Time matters

Been a while already I figured that our more precious resource was time. No surprise it is always a fight between employee and employer, one hour more, one hour less.
Rich or poor, we all have roughly the same amount given at birth.
Then the question becomes, what do you do with it.

Let us cultivate our garden.

I am starting (only now) to understand that money or power do not give you better time. It might  detach you of basic needs, food, shelter but attach new to unknown fears. Fear to lose your status, your money, or plain boredom, frivolity.
Only by owning less, you get rid of the fear of losing more.
Time matters.
I reduced greatly my waste of time those last years. Barely watching TV, barely going out or socializing (kinda forced in this weird America land where your friends are not really your friends), skipping shopping, luckily skipping commute.
When you just focus on what you can and want to do, it becomes amazing how much you can accomplish in a day. Getting up early. Work. Train. Kite. Surf. Sail. Have fun.

Now I have a crew to support me on my (not that long) Kula runs.

Nowadays, I am trying to free more time.
I thought about giving up some training, or gardening.(I gave up on my attempt to become car mechanic though). Boat maintenance is always in parenthesis, this is a bet on the long run.
Training takes a lot of time. between 1 hour to 3 or 4 every day. When you start to run long distances, maybe I am running too slow - who knows - it starts to take a lot of time. Recovery. Massage. Stretching. CrossTraining.
But I cannot give that up. Actually, I know running, or swimming, or even gardening, paradoxically, while eating a bunch of my time, increase greatly the quality of my remaining time.
I cannot count the number of times I solved a problem from work while running, of blew up accumulated steam (Actually, running saved my career more than once), or just made me wiser, more focused.
If I could, I am pretty sure meditating will give me those benefits and certainly more.
But as I can't, I run(*).
(*You might have noticed my IT Band is getting better :).)

Back on the road, Baby, let's bring the quality time in our life again.

Bad Mood

Well, there are days like that. Or weeks.
I hurt my right knee again during my last long run. Looks like a IT Band syndrome reminiscence.
Running helps me to blow up steam. If I can't run, I usually get grumpy pretty fast.
First I am questioning my running. Then my lifestyle. Then my work. Then my dharma.

Today I was so proud of Molly who kicked ass on a strong finish on her 5K. She made the podium and crushed her PR of 1 minute. And without any training, really, as I fell apart this last week.
Bad timing.
She was actually looking forward an amazing adventure run together. Well, another time.

Hope ?

Bad sponsorship. Now I regret we ran this event.
"5k for Kids" promote healthy lifestyle and climate change.
Well, I usually try to avoid to be political, but when you pick your sponsors, you are political.
Specially, highly controversial choice like Monsanto.
Specially, on Maui.

Monsanto next to Kula Produce ?
This Tshirt will go directly for the yard work, and not before I "edit" it.
Isn't it what Sharpies are for ?

There isn't much we can do against corporations.
Go down in the street every once in a while.
Stop consuming their produce.
Stop running events they sponsor.
Stop taking their money.

Educate. Complain. Boycott.

We need to pay attention to details, because everything is in the fine print.
That's how it is now.
Does not have to be like that forever.

California Runs

One of the pleasure to flight every now and then on the mainland is to be able to run on the Santa Monica beach path.
I am sure it can get old pretty fast if this is your only playground. But, for me, it breaks the monotony of Maui's landscape.

Early morning on the coast

The path is crowded, but strangely enough, I am starting to meet the same runners - certainly, they are running here everyday - some quite easy to remember. This is California, and clothing and attitude can be pretty wild. Nowadays, my hotel is pretty far from the coast, and it takes me 20 minutes at least to reach it, which limit my range and my time on the beach path. But the neighborhood is safe and calm, this is Santa Monica, not downtown LA, and overall a pleasant run.

Slowly, I am starting to run a bit more every day. It always takes me a while after a marathon to come back and increase the mileage, until the next one.
I am always amazed how addicted I am to running. My body cannot take it everyday, then I am forced to go surfing :). Sometimes, I am jealous of those ultra-runners in Oregon, Colorado, Utah, central California or any desolated mountainous  state. Their playground is amazing.
Then I go running on the beach.
And I feel pretty cool.