Run hard–long slow joy.
I have never seen the sunrise come fast–it always comes but it is slower than expected.
I have never seen truly wonderful things arrive fast–and I have seen quite a few come to me.
I have never seen a finish line come faster than I expect. I almost always finish–actually always. But the end comes slower than I want.
The process is long, slow is good (especially at the beginning), and there is a cascade of joy in this deal.
Looks like we may have a new Ultra Marathon in the Aereponapuchi area this November. Gustavo Lozano contacted us about this new venture that the puebla and locals are putting together—looks like Nov 6 and 7.
I am an athlete.
A few days before the Run Rabbit Run 50 miler, I called my brother Dick in Albuquerque.
We laughed about how I have this personal affirmation that I mutter to myself as I run, “I am an athlete”. I mean we laughed and laughed—a sort of goofy holler that a few of us Hensleigh sibs got from PW Hensleigh.
Anyway it is funny because there is not a one of us Winchester Kansas Hensleighs that you ever think of as an athlete. Personally I never scored a basket even though I loved basketball and followed it avidly. I never made a tackle or caught a pass even though I was on the field a fair bit. I never scored point at a track meet or even ran on a relay. We had a decent track team and an excellent coach but it did not effect my performance.
My other bros and sisters were about the same–known more for music and achievement tests than athletic ability or performance.
Regardless, for me to understand that I was created to move and perform as an athlete is not just true, it really helps when I face one of those 12 mile days with 95 degree weather. And it has helped me immensely to get a vision for my Best Third Third as a fit and active old guy.
You see to run that 50 miles, I had to have the qualities of an athlete–training, finishing, using my strengths, joy.
I thank Bishop Gwin at Love Corner for pointing out from the Bible that we are athletes, and for the Younger Next Year guys for writing a simple inspirational guide that I use every day.
We laugh about the idea of being athletic around the old Winchester, Kansas Hensleigh clan. With a few momentary exceptions, there were none of us eight kids of Paul and Aletha who showed any skill on the field or ran with any quickness on the track, or made even one basket in a game.
We played horns, read books, cooked up science experiments and did farm work.
But now at age 66, I feel most comfortable as an athlete. Usually I work out almost daily, I run some 20 -30 miles per week, and thrive when I am in shape. Beyond this I am able to avoid the old Wheeler/ Hensleigh bugaboo of depression when I am very active and eating well. This is huge–I have spent too many days since age 18 under the rug.
The “Younger Next Year” idea has lodged in me.
So I ran (or walked) this 50 mile race in Steamboat last year– the Run Rabbit Run .
Running on the Oaxaca coast–I am also a traveler….AuthenticmexicoTravel.com
And I think I will return at age 66 and see if I can set a respectable mark–like under 14 hours- for that age group.
I saw this phrase the other day and it made so much sense. With running and with so many important initiatives in life I can let the fear of the day by day get to me and paralyze me. Actually the fear should be in whether or not I make the goal –if there is to be any fear at all.
Actually doing the day by day stuff is how we get to a goal–so if the little senseless fears of the daily process get to me– I am dead in the water due to lack of training and progress.
I have realized more and more that I have a fear approach with several areas–including money. This is irrational and a blocker.
Placido Polanco, Rosney Castillo, Yogi Berra—great names-one of the blessings of baseball.
John Kruk
The guys who followed the great teacher wrote things that are vital for knowing what it means to finish.
Eric Liddell won Olympic gold in the 400. And he lived a Christ-follower life. He died a finisher–serving the smartest teacher ever.
I was in Chiapas Mexico last week and traveled around the areas along the Guatemala border. I was the guest of ATMEX and was checking out new route for Authentic Mexico Travel for the enchanting state of Mexico.
Highlights were:
I saw red macaws along the road near Palenque as I ran last week.
I walked the lonely beach at San Agustanillo, Oaxaca last week–I am a traveler.
Recently there has been a move by niece Michelle to republish the Hensleigh family cookbook–wonderful.
She asked each of us remaining Hensleigh sibs to write a memory of our parents and the farm in Winchester, Kansas. There are of course many–some of them very positive and some to be forgotten.
One of the most vivid and life changing for me relates to how my folks recognized that I loved travel. Of course they did and so perhaps it was just encouraging me and all of us in a direction that they loved and knew was valuable.
But especially my mother recognized on early Colorado trips that I thrived on it. So they pushed me out the door on numerous occasions to go somewhere away and stay as long as I could.
The best trip was when I was twelve and they spontaneously sent me with cousin Doug to California in an old station wagon–a trip that ended up lasting a month or so. This one included the ocean for the first time, the California coast, the Pacific Northwest and then back across Washington, Oregon, Idaho etc back to Winchester.
Now I have this Mexico tour business, taking small groups of curious travelers to the less traveled places of Mexico. Trips like the small group trip to Oaxaca last week are just what I was designed for–and my folks saw it way back then.
This cold morning I am starting some chicken soup and I am reflecting on what I learned, recalled and added to my cooking head during this 50 mile ultra journey:
So here we go with chicken soup: 4 thighs in an iron pan, boil with sage, thyme, rosemary, onion, garlic salt pepper for awhile, add celery, carrots, and whatever else you want. Go for it!
I learned some good cooking tips getting ready for this 50 miler–and I am using some of them on this chicken soup today.