Today's run is for Beth, Lynn, Tommy and Elisa! Thanks for your generous donations, they meant a lot to me today.
It seems unreasonable that I should be writing a running blog entry about hands. Running is about legs, and feet. It's about the drive and determination to take another step.
But lately, I've been thinking about hands. It's something that runners often neglect. What do you do with your arms and hands while you run? Runner's World suggests that your arms and hands help control your upper body and compliment your strides to move your body forward. They say that you should, "Imagine yourself trying to carry a potato chip in each hand without crushing it." This is keep you from making fists, which inhibits blood and oxygen flow. I end up with fists all the time when I run because I forget to think about my hands.
A few weeks ago, I showed up to run on a weekend, and I met a bunch of folks that I had never run with. They took me on a trail run in a nearby green space and as we were running, I offered a suggestion for a sloshing Camel Back. I had seen this video that describes taking the air out before you run. The guy thanked me for the suggestion, then offered me one that has proven to be even more important than a sloshing hydration pack. He looked at my hands and told about the Yogic Mudras. The mudras are basically hand gestures that are used to facilitate the flow of prana, or life force through the body. Different mudras have different jobs. He encouraged me to place my forefinger and middle finger together, and touch my thumb to my other two fingers (kind of like the boyscout salute). I assumed this was the air mudra, to help me with my breathing. I've since learned that it's not. Instead, this is the life mudra, which after writing this entry, I now find to be even more appropriate.
On my runs lately, I've been thinking about my hands and what I'm doing with them as I run. Am I clenching a fist and prohibiting the flow? Am I concentrating on the technical precision from Runner's World "Tips for Perfect Form?" Or, am I allowing the life force to flow freely through my body, the one that "allows weak people to become strong?" In many ways, these are questions that we can ask ourselves about how we move through life.
Thinking about all of this as I was approaching home, I found myself concentrating on the prana mudra and because I was paying attention to my hands, I presaged a glimpse of my finish line crossing in June and what it might mean for my hands. Last year as I came into Canal Park for the finish line, I looked up at the giant clock and saw that I had beat my goal time by a lot. With my finger, I pointed up to the clock, pumped my fist and crossed the line. So today as I was arriving home, thinking of mudras and the finish line, my right hand started to move almost unconsciously. First, an e. Then a sliding l. Then an i and an s. I was signing Ellis' name with my right hand. An unexpected lift rose through my body and a wave of exhilaration as I discovered what I'll do in June as I cross the line. This run is for my boy Ellis. I have a reason for running.
Thanks again to the donors. It means a lot to me, my family and the families that will connect to Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep during one of the toughest times in their lives. If you can help too, please click the link below. Thanks.
https://www.coloradogives.org/forellis
And oh yeah, a comment every once in a while wouldn't be terrible. :)
It seems unreasonable that I should be writing a running blog entry about hands. Running is about legs, and feet. It's about the drive and determination to take another step.
But lately, I've been thinking about hands. It's something that runners often neglect. What do you do with your arms and hands while you run? Runner's World suggests that your arms and hands help control your upper body and compliment your strides to move your body forward. They say that you should, "Imagine yourself trying to carry a potato chip in each hand without crushing it." This is keep you from making fists, which inhibits blood and oxygen flow. I end up with fists all the time when I run because I forget to think about my hands.
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| CC: By Charles Haynes via WikiCommons |
On my runs lately, I've been thinking about my hands and what I'm doing with them as I run. Am I clenching a fist and prohibiting the flow? Am I concentrating on the technical precision from Runner's World "Tips for Perfect Form?" Or, am I allowing the life force to flow freely through my body, the one that "allows weak people to become strong?" In many ways, these are questions that we can ask ourselves about how we move through life.
Thinking about all of this as I was approaching home, I found myself concentrating on the prana mudra and because I was paying attention to my hands, I presaged a glimpse of my finish line crossing in June and what it might mean for my hands. Last year as I came into Canal Park for the finish line, I looked up at the giant clock and saw that I had beat my goal time by a lot. With my finger, I pointed up to the clock, pumped my fist and crossed the line. So today as I was arriving home, thinking of mudras and the finish line, my right hand started to move almost unconsciously. First, an e. Then a sliding l. Then an i and an s. I was signing Ellis' name with my right hand. An unexpected lift rose through my body and a wave of exhilaration as I discovered what I'll do in June as I cross the line. This run is for my boy Ellis. I have a reason for running.
Thanks again to the donors. It means a lot to me, my family and the families that will connect to Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep during one of the toughest times in their lives. If you can help too, please click the link below. Thanks.
https://www.coloradogives.org/forellis
And oh yeah, a comment every once in a while wouldn't be terrible. :)
RUN STATS:
Distance - 4 miles
Time - 32:34
Temp at 6am - 83 degrees F
Soundtrack - The Raconteurs, Live in Newcastle and Rage Against the Machine, Self Titled
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