Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Spots of Time

There are in our existence spots of time,
That with distinct pre-eminence retain
A renovating virtue, whence--depressed
By false opinion and contentious thought,
Or aught of heavier or more deadly weight,
In trivial occupations, and the round
Of ordinary intercourse--our minds
Are nourished and invisibly repaired;
A virtue, by which pleasure is enhanced,
That penetrates, enables us to mount,
When high, more high, and lifts us up when fallen
~William Wordsworth 

 One of the most valuable takeaways so far from my marathon training is all of the times when I found myself completely immersed in the moment. When, cycling up a hill on a foggy morning, I'd look up and see the yellow-gold soybean fields stretch down in neat rows into a foggy cloud where barn roofs and a silo rise up out of the mist in front of a backdrop of green hills. Or hiking through the woods I'd feel myself moving through a bright cathedral of leaves, the overhead branches arching above the trail, and nothing else exists but the sound of my breath and the steady footsteps through the sanctuary. At those times, mundane or weighty thoughts are far away, and I can be fully present. And those times stick with me. Those are the spots of time that Wordsworth mentions in "The Prelude", the memories of which come back and lift us up when we are feeling troubled.

The MRI results for my knee showed signs of tendonitis. Now a couple of weeks after that diagnosis, I'll be starting physical therapy today, and hopefully I will be on my way to an injury-free marathon next month. Still, I feel that this is all a little too late. I expected to have been much farther along in my training by now, and even though I'll most likely be able to finish the marathon, I will not be able to pull off the performance I had imagined I could.

I will see what the physical therapist has to say about it. No matter what, I am so grateful to feel so fit and strong. I want to always feel so healthy. And when I think back to all of those amazing experiences I've had along the way, the fears about this one race seem pretty trivial, and I feel better about the situation, because it really is passing, but those experiences stick.

No comments: