This week I tapered off from my higher mileage training, and began to rest my body in preparation for the upcoming Ultramarathon Caballo Blanco.
Here is a mural going up to celebrate the upcoming race.
On Monday, I did a final longer and tougher run with a new good friend and trail blazing mentor, Gary. Gary is an 11 time Ironman, and Ultramarathon runner, living in Kona and we connected through the trail running group, Big Island Trail Runners.
As a special treat and preview to the tough climbs I'll be doing in the Copper Canyons, Gary took me up to the peak of Hualalai, the volcano towering above my town of Kailua-Kona.
What an amazing journey and wonderful way to wrap up tougher training runs. We set out under clear skies and brisky winds, that soon turned into 50 mile per hour gusts. As we climbed the wind on the exposed ridge-line of our 4,000- 8,000 foot climb became so intense, that my small frame was literally stopped dead in my tracks as I pushed forward.
Oddly, when Gary had invited me on the run, he had written that "we would be merging with the air element and floating up to the top of Hualalai." As much as I visualized harmonizing with the wind, however, every step felt like moving through thick jello (which could potentially knock me over into a gaping crater if I wasn't careful!).
I pushed on, and reminded myself, as I have time and time again that each step is simply a step, each moment is temporary, and that after tempestuous winds, calm must eventually settle.
Sure enough, we were soon standing at the peak among the howling winds for a brief view, then a needed decent into the calm of the forested side of the mountain.
He and his wife generously fed me a nourishing meal to feed our depleted bodies. The grounding of the meal brought me slowly back to earth after our adventure.
This is a meal I made for myself this week; lentil stew with seaweed and broccoli sprouts, homemade rye toast with miso paste. Salty and hearty, and filled with iron and vitamin C; a perfect recovery meal.
Back at home and throughout the week, I am struck by the things that bring us spiritually high and expansive and things that bring us back to the earth, grounded. For me, food is something that brings my energy inward, calms me and reminds me of the simple rhythms that sustain me.
He and his wife generously fed me a nourishing meal to feed our depleted bodies. The grounding of the meal brought me slowly back to earth after our adventure.
Back at home and throughout the week, I am struck by the things that bring us spiritually high and expansive and things that bring us back to the earth, grounded. For me, food is something that brings my energy inward, calms me and reminds me of the simple rhythms that sustain me.
When I need a pick me up to energize me, a green smoothie and a loaded salad does the trick. I have my green drinks once a day; made with Spirulina, fresh Hawaiian fruit, coconut water or hemp milk and flax seeds. Feeding my body this way reminds me of the wholeness and balance of life.
Without goals and peaks and challenges, we stagnate in our routines; like an earthworm who can't find it's way out of the comfort of it's dark home. Without nourishing grounding and routines, we cannot settle and rest our bodies; like a butterfly that flies so high and brightly but cannot learn to land.
Without goals and peaks and challenges, we stagnate in our routines; like an earthworm who can't find it's way out of the comfort of it's dark home. Without nourishing grounding and routines, we cannot settle and rest our bodies; like a butterfly that flies so high and brightly but cannot learn to land.
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