Let it be

It's been a struggle this last week or so.

It's funny how the language you use can sometimes make it obvious why you're finding something hard.

It all started with wrenching my left knee when climbing into a very small window in the front of my house after I'd managed to lock my keys inside the house just over a week ago , and has now progressed to pulling my hamstring in the same leg yesterday.

So I've done a lot of very slow runs of a mile and a bit.

And I'm due to be going on a four-day extended running weekend with thirty other runners in three days time.

Anyway, back to me using the word struggle at the start of this post. It is quite accurate for me to describe that I've been finding it a struggle.

But what I managed to do on this morning's run was to make it OK that I was running very slow.

I managed to not fret about what might happen if my leg doesn't get any better or even gets worse.

The words of Paul McCartney came to me,

"When I find myself in times of trouble Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, Let it be".

I don't remember Mother Mary coming to me, but who knows, maybe she did.

And, as another song says, "Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be".

Funnily enough, I'm not actually finding it a struggle any more.

I ran

I have just taken on a challenge - to imagine that I have only fifteen minutes to live, and to write the story that needs to be told.

Life hangs on a thread and is precious, a true gift and a blessing.

You can spend your life looking at all the things that are wrong with it and how it doesn't compare to others, or you can live it fully - wonder at the incredible luck that you are here at this moment in time.

Is it all about living a huge life and stretching yourself?

Life is whatever you want it to be.

The most important thing you can do is be aware, honest and responsible for where you are now and decide for yourself where it is you want to go. What is the journey you would most like to make?

You had also better build in a healthy dose of relationships and being of service to others.

You may not feel that as a desire right now, but I'm pretty convinced that at some point in time, that will become important to you.

What else needs to be said? I do believe that we are intricately connected and I also subscribe to that whole philosophy of what you do to others (people, animals, the planet), you do to yourself.

I came across an inspiring idea recently that is new to me although not new as a concept.

When certain tribes of native American Indians set goals, they set them seven generations ahead, which is the equivalent of about a hundred years in our money.

What difference would that make to you to set your goals beyond your time on this planet? How different would your goals look?

I'm not saying you shouldn't have your own goals, but make sure they include what you want to have, what you want to do and who you want to be. Then see how they fit in with your hundred year goals.

As has often been said, it is not the planet we are killing with our focus on short-term profit and gain. The planet will probably still be here long after we're gone. It's ourselves as a species and the other species that we share this planet with, that we destroy with our constant greed and desire for luxury and convenience.

Studies on happiness have also discovered that taking the easy way, such as using our cars instead of using our own power, reduces our levels of happiness.

The power we are looking to obtain won't fulfill us if we don't make use of the power that already exists within us, that we give up in our endless search for short cuts and convenience.

How did I use my power?

I ran.

Am I TOO rested?

I ran a VERY gentle mile-and-a-bit yesterday morning as I'd been without food for the previous twenty hours.

After a quick shower I then sauntered up to my local hospital for an appointment to have a colonoscopy, just to check my internal workings were up to scratch.

When I was being checked in they gave me the heart rate and blood pressure check, and the nurse seemed a little surprised that my resting heart rate was lower than it should be (outside the normal range apparently).

Does this mean that I've been practicing my resting far too much and have become exceedingly proficient at it?

Was I far less worried than I should have been about the impending medical procedure?

Might the efficiency of my heart have been improved by my 505 days of consecutively running a mile each day?

Is there a potential problem with my heart?

While the nurse said that I should mention it to my doctor next time I see him (no need for a special appointment), I can't help thinking that the reason for my low resting heart rate is more likely to be one of, or all of, my first three above possibilities than the latter one, but who am I to judge?

Anyway, although I'm still not supposed to drive, drink alcohol or operate heavy machinery until at least lunchtime today (not that I anticipate doing them then, at least not all at once), this morning I planned for another gentle mile-and-a-bit, as I gather I still should have some anesthetic in my system.

However I felt so strong that I boosted the run to a pretty quick two-miler and I feel great!

Oh and I had the best results from my colonoscopy than the previous three I've had over the last eleven years too.

Do you think there might be something in this running a mile each day lark?

The lesson of 500

This morning Nicky came with me for a gentle just under 3-miler, which was impressive for her as she hasn't run for months.

For me it is a day for celebration as it was my 500th consecutive day of running at least a mile, and I feel rather proud.

I wonder why that is, as it's nothing spectacular to run a mile, and it's also not spectacular to run a mile the next day either. Actually, thinking about it, it's not spectacular to run a mile every day for 500 days.

It's something to do with the idea I thought of fairly recently of pushing the ordinary far enough that it might become extra-ordinary.

I'm not suggesting that I'm extraordinary, or even that running a mile each day is extraordinary. It's just that at some point ordinary with enough commitment becomes something that is a bit beyond the ordinary, whilst still being ordinary, if that makes sense.

For me, the people I really look up to as "heroes" probably wouldn't see themselves as such in any way, because they are ordinary people doing ordinary things who have pushed themselves beyond what I, and others, consider reasonable.

If I think back to when I started this experiment, I would not have considered it possible for me to still be doing my daily mile. That's what feels great.

And yet, although for a large number of the 500 days I have had to overcome resistance to do my mile or so, on its own each of those small wins wasn't that big a deal.

It's when I add up the small wins and keep putting one foot in front of the other, I suddenly realise that I am capable of far more than I ever gave myself credit for.

Now that's a lesson that could make a huge difference in my life, if I can bring that to every aspect of my life!

Time to wake up

I've been rather remiss on my blog postings of late.

The running is still going on, in fact this morning's two miles was my 494th day of running at least a mile each day, and Sunday's run will (hopefully) be my 500th consecutive day.

I've had really different experiences from my morning runs over the past three days.

Saturday I felt more powerful running than I had in ages.

Sunday I ran 5K and my legs were still asleep when I finished.

This morning I felt pretty strong again.

I'm currently feeling a little challenged by how I'm going to manage my mile on Saturday the 21st (which should be day 506), as I'm due to have a procedure in the local hospital that day.

Someone told me at a conference on Friday, that they see me as someone who wakes people up.

Well, I know I do that pretty well for myself, albeit often with the help of either an alarm clock or a cat that wants me to feed her, and I frequently do it for the other members of my house, but I think she meant it in a slightly different way.

I like to think that I awaken others, and sometimes myself, to all the possibility that's out there all the time. It's just about allowing ourselves to see it.

As I asked myself on this morning's run, what could make this the best day of my life?