Of Hummers and Hummingbirds
For those new to Run DMZ, I spent a lot of time last summer at the gym, a gym for U.S. Marines, while healing from a fractured hip and ankle. Once well, I dropped off and only recently returned to make myself better again. This time, to mend my broken spirit.
Not a lot of conversation takes place here and what does focuses exclusively on fitness. No one discusses their jobs or their families but they will smile or at least nod if you happen to briefly lock eyes. I try to go at the same time weekdays, between lunchtime PT and the late afternoon rush. Mr. GQ is back from Iraq, looking thinner and not smiling as much. I haven’t seen the Terrorist Instructor, so he may be over there now. Nor have I noticed a fellow Hokie from Lynchburg (Class of ’88), who always wore his Virginia Tech shirt and who was deployed when the shootings took place. He should be back by now, so I’m hoping he’s moved, extended his orders or is on a well-deserved vacation because the other option is too sad for me to consider.
There is a lot of posted literature right now about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and especially how to relax. My own issues do not even register on the scale of what these men and women have been through, but I imagine as we silently work through bench-press reps and Lifecycle rotations that we are all thinking of a sun-soaked beach or dewy forest or gurgling stream. Yesterday, I thought of this dance performance when I found my mind meandering into a darkened alley. For me, for now, it works.
Not a lot of conversation takes place here and what does focuses exclusively on fitness. No one discusses their jobs or their families but they will smile or at least nod if you happen to briefly lock eyes. I try to go at the same time weekdays, between lunchtime PT and the late afternoon rush. Mr. GQ is back from Iraq, looking thinner and not smiling as much. I haven’t seen the Terrorist Instructor, so he may be over there now. Nor have I noticed a fellow Hokie from Lynchburg (Class of ’88), who always wore his Virginia Tech shirt and who was deployed when the shootings took place. He should be back by now, so I’m hoping he’s moved, extended his orders or is on a well-deserved vacation because the other option is too sad for me to consider.
There is a lot of posted literature right now about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and especially how to relax. My own issues do not even register on the scale of what these men and women have been through, but I imagine as we silently work through bench-press reps and Lifecycle rotations that we are all thinking of a sun-soaked beach or dewy forest or gurgling stream. Yesterday, I thought of this dance performance when I found my mind meandering into a darkened alley. For me, for now, it works.
