Into the Fire

Richardson Grove, CA Sept 8-14, 2009

Day 2: I watched the sun come up from my tent. Well, I didn’t really watch it come up, but I watched the light in my tent steadily progress from dark to light. I wasn’t scared anymore but I was uncomfortable. I was cold and and sore from lying still for so long. Plus, some of the air had gone out of my mattress. I did not sleep well at all. But I expected that. Not having a clock nearby was killing me! I was trying to guess the time. 6am? Maybe 7? I knew it couldn’t be later than 8 in the morning for sure! I listened to see if Robbie and Adrian were awake. They were. I could hear them moving around and trying to talk quietly. I didn’t want to be the first one out of my tent, so I waited and consequently fell back asleep.

I opened my eyes to the sound of movement. Who knows how long I had been asleep? It didn’t matter. I kept telling myself that I was on vacation and time was non-existent. Outside, Robbie was already sitting by the small fire drinking coffee. “Good morning!” he said. “Morning.” I replied and made a detour for the bathroom. I had been holding it for quite some time, which added to my uncomfortableness. Relieved and back at the camp site, I asked about coffee. Robbie informed me that some was made. I poured myself some and joined him by the fire. It was at that moment I saw Adrian run past our site. He turned his head, smiled and yelled, “Morning!” as he flew by. “How long has he been running?” I asked Robbie. Robbie shook his head and said, “Not long.” As I settled into my chair, Adrian came back and joined us. He promptly lit a cigarette and sat down. I asked him the same question. “I haven’t been running long.”, he looked at his timer, “Only 22 minutes.” he exhaled. I was a little disappointed in me. I told myself that I would get back into shape after letting myself “go” this past year. It’s been the albatross around my neck. So before we left, I made a commitment that I would go running with Adrian early in the morning. My first morning here and I failed! I told myself that I would make it up during our hike later on that afternoon. Adrian told me he had a weird dream last night but did not really remember much of it. He asked me if I had any weird dreams last night. I told them I had then proceeded to tell them about it. I purposely did not  go into too much detail though. I grazed over some parts and gave them the gist of my dream. I did not feel like they needed to know every single thing or even wanted to know. I think I talk too much.

I have this issue with my legs. Although, I try not to make it an issue. All the fitness gurus talk about stretching, before and after a workout. I believe it. At least it makes sense to me. Adrian offered to show me some yoga moves. I was totally apprehensive about it. The people I pictured who did yoga on a daily basis were these very petite women of leisure who only ate granola, wore yoga pants everywhere, and shopped at places like “Shabby Chic” and the farmer’s market. But out here, with nothing else to do, I decided “what the hell?” It…was…amazing! Totally intense! Actually, I didn’t really like it first while I was doing it. The moves were crazy! It hurt and I almost kept falling over. But with every move Adrian showed me, it was like he was challenging me. Exercising is all mental. But sometimes with cardio-vascular exercises, your mind will say “GO!” but your body will say “STOP!”. So you stop. With yoga, its like your mind and body are totally in agreement. And even though it hurts and burns and just when you think you can’t hold it any longer, your mind says, “WAIT! Just a few more seconds!” And your body says, “OK.”