5k Training Fun

“Hoping isn’t an option; you have to do it.” Said many ways, it all amounts to the same thing- doing in the real world, not just hoping in the safety of your own mind…. I get it – and on more levels than ever before. Especially this summer. After all my years, I feel the connections to get what this really means in my life.

Why, after a long summer absent from DOING this blog, which is so important to me and which is a link to my son, would I write and say hope is not an option? For what was I searching that I finally found, that will allow me to connect all that is my past that I choose to take forward with me, to all that awaits me in a future? And how do I LIVE in the here and now, as though this might be all there is for me? (we never know-who would have guessed that Tommy would be gone after only 26 years?) …

Well, I was caught in a “hoping” loop, sprinkled with a little bit of online fear (common every six months or so, when online undergoes its usual massive shift in everything) and so retreated into hope, away from the pain of the doing. Do you ever do this? Retreat where it is safe? Well, I guess I did, or my blog would have 2 months more entries and would be much more evolved for the benefit of all who honour me by following it – even a little bit.
I see parallels with my personal life. Alone for many years while raising my children and working at a very demanding job, I finally decided, (now that this phase was over), that I would like to get back into the social scene and meet a special man. But, “hoping” hasn’t made this happen this summer. Well, why can’t it? I’m here, I’ve decided in-my-mind this is what I want to do, so why can’t people “read” this on me when I walk down the street or talk to them?…. dah … hoping doesn’t make this happen, or anything else in your life, for that matter…. and I know that, but I guess I was just “hoping”…

In running, I know how to DO, so I don’t have to sit back and “hope”. I love engaging in running. I run several times a week, in nice weather (like now) twice a day. Registering for races and encouraging friends who are contemplating adopting active lifestyles to DO IT…. wow, action, I love it..

But in the social realm … Getting back into the social scene, and meeting special men with like interests, etc. – well, I find my comfort zone deserted me on this one.
Plus I just found out from a friend (who recently found his soul mate here on the Sunshine Coast), that the ratio of women:men is 20:1. That’s rather dismal odds – for me – for any female.

So, what do you think I should do, to get back into the social scene in a small town with such odds? … I have a few thoughts, but am unsure which to follow or what else to do to find a special friend.

Maybe if I verbalize, bring my hope out of my mind and move towards action, maybe …..
I would like to have a running partner, for some training runs and maybe a few races. And if running is not #1 with that special man, I would like to share on some level with him about his sport(s) and hope he would be interested enough in what I do to share about my running.
Because I lost my son in the mountains, and because I see ocean and mountains out my windows and every time I sit down at my computer, (like now, as I sit here writing this, I see a float plane landing and another readying for takeoff. I see the Inlet Raider, a barge, waiting for its workers and their supplies so it can take them to a remote area to rebuild hydro equipment, I see the local pub shoving yesterday’s kegs out the back door and waiting for the delivery truck to replace the brew before they open for lunch in a while. And, unexpectedly today, a family of local geese is walking through my yard, pulling munching on something in my grass …. last evening, I saw this same family taking a little swim, just off the dock. There is a lot to do and “be” and share here, on this coast. … oh for that one special person who wants to share all this!

I would like to meet somebody who not only appreciates the beauty and soul of this coast, but somebody who knows a thing or two about the trails and climbing here. I’d love to do this. Also, kayaking – I would also love to learn a bit about kayaking and visit one set of Isles, in particular, my son planned to visit, but never quite made it. And moving beyond the beauty here to beauty in other areas, in other countries, in other parts of the world,. It is all there. Once we learn to appreciate what is before us, learn to live in THIS moment, then I believe we are ready to encounter beyond into other realms’ beauty…..

Watching sunsets out over the mountains (not the full red that paints the sky 5 km down the road at our beloved Bay, but the streamers along the edge of that beautiful red night sky), I feel such a connection to this beauty and an energy that never ceases. I’m sure my son is part of this energy. And I know that somewhere along my range of viewing, I look directly at places where Tommy once climbed and I’m sure I can still feel his spirit calling forth from those spots. This beauty, this energy, this everything that defines life here, is so worth sharing. And thus my passion to share it – not just to hope, but to do.

When I run, I DO. And I have been running, consistently, all summer. Only I’m the only one who knows that. Tomorrow, you will know, too. I changed up a bit the how I train, but the daily doing is-has been-and will-be – there – always – as long as I can put one foot in front of the other….. I’ll tell you about this tomorrow. Interesting, if I do say so myself.

Will “see you” tomorrow. And I look forward to your input on making reality out of hope in the social scene!