ChiRunning

Never Done: I was introduced to ChiRunning

I had a late night phone date with Kathleen to talk about our upcoming trip to Berlin (whoa, in just over 2 weeks.) For those of you who do not know, we are going to Berlin as part of Kathleen's journey to build relationships with people who were directly involved with the murder of her brother, Eddie Pimental, in 1985. He was murdered by members of the Red Army Faction, a leftist, anti-imperialist organization in Germany, when he was 20 years old. Kathleen wants to meet the people connected to his murder in friendship, and learn more about how her brother's death has affected them. She is doing this because, in her words, whenever people connect after acts of violence, we inch closer to a more peaceful world.

We went over a list of all the stuff she still needs to do before leaving and what I can do to support her (my job is to support her) and who we will be meeting with and who we still need to try to get meetings with and how to speak better German in two weeks and what kind of cultural stuff to do while there and what to do for peysakh since we'll be there on the first and second seders and whether it's OK to wear jeans or if I should bring slacks also just a lot about what she's trying to accomplish, and who might be able to help her accomplish it. For me, it's all a ginourmous learning curve. I write down every name Kathleen says, and try to remember if I've already heard that name, and if so, if I can remember who that person is. I don't actually know German, so I don't always spell the names correctly, and so when I go to look them up, I get to de-code the language and culture. I am trying not to worry about all the stuff I don't know, and to just stay steady about why Kathleen asked me to do this: I've known her for 20 years now; I've seen her through huge transitions in that time; and I believe in her.

More than anyone I know, Kathleen sets goals for herself and then sets out to accomplish them. She is diligent and patient and focused and realistic and hard working and (are there maybe a few more mides (middot) she embodies?) humble, calm, and honest. What it comes down to, is that Kathleen is not a drama queen. And to demonstrate it, last night, after we had spoken about everything we could think of, she asked me, "What will you need on this trip?" What a lovely question to ask of the person who is going there to support her! I told her I could really only think of three things. 1) enough sleep, 2) time to blog, and 3) time to train for the triathlon as much as possible. And that's when she told me that she's started running, and that she's been learning something called ChiRunning -- a running technique specifically geared to reducing and preventing injury, and to "transform injuries into wisdom." I love that! I want to transform my injuries into wisdom!

So after we got off the phone, I went to the ChiRunning website, and started to poke around. I was intrigued right away that they don't recommend lifting your knees up high when running, which is the first thing I learned from my new running coach, and which felt horrible on my messed-up knee. But most of all, I was intrigued that the technique comes from a place of gravity and core strength, and I had such a strong sense that it's going to be useful to me that I ordered the book and DVD. Who would have ever thought that when I said "yes" to Kathleen's invitation to go to Berlin that it would bring me to a new running technique? We really never know where life is going to take us.