Looking back at what I first posted on this blog on March 4, 2008...
I'm just beginning in the world of leisure blogging, though I have started a blog for work http://georgelinney.edublogs.org/ in case you want to visit me as my students visit me.
While At Water's Edge will be mostly about running, I am also remembering fondly my prior outdoor life as a whitewater canoeist and kayaker which might have some overlap to this blog title. Every once in a while I sneak into the water skirted and surrounded by a plastic whitewater kayak, if only at an artificial site http://www.usnwc.org/. Perhaps this blog will inspire me to kayak a few more times this season.
Still the blog title, At Water's Edge, comes not primarily from images of trail running nor whitewater kayaking, but from Hebrew Scripture. The Word of God is my first love and no better place to start than in the language of the 42nd Psalm--As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
When crossing a stream as a runner, one must make a series of quick decisions. How much does it matter to keep my shoes dry? Would I even want to keep them dry if I could? What are the pitfalls of trying to pinball off each of those rocks? Will I slip? How is my triple jump these days? Can I pronounce groin should I strain mine in this leap, leap of faith, if you will?
None of these questions seem to address the question of thirst, since the psalmists' image is of a panting deer who longs for a drink from the stream. But I will stretch the metaphor to include the thirst of my shoes. Sometimes a trail shoe just wants to get wet. Here are two of my favorite races to water one's shoes:
http://www.raceuwharrie.com/
http://www.mitchellraces.com/springmaidsplash/race.html
...Now it is the first day of 2012. I don't kayak as often as I would like or write about the sport much. I'd like to remedy that someday. I do tend to thread running and the Word together. What does 2012 hold for me? I can't wait to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment