Runningmonkeys

If you are anything like me, as soon as you get a new toy, you just have to try it out.  You are barely through your front door before you have it out of the box and are giving it a go.  It doesn’t matter if it is a CD, a tool, a book or a gadget.  You simply can’t wait to see what it is like in action. 

My new running style (The Pose Method of Running) is my new toy. 

I have been very patient so far.  I have studied the book.  I have grasped the concepts and absorbed the technique.  I have carefully noted the sensations of the Pose.  I have looked like an idiot as I drilled my way around the centre of the oval opposite my house, and all in expectation of soon playing with my new form.

Today was the day.  I dressed and walked out the door.  I walked in the wrong direction and then back again to gently warm my muscles.  I headed to the oval and took off my shoes (a certain way to look like a fool in Japan).  Then I assumed the pose.

I stood there, holding that pose for quite some time.  All of the drills went through my mind, and all of the sensations that I was searching for.  When I was quite ready, I gently leant forward loosing my balance and began to free fall.  Gladly, I found my spare foot falling to the rescue as my weight pushed me forwards.  My weight transferred to this new foot as my old foot lifted off the ground behind it and started the process rolling again.  Before I knew it It was all feet and fury.  Sparks were leaping from the balls of my feet as they lightly brushed the ground over and over.  The trees passed me faster and faster as I ate up the ground.  There was no time for conscious thought or even breath as my subconscious re-programming  took over.  Each of my muscles coordinated in a finely tuned hum of activity and perfect inactivity as I outran time and space.

Well maybe I exaggerate a little.

Let’s go back to me standing there holding the pose before I got carried away.  Running through my mind were a dozen different objectives.  I was grasping for a large handful of sensations and reassurance that I was feeling the Pose correctly.  I was waiting for the perfect moment and unfortunately it didn’t come.  As I waited I came to realise that this first run couldn’t possibly live up to my expectations.  Far from being the end of the journey it was just the first stumbling start.  This freed me to begin without being strung up on perfection.  And so I started.

One foot touched the ground and the next lifted up.  My weight pushed me forward and my feet just kept me from falling on my face.  I leant forward and experienced a gentle speed increase, I got more vertical and slowed marginally. 

There were no miracles today, and I don’t truly expect to make it to the local newspapers tonight, but for me the revolution has begun.  I have seen from my first run today, what is becoming possible.  I have run barefoot back and forward over the oval without any feeling of impact.  My damaged calf appears to be healing itself (even though my calves are sore and tired in other places like most people experience).  I even felt a bit of effortless speed from time to time.

This was a test run for me.  If it was good and I could see a future for The Pose Method of Running, then I would stick to it.  If it didn’t seem good and I couldn’t imagine it ever being good, then I would forget it today.

The Pose Method of Running Passed my test today.  Now all I have to do is practice so I can pass its test.