The Road Less Travelled…
Today has been a different day, it has felt like I have visited a new uncharted land; as if I have been on a great big journey to discover something very important and that I accomplished my task…
Fortunately I had the foresight to make two vlogs yesterday… Very odd really as I didn’t anticipate the almost complete disappearance of my voice today, although of course, it seems that apparently I did…
I woke up after a good sleep with my mountain lurgy still present, it feels like I am being cleansed and I was reflecting last night that away from any routine to speak of – except that which I create for myself – I am in touch with being but a dot in this vast universe…
I felt a sense of relaxation, in feeling the insignificance of the dot that is me…
And yet when I looked out from my little house on the hill, into the vast night sky, the feeling expanded – soaring into the infinite – in a recognition of the dot being all that ever is and was….
The time here has unintentionally lent itself to a cleanse, a retreat, silence – I can’t really talk!
And today has the feeling of being a significant day…
I rose and ran a bath, posted my blog/vlog and with an hour and a half to go until Spanish, I decided that I would gently jog and walk there, as it is only just over 7 kilometres away.
The day was overcast and the hills blue… Clouds were hanging low as I paso a paso made my way to Pitres and to Spanish… I had reflected before leaving as to whether my body wanted to make the journey, but it assured me that it did… I am keenly in touch with its messages and it said that a gentle meander would be nice…
My feet of course have minds and a life of their own now, and they were more than happy to take to the road… They are feeling very proud of their increased toughness and ability to withstand miles and miles… They are also getting very dirty here !
I feel the need to find a better scrubbing brush, although they don’t seem to mind their rather wild and feral appearance.
The journey had a magical mystical feel to it, the road wound through the mountains and rose and fell with the day hanging overcast all about – of course eventually I arrived in Pitres; but I had been happy jogging along my never ending road… No one knowing where I was
I sat on the steps of the church in Pitres watching life go on around me… I imagine I might have looked to be a strange figure, but no one took too much notice of me… Maricarmen arrived and we commenced Spanish, but fortunately in the cafe first as I hadn’t eaten anything…
Because I couldn’t speak much, she read ‘Freddy the leaf’ to me, in Spanish.
I loved it and the magical day felt more so… She has just been on a cleanse herself so she gave me the last of her bottle of ‘cleansing potion’ and I have been boiling water and mixing it with paprika and cucumin all afternoon.
I feel very ‘limpiar’ ed
On the road on the way home, a man stopped on his motorbike on the other side of the road… He called out to me…
‘What are you doing?’ – I stopped and crossed the road to tell him ?
He said later that he thought I might be a ‘nina loca’ in which case I most likely wouldn’t stop – or an endurance runner, in which case I also most likely wouldn’t stop…
But no, I stopped… It was me; who loves to connect and chat – even though my opening words were to explain my ‘lost voice’…
His name is Clem Cairns, and he is an author and a publisher from Dublin… He has a brother keen on running and so asked me if he could send him a photo of me and bare feet… They loved it, becoming famous in their own right; my two naked feet…
He went on to tell me of his friend Michael Collins who is an author too, and an awesome ultra runner… Having now read about him a bit I recognise some of my own spirit in how he is described… The four of us – Clem, his brother, Michael and I likely all having something resonant in our spirits – which is why Clem had already noticed me twice ‘on the road’ before he called out to me…
Fellow travellers on the road less travelled…
I made this vlog yesterday – I had the foresight to make two, as my voice today is very vanished !
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….Website
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Email : juliachitaylor@gmail.com
