Early on a summer morning in Grand Teton National Park, that’s me just across the bridge, starting the first of a big 44 mile run on the Teton Crest Trail, running solo but feeling like I was racing someone, or maybe I was racing to catch up to something. photo by the Matt Crawford
I run because it makes me a more peaceful person. In somewhat addictive fashion I’ve found the harder, faster, and farther I run, especially in nature, the longer lasting and more profound that peace becomes.
Training my mind and body to run faster is a journey that is simultaneously inspiring and stressful. The stress comes from my expectations, having faith I will overcome the challenge, learning patience and setting realistic goals as my mind and body slowly evolve and adapt to my training. The inspiration is placing myself into a situation that will glean more from my physical, mental, and emotional self than I previously imagined. The true moment where I find myself saying, “I didn’t know I could do it until I did.”
As an athlete, I find there are those days when running is a celebration, like a wedding. A demonstration and proclamation of hard work, training, and dedication, where I place all my heart and trust and commit to one magical moment, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, forever until I take my last stride. True love and dedication. In the words of Joseph Campbell, “Find a place where there’s joy inside, and the joy will burn out the pain.” The reality is running faster comes with honest hard work, and knowing that it won’t get any easier, just faster.
To run faster, harder, stronger, I find purpose and intention are absolutely necessary. Like a warrior called into battle, it’s harder to fight if you don’t know what you’re fighting for, and it’s impossible to fight if you don’t know what side you’re on. The same is true in running, you have to know how far you intend to take it, your goals, inspirations and motivations. In short, you’ve got to have the mojo!
Matter is made of molecules, elements attracting, bonding, and repelling, to create structures and forms recognizable and identifiable with the naked eye, telescope, or microscope. However, in running and finding peace, I have found there are more important forces at work, more subtle, yet equally vital components, the molecules of mojo. The molecules of mojo are not made of elements found on the periodic table in your old high school science text. The molecules of mojo circle and whirl, they fill your lungs and bloodstream, they condense on the tips of you hairs, you can see, hear, touch, taste and smell them, all at once. You can suddenly find yourself amidst a glorious cloud of mojo, or it can hit you like a lightning bolt. The effects can be instantaneous like crossing an invisible threshold, or it can develop slowly like the crescendo of an orchestra.
The two elements of the mojo moleceule are beauty and rhythm. The beauty and rhythm in your body, stride, breath, and movements. Beauty and rhythm of the natural world around you in its array of seasons, colors, moods, and appearances. From craggy mountain tops to velvety meadows, rushing alpine creeks to calm deep lakes, rain filled skies stirring your souls thunder and sunny blue mornings clearing your head.
Mojo is high, there are magical portals awaiting me and treasure where I least expect it, I’ll know them when I get there because the hair will raise on the back of my neck, my feet will feel lighter, and my legs will move faster. The rhythm will be beautiful, and the beauty will be the rhythm.
“One, two, one, two, hop-hop says the rabbit.”
Church of the Transfiguration, basically honoring a story when Jesus Christ wandered off into nature on a spiritual walkabout, only to return to his people as a glowing radiant beam of white light. Sometimes a hard and fast run creates its own sort of transfiguration. The beautiful Cathedral group of the Grand Tetons in the background. The Grand Teton is the summit directly behind the crucifix.
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