Word on the street is that it is Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, Vancouver is trying to spring into Spring, but the rain keeps falling, daily. We even had some snow back in early February, so I feel I have sufficiently punched every hole in my “Wintering Card”, but I am ready for warmth, sunshine, and most of all… DRY surfaces to run on.
I’ve nearly embraced running in the rain, or rather adapted/surrendered to constantly hovering along the spectrum of wetness, from glistening to drenched, it’s fine, yet annoying, change, but running is my outlet, always, especially up here. I run to move through the lonely/chilly minutes/hours of every day with intention, to both challenge and inspire myself physically and emotionally, but there is a tangible reason, too, marathon #66 is within striking distance… finally.
There is a marathon going on in Vancouver on May 4th, and I signed up and paid a fee to be on the starting line among the other thousands of ambitious humans at Queen Elizabeth Park en route to run 26.2 miles on purpose, for a purpose, to try, to do, to seek, to tap into the powers I know I have and don’t know I have, but believe I do, because my fuel is faith, it is real, abundant, and although invisible, I feel it course through my bloodstream and soul-stream every time I race, and on rare occasions, in between, but it is the scarcity and preciousness of racing, heaving my heart outside of my body to put onto display for everyone, whether anyone is paying attention or not, it feels like they are, with every step, every thud and leap above the ground, thousands of them pounding for miles toward the finish line, living my journey of self-discovery, choosing to suffer, physically, mentally, alone, yet among, and in front of the crowd, giving and receiving energy, emotions flaring and flitting along with sweat from my exhausted, invigorated body, proving there is more to humanity than standing still, that I was made to move, even when the universe abruptly grounded me to a halt, the path did not disappear, the resolution is not found on any finish line, but it is in the pursuit, to try, to sign up, line up, and keep going.
I have a pace in mind, of course, but I am giving myself a lot of grace, and zero pressure to hit a specific time goal because I will be racing in a completely different body than the last time I ran a marathon on the Big Island in October, 2023, and although I know how to run 26.2 miles (I’ve done it sixty-five times over the last twenty four years) I don’t know how running a marathon in the updated, Kintsugi version of myself (cracked/repaired/shredded/healed) body and soul that I will be wielding during *this* marathon will feel, but I am excited to find out.
Instead of a music video, following is my favorite podcast episode of all time, enjoy.