Tread Lightly…
Today I walked on the beach, feeling the lovely wet sand under my slightly sore feet… I left Anadi stretching on the shore, and walked further along the expansive terrain… After watching the surfers warming up and paddling a bit, I joined him to chant ‘Nam Myoho Renge Kyo’ 108 times in the shelter of the rocks.
A perfect start to the day with café con leche and tostada beckoning….
Yesterday I ran nine miles on a mixture of road, a bit of trail that proved extremely ‘ouchy’, and finishing with two miles on the beach… This is the furthest I have ever run without shoes.
In terms of effects on the body it feels more like having run about 13 miles, and it was harder on my soles, hence a rest day today…
Running barefoot asks that I maintain my form even more thoroughly than when I wore shoes, even though they were always light ones to suit my natural forefoot style.
But running ‘sans shoes’ feels different again… I am loving the connection to the earth, and feeling the different sensations of the ground beneath me.
I am reminded viscerally to tread lightly… To look after myself, and to be conscious of the effect of my tread on others, and the land I walk on.
In effect to stay in the step.
To step consciously and lightly in every moment, and to be aware of the moment… To stay silent in the step, clearing away any tremor which arises from within, during our daily round of the sun.
‘Running to learn’ is a lifetime journey for me, and I find now as I am stepping into a new space in my life, that I am witnessing a vast vista opening in this very moment.
I find that the Zen of running is more of my experience of running than ever… I am running in a race that has no starting line and no finishing line, where even beyond knowing that I am not a better person if I win or a lesser person if I lose… Beyond this, I know that I cannot win or lose, because there is no competition.
Freeing myself over the years from the need for approval or fear of disapproval has liberated me.
It can liberate us all, to rather than wonder how we will be received and perceived, instead to simply offer our gifts….
And witness what unfolds …
And of course, as through the years as I have shed the fear of failure, I find myself looking forward with great anticipation to the next race, the next challenge along the road less travelled, to seeing what is possible from the silence within…
There are no limits when there is no start or finish… Only this moment
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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