The Skydiving Brunette

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”

“She liked to tell them that running huge miles in the mountains was ‘very romantic.‘ Gotcha. Grueling, grimy, muddy, bloody, lonely trail-running equals moonlight and champagne. But yeah, Ann insisted, running was romantic; and no, of course her friends didn’t get it because they’d never broken through. For them, running was a miserable two miles motivated solely by size 6 jeans: get on the scale, get depressed, get your headphones on, and get it over with. But you can’t muscle through a five-hour run that way; you have to relax into it, like easing your body into a hot bath, until it no longer resists the shock and begins to enjoy it. Relax enough, and your body becomes so familiar with the cradle-rocking rhythm that you almost forget you’re moving. And once you break through that soft, half-levitating flow, that’s when the moonlight and champagne show up.”

“I live my life based on two principles. One, I live as if today was my last day on earth. Two, I live today as if I am going to live forever.”