Years ago, I spent two years in the Czech Republic on a mission for the LDS church. I spent the last months of that mission in a city called Zlin, which was a rather green city dotted with blocky red houses that rested between two hills. It was a beautiful place, one I grew quite fond of, and serves almost no purpose in what I'm about to share, except as the setting for a vignette which inspires these thoughts.
During the months of service in Zlin, I would often get together with the other missionaries and a few local youth to play soccer. I was always impressed by a particular elder and his ability to run ceaselessly - he never seemed to get tired. Before his mission, he'd been a track star. I asked him about it once, and he just kinda shrugged my question off - telling me that he got into these moods when he ran, and he could just run forever.
Now that I've taken up semi-regular exercise, I've wondered if I'd ever get to feel that way while running. And, sometimes, as I jog my laps around the church house, I think I'm starting to approach that moment when I could just. Keep. Running.
It's a remarkable feeling: My lungs clear out, my legs fill with strength, and my vision clears. It's like... like I've somehow transcended my body - like my spirit is suddenly existing on another plane. There, at the end of my vision, I see... something that transcends my ability to describe. My God - it's full of stars!
Then, of course, the little gnomes that live in my calves break out the pickaxes and get to work on my shins. The pain snaps me back to reality (Op! There goes gravity), and I have to pull over for a rest.
Some day, I'll get back there. But, before then, I'll probably have to get new shoes to help with the shin splints.
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2 comments:
I had never felt that way until I started training for my marathon--it was like one day, I suddenly realized that I could just keep on going and going and going. I miss my long runs terribly, actually. I'm hoping to get back into a place like that soon.
A good way to help the muscles that cause shin splints is too stand and your tippy toes and bounce as long as you can a few times a day or at least once. So doing it while doing dishes, cooking(ie: waiting for something to boil), or in any sort of line. Yes you kinda look like you have to pee but it really helps. I did folk dancing in high school and would get terrible shin splints this worked like a charm.
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