Tunnels

I went for a run on a gorgeous trail along the Saluda River today.  I should call it a run-walk as I have to slow it down a few times along the way, but I'm going to say I did some HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) to make myself appear more athletic and cool.  So, I did some HIIT today and at the end of one of the toughest legs of the trail, there is a tunnel.  It's more of an enclosed, wooden bridge, but I think of it as a tunnel.  I've learned through my runs on said trail that after this tunnel, it is time for me to slow my roll.  And I found myself chanting "To it and through it", "To it and through it".  I did this, in order to concentrate on two things:  steady, deep breathing and not throwing up.

At the end of this tunnel, I began to walk and meditate.  This is probably why I'm not good at the meditation thing - I'm always in motion unless sleeping or drinking wine.  And hell, I have one of those wine glass holders that goes around your neck devices, so I can even jet around while slurping grape.  Anyway, I was thinking deeply and it came to me...  our lives are paths with tunnels.  We see them down the way and if we can get to it and through it, we make it to the other side.  Perhaps sometimes we're throwing up, but through it nonetheless.  The tunnel may represent something scary, traumatic, uncertain (fill in the blank), but if we make ourselves get to it and stare into the opening instead of zigzagging from side to side in front of the damn thing and exhausting ourselves, we can get through it.

No one knows how many tunnels life's path is going to construct. It'd be like guessing how many cottage cheese dimples we're going to end up with and where.  So we better become practiced in being in the tunnels that may be dark, echoing and with shaky boards as we're walking across, but by God, we can get through them to the other side and the sun will be shining on our bodies and we'll be able to run some more.

This is a Doing What I Thought I Knew because I've done more than my share of zigzagging.  Time for the To It and Through It as much as I am able.