There have been times later in my life when I have decided it was time to get into exercise so as to fend off some idea of my mortality. When I was younger it wasn’t something that even came to mind. For one reason, I was immortal, and I had a metabolism that wouldn’t quit. Anyway, as I got older a few pounds would sneak up on me and I would find myself once again having to create a time for exercise. It always started with running. Never with anyone else, just by myself. Running first thing in the morning seemed to work best for me. My routine would start with a 20 min run. I had read that you need to raise your heart rate up for 20 min at a minimum to lose weight. I could never start at 20min but after about a week I would work my way up to 20min out and 20min back. The time would stay the same but the distance got longer and longer. My version of running to a real runner would seem pretty comical. It would be considered just faster than walking but as the distance got longer my pace got faster. Running became my morning meditation. I liked to be on the road before the sun came up. My alarm would go off and the argument between my mind and body would begin. My body would automatically get out of bed while my mind was still trying to come back from the other side. When it realized what was happening the conversation would begin trying to talk my body into just a few more minutes in bed. This, I believe, is the reason it became for me a meditation. Dreams fresh but fading. The day is new and unused. A few creatures stirring and wondering what I’m doing invading their morning routines.
I have been fortunate in my life to have been able to travel the world for various reasons. My exercise routine has stayed the same but the environment that I was able to practice it in has varied dramatically. Now when I say that I never ran with anyone else there have been a few exceptions, sometimes unintentionally.
I was in Australia for a freestyle seminar. The time difference wasn’t by the hour but by the day. My inner clock didn’t have a clue. So when it got light I was up and out the door. The seminar was being held in the outback, as they say, at a resort that had a runway on it. The weather was always good but the afternoons were hot and windy. The surrounding terrain was pretty dry but the resort had a golf course so the fairways were lush and green. Around the fairways, were some paved trails for the golf carts to travel between the holes but then they would empty out onto the green grass of the fairway. Getting started before anybody was up, I was surrounded by the early morning sounds that were so foreign but awesome. Hundreds of green parrots would fill the palm tree’s and the noise they made was incredible. Like hundreds of tiny voices but centralized around just one tree before they would, in mass, move to the next palm tree. So there I am loping along at my casual pace trying to take it all in when I spotted, on the other side of a row of palm trees, two adult kangaroos with a small joey. I managed to put a palm tree between me and them, allowing me to sneak up and peer around only yards away. The male, a large fellow about 6ft tall, was off to the one side by himself grazing on the green grass while the mother, just a short distance from him, had her head down doing the same. The joey was bounding around her in total bliss. It was as if he had just discovered he had legs and he was learning how they worked. Bing bing bing, stop, bing bing bing, stop. Bounding around mom hoping she was watching. I could almost hear him saying: “Mom! Mom! look at me Mom”. Nobody the wiser that someone was watching. So just to see what would happen I stepped out from behind the palm and into view. Without even looking to see what I was mom raised her head and chest up just enough for a clear path to her pouch. The joey, at least 3 meters away, dove headlong at and into it. His head coming back out between his feet still going in. The male, with his massive tail, 8 inches at its base and about 6ft long, casually looked up as if to say:” Go for it”. I felt the intimidation immediately and continued on my run down the path. I had been to Australia before but I never saw any Roos so this was a pretty cool experience and I was soaking it all in. As I rounded the turn and off the end of the paved trail and onto the long fairway I spotted more kangaroos halfway down. This was becoming an awesome morning. As I got closer I slowed to a walk so I wouldn’t scare them off. They seemed almost oblivious to me. They are strange creatures, their legs a marvel at conserving energy as they bound along. There were 7 in all, 3 to my left, 4 to my right. As I passed and was just a few yards away I continued my run with a big smile, looking down the fairway to see what was next. Then I noticed out of the corner of my eye something close. I looked to my left and there are the 3 roos, 3 abreast bounding along right alongside me at my pace. I looked to my right and the other 4 were right there with me too. There we were 8 of us, line abreast, jogging down the fairway. I was running with the roos. Anybody can run with the bulls but running with the roos, there’s just a few of us. It only lasted 3 or 4 minutes before they peeled off for greener grass but it was a lifetime experience for me and filled a spot on my bucket list that I didn’t even know was possible.