Being our best: November 2018

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Today is Hug a Runner Day!

“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.” ― J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan

I can smell the grass, feel the stones with bare feet though I sit here shod and clothed with all the people. That's my power.
Gary Snyder

This is about imagination.
I read the above quote yesterday and love it. It reminded me of a comment in a book I'm currently reading by Peter Sagal, who is a runner as well as host of NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. He recommends running without headphones or music. How often do we ever have silence in our lives and make the time to get into our own heads to commune with the bats and sweep out the cobwebs? The sounds of our thoughts can be deafening. We need occasional silence to release that inner noise, and to encourage our imaginations. The background slap, slap, slap, left, right, left, helps.

“If you are a dreamer come in
If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar
A hoper a pray-er a magic-bean-buyer
If youre a pretender com sit by my fire
For we have some flax golden tales to spin
Come in!
Come in!”
― Shel Silverstein

“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” Mark Twain

It's time to go commune with the bats.

Saturday, November 17, 2018

I had an interesting start to my morning. I was doing a short mile run with my dog in the dark pre-stormy weather. I saw the rabbits and the deer, so held on tight to the leash, but I missed the fox dashing across the street in front of us. In a flash, my daft dog got away from me and tore after it, turning the next corner out of sight.
That left me to jog up and down that street for 15 min. calling her name....at 6 AM on a Saturday! I'm sure all the people on that street loved me. She did return eventually, and I was extremely lucky it was just a fox and not a coyote which would have led her to its pack with her being the main course.
She, of course, had the best morning ever!

Friday, November 16, 2018

Ahimsa

Very little of the great cruelty shown by men can really be attributed to cruel instinct. Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit. The roots of cruelty, therefore, are not so much strong as widespread. But the time must come when inhumanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by thought. Let us work that this time may come........Albert Schweitzer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5XX35L4fmQ&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR09Rq3MIf_NqS5oYrxn7gESOZQBqQGadyJk777ji58jhGl2MukJT7qPFGc

Thursday, November 15, 2018

My precious child
Wherever your journey in life may take you....
I pray you'll always be safe,
enjoy the ride and never forget
your way back home.
--Vicki Reece

Just do it.

I don't feel like myself unless I run. It's how I deal with sadness and happiness. I need it. It's like therapy.
Kara Goucher

I haven't been running much lately due to snow and ice. I can tell.

Sunday, November 11, 2018

I did it. It wasn't pretty but I kept the run streak alive. It is 25 degrees out, which isn't bad, but over-ankle deep snow with ice beneath made it tricky. I slow jogged with walking all the icy intersections. My dog was hyper and excited, and wanted to chase a fox, so was being her usual pain-in-the-butt self. It took me an embarrassing 20 min. but I did it.
I started treadmill shopping yesterday. This convinced me I need one. When the weather is horrible out, I am not going to drive to a gym anywhere.