TRYING

It's local race time again, the moment that rolls around once a year and starts to consume you. The nervousness and excitement blend and a feeling overcomes you that reaches further at times than you may like. We have control over many aspects of our lives, but other facets find us whether we are looking or open to them or not. Running this morning was no different in that respect. This will be my 5th consecutive 8 Tuff Miles Road Race on this Volcanic Wonder of St. John and the hills I traverse daily remind me of the splendor and sacrifice we all make to live here. Island life is the great trade off, for the better for most of course, but at times can most certainty be trying.

So what is so trying or better yet what are we trying to do. I am trying to stay in the top 3 in my age group like I have the last 3 years while simultaneously trying to stay focused on a plant based lifestyle. I have immense passion for both, passion being the cornerstone of success no doubt in all we do, and must work very hard to make both a reality. You see as a runner I am slowing down, for whatever reason... and there may be many, and it bothers me. Who wants to run slower races? Not many of us I can assure you of that. As a plant based eater It is troublesome at times to stay focused here as our food choices are 1/100th of what is available in the states, again the great trade off. I breath fresh air and swim in crystal clear warm tropical waters year round and I run through a national park that rivals any around the world, hands down! A running friend once said "You high Five Easter Rock, right?".   Well I have every time since  hearing that. Easter Rock is this amazing Rock that is 30 ft. high perched along the North shore Road and a stomping ground for my runs. There are times when I am running North Shore that I simply can not believe where I live and how utterly perfect Nature is. The flawed human cascading along the hills while observing the perfection in the grander scheme of life. The human mind soaring and opening and realizing that his species will most likely not survive due to out of control corporate and political systems that have become the status quo and have over taken the thinking and beliefs systems of the last few generations to the point that the insanity of how we really live becomes socially acceptable to the point of utter absurdity. Easter Rock always reminds me of this and keeps me grounded. I am guilty as charged, I drive a car and use products that pull resources from the earth that could be better served in other ways or simply left in the earth to begin with. I struggle with the modern day human lifestyle and run to put it in perspective and obtain clarity and understanding at this juncture of my life. Running for health and fitness have long become second fiddle to why I go out on the roads and trails as often as I do. What small and subtle changes can I make to do my part in shifting my thinking and ultimately my impact on the planet. Am I really who I truly want to be?  Kid Rock said "Only God Knows Why" but my "God" is nature itself. I owe her ALL that I am as she withers due to our selfishness so too  do I, as I lose my muse and the strengths upon which I draw.

The race this Saturday will be uncertain for me until I cross the finish line and upon doing so I will have accomplished something extraordinary in the sense of achievement. You can call it a mid-life crisis or just plain old reality setting in, but when I started running and racing in the 50th year of my life I had no idea how powerful it would be for me and provide the meditative time to reflect on life itself while the endorphins and blood pumps wildly through my body. In that altered state lies the answers to what I seek and come Saturday I promise you and myself that I will be leaving 5 plus pounds of sweat on the tarmac and I will run a "Pure Guts" race and if anyone is going to beat me, and there will be many, they will also have to leave their sweat and guts out on the road too. Saturday is not a spiritual training run, It is the 8 Tuff Miles, it was my very first road race at 50 years of age and the one the turned me into a "Runner" and morphed me into a competitive racer in the months that followed. So when you see me on the roads on my daily runs please note that even though I am a Godless Atheist, I am communing with what I know to be my source of energy and power, this Earth itself, and that in the end, we all have a choice to make as where our own version of God, religion or faith will leads us. Me, I am just a "Runner" and I always seem to be led to the North Shore. Be Well and Run Free.

