Day 2: A day of ups and downs

I am pretty sleepy right now, but I'll try to recap this roller coaster day....my emotional and physical state seemed to mirror the land that I was running on!

The morning was rough. My foot and my knee (IT band) hurt pretty bad and each step seemed so uncomfortable. But, I managed to alternate walking and jogging for about 17 miles into Atlantic. In fact, I started feeling pretty good and even enjoyed a little dancing along the way :) But somewhere around mile 20 everything changed. My IT band REALLY started to hurt...walking became difficult. The self talk started. Things like "Jeanelle, you are going to finish this even if you have to crawl" started going through my head as tears began to flow. I started to feel super emotional and couldn't believe that my knee as hurting this bad. Another mile or two later I stopped for lunch, and after some coaching from friends, I took 400 mg of Advil and hobbled off. At least now I could walk, so that's what I did. I hobbled/walked for the next 8 miles...still feeling super emotional and yet falling in love with the beauty of the country side. Somewhere around this time, some nice man called me on my cell to interview me. I don't even remember what news group it was....it took all I had to answer his questions without crying, so that might be an interesting news article, if I ever see it :)

Anyway, eventually I got to Anita, IA and had about 8 miles left. The walking was going okay but my trail shoes were starting to give me crazy blisters, so on a whim I switched by to the vibrams....and a miracle occurred! All my knee pain went away and I ran the next 8 miles, feeling better than I had all day! In fact, better than i even felt last night! I felt so good I went 3 more miles than planned. A blister popped near the end of the run, so I took my shoes off and jogged the last mile barefoot before deciding that might not be the smartest move and called it a day. But, I felt great! The sun was shining, birds were singing and the country side was gorgeous. All was right in the world again.

So many things today reminded me of my yoga practice and the idea of impermanence. In a yoga pose, I often practice staying with breath and letting sensation wash over me. In fact, I am always encouraging my yoga students to do just that...notice how sensation will rise and fall, emotions will come and go...into awareness and back out of awareness. That very much was part of my practice today. I don't know how many times asked myself "how am i right now?" and could always answer "okay". Much of my emotion was coming from worry about the future..."what if i can't finish?". Sure my knee hurt and walking was painful, but I was still walking. In time the sensation passed through, and spirit gifted me with an incredible evening. All in all I am so grateful for every experience, both the challenging and the easy. It truly is teaching me and opening my heart more to this moment.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring? My knee and foot feels better. I've got some blister issues, but hopefully those won't be too bad. Thirty Eight miles on tap for tomorrow, and then Saturday will be a short day....with Yoga in the Park in Des Moines!

Love to all.