They provided hours of calm engagement with my mind, the land, with the mountains, with the lakes and the dirt and the wildflowers, and with others on the trail (many of the trails utilize shared sections with the Pacific Crest Trail and the John Muir Trail). These Sunday runs in the mountains became sacred. To find myself deep among the vistas I've gazed at for years, surrounded by an expanding world, feeling so grateful for these views and experiences brought a peace and contentedness unlike any other.
And how did this all play out in the Chicago Marathon? I ran a personal best time by four minutes. There may be a million other factors, and correlation doesn't necessarily prove causation, but I believe in these runs and the power of these landscapes. And I know they have a positive influence on my being and what I am capable of.
I keep coming back to a quote by one of my favorite authors, Rebecca Solnit:
“Mountaineering is always spoken of as though summiting is conquest, but as you get higher, the world gets bigger, and you feel smaller in proportion to it, overwhelmed and liberated by how much space is around you, how much room to wander, how much unknown."
When our world expands, what our mind knows also expands, which means what we are capable of expands too. Here's to the mountains, where I'll continue to call both home and training ground for years to come. And to creating more moments like these—more moments of profound beauty and exploration of possibility.