Cool Running -Exercising
I have never been much of a sport type person and mostly exercising mostly as a survival skill because I knew I needed to to stay healthy. It's been quite recent over the past years after moving to a new house right in downtown with a lot of pollution that I took on a more systematic approach to do exercise bike or steps yet without much enjoyment and only 30 minutes or so per day.
The turning point to having more exercise was when I moved to our new house where the surrounding is more pleasant and streets more trees. I had never been jogging or running much except some in my teen years. So I started slowly 2 kms a day, and build up gradually, the build-up and increasing of the running distance was challenging and fun because it was a challenge and something to go beyond what I had ever done and after a few weeks I was off to running about 9 kms in an hour mostly every day. Just a week or so ago I did my first 20 Km 1/2 marathon, and wasn't even sore from running.
"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us" There are so many spiritual parallels to running and to the course of this life but one thing I started to like about exercising is like everything you can build up to it and change and form new habits. That in itself was super encouraging not to speak of the highs that one feels while running or exercising, it gives a boost and releases much tension. Added bonus were for me to combine exercising to having a bit of meditation, prayer time and memory review on MP3, so it wasn't just a physical work out but giving me a spiritual break and a chance to get away and fill up spiritually as well and keep up with my spiritual work outs too.
While I am still running, I have started swimming as well combining both like 4.5 Km and 1 Km swimming.
It takes bit of an effort when one is tired at times but I have never regretted taking that time for working out, the benefits physically and spiritually are always there. I can't even think of a day without exercising, and if it's getting towards the end of the day and I haven't exercised I start feeling this pressure in my head.
The irony of this is that I have waited till being 49 years to start this, well I don't regret anything but it seems like I missed some of these blessings by not starting earlier. and it's never too late. I am looking forward to the day of running a marathon or swimming for a couple hours, though I only have the time for an hour for now except for the once a week extra. It's fun to go beyond something that you have never done, it's beating your own records and it feels great too.
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