Heart Athletics

The heart is figuratively as much of a muscle as it is literally. In the span of a lifetime the heart goes through a similar journey as that of an athlete. Of course, not all of us are athletes (myself included in this category), just as not all of us are heart-athletes (a category which I definitely fit in to). As I near the finish line of my personal heart marathon, I am looking back on what my heart has been through over the past year…

To begin, the image of my heart as an athlete came to me the other night in a moment of clarity; today my heart feels stronger, fuller, and if possible, bigger. Two years ago, my heart was akin to a 90-pound weakling that had sand kicked at it’s face on the beach. Injured and seriously out of shape, my heart was also doing the emotional equivalent of spending every day at home eating snacks on the couch while watching daytime TV.

When I met Gio over one year ago, my heart was, at first, comically reluctant to get back into shape. It had been using the equivalent of serious, but healed, sports injury as an excuse to never get off the couch again. It was also very nervous about falling flat on it’s face again and wanted to avoid such embarrassment.  Gio took it upon himself start off as my personal heart trainer, not fully realizing at first that he chose a reluctant couch-potato as his client. However, he was committed to getting my heart back in shape and he never gave up. As with any personal trainer, the key is “demonstrate and motivate!”

Gio’s perseverance paid off and my heart started to make some progress. Actually, after the typical resistance to any new regime, my heart started to really enjoy stretching it’s legs. This new routine was unlike any other exercise my heart had tried before. Soon, my heart was craving the chemicals produced by heart-athletics just as athletes start to crave the endorphins of exercise.

Fully addicted to the rush of falling in love, my heart was able to stand a mini-marathon in July when Gio and I were apart for a month while I was working France. It was a good test to see if we were up to the challenge that was soon to befall us. Together again in August, my heart was able to stretch, grab a glass of water and recharge before the real marathon began.

September came and we tried to start off on a steady pace with our hearts running the same route thousands of kilometers apart. The terrain was new and my heart was unstable and a bit off balance, especially after the first leg. Unable to bear the whole first leg of the run, I took a shortcut by going to Italy in October. Sometimes shortcuts are necessary and in this case, it was the wisest decision possible. In December we had our official half-way break and enjoyed the success of having made it thus far. Since then, we have had 101 days of marathon-distance to tackle. It hasn’t been easy, but the finish line is tantalizingly close. I can taste the victory already… I feel joyous and exalted for having made it. It is a true feat and I am very proud. My heart is pumping so hard and it feels about ready to burst. I’ve never felt my heart so strong, yet in such need of a good rest.

Not every heart needs to go through this, just as not everyone needs to run a marathon to be a healthy person. But the heart does need regular exercise and it needs to be healthy to take on any huge project. Perhaps heart-yoga is a good way to ease into things, for those who are alone or not up for a strenuous run. However, the end of one race doesn’t mean the end of running. It’s easy to slip out of shape without regular practice. Old age or complacence is certainly no excuse. Once a routine gets boring or uninspired, it’s time to change the route, whatever that may mean. I am officially retiring from marathon heart-runs next week, but I am excited to see what sort of exercise Italy will force my heart to adapt to. Hopefully it will be something a little less strenuous and instead something with a lot of patience and care. Such as tai chi.  

Please feel free to make comments at the end of my postings – I would love to hear other people’s opinions or experiences about anything I bring up!