Some dreams actually hurt. For example, there’s the recurring one where I’m running on the beach. It’s a beach from my childhood summers in Gloucester, Massachusetts; a beach that, in my memory, shines as an image of alluring mystery; of joy and discovery: Good Harbor Beach. There’s a long, gently curving stretch of pale sand; a scatter of rocky islands that seem to float on an incoming tide; the twin lighthouses of Thacher’s reef rising from the waves to the northeast.

In my dream, I head out for a run from my home in the Vermont mountains; a run through woods or meadow or brick-built downtown. Then I turn a corner and my heart takes a leap of joy inside me: I’m all of a sudden on Good Harbor beach. The sense of happiness, of being truly “home”, is vivid, even through the filter of dreaming.

And that sense still lingers when I awaken to realize that it was only a dream, that Good Harbor Beach is nearly two-hundred miles away; that in reality I won’t turn a corner and find myself there when I head out for a run today.
So maybe it’s not exactly the dream that hurts. It’s the waking up.

I began running for fitness at the age of fifteen. That was over thirty years ago, and, as might be expected, my running has changed, just as I have, over the years. From fitness training, through road racing, to long endurance and exploration runs on wooded trails, my running has evolved into a moving meditation, a way to connect with my deeper self, and with the history and geography of the world I run through. Often when I run, my head and heart and energy systems seem to work together better than they do at any other time in my day.

A few years ago, after a four-month period of particularly intense effort in my life, I decided to give myself the gift of a return--to run-- to Gloucester. I had no agenda other than to run on the beach, to look at the Atlantic, maybe take some time to peruse the canvases of New England marine painter Fitz Henry Lane on display at the Cape Ann Historical Museum. Knowing full well of Gloucester’s fabled past as America’s premier fishing port, I had a pretty good idea that by running in Gloucester I would once again be running through history and geography.

What caught me by surprise, though, was that, for the first time, the geography and history I ran through and into would be my own .... (more)

This is a guest post by Kevin Macneil Brown  (read the whole article)

(This piece appeared, in slightly different form, in NEW ENGLAND RUNNER magazine.)

 image homage to Fitz Henry Lane, painting by Kevin Macneil Brown, acrylic on canvas, 2009

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How do you promote being fit/athletic without the need for your child to be a star athlete?

Here’s a question I received from my daughter:

“I find in the kid soccer world  that there is a lot of pressure to be a star athlete (this is a primary reason I've stayed away from our town's little league) -- every parent knows who are the really good players -- and also who aren't.  As my son (8) is one of the middle range players, my fear is that this will turn him off to sports and fitness.  He is already saying that he's not that great at sports... how can we instill the love of exercise as fun -- even in a team setting?   Is this better done in other countries ?”

Suggestions?   What has worked for you?  Please comment