The Cycle of Life…
Anadi and I have just returned from a liquid lunch!We decided to explore, and so we wandered through the delightful back streets; all narrow and steep, white and terracotta buildings either side of the slopey long steps that lead to more and more winding streets…
After awhile we emerged out into a sunnier street with a small bar…
We intended to have a coffee, but on arriving a Cerveza for Anadi and a Clara (shandy) for me, seemed more in keeping with the day – the ambience – the whole occasion of Sunday in Spain…
The proprietor brought us our drinks and a little plate of freshly cooked sardines… ‘We’ve got to eat them now…’ I smiled, a little reluctantly…
Of course, we didn’t ‘have to’…. But they were brought with such flourish, such generosity and energy of the land, that it felt important to receive them with the reciprocal energy of appreciation… Sardines that look like they could be swimming are not my most favourite, and yet, in the same way as enjoying the fish straight from the sea the other day, once I had squeezed lemon over them, and dived in, they were amazing…
I could feel the freshness and goodness entering my body, the freshness and goodness of feeling free and allowing and receiving whatever to be to be…
The day was flowing with its own flow… !
Beer and sardines in the sun… After three and a half years of Anadi and I working seven days a week, suddenly everything has changed…
My life now has a completely different rhythm, and my days pass in a peaceful ‘writing running swimming in the Mediterranean, just being’; sort of a way… And Anadi – now in another stage in his new business – has taken to having weekends off…
I remember reading ages ago that in building anything new, you must be prepared to ‘eat porridge’… By this, the article meant that it would likely take some sort of stretch, sacrifice, leap of faith to keep going – and to be prepared to ‘only eat porridge’ if this is what was needed to reach the goal…
We took the leap, and we still are; creating our lifestyle and finding a way for it to be sustainable as we journey, whilst listening to our inner compasses…
I love it so, this journey, this unfolding, travelling with a fellow soul on the path who is as ‘nuts’ as me…
For this is how, in taking ‘the road less travelled’, we have been described by some… ?
And now we have Sundays to spend in a different way than before… And so as we sat with no plan, together, chatting, happy, in the sun… It seemed the natural thing to ‘have another drink…’
As if the lively sardines were not challenge enough, the next plate of tapas was squid in its ink! But I gamely joined in; embracing Spain, the day, the offerings, feeling delighted by my unexpected lunch…
It felt to be the perfect ‘recovery food’ from a track session this morning… As we arrived at La Pista at 9am today, more excitement was abounding; a cycling road race was readying to leave and the cyclists and their bikes were circling around, warming up, music playing… The bright lycra and shiny bikes a dazzling array of colour, fun and friendship…
We made our way through the crowd onto my track, empty, just for me to run around and around and around in my bare feet; I ran a session familiar to me from the past… 10 x 300 metres with 100 metre jog between each fast stretch…
How many times have I lapped the track this way…? Unraveling, circling, round and round, shedding as I go all that is not needed, so all that remains is the run; the zen… Where will the next running step lead me?
Everything is a circle; arriving back at the beginning… The day turning to night and then to day again, as we circle the sun again and again and again on planet earth… The birth of a new day, until its the death and then always re birth; the cycle of life in everything we do…
Birth, death and re birth…
I have been running all of my life – it feels I was born to run. In the running step I experienced freedom and my true expression. I came to see that I needed to ‘get out of the way of myself’ and let my energy flow through the running step; allow it to express itself in the dance and the motion of running. I ran for England and GB for some years. My first international was in 1979, a three mile cross country race; and I continued to run at international level until 1993. Two of my best results were first place in the Dublin City Marathon in 1985 and 7th place woman, 3rd British woman in the 1986 London Marathon in a time of 2.36.31, which gained me selection for the Commonwealth Games.
As a little girl I ran barefoot for many years, and then I put on shoes to race around the world. Fifty years later I am travelling the world as a nomad with my husband Anadi and I have taken off my shoes and I am running barefoot again….
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