The Tao of Distance Running -# 61

Humility means trusting the Tao,
thus never needing to be defensive.
                                                                        *

~

We run solely for the sake of self and soul and offer no

comparison to others. Every mile is shared

with effort - no one leads and no

one follows.

There is only our connection.

Be humble. Recognize yourself in the swiftest and the slow - the speed each runs is perfect for themselves. The speed we run is perfect for us. In the deepest and truest sense we share beyond the pain and passion of the trail - there is a singular breath and lone heartbeat - we are many notes of one song played holy to the world. Without the notes our steps play the song remains incomplete. We are that important. Everyone is - and to know this is to run with rare humility.

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell 

The Tao of Distance Running - #60

Give evil nothing to oppose
and it will disappear by itself.

                                                          *

~

Our thoughts are often weapons in a battlefield of the

mind. Too often we are at war with ourselves.

We cannot conquer distance.

Another miles, one more step, a further

journey - distance always beckons.

Our stride is our surrender - not in defeat but in refusal to

be our own enemy.

We run unopposed by thought or form.

• Don't fight distance. Don't fight fatigue, thirst or hunger. Don't fight thoughts.  Don't fight. Nourish. Feed the mind by freeing it from the prison of thought. When the mind is free we will rest when weary, eat when hungry and drink while thirsty - unburdened by the weight we have placed upon these needs. With this weight removed our legs will find a lightness of being supplied by a clear connection with spirit. We aren't attempting to remove thoughts from our mind - not even negative ones - we simply refuse to supply them with the energy they need to flourish. We view them as passing clouds in the clear, blue sky nature of our minds. We have better use for this energy than to waste it in a fight that only drains us - we have more miles and new trails that call out to our stride.

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell 

The Tao of Distance Runnig - #59

The mark of a moderate man
is freedom from his own ideas.
Tolerant like the sky,
all-pervading like sunlight,
firm like a mountain,
supple like a tree in the wind,
he has no destination in view
and makes use of anything
life happens to bring his way.

                                                           *

~

We allow our thoughts to pass unopposed through the spacious nature of

the mind. We cling to nothing and yet find all things to hold an

equal value.

Our stride does not lean towards a finish but

lingers - a gathering of steps

spread holy to the

ground.

We run free - in the boundless nature of the mind.

• Don't grasp. Every run has two agendas - ours, and spirits. Run with spirit. We can plan and have goals and heartfelt desires - yet hold them loosely for the way of nature - change - trumps all. To grasp is to suffer. To run free - is to surrender. The final steps of every run is the same final steps we take in bondage or freedom. We may get satisfaction from strict adherence to our own (ego's) agenda. But we never get the full taste of freedom found in letting go and following the course laid bare by spirit. 

The Tao of Distance Running - #58

Bad fortune is what good fortune leans on;

good fortune is what bad fortune hides in.

Who knows the ultimate end of this process?

~

We run with a sense of impermanence - no moment is

solid in true perception. Our stride become a flow

through time and every step a subtle

pause in possibilities.

Nothing is more than what we make of it.

Don't run with a solid sense of time. What we feel within a given moment, what we experience in the state we hold as now - won't last. The dread at the bottom of an endless hill soon becomes the triumphant pause at the very top. Tired legs become refreshed in the magic of an instant and thirst abated in a single drop. And too the magic fades. Our victories crumble with the very next hill. Yet we're wiser now. We flow through time with an awareness that each moments holds a painful truth as well as the key to freedom. We face time and miles with an exquisite curiosity of a child and the wisdom of an elder who knows that all things too must pass.  

Peace,

Eric

Portion of The Tao Te Ching translated by Wayne Dyer    

The Tao of Distance Running - # 57



Stop trying to control.
Let go of fixed plans and concepts,
and the world will govern itself.

                                                                          *

~

We run with the world - our stride a long caress of

distance. We simply run. Surrendering to a

higher will.

And in this grace our steps are carried.

Run free. Our plans are but guidelines and often play an important role in our health and safety. Yet guidelines should be only borders to the playground of the infinite. Our spirit is the ultimate fuel for any race or run and spirit won't and cannot be contained. With mindful practice we can learn to listen to the soulful whispers that urge us to let go, to surrender to the moment and allow the run to unfold without a given thought, to reach the borders of the playground and take a leap into the wildness of the unknown. Listen to the whisper. Ego yells. Spirit hums in pure awareness. Freedom is found in distance from the ego. Run far. Run free.

