Just in time too as the month of November will see me attempt to complete a cumulative 150km - a virtual run with all proceeds going to the Indigenous Marathon Foundation (more details here: http://imfvirtualrun.com/). There were a range of distances to choose from, from 3km right up to 150km, but I thought, why not?? It's for a great cause, and you even get a shiny medal with your chosen distance on at the end of the event/month. You can even walk your kms, or run/walk - I am going to try and get mine in via running alone, just so that it's a challenge and something out of the ordinary for me - as I usually walk a minimum of 7km++ a day as my mode of transport into town and back, and this adds up to at least 140km (just counting Monday-Friday walks) from transport alone. So, as of this morning's awesome (but slow) session, I am now 22km into my 150km target.
As I was running along the foreshore early this morning, I passed a group of revellers wearing blankets and looking a bit worse for wear, having clearly been out still after the festival that was held down on the foreshore yesterday. One of the girls and I exchanged a knowing look and a smile, and I felt the true meaning of the word Namaste hey: the light in me recognises the light in you, or the soul in me recognises the soul in you - or whichever way you like to interpret it. There was an exchange of more than just a smile: we respected each other and smiled at the other, sending out love to each other with absolutely no judgement: each going about our morning at the complete opposite ends of the spectrum: her having not yet gone home and gone to sleep and having various chemical-induced highs and dancing all day and night, and me having gotten up super early to be out there in the early morning light and running to get my running-induced natural highs - yet both of us meeting in the middle at that awesome time of day (the best time of day for sure). As I continued on, along the foreshore, lost in my own thoughts, it struck me: I used to be her! Well, not literally of course, but in years gone by I would have been in exactly her position. In fact, I think before the festival yesterday was 'This That' it stemmed from 'Fat As Butter' back in the day, which I went to in 2008, before I left Newcastle. Back in the day, it was unthinkable for me to even consider going out, going to a new town or country, or meeting new people, or doing something new, without something lined up for it, be that alcohol (the worst and legal drug) or something else again. Here's me circa 2004:
Enjoy your Sunday, and Namaste hey :)