The returning runner…

Act 47 – Sometimes I can’t take the shot…

Trail running is an amazing journey through time and space. They say that there are 5 senses: 1) sight; 2) hearing; 3) smell; 4) taste; and 5) touch. Ok, I guess those are ways that we sense external stimuli but we can perceive the world in so many more ways when running on a trail:

·       Heat (our internal temperature)

·       Cold

·       Fear (when you realize your foot is coming down within 3 inches of a coiled rattlesnake for example…)

·       Hunger

·       Thirst

·       Pain (could have nothing to do with touch – could just be from pushing yourself either just to get in a good workout or could be in a race to gain on the person ahead)

·       Awe/wonder (doesn’t this go beyond sight?)

·       Lethargy

·       Energetic

·       Aggression (there is a hunter/killer mode when you are reeling in the guy ahead right?)

·       Companionship (there is a feeling here too, right?)

I don’t know how all the girls on Instagram do it. Seems that there are a plethora who manage to be able to run with their arm fully extended getting a selfie. Or, those fortunate few, who have the drone follow them everywhere. Wouldn’t work for me – too many trees where I’m running much of the time. But, the bottom line, while I do take an occasional picture or two, I want to fully experience everything while I’m traveling through time and space on my runs. To take a bunch of pictures would detract from that. Hmmm…I suppose sometimes I just feel like Sean O’Connell in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty:

·       Walter Mitty: When are you going to take it?

o   Sean O'Connell: Sometimes I don't. If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don't like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it.

·       Walter Mitty: Stay in it?

o   Sean O'Connell: Yeah. Right there. Right here.

 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, 2013

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Upcoming races for me: Saturday 9/27 R5K Recovery Run Idlewild Park, Reno (morning), Sunset & Cider 5M Auburn (late afternoon – yes, I am trying a double…); Saturday 10/11 Carmel Valley Trail Runs 5k or 10k?, Solana Beach, San Diego.

Photo: A recent time I did take a picture – along Sagehen Trail off of Hwy 89 north of Truckee