Rejuvenation in Boise

I have been in the United States since late June but I have been so exhausted I haven't posted a thing. I spent a few days in Boise, then a month in Texas and now I'm back in Boise until the 7th of August.  The rest has been fantastically nourishing for my body and my soul.

I wanted to make sure I was in Boise for at least one Saturday so I could run with the "running girls", and I got to do that today! A while back I wrote about the Scuba Squad, my amazing tribe in the UAE who taught me so much about being in relationship with other women, travelling with others and loving each other despite because of our differences.

The women I run with in Boise are equally amazing. I met most of them about the 3rd weekend I was living in Boise back in September of 2004. My then-husband was still in Montana fighting fire and I was living in the Extended Stay America on Vista by myself while our apartment was getting ready. I signed up for a race that the Forest Service used to put on called the Table Rock Challenge--9 miles total. We ran up to the top of Table Rock, got our picture taken with Smokey Bear then ran back down.

On the last few tenths of a mile of the race I passed a blonde woman who afterwards came up to me to say "good job".  This was totally a God thing because that doesn't always happen at races! As we talked I told her I was new to town and she invited me to run with her group of friends who ran every Saturday morning.

I ran with them the next Saturday (we did 11 miles and I thought I was going to die!!) and have been running with these women ever since! Need more evidence it was a God thing? I've have never seen the blonde woman since!

These women (and a few others not pictured today) have been with me through everything: depression, divorce, confusion, joy, moving abroad, injury, change.

And what I have really grown to appreciate about these women is this: we run together. That's our thing. We get to know each other while running. We get together for a Christmas party every year and sometimes go out for birthdays, but on the whole we have become close by consistently, Saturday after Saturday, getting together for runs. These are not women I call when I am having a come-apart in my daily life, but when we get together, no matter how much time has passed, we are emotionally present for each other. 

This is the first group of friends I really ever had and I use them to remind me how much I've grown over the years. At our first Sawtooth Relay a gazillion years ago I was so self-conscious and nervous I probably spent more energy on anxiety than on running! Over the years I have grown confident in myself and my place in this world and as I look back over the Saturdays and events we've done together I can see this confidence shine through more and more. 

Getting older isn't for the weak of heart but one of the benefits of having been on the planet for a while, and in the same place for a long time, is the intimacy that builds with the repetition of small conversations week after week, year after year. These women have become one of the foundational parts of my life that I do not miss when I come back to Boise.