Larry’s Beach Runner Story


Larry, Steve and Gary Practicing Yoga After a Long Run

Wow, the third year of Beach Runners Long Beach Marathon and Half Marathon training starts this Saturday, the 19th! I’ve been around since the beginning and find myself wondering where the time has gone. On January 1st, 2005, I started out as a walker. I joined Beach Runners in May and then ran my first marathon in Chicago on October 8th. Two more marathons, two half-marathons, and a couple of 10Ks later, I’ve gone from being someone “around 45” to someone “pushing 50”, and I’ve gone from being someone who procrastinated deeply, willfully and soulfully when it came to anything that even remotely hinted to the slightest production of sweat to become someone now referred to as an athlete.

And not only am I now an athlete I am also one of the mentors in the Beach Runner’s training program doing my best to assist others in learning the ChiRunning technique and where I sometimes lead my own spirited, express, drive-thru version of “MaraYoga.”

In the last two and a half years, having welcomed ChiRunning and MaraYoga into my life, I’ve added and continue to work toward new levels of self-awareness, personal growth and understanding. Given genetics and upbringing, at this stage of my life, “depressed alcoholic” as opposed to “athlete and mentor” would more aptly, one would think, define whom I’d become; however, I spent what now appears to be near half a century working on my psychological, behavioral, and emotional self while leaving my physical self unscathed, except for that whole 42-inch waist, 230 lbs., overweight, unhealthy thing, to now be heading off to Dublin, Ireland next month where I will participate in training to earn my certification as a ChiRunning instructor and then, after that, I’m tossing around the idea and doing research into becoming a certified yoga instructor as well.

Have I become a fanatic, no, just someone who has come to realize MaraYoga and ChiRunning while offering much needed physical benefits, also connect with me psychologically, emotionally and spiritually.

ChiRunning is all about body sensing and running focused in a conscious state of awareness, to me, this is synonymous with “living in the moment” and often times while practicing MaraYoga, I’m reminded “it’s yoga practice; not yoga perfect” speaking to me and supporting my belief there’s no such thing as achieving and living the perfect life; however, there is such a thing as doing the best I can.

As we head into this year’s training, relax, have fun and enjoy each and every moment; speaking from experience, embrace the journey and in the grand scheme of things, think of it as “it’s life practice not life perfect.”

Larry – Beach Runners Mentor

May 15, 2007 | Filed Under Steve's Posts 

comments

Comments are closed.