Peace,

Eric

*Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell

The Tao of Distance Running - # 56

Be like the Tao.
It can't be approached or withdrawn from,
benefited or harmed,
honored or brought into disgrace.
It gives itself up continually.
That is why it endures.

                                                      *

~

We run as the infinite - eternity reached as a single point of being. Nothing is

absent from our reach. Our stride a momentary expression of

forever.

In the stretch of the infinite - our steps continue.

• There is an endless source of energy that feeds spirit. From ground and sky, trees and rocks and birds, all give continuously of themselves and receive in equal terms. We are not absent from this source. Indeed we are of the source yet live and run without this knowledge. Fuel the body and feed the soul. Bless each step as a kiss we give away and ask for grace to gift us in return. To run as the infinite is to simply know we are more than just a body. We are spirit. We are endless. Our stride is meant to lead us to forever. 

Peace,

Eric

*Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell

The Tao of Disatnce Running - # 55

The Master's power is like this.
He lets all things come and go
effortlessly, without desire.
He never expects results;
thus he is never disappointed.

                                                             *

~

Running is an act upon itself - a holy art of creation within the confines of

our stride. A finish line is but a pause, a trails end is no more than a

beckoning from the unknown. We seek only to match our

steps with the spaciousness of the mind.

Allow all things to pass unopposed in mind and stride.

Run free.

Run unattached to outcome. Plan, put in the hard work for any effort needed. Be mindful of choices that may affect outcomes. And then let go. Surrender to the run itself, to motion and the wisdom of the body. Trust in the training and preparation we have made. Run with the faith that the earth and sky supports us. They do. With this faith - we may run forever.

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell

The Tao of Distance Running - #54

Whoever embraces the Tao
will not slip away.

                                   *

~

We run from the core of our being - our stride an extension of self set through

motion. We are at once given to the sky and received by

earth. There is no place where we leave off and the

world begins.

We run - as if every step an answered prayer.

• Run with the realization that all is in perfect order. Trust the holiness of the run. Mistakes are simply moments to awaken, to realign ourselves with the source and run with ease again. Lets run as if we belong to the earth, to the sky, as if the trail were home and every step was our return. Run free and unafraid. Respond to what each moment calls for - and relax in the perfection of the run. 

The Tao of Distance Running - #53

The great Way is easy,
yet people prefer the side paths.
Be aware when things are out of balance.
Stay centered within the Tao.

~

Our stride is the perfection of every step - relaxed, we run with the

grace given to those who strive for distance. Each step gives and

receives - a final wisdom and a launch to innocence.

We are this stride.

The accumulation of the infinite.

It's ours to remember.

• Running is easy. Even when it's hard. It's the thoughts we have about running that complicate the mind and our stride. Run in innocence. Run free. Simply trust the wisdom of the body - each of those steps, taken in perfection, and then lengthened to a stride - it's an intelligence of accumulation. When thoughts cloud the mind and our stride becomes hitched to the confusion of too many choices - slow to the innocence of a single step, a single breath - return to the origin of motion. Proceed from there. A new beginning.

Peace,

Eric

*Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell 

The Tao of Distance Running - #52

Seeing into darkness is clarity.
Knowing how to yield is strength.
Use your own light
and return to the source of light.
This is called practicing eternity.

                                                                  *

~

Every mood is passing. Distance is measured beyond miles - a single thought may take the

length of the longest trail. Many thoughts travel the dark recess of the mind and

body. We are taken on a path that leads to despair. Yet the mind is

spacious in its nature. We are light and made from the substance of

stars and sun. Allow darkness the briefness of its

moment.

Watch it pass.

We are the source, the light and the rising.

• Nothing last forever in the length of a run. With mindful attention we can feel the pulse of pain in every ache and bruise. We can find the subtle space between the pain and our awareness and slip within and explore its temporary nature. The dark moods that capture the mind in long runs and races are also fleeting if we hold them in a loosened grip of compassion. They will slip through our caring fingers as if a gift that came from darkness and left in the light of our awareness. Don't fight darkness. Simply remember we are the source and we are the light. Darkness fades in our arising.

Peace,

Eric

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell. 



