Always inspiring to run in this city! Not only for the views but also for the community–stopped for a stretch and a chat with artist Nick Coley as he captured the city.
Returning home feels better than ever! (Except that maybe it always feels this good.) It’s a joy and a relief–a smooth season with no emergencies and a return to the sweet sanctuary of home. I buy blueberries and strawberries, cook quinoa and kale, reunite with friends, feel excited for new work. The distance and perspective and weeks in the mountains have been generously healing.
Coming from a more central latitude, I also return to luxuriously long summer days: still light near 9pm! (The sun sets in Nepal before 7pm, if not earlier due to the mountains.) I was out biking all over San Francisco on my first day back–to run errands, buy groceries, get a haircut, and then dance with friends at an outdoor party in Golden Gate Park. Easy pleasures of city life.
At some point biking back across town, I thought, “Wow, I’m surprised I’m not more tired from all this biking.” Then it dawned on me: I’m still acclimatized for high altitude. A surplus of red blood cells means I’m swallowing down great sweeping lungfuls of oxygen to feed my exertion. It’s rare that I return home quite so quickly after a double trip to Everest Base Camp, so I don’t normally have such a pronounced effect by the time I’m back home. As I realized what was happening, I immediately wanted to go for a run and see what happened. The next day, tired, jet-lagged, it didn’t matter: I ran uphill, hardly out of breath and looked out at the city before me, delighted to be home, to be strong, to be–in body and soul–better than ever!
Afternoon wine with friends–city pleasures.