Element 6

August 16th.

“The moon looks like a toe nail.”

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It’s evening.

My daughter made the most phenomenal chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had today.

My reward for counting a total of 25 blue cars on our walk to the store yesterday.

“If you can count 12 blue cars, I’ll make you 12 cookies.”

“Double or nothing?”

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Every time I spotted a blue car…

“Very good.. you have x amount, only x to go.”

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“Okay Dad, you have 24… do you think you can get one more before we walk into the store?”

“Absolutely…”

And just as we reached triggering distance of the automatic doors, we watched as a blue highlander rounded the corner…

“Very good Dad, we will get chocolate chips here at the store, and I will make you cookies.”

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The cookies… are legitimately the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had.

Perfectly sweet, perfectly salty… a perfect soft bite.

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They were delightful to come home to after my morning bike ride. I took a proper rest day yesterday after two weeks of doubles. Morning bike rides, evening runs. Not including my spirited errand sprints around town on the fixed gear.

I pushed myself right to the brink of being fatigued enough to feel my immune system starting to weaken. A point which I would have ignorantly allowed myself to pass in the past, wondering why I feel so shitty as I try to warp time and space from my carbon fiber chariot.

As I try to …

Stride into the future in my …

Carbon plated footprints.

---

It paid off as my travels today seem to require much less effort.

Volume is the key.

---

Brings me to a conversation I had earlier in the month…

I’d gone out for a run on the trail.

I settled into a pace that felt… great but I knew it was much too fast to carry for the distance that I’d set out for that day.

Rather than tapering it back, I just stayed in it until I found myself fading. And when the fade began I stopped and walked, recovered.

Only to attempt it again.

Intervals if you will.

—

On my third and final walk, I crossed paths with some missionaries.

“Man you’re in great shape.”

“Thanks man.”

“How fast were you running?”

“Honestly… I don’t keep track anymore.”

“Have you been doing this for a long time?”

“Yeah… long as I can remember I guess.”

“Man.. what advice… would you give to someone? I’ve been running and I just … I don’t know, I get burnt out on it after a while.”

“Well… if you’re getting burnt out.. you should just .. walk. It’s really all a matter of time on feet, and walking … is still time on feet. If you’re forcing yourself to run and not enjoying it… you’re gonna get burnt out. I’ve been there. I don’t keep track anymore. I just go out and enjoy it.”

“Walking? But does that … make me any faster?”

“Yeah. It’s all just time on feet. The more I walk, the better I run. I’ve only come to realize this in the past two years and … it’s the one thing I wish I would have known more than anything else.”

“Well let me ask you another question… what does running feel like for you?”

“Ehh… I kinda just .. tap out I guess. I don’t know it isn’t … really like. There aren’t words for it. It’s otherworldly. Like I’m experiencing my body without being in it in a sense.”

“That sounds spiritual.. Are you a spiritual person?”

“Yeah..”

“Have you always been?”

“Ehh.. I wouldn’t say always. Always been open to a higher power but I guess I’ve been on a spiritual journey for the past 4 or 5 years.”

“What started your journey?”

“Hmm.. I guess a couple of good books, maybe running, but definitely a series of coincidences that… all seemed eh you know. Non coincidental.”

“What do you mean?”

“I guess.. I started paying attention more and seeing the higher power working. It’s all been very… weird.”

“What has that been like, what have you noticed?”

“Honestly… it seemed like everything just started getting louder and and louder, more apparent, to the point where I couldn’t deny what was happening. And I guess I felt a little crazy at first seeing things for … what they were? But I noticed… more and more beauty and began to have more faith.”

“Beauty is a great reminder of God. That all sounds like.. what a lot of the prophets go through.. Do you think you’d follow a prophet in the modern age?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Well.. I could only hope that their message inspired others to cultivate their own relationships with God. I don’t think… I’d need to follow them in order to do that besides… it seems like… Religion … gets utilized to carry out the agenda of man more often than not”

“Cultivate your own relationship with God… that actually… that makes sense. Well, we don’t wanna hold you up on your run… Are you out here often?”

“More often than not.”

“Well we’d love to share some scripture with you if we see you again.”

“That sounds good.”