The Tao of Distance Running - #51

Every being in the universe
is an expression of the Tao.

                                                              *

~

Our every stride is a brushstroke against the earths canvas. Running is the

art of motion expressed in form. We are at once creators and

creation, a master artist and the masterpiece. And yet each

step is a work in progress - we run as a continuous

expression of being.

The infinite is our conclusion.

• Run relaxed. As an expression of the Tao we are in accord with perfection. There is no wrong in our steps. Only thoughts of misalignment. Relax in the knowledge that we are running with and not against the earth, the sky, the sun and breeze. Everything supports us. A relaxed mind realigns our thoughts to match the Tao. We run with perfection. We run as perfection. What seems a misstep is but a judgment we have placed upon ourselves. How can we judge a moment against the backdrop of the infinite? Judgment disappears when we relax and allow the Tao to be expressed through our steps and stride. What seems a mishap is only a unique stroke in the masterpiece of an endless run.

Peace,

Eric

~

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell

The Tao of Distance Running - #50

The Master gives himself up
to whatever the moment brings.

                                                            *

~

Every step opens a new world - unexplored until the moment of

our foots caress. Free of expectations we are given to the

depths of what each step offers. Our feet meet the

ground in innocence -

a garden reborn in the stride of

our communion.

We run in the freedom of reality.

• We suffer when we cling to any preferred experience - a moment holds a single step and within that instant a thousand worlds are offered. Yet we process one and disregard the others with little thought that the very next step will open again to these worlds. We cling as if our stride holds but one step and the experience found within is permanent. In truth our stride is infinite and what each step brings is temporary in existence. Pain and pleasure both offer gifts to be explored as long as that is what the moment holds. We open ourselves to the world our step delivers, drinking deeply of the wisdom found, and then again another step with a different world. There is no need to drag the past into our present step - our stride offers the grace of letting go along with the magic of beginnings. We simply run - and give ourselves to each world found. 

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell 

The Tao of Distance Running - #49

The Master's mind is like space.

~
We cling to nothing - every moment a new world explored within a
single step. With nothing to hold on to we are free to
explore the distance offered in stride and spirit.
Boundaries fall.
We are the witness to events -infinite space
removed from its unfolding.


The space alone is our response.

• We match our stride with the spaciousness of mind and nature - all things flow with grace and ease. Even as we struggle through the distance of our run we are at once surrendering concepts that bind us to suffering. The struggle itself becomes our embrace of letting go and the freedom found in release. We cling to nothing and yet remain open to the worlds provisions. We provide aid to all in need and comfort to those lost in their own internal battles - even if it's just a few kind words and caring glance. We accept what's offered in return. There is a gratefulness for every step that finds the earth. Everything is found here - in this moment - and our mind stretches in the wide expanse of our surroundings. 

Peace,

Eric

*Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell 

The Tao of Distance Running - #48

In the practice of the Tao,
every day something is dropped.
Less and less do you need to force things,
until finally you arrive at non-action.

                                                                            *

~
There is a pureness to running - and a grace in steps let go. Through miles we are
stripped to the bareness of the self. Pure and with the graceful stride of
our devotion we are simply runners now - motion given
temporary form. We leave behind thoughts that
bind us to the urge of more, faster, better.
Miles accumulate of their own accord and the speed of
our arrival is not of our concern.


In the flow of all things - nothing essential is left behind.
We give ourselves away.

• Through distance we are stripped to essentials - physically, emotionally and spiritually. The need beyond the basics of the run are left at home.The weight of thought and opinion falls easily. Spirit is all we perceive. Running is the primordial expression of our being - stillness lent to motion for a moment of its grace. To experience the bare essences of the self we simply let go of all things we are not - from thought to form we drop all conceptions. What is left is beyond concept and can't be described - but we know it - we recognize it - it's who we are. Through distance we are stripped of all things but one - the spaciousness of our true nature.

Peace,
Eric

*Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell 



The Tao of Distance Running - #47

The Master arrives without leaving,
sees the light without looking,
achieves without doing a thing.

                                                                       *

~
Our steps are insular in their completion. Distance itself is
our home - and in this recognition there is no
need to strive.
With all things complete we enjoy the illusions of
miles even as we know there is no
destination.


Every step is our arrival.

