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David O's avatar

Today’s “present” is breakfast at a cafe overlooking the caldera of santorini island in the Mediterranean. I’m fully there.

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Terrell Johnson's avatar

Very nice!!! So you’re in Santorini now?

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David O's avatar

Have moved on. Yesterday Crete, and I just finished 5k on the treadmill in the ship fitness center, watching the Straight of Messina sail by. Makes the dreadmill much easier.

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Clark Rose's avatar

Terrell, as you begin to embody the words you have read & written, I believe you will discover the “yoga” of running. Those moments of increasing frequency when the body, mind and spirit are fully yoked together and you appreciate “life” in all its awe & wonder. For those who have not experienced this on the yoga mat, running is a great opportunity to be mindful and present in ways that modern culture drowns out. And perhaps, as this “oneness” is experienced on the road or trails, you, like me, will truly fall in love with running all over again. It is my daily “sacred” hour that I totally look forward to...and if the running becomes distracting, I slow down to walk and just “listen” to the morning Sun arise in the East and know that there is so much more than I can witness but am grateful for what I can...

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Nilima Srikantha's avatar

Zen. . .

Consistency is the key to the conquest of Karma. . . .

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ANN VANDYKE's avatar

Thank you for this lovely reflection. Sometimes we focus too much on the "product" e.g. miles covered, personal records etc. and not enough on the "process" of the running itself. I try to remind myself how lucky I am that at age 67 I am still doing this :<) and to enjoy that my body is still moving.

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Tom Hudzik's avatar

Nice job on this one, Terrell! I read it after coming back from a run in which I couldn't wait for it to end! I'll pull my attention into the next run!

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Terrell Johnson's avatar

Thank you, Tom!! I’m so glad to hear that.

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Sharon Dene's avatar

I run because it gives me a piece of mind I have very stressful jobs and I have 2 jobs actually. I'm always I run cause I love you and I love to meet people and talk to people this is how I train when it's time to really race then I race to me it's always been a joy just to go out there and see the world. Even on my different websites we communicate and discuss issues as well as runners that has been real eye opener in the past 2 years for me we lose people and we have We haven't built a beautiful community of runners who just enjoy Joy of it

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Neal Bascomb's avatar

Having read this in the morning, I went to do my weekly swim (which I despise, but it's so good for me). I tried and tried to stay in the moment, feel the water, my breath, even how tired I was...Just couldn't do it, and it was very frustrating. That said, I did a cold water plunge afterward and attempted the same...be present, not cold, embrace the cold, and after a few seconds, it was incredible. Baby steps.

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Terrell Johnson's avatar

That's awesome to hear, Neal! I have never really tried swimming for exercise -- why do you hate it? Very curious 🤔

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Nilima Srikantha's avatar

and the 10K????

Quiet this morning as it is everyday. Listened to the sun coming up. One little bird, the Pie-bald Junco is around. Soon, the finches will be tweeting, asking for food. Chickadees calling and more Juncos. The hummingbirds come dashing over in a few minutes letting me know they've arrived.

Learned to listen to the inside voice and the country a long time ago. Running blocks out the outside chatter. . .

Out on the Trail in a few minutes. . . 3 miles. Take care. . . :)

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Fiona Price's avatar

I have done two sports at international level, rowing and equestrian endurance. It's always a balance between minimising wear and tear in training, being fitness enough and saving your body for optimum performance on the day. I mostly used a pendulum (my instinct on the end of a piece of string) for training for me and my horse and I also applied a quantum attribute to amplify the benefit of each session. In fact, I recently published a book and talk more about this in it, if anyone is interested. It's called 'The ultimate relationship... the one with yourself'. My name is Fiona Price. It's in the usual online book stores.

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Run Poetry by Mark Lane's avatar

(Book) “Running with Mindfulness”

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Run Poetry by Mark Lane's avatar

Running with Mindfulness is also a great resource by therapist William Pullen, and he has an associated app called Dynamic Running Therapy

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Britt's avatar

Couldn’t agree more with the need to block out the noise. Maybe I’ve done too well with that lately as I’m just catching up with your recent posts! Anyways, Lonesome Dove is my favorite book and I am always trying to get reader friends to give the western a try. And on a running note, I asked a few weeks ago about west coast runs. You brought my attention to the Big Sur 21 miler.. long story short I am running in it in April! So thank you Terrell!

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Mike's avatar

Thank you Terrell for a great reminder and message. Life has so many things for us “to get done” and I admit, sometimes getting that run in (5 miles on indoor track this morning) was something I needed to get done. Your message reminded me of how important it is to “enjoy the run” more

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Terrell Johnson's avatar

Thank YOU, Mike!

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Shawna HH's avatar

On a run the other day, my knee started hurting and I thought about what type of runner I wanted to be. Did I want to be the runner who never listened to my body? I knew I didn’t that this time around and have been/ will be walking until my knee tells me it’s time to go again 😊

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Terrell Johnson's avatar

Yes! The body knows the score. You want to be able to come back and try again in a day or two, not have to sit out multiple weeks resting up. Discretion is always the better part of valor 😀

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Nilima Srikantha's avatar

Terrell, I meant to leave this yesterday, but forgot and now have lost the article. In any event, Xero Shoes did a write up on Chris McDougalls new book, "Born to Run 2" and the signing he did in NYC. Seems they were offering free workshops there on Sept. 5 in NYC Chinatown. Keep your eye on it. . . looks like it is going to be a good one! This is as close as I could find: https://www.fox5ny.com/news/christopher-mcdougall-born-to-run-2-nyc-clinics

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