Running Up That Hill

I have a huge project coming up in November that will take me around the world. In order to prep for this trip, I have also been forcing my body into shape, which at 52 is far harder than it used to be.

I have been running at least two miles a day for the past few months, and on one of my routes is a decent hill at the end of the run. When I started training, I HATED that hill. But as I was running yesterday, it dawned on me that this is now my favorite part of the route.

I love the test at the end of the run: Do you have anything left to push up this hill? Should you?

So, with a smile on my face, I push, I curse, and then eventually I crest the hill into the cool down.

There is a Buddhist saying that has been misquoted, likely forever, that says, “All life is suffering.” The word the Buddha used was Dukkha, from a long-dead language, and “suffering” is the word we have put in its place.

While suffering is not a perfect translation, it explains part of Dukkha, but not all of it. It might be closer to say that the unenlightened experience life as suffering, but even that isn’t perfect, since enlightenment isn’t necessarily a permanent state.

While I am clearly not an expert in Buddhism, I can say that there is power in leaning into the hills.

Which is funny because, after I had been running for a few months, my youngest asked me, “Dad, do you like running?”

To which I quipped, “No, not particularly.”

He looked confused. “Then why do it?”

Because I like the feeling from running, not the feeling of running.

To me, that feels like a form of enlightenment.