I’m baaaack (or at least working on it)!!!

It all starts with a tree…

Let me 'splain...

On a run yesterday, I thought about this blog. I have done that many times over the past year and a half. After over 7 months of running daily after setting my goal and starting this blog, I just stopped. There is a good reason, but I struggled with how to begin again. I even struggled just now with what to actually write to kick-off my grand RE-opening of this blog… that first sentence wasn’t world-changing, but isn’t the point to first change yourself?

Over a year ago, on August 12, 2010, I was working away as an intern at an equine hospital back in the good ol’ U.S.A. I was just getting the hang of things, becoming used to my 95 hours of work in an average week and feeling like a part of the team…. and I was running everyday. It’s true that on some days I only covered a mile (barely), but I was putting on my shoes and running. Then I got a text that changed my life…

My father, my Apu, had fallen. He was taken to the hospital, but due to the medication he took for a chronic heart disease, his injuries were worse than if he’d been healthy. There was not time to waste. I had to get home.

Less than 48 hours later, Apu died while my family and I were with him. To lose a parent is one terrible thing. To also lose your friend, mentor, and hero is another. I would love to say that I dealt with my heartache by turning to the power of running… I didn’t. I curled up on the couch, covered my head in a blanket, and cried.

I have learned a great deal about myself and about my life in the time since Apu died. Yes, I have put my shoes on again since that August. I left the house and ran. It felt good, but it wasn’t life changing. I kept waiting for the powerful connection I had felt before; to myself, to others, to the earth. It never really came.

Then I was introduced to Ayurveda. For those of you who have never heard of Ayurveda, google it. All I will say is that I regained myself through Ayurveda and the practices of meditation, mantra, and yoga that it involves. It happened quickly, but I woke up each day with light back in my life.

End of story… um, no. You see, when you are 30 (hit that milestone last August), you THINK you should have it all figured out. Apparently you DON’T. I hit a rough patch and WHAM! I let all the good I had done fall away! Damnit…

The beauty of life is that you never lose it all, even when it feels like you have. All that I have learned is still there, all the good I have done (and supposedly undone) is just below the surface. The trick is digging through all of your fear and laziness and hesitation to get back to it!

I have started to dig…

I signed up to run the LA Marathon next March at a very good friend’s urging. I in-turn have urged my sister to register and now have some training to do! A 26.2 miles run was not all the inspiration I have received recently…

If you need inspiration, look no further than:

My brother, Andre.

My friends Kate and Susan.

I have been so incredibly fortunate to be related to and introduced by people who are grabbing onto life. The three above are just the tip of the iceberg. There are people out in the world that get themselves out of bed everyday and say to the world, “Give me all you’ve got. I will not only grab it, but I plan on holding on pretty damn tight!”

So, while running yesterday I thought about this blog… and then I raised my head and saw a beautiful tree. It made me smile. I grinned because I realized how much I appreciated such a beautiful tree, changing colors with the seasons, and that I felt so lucky to be alive and running.

Life is to be enjoyed. It is to be celebrated. Now, back to that digging…