Difficult to believe, but according to this log, I’ve only run on one Halloween since 2017, last year in 2022. In that entry, I wrote about several things I’d like to remember:
1000 miles
Whew! On the last day of the month I reached my goal. To stay on track for 1000 miles by the end of the year, I needed to run 840 miles by the end of October. I’m at 840.1.
[2023] I’m way off this year. My goal for the end of October 2023 is 740 miles. What happened? More swimming and more left hip/knee issues. Even though I exercised the same amount this year (roughly, in terms of active calories burned), my running total is down.
Now I have 2 months to run the remaining 160 miles. Five out of the six years of this log, my goal has been 1000 miles. I have achieved it once: year 4, 2020. Some sort of calf/hip/knee injury has forced me to cut back on my mileage the other years. I’ve never been off by that much.
Year 1 = 950 miles, couldn’t run almost all of August and September
Year 2 = 928.85 miles, IT band in November
Year 3 = 900.65 miles, can’t remember why it didn’t happen this year
Year 4 = 1003 miles
Year 5 = 850 miles, focused on a big swimming goal instead (100 miles during 10 week open swim season)
[2023] I appreciate that past Sara took the time to archive my past distances. It’s amazing how quickly I forget little details like these. Remembering them grounds my stories and understandings in facts (i.e. what really happened).
where have the geese gone?
No rowers or roller skiers or fat tires. No geese, but at least one black capped chickadee doing the fee bee call. Never a response. Thought about the endless echo of this unanswered call.
[2023] Haven’t seen that many rowers this fall, but I have seen some roller skiers. Where are all the geese? I’ve seen some of them flying, but less geese than I usually do. I like my line, “the endless echo of this unanswered call.”
triple berry chants
Throughout the run, I chanted triple berries. Lots of strawberry/blackberry/blueberry or strawberry/raspberry/blueberry. Also some, chocolate or chocolate sauce/ice cream cone/whipping cream. Once, cream that’s whipped, which made me think of Devo’s “Whip it.” Wondered about working on a poem/series of poems using this triple rhythm. Also wondered about the difference between chanting these 3, versus chanting 3 then 2. How often do I actually chant 3/2 when I’m running or do I chant more in triples?
[2023] Just yesterday I was chanting triple berries. For my class this fall, I offered up triple berry chants as one way to translate wonder/attention into words. Lately I haven’t been using for that, but for keeping a steady rhythm. I liked to try having fun with them.
Most of my triple chants were berries or desserts, but every so often I chanted other things too: history, mystery, intellect then I am girl/I am ghost/I am gorge.
[2023] I want to try chanting, I am girl/I am ghost/I am gorge, and then see what happens. I’ve been trying to return to my haunts poems and this might help.
Class Assignment
Unlike my first (abecedarian) and second (alliteration) ones, my third suggestion mostly takes place while you’re moving. It involves focusing your attention and chanting in words or phrases with 3 syllables. I’ve been doing these for years; I call them my triple berry chants. I started using them on a 7 mile run on December 1, 2017 and they stuck.
Partly as a fun exercise in distraction and wordplay, and partly as a way to regulate which of my feet strike the ground on the downbeat, I started chanting 3-syllable words in my head as I ran. For some reason, I was drawn to berries and desserts (I’m hungry, I guess). When I recite these while running often I get into a groove, repeating the same ones over and over again. But occasionally, I compose little poems or invent new berries or desserts.
Strawberry
Blueberry
Raspberry
Apple Pie
Ice Cream Cake
Creme Brûlée
Mostly, the point of these chants is not the actual words. It’s the repetitions and the rhythms. Saying the words, or thinking them in your head, focuses your active attention on one thing, which can allow your passive attention to open up to other things. Also, the steady rhythms can help sync up your striking feet with your thoughts and the outside world.
Do they have to be triple berries or desserts? Absolutely not. I like using these because triples work for syncing my body to the trail and there are a surprising number of berries that have 3 syllables. Plus, there’s something ridiculous (I like being ridiculous) and fun about chanting berries and desserts, and having fun helps me relax and open up to the outside world.
For the basic version of this experiment, stick with chanting your favorite triples (or doubles or quadruples). As you move, don’t try to pay attention to anything but the words and how they sync up with your breath or feet. After you’re done moving and are writing your movement log entry, try to make a list of 10 things you didn’t realize you were noticing as you chanted while moving. I always notice much more than I thought I did!
One more thing to add: I don’t think I ever been able to chant triple berries for an entire run. Usually I do it for a while and then get distracted or enter a dreamy state where I’m not thinking or doing anything but moving and breathing. Don’t worry about losing the berries, and don’t try too hard to keep doing them. Trying too hard diminishes the impact of the experiment.
For another version of this experiment, start by chanting triple berries. After you have warmed up for a few minutes, switch from triple berries to words or phrases with 3 syllables that describe things you are noticing as you move. Notice in triples or turn everything you notice into triples:
4 way stop
Split rail fence
Railroad bridge
2 oak trees
Garbage can
River road
Sometimes these phrases are the very beginning of a poem. Sometimes they help me notice more and then remember what I noticed. And sometimes they’re just fun, making my run go by faster, my day more delightful. Bonus: they can be an easy, low-stakes way to begin writing poems (or essays or whatever you want to write) while you are moving! (If you’re into that sort of thing, which I am!)
For more examples of my triple berry chants, see Triple Berry Chants.
Learning new things about vision
[2023] Near the end of the entry, I describe my experience of watching a Murder, She Wrote episode and correctly guessing that someone in town who everyone thought was a vampire actually just had photophobia.
I would never have considered the connection between photophobia and being accused of being a vampire if I hadn’t started researching vision after my vision diagnosis. I didn’t even know what photophobia was before my diagnosis. I remembered during my run that I wanted to mention photophobia in my log — while I was running across a bridge — which made me think about how losing my central vision has opened doors into new worlds and helped me to wonder in new ways. This is not to say that my vision loss is a good thing, or some bullshit like it’s part of a larger plan, but it’s also not all a totally bad thing either.
And, a poem to remember: A Woman’s Glass Eye/ Richard Weaver (page 66 in journal)