Running and Light

I’ve been working my way back from a pair of surgeries this year. Running again feels good, and hard.  Today I made it past the 20 minute mark and ran for 35 minutes, walking an additional 10 making it over 4 miles. Last time I ran, I struggled to make it 20 minutes and 2 miles.  Feels like great progress. I also started a new book this week called the Language of Light.  The opening quote has been on my mind:

We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the pattern of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.

Jun I’Chiro Tanizari (translated)

I love contrast, in photographs and in life. I wouldn’t likely appreciate running over 4 miles as much if I hadn’t run a 1/2 marathon this year with my best friend.  We ran in memory of her sister in law who passed away the week prior to cancer; she was younger than we are. I then had surgery so I couldn’t run at all for a long time.  Experiencing the shadows, light and darkness provides perspective, hope, motivation, appreciation and so much more.  The pendulum will swing back to the 1/2 marathon side in 2012 as I will run the St. Jude’s Half Marathon in Memphis the first weekend in December 2012 with my best friend. We will be running and fund raising for kids with cancer.  Kids who are fighting for their lives, not the next mile or the next 10 minutes on the treadmill.

The pattern of training over the next year will be a combination of shadow, light and darkness.  Some kids will make it, some will not.  In the meantime, I will keep running and training because I can.

It’s not a fight, it’s an honor, in more ways than I can fathom.