Tuesday, June 8, 2010

"in the midst of the pounding of my heart, straining from my lungs, i found peace"

last week, i had a moment where i saw things. clearer, more defined, and perhaps, enlightening.

heck it, make that three moments.



during a trainer hills session, i found a rythmn that comes with the efforts u look for when climbing. it was also amongst this that i found the moment to be peaceful. even as my legs were burning from the lactate, sweat dripping down my face and my chest heaving in and out, i found that part of me that loved this sport, the passion that burned as much as parts of my body did.

then, another session where i went for a 7km run, and i found my tempo. as my feet pound the tarmac along the pitch black pavement, (the street lights were off for some reason) i felt at peace. even if the effort was hard and my mind was prompting me to keep up the pace, i found the joy that i used to have when going out for my long runs. and i loved it.

friday night i went for a long swim session and after i was done with the whole session, i did a backstroke to just swim down. the pool attendants had turned all the lights off, and i was just looking up into the night sky. there was no sound but that of my breathing and my arms splashing. in that i felt peace.

its been a while. maybe i have overlooked them in the recent times, or maybe i was simply not looking for them. but in a week where i was coming back from a week of recovery that was supposedly for the body, i found a mental recovery as well. as if it was a remind of why i was doing this sport. it maybe hard, painful, tiring, excruciating and time consuming (anymore adjectives?)

but like a cigarette to a smoker, or a whiskey to an alcoholic, or even power to a despot, this is what i draw meaning, peace, joy and passion from. triathlon.

thank you Lord for this particular blessing. and to re-post a quote i once put up here.

" When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything You gave me.' " - Erma Bombeck

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