This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend Oiselle’s California Bird Camp in Cazadero, California. A fantastic weekend where women who are part of the Oiselle team gather to share stories, runs, information and food. Being in the peak weeks of my marathon training (for Toronto Marathon!) could have made this weekend camp less than ideal timing for me. I could have stressed about this, worrying about where and when I would get my running in while I was away. Instead I decided to just go with the flow and this was the best decision ever.
Letting go of the stress and following the flow of the group led me to three beautiful runs over different terrain in various parts of Sonoma county. I completed a workout along a beautiful treed road, I ran a medium long run amongst the redwoods and the town of Guerneville and I finished with one of the most beautiful long runs along the Kortum trail in Sonoma. As I was running along the ocean side I realized that had I been bogged down in the details of where I was going to run that morning I would never have ended up on this beautiful trail. We went to the beach that morning with no idea if there would be somewhere for my long run and recognizing the possibility that I could be running repeats of a very short loop on the road for 18 miles. Instead I had one of the loveliest runs and spent two hours smiling, with many more hours after holding on to that feeling of peace.
Sometimes letting go of the structure and rigidity often found in training can lead to the most beautiful runs. It’s ok to let go and go with the flow.
