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Been a while so I figured I'd write a quick blog. It's been hard to get to keiko. My wife is busy with the usual end of the year stuff at school so my evenings have been taken up with my li'l darlin's...a kind of keiko in its own right at times. I'm all but done training for the marathon, which has been a fun experience of rediscovering my love of running, never mind the reassuring notion that I can still train for something like that and have almost no injuries pop up...Tomorrow is only a 60 minute run. Even as a life-long soccer player, I wouldn't have thought I could view an hour as a "short" run.
Made it to keiko last Saturday, after my relatively short, Long Run. It's an interesting experience to receive some heavy hands after an 80-minute run. My legs felt sapped on the first bit of ukemi, but on the other hand, it's hard to muscle through things when you're already tired...and I have to admit I usually enjoy the heavy and relaxed feeling that comes with training that way. That kind of feeling always reminds me of my grampa, who at almost 80 can outwork me by a fair pace (and I've always been lauded as a hard worker). He grew up a farm boy in Saskatchewan and has always had a higher energy level than most people. He once said he loves hard work for the feeling after he's done with it; that everything tastes or smells a little better after a few good hours of breaking a sweat. I associate this axiom with the idea of kannagara (the restless and infinite flow of the universe; the way of the kami) I've taken from my aikido training. There is something potent even to just the simple idea of doing some kind of work; add to that the idea of constantly applying yourself; of ceaselessly working; endlessly developing; eternally creating, and suddenly you have something that approaches transcendence...and maybe even crosses over from time to time.
06-14-2013 11:08 PM 