A Parallel Plot Line

Sigh.

Like all good adventures, summer flew by and I’m not sure where it went. I feel like I was in Amsterdam yesterday, and yet I went hiking in the mountains this weekend and then leaves are already turning.

BUT. Fall is absolutely my favorite season – crisp air, bright leaves, warm sweaters…. maybe from my years of living in the south, where summer can lull you into a humidity induced trance, I feel like I perk up in the fall. I feel more alive, more alert… it’s as if suddenly we can all breathe deeper.

Plus my birthday is in the fall, so maybe a love of this season has been ingrained since cupcakes in third grade, who knows.

A parallel plot line for Traveling Girl this summer has been preparing for this year’s birthday – I’ll be running the NYC marathon with my sister. Meet Traveling Sister:

It’s worth noting that while I simply lucked out and got my name pulled out of a hat for my entry, my far more noble (and younger and taller and faster…but I digress) sister is running to raise money for a very cool charity called Team For Kids. If you’d like to donate to the effort, the link, which will also tell you more about the amazing programs this organization creates for kids, is HERE. If for some reason my hyperlink skills are rusty and that didn’t work, it’s http://www.runwithtfk.org, click “donate”, “search member”, “Charlotte Coleman”. On younger and taller and faster and more noble Traveling Sister’s behalf, thank you!

About running….

Running is a multi-faceted thing, and it fills for me that space that everyone has that calls out for something to flow into. It could be hiking, painting, cooking, gardening, whatever…for me it’s running. It’s calming, energizing, level-setting and mind-clearing. Most of all it makes me feel strong. Strong enough to handle the curve balls that I never seem to see coming. Strong enough to sit with discomfort and pain and know that if I just keep doing my best, tomorrow will be better. Strong enough to know when to push harder and when to rest.

So that last one’s a perpetual quandary, isn’t it. Give me a few more pages and I can link that single struggle to nearly anything. When should we push harder? When should we back off, give our bodies and our minds and our love and our energy a little space? Push too hard and you end up with bronchitis in the middle of the summer (check). Rest too much and you won’t meet your goal. Know what I’ve learned? Pushing too hard is easy. It’s the backing off that takes skill and heart and strength.

I saw a great quote this morning that reminded me of that delicate balance: “I used to say ‘if you will take care of me, I will take care of you’. Now I say, ‘I will take care of me for you, if you take care of you for me'”. Can I get an amen.

So. So far so good, six weeks out. I’ll leave for NYC on November 2, and the race is on November 4. I couldn’t be more excited to be part of such a huge and extremely cool event, and I even have some amazing friends who are making the trip to come cheer us on.

Wishing you the skill and heart and strength to make space when you need space and rest when you need rest.

More from the Big Apple….

Cheers!

Traveling Girl