Friday before Labor Day weekend, ceremonial end to summer, the begin of fall's full slate of activities. Tired and feeling rather dull, though I had a nice ride to work into the rising sun, enjoying the cool crisp air, I cleared my Inbox and headed to the gym. I was pleased to remember that I had a new load of music on my MP3 player and began to look forward to my workout. After warming up my knees doing ball squats against the wall, I climbed onto the treadmill and eased into the routine. Two minutes of walking, then 6 mph until I covered one mile, two more minutes of walking, then 6.3 mph until I got to two miles. The last two minutes of each mile I nudged the speed up to the next interval. So I ended the 2nd mile at 6.6. Mile three went by quickly, 6.6 mph, then 6.9, then 7.2 and finally 7.5-- racing to cover 3 miles before the 30 minute limit elapsed. I was at 2.95 miles when "cool down" flashed on the control panel. One of the annoyances of running on the treadmill. Driven by the tunes, Charlie Parker and Joe Strummer I had worked up a tremendous sweat, I felt great, strong, stable, no pain at all even cranking out at the end of the run. I hit the mat for my post run "yogalates" session. As I gathered my breath and my thoughts dissolved into the mat, I felt a body awareness, a sense of my whole being vibrating, humming, shimmering-- as I stretched I felt elegant and composed. Plugged back into the continuum, the flow coursed through me as I lived the inner life. A purely meditative moment, punctuated with scissors, crunches and rollovers. I did some push ups and then inverted progressively closer to the mat-- handstand, pincha mayurasana and then head stand. Drenched with sweat and feeling holy, I faced the day. thoughts of pending colonoscopy (yikes), figuring out how to do the laxative regimen and still get done what is required. Then what really is the turbulence beneath the calm surface of the water-- the looming large Denver marathon. The run on the treadmill today is about as much as I have been running. Not out the door four days a week getting in 40 miles, my training is on the bike with weekly long runs. My panic subsides as I draw upon the old marathoner's toolbox. What I lack in training I will make up for with wisdom and experience. yeah right....
times of change, indeed. Ryder started First Grade this week. Karen started her three jobs. I am now full Professor. The latter having the least impact on our daily life. Ryder woke up early on Tuesday, his first day and said "what a great day for the first day of school!" This is in marked contrast to our neighbor, with whom Ryder has a very antagonistic relationship. His mom reported that Nicky woke up on Tuesday and declared this to be the worst day of his life. While Ryder was at school Tuesday, just until 11 AM, I rode my bike 25 miles, and got back with 15 minutes to spare to walk him home. Wednesday, first full day plus after school program. He woke up and reprised the naked man song, dancing around the bedroom singing "beware, beware, beware of the first grade man!" When I went to gather him at day's end, he was diligently working on a drawing, and though he had been at school and park kids for nearly 10 hours by then, he had to finish his drawing before we could walk home. Then it was boys night out-- Karen at her Triton gig that night. Wow. busy times. Ryder is adjusting to this amazingly well and I am so happy that we have the routine nearly established. He misses his mom being away from her all day, and the dogs are now orphans too. I get to spend more time with him and my duties are increased and I just couldn't be happier about that. Change is good. Happy Labor Day!
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