Markers

There is a sign in Eugene, next to the Ruth Bascom Riverbank Trail, that indicates the start of the Eugene to PCT trail.  It simply states Waldo Lake 104 miles.  A simple sign with no correlation to most folk who pass it.  It is like the ones on I-5 stating Albany 24 miles.  We pass these markers by regularly without noting their significance. 


Who cares that Waldo Lake is 104 miles away when you are out for a morning run or walk along the river or trying to get to work on time by bicycle?  How many times though have folks passed that sign and wondered, even if briefly, what it would be like to travel that distance to Waldo Lake by foot or bike.  It offers an option we would otherwise not know we had.

Last Saturday I went into the woods with a fellow ultra runner.  We have run together and talked exactly twice.  Last year on the same Saturday and this year.  We started at about 7:10 and went for a nice 6 mile run/walk over a couple of significant climbs while marking a path for others to follow.  We finished where we started and began greeting our fellow runners. 

A marker is more than a marker in the long run.  The first day of school marks the beginning of a long journey through the ritual of becoming a productive member of society by learning to jump through hoops and sit in a cubicle while playing nicely with pencils or it is the beginning of a ritualized structure in which learning is discovered and shared.  A road sign can be the indicator you have longed for that the journey is over or that it has just begun.  We get to choose what markers mean for us, and we do not all have to choose the same meanings.  There are days when the run marks that I have completed a number of miles, days when the run indicates a great deal of growth in my running, and days when it marks that I have learned something valuable about myself or the cosmos.

Today I removed markers from the trail.  I did not do so alone.  Today I got to share a solemn ceremony with my daughters.  The ritual was complete for another year.  At 6 my girls are in school for the first time.  They know the rhythms of the seasons, the calendar and running.  They have raced on the track at Hayward Field, run with us on trails, crewed for us at marathons and ultras, and now they have participated in the process of removing markers.  Two years ago one of my daughters helped me remove markers from a portion of the trail and has talked about the ribbon run on occasion ever since.

Why should we remove markers?  At times it is important to find the path on your own.  To venture into what is unmarked territory - either by others or yourself.  In those unknown spaces outside the structure of civilized society is a place of great knowledge and power.  For knowledge is power, and hard earned knowledge through self discovery is the most powerful knowledge of all.  In this case it was to leave the trail in the condition we found it other than a few extra footprints in the mud.

My girls gathered those markers and marked their room.  Ribbons were tide end to end and draped with great care over their bunk bed.  They somehow knew that the ribbons have power.  It was a prize, hard earned by their own efforts to tackle those hills and bring home a trophy. 


We were offered sunshine, old man's beard, fern fronds, pine cones, mud, moss, smiles, long runnable downhills and the chance to spend quality time together. 


Markers. 

Today I mark as a great day!  It was great because I got to spend it in such a meaningful way with both of my daughters.