Theodore Roethke's "In A Dark Time" has been food for my soul these past couple of months, first as I faced challenges at work, now as I heal post foot surgery. Kirk Johnson introduced the poem to me through his book to the Edge - since then I've revisited often to eat, chewing slowly on lines affirming Roethke's understanding of our runner brains.

When we take to the trails, the track, the roads for long runs free of iPods and MP3players we come face to face with ourselves, "meet[ing our] shadow[s] inthe deepening shade; hear[ing our] echo in the echoing wood". How many of us have been considered Mad or Crazy? Roethke asks "What's madness but nobility of soul at odds with circumstance?" He later adds "a man goes far to find out what he is." Isn't that what we take away from our runs? Beyond time and distance, places in races, we meet ourselves and find out who we are. Through the long runs, a moving meditation, "The mind enters itself, and God the mind, and one is One, free in the tearing wind."

Right now I'm a healing bird who dreams of learning to fly. Dropping the weight that I've accumulated since college and taking flight again.

Metaphorically I have a broken wing. My foot is on the mend post bunion surgery and I'm wondering if I'll recover in time for a 100 miler in June. Only time will tell.