• Every step is complete - each holds an arrival and departure in their moment on the earth. We collect steps within a stride and at once the path welcomes us in our completion. There is nothing left to be done, nowhere we have to go and distance becomes the means of realization - we are home. Knowing this we no longer strive to reach a finish measured by anything other than our own arrival. We run by our own standards - obeying outer rules while engaged in our own inner conversation of events. A race becomes a gathering of singular aspects of the whole - runners each belonging to a greater completion still. There is no one to beat when our steps are matched in union. There is only joy - a happiness born of knowing who we are and why we are here and having nothing left to prove. We are complete. 

Peace,

Eric

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell

The Tao of Distance Running - #46

Whoever can see through all fear
will always be safe.

                                          *

~
Our stride knows no fear.
Only the mind gathers fearful clouds that storm
against the spirit.
Yet nothing can touch the still point of our being - we are
free from fear in the recognition that we run as an
extension of this truth.
Clouds are harmless in the vastness of the sky and thoughts pass
gently in the infinite nature of spirit. Identify with the
source from which we run -


And fear itself becomes impossible.

• In the absence of fear our stride is infinite. Fearful thoughts limit the distance we run and the borders we strive for. And yet a thought itself in boundless - without the mind grasping for its return, a thought would pass harmless though the mind, leaving no trace behind. Fear is a warning of the senses and serves us well in keeping the body safe. If we are able to create a little space between the initial stirring of fear and our response to it we are able to enter a realm beyond the "flight or fight" pattern that keeps us limited in choice and awareness. Spaciousness is not a state to be achieved - it's a recognition of self and being. We are spacious by nature. As we run in greater distances our mind begins to identify with the endlessness of our stride, the space between steps and length of breath drawn. We remember who we are and see with eyes newly accustomed to witnessing the infinite. We are now beyond the grip of fear and choices unfold in a limitless option of one - how deeply will we extend ourselves as love in every step and situation. In the absence of fear - love is who we are.

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell 

The Tao of Distance Running - #45

True perfection seems imperfect,
yet it is perfectly itself.

                                                          *

~
Every step finds perfection in it's kiss against the earth. We are fluid in
motion - simply by the grace of our commitment. Our effort is to
run beyond thought and be realized in our own
perfection. Surrender to the simplicity of
motion.


We are runners - performing an act of love - perfect in our expression.

• The perfection of our run is not measured by our performance. Running distance is beyond concepts such as finishing times and medals - they are the fringe bonus of our actions. Perfection isn't measured, it's realized in awareness as each steps plays out its role to make a stride. We are nature's art and our steps are used as brush stroke of her perfection against the earth. To judge ourselves unworthy of our role is to judge mystery - the brush displays its faith in the guidance of the artist's hand. We take no missteps. We are guided in a singular purpose of learning to express ourselves as love in any given situation. In this regard not a single mistake is ever made. As the distance of a run spreads before us - we surrender - and greet each step as opportunities of our expression. Love, faith and gratitude. 

Peace,

Eric

Translation of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell

Running With The Tao - Mohican Forget The PR 50k

Taking a few days off on writing of the Tao of Distance running to experience the Tao itself - no better place than the Mohican Trail and the Forget The PR 50k. With 4000 feet of elevation gain, a major river crossing and numerous streams this will be the ideal place to surrender to the surroundings and the experience itself - to simply allow the event to unfold and choose peace in every moment. During a tough 24 Hour race last month I was able to put many of these thoughts into practice and it turned the race around for me. I hope to begin the day tomorrow grateful for what it offers and carry this gratitude throughout the race. I'm sure my mind may wander from this path - but I am heartened in the knowing that I can always choose to find my peaceful steps once more.




Peace,
Eric

The Tao of Distance Running - #44

 

Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.

                                                               *

~
The world is contained within the present moment - no needs exist beyond
this point. We run as a single presence that flows in momentary
wonder. Miles are merely illusions of the mind - a distance
held outside the moment.
Our spirit - constant in expansion - urges the
stride for union.


We run - unrestrained within the infinite.

