in touch in olympia

December 30, 2005

Yesterday afternoon was beyond anything I ever could've imagined. I went for a long run: down the hill on which we were staying, from one end of Olympia to the other, until I found myself on a footpath outside of town. As the forest around me got denser and more like a jungle, the path slowly vanished until it was nothing more than a soggy, muddy creekbed...nearly unpassable. Instead of running at a normal stride, I was running and leaping between the few small semi-dry spots left. All signs of civilization disappreared; there were no sounds, no people. A little further up, I came onto a well-travelled path alongside the main river in Olympia, the name of which I do not recall, though I remember it being filled with a light-colored mud and fast-moving. I began imagining how many people, athletes, had run in this area over the last 3,000 years. It was at the point that I saw what I was running alongside: on my right, not ten feet away, underneath vines and covered in thick moss was an enormous, ancient wall. Made of giant stone blocks, it was set back into the wall of the valley, holding the earth back. There were no ropes, no fences, no signs telling me not to touch...I don't know why I didn't. I imagined it, but didn't even consider actually doing it. I wish I knew why.

Finally the wall faded away back into the slopes, and I continued along the path alone. But it wasn't long until I reached just the place I didn't expect to be: just outside of the grounds where the very first Olympics took place in 776 b.c., marked now only by the ruins of the magnificant buildings that once stood there. I likely was running in the many footsteps of the thousands of great athletes who had run in the Olympics so long ago. I wonder, did somebody my age pass by there after running for miles to get there? Was he excited by the sound of the crowds coming from the stadium? Was he scared?

After the long, steep run back, I found a grassy spot overlooking the town to do some push-ups and stretch. It was just dusk, and the lights were coming on below me. I spent nearly 20 minutes stretching. And when I was finished, to my surprise, I sat down and cried for another ten.

The Olympic Stadium Entrance
Where I was running