A Beautiful Work In Progress

by Mirna Valerio

Like many runners, I do the work because I can, and there is honor in that. Honoring my body, honoring the sport. Honoring my family that allows me to train endlessly on weekends when I could/should be attending basketball games, socializing with my book group, planning and making elaborate “clean” meals, sleeping in with my spouse, running errands . . . Honoring the human body by moving through nature as it is meant to do.

A great reminder of why i love running.

Nothing is more pleasurable than this work, this run.

Americans have a nasty tendency to pathologize

fitness is for all bodies, for all people, and for all hearts.

What else was there to do? Keep moving and improving.

There is still a beauty about simply doing the difficult thing that I will never be good at, for the pure pleasure of having engaged in the process.

Running is a cleansing, life-changing, and deeply fulfilling odyssey that continues to bring me to new heights and new lows.

I was in my annual early-spring teaching funk in which I questioned why I was a teacher, why I did this to myself every year, why I continued to spend inordinate amounts of time with surly teenagers,

Lean into the discomfort.

We’re always heading somewhere, and I want to believe that most people want to be going in the direction that is best for them. Sure, not all people believe that they can progress into the being that they want or need to be, but my hope is that most of us are aiming and working to be our best selves most of the time.

Running was my meditation. It allowed me to empty my mind and focus on my own footfalls, my breathing.

When we stop moving in mind, body, and spirit, we stop learning.

I love myself unconditionally right now.