A Taste of Heaven

Today I got outside to run for the first time in a couple of weeks after a calf injury kept me from running. I got back to training two days ago, but I only had time for treadmill runs the previous two days. Today I rushed home from school, got the gear on, and headed out the door, and ran. It had turned dark before I finished, but it was still a bit like heaven, running again, outside, on a warm November day.

As I person of faith, I believe that someday I will be up in heaven. When I get there, I am holding God accountable for that "getting a new body" thing that He promised. I intend to get in line for the lean, fast, and powerful body type and I am going to make doubly sure it has perfect biomechanics. Then one of the first things I am going to do is run like the wind on those "streets of gold". I intend to run a sub four minute mile and then go off and run a sub 2:10 marathon and because there is no pain up there, I am going to turn around and do it again just for fun. I want to "feel" how if must feel to run so fast and perfectly. When I am done, I will then know I am in heaven and will sit on my cloud and play my harp. And while I am getting a new body, I am sure it could not hurt to get a better looking one too! Then on my harp, maybe I will start playing "Where the Streets have no Name." When "I go there...I want to run... where the streets have no name." Now that is one of the all time great songs. I have not seen this video for years!




Here on planet Earth, where I have to continue to run with my messsed up biomechanics, I am putting together a hodge-podge "best of" plan to get my body working better and it is good to get things rolling again. I like the Feldenkrais, but I had limited myself to just that and running since August and I need to put back into my routine the other things that may work best for me in the right combination. So I have a mix of Feldenkrais, Z-Health, Yoga, trigger-point work, and Kettlebells that I am doing with a few additional strengthening and stretching routines that target certain muscle groups. It sounds busy, but I have "faith" that I can still improve on my running mechanics. My plan is to continue targeting my hips and back with the Feldenkrais and use what I have learned through Feldenkrais to better inform my movement patterns using the other methodologies. Some of the work I have done has really helped me understand movement patterns and while far from perfect, I feel so much better and in control as I reorganize the way my body works and moves.

I am not sure if it will make me any faster, but at least I want the running to be more enjoyable. However, if you hear of me running these outstanding world class times any day soon then it "must be a mistake" because "Heaven Can Wait"! Remember this old Warren Beatty movie?



Wasn't Beatty a football player in the movie? Did he die while running? I can't remember. I saw this film years ago with the Wheaton College Cross Country team during a preseason running camp in the Northern Woods of Wisconsin. We geeky runners loved it, and like any college age group of guys we used lines from the movie as jokes all that year. We really thought that "I'm just memorizing your face" would be a great line to use with the girls!

I wonder if any of my teammates ever tried that line. Here we are trying to be a bit more macho! I am 3rd from the right and I know I never did!