7.2 miles in the pouring rain – Zen and the Art of Running!
Posted on Jun 12, 2011 under 10-15k, Long Runs, Musings | 2 CommentsI’ve been interested in Buddhism for a while, and increasingly in Zen lately, and I must say that running in the rain has a certain Zen quality about it – just being, living in the moment, one moment after another, feeling the beauty of the wetness instead of trying to keep it away with layers of clothing. Also there’s something very childlike about splashing and sploshing through puddles without a care in the world.
There’s also something manic about me, which relishes the funny looks I get from folk wrapped in their raincoats, which says “You crazy mother******”. I do feel crazy at the time, like I’m invincible, like nothing else matters, totally in the moment. Or perhaps they are the crazy ones, huddled against the wet, or standing in doorways smoking their death sticks while they watch the crazy runner get a bit wet, unable to partake of the pure joy of being. I wish they’d give it a try!
For the record I did 7.2 miles, I did one of the kms in 5:12 which left me a bit out of it for a while, and was going to stop at 10k, but then decided to make it 10 miles for the week and pulled in an 11th km of 5:44 before slowing to a crawl and stopping on 11.6k. Not had much chance to run this week, so was good to get out.
Why would a little torrential rain stop me? Every rain drop, like every moment, is just part of the picture of how things are. Maybe it’s just the endorphins, but I do feel a certain Zen quality right now. 😀
June 15th, 2011 at 9:58 am
Nice one rob 🙂
Your right about the rain,looks horrible from inside but once you get out in it I think we begin to enjoy it,well I would rather run in the the rain than hot sun that’s more destroying to me.
anyway well done on the run,glad you found that zen to make the running more enjoyable.
enjoy your running and keep laughing at the people in doorways enjoying there poison sticks LoL. 🙂
June 17th, 2011 at 7:08 pm
Cheers Paul!