INSPIRATION

It comes in many forms, sometimes in the least expected arena, other times it is so in your face that it is literally impossible to ever forget. It forges the foundation for completion for many. It has a power unseen yet a force that beckons.  As I traverse these hills and trails here I am always in awe of the accomplishments of others in regards to running and life in general.  I ask myself how do they do that?  I am quickly answered. That is the most amazing thing I have learned to love about running. The answers that flow as easily as my legs that propel me. They do it because they have simply decided that to not do it would be selling themselves and sometimes others short. I have run for many reasons, including family members, other athletes, and the age old adage that in order to improve anything in life it takes work, hard work, hill work and trail runs, elevation that scare many and humidity that fights you the entire way. I run for the love of nature and the inspiration that a cascading ravine or flowering tree can provide. I am inspired, believe it or not, by the utter stupidity of the human race to think we can ever defy nature. As I run through the National Park here daily I am always reminded how insignificant we really are as a race and often think about what my surroundings will look like when we are gone, because we will be gone. Evolution of the species is something that will eventually take our roll out of the equation for sharing this earth. And since we do such an utterly disgraceful job in sharing it with other species our time will be shortened and our marks of civilizations will be forgotten. How dare us to hold this "Superiority Complex" over other living things, and by doing so it filters into our beings and politics and religions until we ask a "God" to do things for us at the expense of others. You see, there is balance in ALL things, I see it so clearly when I am running here, the beauty of an Island Paradise, that when the balance is upset we all pay and suffer and our time here as a species is thus shortened. Inspiration to overcome this idea that I am better than my Muslim or Gay peers, to use an example, simple undermines our ability to utilize the earth as a true home. When you disturb the balance of one, all suffer. "God Blesses America" at the expense of other races and cultures and for that there is zero redemption on the ecological and spiritual scales, both tipping way to far to one side.

As the oil slowly creeps towards the shore line we are reminded of the upset in the balance of nature. Lust for the power that drives this laptop, or the car that I drive has given way to the worst oil disaster on record. Funny that we have survived tens of thousands of years without the oil, but now we are addicted, and in doing so once again have upset the Eco system and hence shortened our time as a species here. With the passing of my Brother 2 months ago I have used the term "All things must pass" on a number of occasions and must do so again. We are our own worse enemy, not terrorism, not flooding, not counter cultural thought, not oil spills, not political dissent, and surely not  "unamerican" thoughts. No we are doomed because we have the worst disease any society can manifest, as most disease is self inflicted, that being "Superiority Complex" and as this cancerous form of thought permeates society, we are reduced to a constant state of sorrow and turmoil. We have a handful of generations to reverse this horrid plague or we will soon be gone for good. Laws were made to be broken, but solemn truths are embedded in the nature and survival mechanisms of our DNA.  Either we peel the onion now or say goodbye.

The nature of a run is just that, nature. Running in literally programmed into our DNA, and by doing such we can connect with our ancients and understand and respect nature in general and in its purest form. When we run we are stripped down to primal forms and forces of nature, communing and accepting our surroundings for what they are, not what we want them to be. Wow, what a concept, accepting things as they are. A simple truth as far as nature goes but oh so hard to follow for a society that is out of control trying to change the rest of the world, yet ignoring our own short comings. A familiar human battle that each of us toil over for sure, but when governments start to oppress at the expense of others we take a few more years off out time here. Be it 2012, as the doomsayers say or 3150, it doesn't really matter, because the way in which we are killing ourselves is so avoidable, yet so far out of reach. Do we have inspiration to take back our earth from the corporations and politicians? Of course we do, but it remains to be seen if that alone is enough. As the dominant life form here we have a responsibility to all the other species and our selves to become better stewards of Planet Earth. I am going to run once again in the morning and in doing so I will be reminded of what future generations will be missing as we slowly destroy our fragile ecosystem. I will also be reminded that renewal is also Natures way,  so it is up to us. A simple choice starts the process, then action must follow. Little things do matter, as they set examples and are sometimes influential on others.

I am following a fellow runner who is running from Amsterdam to Barcelona, the equivalent of 50 marathons in 56 days. He is my human inspiration for the next few months and beyond of course. My spiritual inspiration lays in the ancient rock formations and ravines I will traverse in the morning as my legs drive me across this ancient volcanic island that was here long before man arrived and will be here long after we are gone. Be Well