The Runner's Relationship

Sometimes it is a bit frustrating, maybe that isnt the right word, nevertheless, sometimes I wish my artistic abilities were more developed. Tonight I went for a short run and it was extraordinarily beautiful. It was pitch dark and foggy so the light cast from my headlamp gave that strange blurriness of vision you get from the particles of moisture in the air, then you also have the moisture of your breath mixing with the fog all of this obstructing the view of the passing snow and yellowed grass reaching out from beneath the snow. Reaching well above the 3 or 4 inches of snow is the sagbrush of the low valley toughing it out through the winter. Unlike most bushes and trees the leafy sagebrush manages to hold onto many of its leaves so far, so the moisture in the air, like the rain other times of the year, brings out the scent of sage. Every breath cleansing the body. The sound of snow underfoot and my breathing is all you can hear in the silence until I reached my turnaround point just above the thick low lying fog. Then stopping, it's complete silence, stars above and whisps of higher fog drifting by. It is magnificent.

I fully appreciate the many stunning photographs my running friends post from mountain tops and their journeys to get there, but what we dont get to share are photos of this kind of magnificent scene. Which is fine, because a photo cannot capture all the sensory feedback that makes such a magnificent moment. What photos and words cannot begin to describe either is what this gives back to the runner. The power. I'm sure there are other words to describe it but today I will call it power, its a physical sensation in the body and legs particularly but it is also a gift from land, air and environment in its entirety infusing the entire being with power.

An incredible gift. But, as I see it, this is not a gift without responsibility. In so many ways the land, air, water and the plants and animals which live in absolute harmony with it, give us power, of the body, of the mind, of the heart and the spirit. By receiving this gift we are bound by a sacred relationship to use our power as humans to protect these things which cannot protect themselves.