• A single step contains the whole run. Distance is measured by the mind and our legs respond to the thoughts we hold. It's the acceptance of what is found within each moment that frees us from suffering. The legs will ache and we will still thirst and hunger - yet these conditions are the perfect expression of the miles and work we have put in. To wish otherwise is to invite suffering. The very next moment we may find a reserve of strength, hunger may abate and thirst satisfied. This too is perfection. Every step delivers the wonders of a new world - our stride contains a universe. We are simply explorers of what is - nothing more. Nothing else is needed. 
• 
  

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell 

The Tao of Distance Running - #43

The gentlest thing in the world
overcomes the hardest thing in the world.
That which has no substance
enters where there is no space.
This shows the value of non-action.
                                                                              *

~
We run - yet flow from stillness. There is no struggle in the allowance of
perfection. Our journey is not to cover distance but to occupy
space in full awareness while miles pass us by.
We are the witness to natures wonders - yet
more we are the wonder too.


There is the illusion of doing - and all the while the
world keeps opening to our surrender.

• Perhaps there is some confusion on the matter of non-doing and running - of allowing and intending. The basis of our reality is stillness and from this point the smallest intention flickers in the birth of motion. Yet stillness remains our reality. Running is the allowance of our stillness to caress the world. No effort - we do nothing. A single intent and then let go. Rain drops intend to reach the sea and yet the course of its travels remain a mystery. There is no need to know. We run with the same faith as a drop of rain - we know that we will cover ground, we intend a single step to birth a stride, and we have faith in the mystery of it all. 

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell

The Tao of Distance Running - # 42

Ordinary men hate solitude.
But the Master makes use of it,
embracing his aloneness, realizing
he is one with the whole universe.

                                                                        *

~
We run alone - yet not without others. The spaciousness of our solitude is
matched by the fullness of nature. It's our connection - and a
runners reach is found in thought and stride.
We say much in the quiet exchange of a glance...and so
much more shared on the common path we
travel.


The world is vast...and yet we find ourselves together.

• We are pieces of a whole and more - we are the whole as well. As runners we become mindful of a shared aloneness. As miles accumulate our loneliness expands to truly be a lone experience of all that is. Nothing, no one, can excluded as then we enter back into duality and our run lessens again to separate worlds. Running seems solitary only in the illusion of thought and body. In stillness we are the hushed nature of reality. In motion we sweep the world with the stride of our caress. Distance is the common factor that removes illusions of being kept apart. We run to know ourselves as whole. We run to know ourselves as one. We run to find ourselves together. 

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell 



The Tao of Long Distance - #41

The Tao is nowhere to be found.
Yet it nourishes and completes all things. 

                                                                      *

~

We run towards the mysterious. Even with a finish there is no

ending. Our stride offers questions and denies no answers - always

opening further in mind and miles. It's enough to

simply run and meet the mystery in the

spirit of paradox.

At once - every step closes a moment and gives birth to brand new worlds.

• Rely on the unseen. Many things will aid our steps through distance - water, fuel, shoes - yet it's the unseen that carries to our finishing steps. When all else ends there will always and only be the infinite. When we can relinquish one thing at a time - discarding comfort as well as discomfort - we reach the single point of freedom where there is nothing else to give away, nothing left to grasp and nowhere to turn but within. There's nothing left - yet everything is here for our existence and we exist for all things. When we reach this point, when the unseen pulses through the very ground of our being - we run. 

Peace,

Eric



The Tao of Distance Running - # 40

Return is the movement of the Tao.
Yielding is the way of the Tao.
                                                       *

~
We unfold as a grace of motion from a still, calm pool of being. This is
our true nature. We run - and in a length of miles return again to
the place of our unfolding.
In between there lays a
lifetime.


The path is meant to bring us home.

• We don't fight the path - not of life and not the one we run. To yield is to find strength in the way things are within each present moment. Our strength lays not in fighting an immovable object or racing every hill. We yield outer force to return to the center of our being -where the nature of the self is to flow, abide and flow again. Efficiency over force is power. In this way we endure forever. 

Peace,

Eric

*Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell 

The Tao of Distance Running - #39

In harmony with the Tao,
the sky is clear and spacious,
the earth is solid and full,
all creature flourish together,
content with the way they are,
endlessly repeating themselves,
endlessly renewed.
                                     *

~
We run in the seasons of our own sense of being. Every mile brings an
ending and just as soon a rebirth into the wholeness of
form and spirit- blending perfect on the run.
There is harmony in our steps and the kiss of
earth beneath them.
The air itself takes pleasure in the
breath of our delight,


Run in the recognition that we are part of something larger than ourselves.

