You Can Do Anything With the Right Soundtrack

 It's a Wonderful Run. A 5K race in Seneca Falls, the town where the author wrote the book on which It's A Wonderful Life was based. Oh, it was a cold night. The race started at 4:40pm and standing high above the river atop a bridge we were completely exposed to the wind. Warm light clothes that are perfect for running in this weather are not so hot at standing in the wind. It cut right through whatever I was wearing. There may have been hundreds of people on that bridge, but there was no amount of them to crowd around that could provide the protection that I needed.

The race started on the 'George Baily' bridge, my iPod led off with a song that a Beatles fan can appreciate, She Said, She Said. With the line, "you're making me feel like I've never been born" I thought, well played, iPod. The music is what keeps you going on a night like this. She's on Fire and Soak Up the Sun give warm thoughts and an odd realization that I had an inordinate amount of warm songs to choose from.

Running was tough. With almost 3,000 runners it was scrunchy and crowded. But being my first night run, I enjoyed the sights. People out on the sidewalks and lawns watching & cheering. Some had bonfires in their yards. I couldn't feel the heat, but just the smell of burning wood provided  thoughts of comfort and warmth. Once I got going, though, warmth wasn't an issue. Footing was. After two miles of tromping through the snow I was feeling the wear on my legs and psyche.

The snow was thick and grainy and made it feel as though I was running through sand.  Thighs and knees were burning from plodding over the snow.  Runners crowded around looking for footing in the few maneuverable sections of the road, strong arming me, sometimes physically bumping or by invading my space.  12^o outside, but the cold on my skin wasn’t as much an issue as the frigid air I’d suck into my lungs. Nasal drainage froze to my lip and each breath left my lungs and mouth harder and harder. Environment and physical factors beat me down, saying, “Stop. Walk. Rest.”

But then the song comes on. Uplifting in mood and tone with a pounding of the beat. Horns start in taking the music higher, with a regal and powerful mood. My back straightens a little. My feet hit the road just as hard, but my body was feeling a little lighter. Shoulders back and head up, my eyes scan forward because as my spine and back straighten, my vantage and field of vision increase. This change comes from my mind via the music.  The song has a spirituality to it and I’m lifting higher and lighter, out of body, I am floating up and I can see myself from above. I float higher looking down as I pan away to the sky, seeing me, those next to me, further back puts more and more runners in view as it seems to expand out from me in the center. But then I’m not the center. I am an unidentifiable part of a mass of runners, all moving along the same path like a line of ants.

This is the music from Thor, so I see Thor & the warriors three racing on horses across the rainbow bridge.  Flying between realms, speeding across space on the bifrost, I picture a hammer summoning lightning from the sky then pounding on the ground with enough force to make ripples in the earth like throwing a rock in a pond.  He confronts the enemy and even though it doesn’t always go as planned or easily, Thor fights through pain, adversity, and horrible odds to ultimately triumph. I can do that.

 

I zoom back in on me.  Imagery and music mean everything here. My view of the race. The music becomes part of my drive. Breaths are deeper and strides stronger. There's no stopping. This is heroic. The wind brings the snow in sharply from the north and swirls it around making a cloud moving down on us. The combined breath of the runners creates a haze moving up from the ground. Mixed with the cloud this breathy snow fog  picks up and amplifies the Christmas lights of the houses along the block and the red flashing lights of the police cars lining the route. The nighttime darkness above and a ruddy glow from below are the environment for my struggle. There are 1,000 people in front of me and 1,000 people behind me. The music pounds, sings, and inspires as I start to pass more than pass me.

 

Fighting the urge to walk and fighting to reach and pass the next person on my horizon feels every bit as heroic as anything the Avengers ever did on film. Moving along Cayuga Street past blocks of beautifully maintained Queen Anne and Victorian style houses, I hit a groove. Running down and around the right turn lane on to Main Street gives a boost that feels like I'm using the gravity of some heavenly body to catapult me to points beyond. With that last stretch lined with fans, well-wishers, and a town decked out in Christmas lights, I'm home.