Getting ready to go out again for another session of pavement pound, monkey mind voiding, i.e. "running." I don't know what my course will be, and I wanna keep it that way.
Last night while running, I set out to run one of my usual courses. When it came time to turn left and head back around toward the coastal road, I couldn't do it. The little man on the green crosswalk sign was lit up, and my body felt like going straight, out to the airport. On the way back I changed it up even more, running through silent evening, back alley streets, and even ending up at a dead end at someone's front door, hearing the TV and some banal conversation coming from inside. About face. Find a new street.
What I realized is that I cannot be bothered to do the same thing over and over again in a sense. Much like water droplets coursing down a car window in the rain, as the car speeds down the highway, I like to make my mind up as I go, taking the path that feels the most fluid at the very moment it feels most fluid. Bruce Lee talks a lot about the power of water in his interviews on Kung Fu. I think this is an important concept.
While there is always the run, the course can be changed. For me, it is not so much about knowing the exact distance now, necessarily, but training my body and finding that meditative and very creative void for my mind to just be. The moonlit, silent backstreets of last night were like being on a different planet. Or being in a dream. Or in the past. Or inside my mind. Like running through the canals and crevices of a mind itself. Something hard to describe.
Anyway, before I set out tonight, I will fill you in on last night's run. Due to my recent vacation to Sado Island, and a lack of training on vacation, it took a bit for my body top get back into the rhythm. But, after about 3 or 4 minutes of pounding the pavement, it warmed up, and did.
Excerpt from Haruki Murakami's WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING.
LAST NIGHT'S RUN:
Distance: 2.4 miles
Theme Song: Air - "Napalm Love."
Playlist so far:
"Under the Pressure" - The War on Drugs
"Somewhere" - Soundgarden
"Owner of a Lonely Heart" - Yes
"Rose Garden" - Lynn Anderson
"Napalm Love" - Air
Well, back at it. Looking forward to finding some new paths tonight. Or, maybe, in the interest of avoiding routine, I will go back to my old routine ;)
If you missed the past marathon blog posts, you can find them here:
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)
