delivering a new route can be kind of interesting.

Anyway, what I was thinking at the end of my truncated run this morning was that whether you go the distance and do what you should, or you cut a corner (and I know that it’s my prerogative to do whatever I want as far as the runs go, but I like to stick with what I tell myself I’m going to do) the end is just as hard.

It’s just as hard to take the easy way as it is to do the right thing.

That’s kind of funny.

I’ve known a lot of people (myself included, sometimes) who work awfully hard at avoiding doing the things that would make their lives better.

It’s hard work to avoid some things.

This route is outside of my comfort zone right now.

It’s in a mountain town and the roads twist and turn and cut back on themselves,all the gravel and drop-offs, waterfalls and wildlife….but, I think that I’m going to like it when I can get beyond the discomfort of learning something new.

Finishing wrong or finishing right….it’s all hard.

But the results are so much better and more satisfying when you shoot for the right things.

My comfort zone needed a little bit of stretching, anyway.

If you aren’t growing, you’re dying.

Running the other morning, the sky was so clear you could see every star.

Every star.

I counted.

Nahhhh, “every” is hype. I don’t know how many stars I missed. The point is….the sky was clear, cloudless…..maybe….well….maybe there were some clouds….somewhere….it was kind of dark still….even though I could still see in the moonlight.

I can’t keep track of all this stuff, and if I worried about keeping track I wouldn’t be able to sleep.

But, if I could sleep I wouldn’t see any of the night sky anyway.

It’s a conundrum.

The night sky is still a mystery to me.

What I was thinking though, as I ran in the light from a sliver of a moon, is that when the sky is clear a little moon is enough to show me the way.

Isn’t that funny?

I can’t get out of my own way, sometimes.

Clarity is there if I don’t muddy the water….if I don’t cloud up my “sky/mind” with negativity or doubt or fear.

It’s right there.

Most of the mysteries are blessedly simple to figure out if we get out of our own way.

Seeing that moon in a clear sky was beautiful and peaceful and meditative and…..good.

Maybe that’s one of the best parts of these early morning runs?

That I’m up and out in the country before most people are awake….moving through the warm and moist early morning air….seeing all these stars and listening to the unidentified animals crash through the trees.

That’s a good thing.

That’s something I can understand….even if most of it will always be a mystery.

If the sky is clear, the moon is bright….no matter how small it is.

I love these mornings…..

Charlie Dark.

Fun talk.

A talk about enjoying.

Enjoying life….enjoying “whatever”.

Charlie Dark started a “running club” (although he’d resist calling anything a club) called RUN DEM CRW.

That’s fun.

He came from the DJ culture and brings that same flash and fun to his fitness career.

Smart and cool.

Why not make it all fun?

We treat fitness like we’re a machine in the shop, “working out”….working….working.

“Work” isn’t always very fun.

Why make the exercise we do so rigid and boring?

Heart rate monitors, charts, calories…..they have a place, I guess….but it can all be so much fun, too.

These TedTalks can be kind of long…but I like this guy and this one had a lot of good things to say.

One thing that he said is that one of the “rules” he believes is that “if you don’t run, then you must cheer”.

That’s a good rule.

Enthusiasm is the key to this whole ball of wax….this life….this world.

Find something that you can be enthusiastic about, and then pursue it.

Why are all the hard things so simple?

This guy is building  a strong and creative community around running.

Cool.

SISU ……

Hmmmmmmm.

SISU: the extraordinary courage and determination in the face of adversity.

That’s a Finnish word….”sisu”.

Hmmmmmmm.

I worry about my children.

I tell them,, “HEY!!! GET OFF THE ROOF!! YOU CAN’T JUMP OFF OF THAT!! BE CAREFUL!!”

Maybe I’m unreasonable, but I try to ward off disaster.

But….what if some of what they do isn’t necessarily heading them for disaster?

I suspect that a lot of what I do to protect them is unnecessary.

This video by ultramarathoner Anna Frost is basically saying that you should let your kids experience the world in all its facets.

Learning from failure is just a valuable as the successes we experience.

I think that her talk applies to the boys in our life, too, but the main focus is empowering young girls to become “overcomers”….to see that their possibilities aren’t limited by people’s preconceptions of what a “girl” can do.

I don’t know how to do that, really.

I never thought that my daughter was limited by her gender.

That would be crazy.

Now the youngest is growing and changing ever day….and I see her trying and succeeding at the new things she engages.

That’s pretty cool.

Why make it harder than it is for a kid to make it through the world just because they were born female?

Gender issues….and….now that this ball is rolling….”race” issues….are such a weird bunch of cra…..

Why do we sell our world so short?

We’re missing some amazing and good stuff when we limit people like we do sometimes.

I’ll say it again, “What makes your life better makes my life better“.

I want to surround myself with happy and accomplished people.

That makes my life so much more interesting and fun.

What can I do to facilitate that for them?