“I always start these events with very lofty goals, like I’m going to do something special. And after a point of body deterioration, the goals get evaluated down to basically where I am now- where the best I can hope for is to avoid throwing up on my shoes.”
-Ultrarunner Ephraim Romesberg, quoted in Born to Run by Christopher McDougallIt’s one of those absolutely perfect days – 76 degrees with a lovely breeze, sun shining brightly without a cloud to be seen, so I decide to go for a little stroll.
The urge to jog a bit moves me as Florence and the Machine urge me to “run fast for my mother, run fast for my father.” After about a mile, my body tells me take a chill, go back to walking, so I do for a short while. But then, Enrique Iglesias starts singing how he “likes it” and oh, I like it too. So I ran about another half mile, immediately stopping right before feeling pain – for the first time in this run.
I’ve always swung like a pendulum – either I’m running like crazy and just making it hurt and running again and again until it doesn’t or I’m telling myself I shouldn’t hurt myself and not running at all, not doing much besides gentle yoga and claiming I’m being kind to myself.
The yogic law of ahimsa (“Nonviolence”) means “do no harm” to yourself or to others. In a recent yoga class, the teacher mentioned that ahimsa not only means not pushing yourself to pain, but it also means knowing how far you can push. You are actually hurting yourself if you’re holding back from what you can become, from reaching your fullest potential.
I wanted to tell you all about how that was the first time I worked ahimsa into a balanced run… until I still hurt myself. It was my hip and after a day of massaging it, everything was fine.
And now I’m going to try again tomorrow, believing, “With each step I touch the earth lightly to do her no harm, and she in turn does me no harm.” (From The Yamas and Niyamas)
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