Are you experiencing?

Gratuitous drugs and alcohol aside, Hendrix was on to something when he asked, "are you experienced?" Though I prefer to ask, "are you experiencing?"

"Will I live tomorrow? Well, I just can't say,
But I know for sure, I don't live today"

When I run with an i-pod, I tend to mull and ponder lyrics. And I dig music that touches on deeper matters (though don't get me wrong, a well-timed KISS or Van Halen song need not plum the depth to be just plain cool). My running buddy Jimi Hendrix has had a lot to say lately.

The above lyrics from "I don't live today," seem to sum up the way a whole lot of folks go through life--from home to office or cubicle to home to bed, get up, repeat, etc. That's a really scary proposition for me. If you don't decide how you want to live, someone else will be happy to lay everything out for you.

When I look at the last couple weeks for our Rise Up Runner crew though, I am encouraged and inspired--I realize that everyone here is strapped in to the roller coaster of cool stuff that life can show.

In one week's time, we had the first young'ens born to RUR peeps since we've been running together. Charlie and Pam's newest daughter Kate and Joel and Liz's newest girl Amelia were bookends to a packed week for them--and Charlie even managed to come back from his stress-fracture-induced layoff and join us for a morning run.

Mike Keene went out to Utah for his niece's graduation, spent time with family, and explored the beautiful trails, mountains, and people of the Wasatch Mountains. You can read about his trip on his blog.

And then there is this whole get up and run thing. The act of committing to running in the mornings; of deciding to extract yourself from bed when sane people are sleeping and experience your body and mind connecting with an activity that dates back to upright locomotion.

When you add to that getting out onto trails with scenery and varied terrain; when you add pushing yourself in a race to go farther or faster than you've ever gone; when you add coming up with creative ways to cover distance and connect with other people--when I get up to run, to do something I want to do for me because I am compelled to, then I know I have lived today.

Tomorrow morning, a number of us will head out to Tuckahoe State Park, and will explore our stomping grounds after a pelting, windy storm today. We'll return home from our run and spend time with families and see what else the day has. A question and an attitude I always want to keep sight of is a revised take on a Hendrix question, "am I experiencing?" Are you experiencing?