From a number of posts I can see that some of us at Treeleaf are runners. On Saturday afternoon I sat Zazenkai and then the next morning I went for a two hour run (2hrs 9 mins & 11 secs - to be precise - these things matter to runners :roll: ). As I plodded through the streets, on that early Sunday morning , out into the countryside, along the river and back up that big hill (which defeated me at 1hr and 54 mins ), I was struck by the simularities between the two experiences, i.e:

- the time it takes to settle into ones stride
- the feelings of elation (oh - this is great - out into the fresh air, time to myself)
- the feelings of despair (oh - bloody hell, another hour to go and I feel dreadful)
- the persistent thoughts that run around in my head (what is this pain in my right side?)
- witnessing the beauty of the world (cheerful fellow runners, nature, birdsong, the smell of wild garlic in the woods)
- witnessing the grottyness of the world (traffic, noise, dogs mess, rubbish)
- and best of all stopping, that wonderful afterglow of no longer having to run or sit .

Anyway - just noodling.

Best wishes

Jools

ps - I will let you know my half marathon time at the end of the month - anything under two hours would be good :wink: