Drifting: A Director's Log: Personal Best (for now)

September 3, 2008

Personal Best (for now)

When I told Kat almost a month ago that I'd just started running, she suggested I set my sights on a half-marathon in Austin in January. When I bought new shoes upon my arrival in LA, I hadn't been for so much as a jog in well over a year, and even when I did so fairly regularly, I never pushed myself past two miles. But I like challenges, and so over the past month I've gone out every day, running one and then two miles and then last week hitting three. And then this evening, out along the PCH, I jumped all the way up to seven miles without skipping a beat or stopping or really even losing my breath. Does that mean I'm halfway there? I can't really move now, which is annoying, but I'm sure I'll be fine tomorrow.

(I'd forgotten the sheer ebullience that comes from listening to music while running. I keep my iPod on shuffle, and when the right song comes on at the right time, it seeps into my head and trickles down through my body and carries me for its duration. I fall into its sway without thinking. Major chords and marching tempos can work wonders, but some of the best moments come from the quiet songs, the ones that hold their notes and take their time. They sooth your heart and smooth out the folds in the ground and make everything around you hushed, a little bit smaller, a little bit further away. It's as close to a spiritual experience as I can get.)

In news of other firsts, I tried my hand at surfing the other day. Which is to say, I walked along the path to the beach and down towards the water, carrying a surfboard, and an hour or two later walked back the way I came, wet from the ocean, once again carrying a surfboard. What happened in between those impressionistic bookends is hardly important, or at the very least not worth mentioning. Maybe I'll just stick to skydiving.

Posted by David Lowery at September 3, 2008 1:04 AM

Comments

Oh perfect timing! Here is my very recent story of making learning to surf a mission! I haven't finished writing it, but you get to the good part as far as surfing goes by the end.

I'm also cutting together a video version of this trip, "The Last American Road Trip".

http://mytimeasahuman.com/category/travel/last-american-road-trip-travel/page/2

Bottom line: do it! Once you get past the tipping point, you're in and you'll never get out.

Actually, this is what happens:

http://mytimeasahuman.com/ride-with-it/71

Wow. I guess I really have started writing about everything.

Posted by: Kai Mantsch at September 13, 2008 11:18 AM