• Perfect. Each moment of every run is perfection. Our thoughts may judge otherwise however. Yet the simple act of recognizing the inherent "rightness" of the moment brings a speciousness of mind that can allow us to simply be within the experience without an attachment to our preferences. We bypass the judgmental mind with awareness of it's presence and good humor at its activities. Even our judgment is perfect within the moment - awareness smiles at this. The world is aligned for our steps and the air is ripe for breath. Simplify. Run, breathe, smile. Beyond this is complications and belongs to the realm of the thinking mind. We are pure. We are awareness. We are beings of motion - running. 

Peace,

Eric

*Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell

The Tao of Distance Running - #38

Therefore the Master concerns himself
with the depths and not the surface,
with the fruit and not the flower.
He has no will of his own.
He dwells in reality,
and lets all illusions go.

                                               *

~
We run with spirit. And in this depth of being we have reached the
limitless stride of our true pursuit-  the absence of
self. In this purity we are grace expressed as
motion and even suffering holds itself
as a gift for understanding.
The world now opens before us and our steps pull in the
singular direction of an inward
journey.


We run - and allow the path itself to tell us where to go.

• Speed, time and distance are all means to plumb the depths of why we run - why we truly run. The reason we run is expressed as uniquely as each individual runner and yet is as common as the ground we run together. There is something silent, still, and peaceful that waits on the other side of thought and feeling. It is our essential self and it is beyond all means used on the path to reach find it - and still it is not separate from the means. It's all things. We're all things. Distance strips us of the illusions of I, me and mine. The path no longer unfolds before us - we unfold as the path. We may still take great pleasure in performance and competition - but we are unattached to the final outcome of all finite games. Running has delivered us to the infinite...and now nothing else will do but run in recognition of it all. 

.

Peace,

Eric

*Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell

The Tao of Distance Running - #37

The Tao does nothing,

but leaves nothing undone.

                                              *

~

We give ourselves fully to motion - and this is our

salvation. There is no need to strive for

distance - for we have surrendered

ourselves to a single step and

the promise that it

holds.

Nothing more needs to be done.

Hold this promise - and simply take a step

• Run without effort. This is no contradiction - and doesn't imply that we won't work hard or run fast when it is time to do so. Yet even on the steepest hill and quickest stride we will remain without effort as long as we stay centered in the reason we are running - love. There is a holy communion between are steps and the earth. We breathe air that has touched the heavens. This is a shared experience of body, soul, ground and sky. Trees vibrate in our presence and birds sing for our pleasure. We return the favors with the grace of our stride and smile on our lips. If we are not loving what we are doing - even the work and sweat ad toil - than it simply means we are resisting what the present moment holds. Release, breathe, relax and simply take one more step. There is indeed a promise that will be delivered. 

Peace,

Eric

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Wayne Dyer

The Tao of Long Distance - #36

 Let your workings remain a mystery.
Just show people the results.

                                                 *

~

Distance is the medium of our art. Every step a brushstroke and the

path we run the canvas. We create for no one but ourselves - and

yet the mystery of creation plays as a smile upon our

lips - evident for the world to see.

We run in a world within a world.

• As artist we create the world we wish to live in - as runners we use our bodies as a medium joined with the world. We display our art as speed, or gentle stride. The earth shares its art as hills, and stones, trees and air. And so our art mingles with the earth's - we are co-creators in a grand design. Yet the truth of art must remain a mystery. To defend the nature of our run is to weaken it's resolve to be played out with honesty, purity and passion. Our only role is to create, to run, to let the smile of creation play as a mystery on our lips and keep people guessing as to what we're up too. Mystery inspires - and soon our steps will lead others to their grand design as well. Stay centered in our own steps - and the world responds with peace and grace. 



Peace,

Eric

The Tao of Distance Running - #35

She who is centered in the Tao
can go where she wishes, without danger.
She perceives the universal harmony,
even amid great pain,
because she has found peace in her heart.
                                                                        *

~
Even in motion the stillness of our being is expressed in the
calm stride of our feet against the earth. We may run
with speed - yet our steps are not rushed.
Our final mile is always waiting.
We recognize peace within the chaos of our
surroundings - keeping centered on the
run for our salvation.


Our every step reveals creation.

Peace,

Eric

*Portion of The Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell