Tuesday, October 21, 2008

On Coulees and Bowels


The most important step of a 50 mile run is crossing the finish line. Pat, the race director of Le Grizz just sent this my way and I thought what better place to post it than on my running blog. So here it is <----. This morning I pounded out a sick 4 miler. Just awesome. Trying to save myself for a nice, easy run out here in the coulees this afternoon. My favorite place to run in the Great Falls area is out here in the country. The roads are long and gravelly and the terrain is ever-undulating - a perfect training ground. Most importantly, it is just beautiful out here. That is the truth. Many a life affirming run has gone down out here in the gulches. Frankly, it is hard for me to imagine a non-inspirational run out here, having spent most of my miles on runs through the bowels of Great Falls. My point is, coulee running always trumps bowel running. Just kidding. At the end of the day, they are what they are; two distinct types of running. As it is with everything, we must appreciate things for what they are - forgoing constant comparison of apples and oranges. Apples will never be oranges just as coulee running will never be bowel running. In other words, enjoy things for what they are. Eliminate value judgments where value judgments are unnecessary and merely complicate honest realities. For me, this has meant to love running, whether it has been in the bowels of the Falls, in the coulees of the country, in the mountains Colorado, on the shore of Lake Superior, in the National Forests of Wyoming, on the beaches of Cancun, on the flanks of the Montanan Rockies, on the reservations of South Dakota, around the lakes of Minnesota or the canyons of Utah - it has all been running. Each landscape and every place provides us with new and enriching experiences if only we take the time to appreciate the present by forgoing comparison. Love it.

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