its in the feeling

every year, i set out on a challenging physical activity. for many years i mountain climbed, then last year i climbed and i ran a 1/2 marathon. this year i am bicycling. as i set out on this year's journey, i came to realize the diversity of the activities i pick. i realized that i am not attached to any one of these activities ... i am going for the experience of what these activities do to me. i felt it for the first time on a sunny summer day in 2002. i was training to climb mt. rainier and was on a training hike to camp muir. it was 2 hours into the climb, every pore of my body was beaded with sweat and my nose was being warmed by the heat of my breath. in those moments, i saw nothing more than the mountain, i felt nothing more than the fatigue in my body, i heard nothing more than my own heartbeat and i thought absolutely nothing .... i felt like i could go on forever. it is the most meditative state i have known. and, it is that feeling i want to experience through any of these challenges i take up ....so the specific activity just doesnt matter ... its what it feels like that does ...