They say that if you sleep on a problem that you will wake up with a solution. I solve problems when I run. Creativity happens because I am unencumbered by linear thought. My mind floats and roams on a rocking sea, held afloat by the the constant rhythm of my feet, my breath, and my arms. When running, I have true attention deficit, and my mind leaps and frolics in places that it normally doesn’t venture. Because of this, I rarely run with others. The conversation keeps my mind too focused to float. However, on the last day of the faculty workweek, Andy Lammers and I hit a small portion of the Mountains to Sea Trail together, and something unusual happened -- at least for me.
After five minutes of panting up the Stuyvesant Road hill, we both fell into a comfortable rhythm of breath and legs. The stressors of our work week started dripping off of us like the sweat that rolled down our backs. After a few minutes, we began free associating childhood memories that were so close in spirit and emotion that our childhoods could have occurred in the same time and place instead of being separated by fifteen years and several thousand miles. We talked about the risks that we took as boys: throwing mudclods at our neighborhood friends, reading books soaked in the heroics of war, building forts, and pretty much being clueless to the world outside our neighborhoods. Our memories fed off of each other, bouncing around from one thread to another. It struck me much later that on this run, our minds worked together to do the same thing that happens to me when I run alone. That is cool.
Seems like we've stumbled on a "professional development" plan for this year. I too use running as creative time. Definitely enjoyed our jaunt.
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