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| Navigational Art and Directions By Colleen Yorke, © 2015. |
After a week off
from running, some of us are easing back into it today. Our first uneasy steps
feel as if we are skipping over jello. We are out of breath and out of shape.
Where is the balance? Where is that base we worked so hard and long to build?
The good news is that if we allow ourselves to just taper along a mile or two,
and just enjoy the feel and motion of running, muscle memory comes back.
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| Flashbreak at Echo Park, 2014. |
I started my run
before the run. Wearing my Los Angeles Marathon shirt, I tiptoed in easy, quick
steps up Sunset Boulevard towards Echo Park. Surprised at first, I registered
the struggle that took – Wait, didn’t I just complete 26.2 miles last week? –
but then I relaxed. My thoughts trailed from “Okay, maybe I will have to go
back to Base 1” to “Well, at least I am running again”. With my heart dancing
and my body working up a light sweat, my legs' muscles stirred to life. Through
the Echo Park, through the Vista Hermosa Park, and finally to Grand Hope Park,
where I met up with runners from the DTLA Running Group, I was running light.
Afterwards some of
us made it over to Big Wangs. A marathon runner, who injured himself tonight,
sat there glumly until we showed up. As I looked into his face and others, I
found myself flushed with gratitude. A few days shy from 31, I am embarking on
a new chapter of my life, and these faces, lit by a fire in our midst, are part
of my life now.
