The Spring Equinox
The Barkley Marathons, trees, peacocks and cheese plants.
And here, on the spring equinox, the peacocks are calling at 5am. I hear them because I am awake, worrying as humans do, about things that lying awake cannot possibly hope to solve, not today, not ever. I check for updates on the Barkley Marathons, raise my eyebrows and shake my head in wonder at what on earth Laz has done to the course this year to make it so insanely hard, and go back to sleep. (if you don’t know about the Barkley Marathons, plenty of others have explained it far better than I can, and this article on iRunFar is a wicked summary of this year’s race.)
I wake again later, glad to see that John Kelly has at least finished the fun run - three laps of the course. My friend Jen had said to me the day before, “There’s something very comforting about John Kelly doing the Barkley,” and until she said it, I hadn’t realised how true that is. I thought a lot about it, about that feeling. John Kelly has done the Barkley Marathons like, eight times? And finished it three times, I think. While the world is burning, at least John is where we want him to be. While chaos reigns, at least the newbies have a veteran of Frozen Head State Park to try to follow.
A few weeks ago, I met an amazing woman, Vanessa Kisuule, who has written a book about being a fan of Michael Jackson. She chatted about the place that celebrities have in the lives of children from troubled households - they are a reassuring and constant presence on the TV while the child lacks comfort from an actual parent. I’ve been thinking a lot about what she said. I paired it up with what my friend Jen said about John Kelly and I wondered if what I feel - indeed, while the world is raging - is something of a similar escape.
I feel the same when Jakob Ingebrigsten dominates yet another 1500m race. I feel the same when Courtney Dauwalter is breaking yet another course record. The people we admire are where we need them to be in order to feel like there is a correct rhythm to the world, there is truth, there is peace. While John Kelly is shouting out loud to himself to stay awake, hiking up Rat Jaw for the third time, It feels like home. That course is absolutely brutal, but he is able to overcome it. He is an example to follow. Life can be absolutely brutal, but perhaps we too can overcome its troubles.
Earlier this week, someone told me that Donald Trump has ordered for swathes of forests to be cut down for timber. The normal human reaction is shock and despair. I cried. I felt the tears prick in my eyes and a wobble in my throat and held it back, embarrassed by how deeply I care about trees. The Understory by Richard Powers changed me. By way of explaining the tears in my eyes, I asked this man if he had read the book too. He had. I knew it already, but I was among friends. All the same, I soothed myself by checking to see how John Kelly was doing at the Barkley. He was still going.
And here, on the spring equinox, I’m going for a long run. I’m drinking my second coffee of the day as I write this, and my cheese plant has grown so excited by all of the sunshine that it now blocks the light from my window from reaching me. That’s okay. We’re old friends. We’ve been together for five years now, through three house moves, and all is well if it is well. Is it any wonder millennials are so obsessed with house plants? We’re going to be stuck renting forever, let us have something that feels like home.
I digress. A lot of thoughts, a lot of sunshine to get out into. Huge congratulations to John Kelly for completing the fun run, and to all the other competitors who threw themselves at that course. The Barkley wins.
Please also enjoy this article I wrote about introverts in ultra running for iRunFar. I got to chat to my heroes Katie Schide and Jon Albon about it and they were both so insightful, funny and generous. It was an honour to write it, and I’m really proud of the piece.
https://www.irunfar.com/a-quieter-way-the-power-of-introverts-in-ultrarunning
I’ve mentioned my friend Jen a few times now: please also enjoy her book, The Path We Run. It is an engrossing, insightful and moving read, celebrating women in the sport of ultra running. (She reads the audiobook BEAUTIFULLY. I know, I was there when she recorded it. 😁)
https://www.octopusbooks.co.uk/titles/jen-benson/the-path-we-run/9781788404372/
