The Stickman Chronicles, Day 50

Has anyone ever had an out of body experience on the treadmill?

And no, I do not refer to collapsing beside it as the world spins around you, gazing up through the oxygen-debt-induced fog and begging Jesus to take you home.

I have again taken up meditation, nothing Buddhist - just relaxation techniques, and an attempt to stop my brain from thinking about all the stressful things that run through it 24/7.  Sometimes I sing to myself, or out loud if I'm alone in the gym.  Anything to stop the voice in my head.  No friends, I didn't say VOICES.  There's no one in there but me, and it's scary enough.

I got on the treadmill after my short workout, to do my ten minutes of cardio.  Sometimes I'll hold 5-pound dumbbells in my hands like a boxer, which for some reason makes my heart rate go through the roof.  I don't run, just a brisk walk on a solid incline, but if my heart rate tops 140, I'll dial it back a little and try to keep it there.

About three minutes in, the old ticker is pumping along, so I close my eyes and just tried to think of nothing.  For a while, I went through the details of my day, and future plans, things that make sense.  Then, somewhere in there, I started thinking of weird, random stuff.  The kind of things that a person dreams about and then wakes up and thinks, "Man, that was weird."  I was trying to chase a girl from high school who was riding a bicycle, when all I had was a skateboard.  I was driving a Hummer through my parents' backyard, trying to explain a rollover drill.  I was back on the helicopter again, riding back from a call and watching the sunset turn into night.  Nothing violent or disturbing, and my head is full of all sorts of that stuff buried deep down, and I would just as soon it stay there.  I'm talking about truly strange stuff that makes so sense.

It wasn't like sleeping while standing up either, because I have done that, too.

In milder states, it might be called a runner's high, and I have had that before.  The advantage is, it blocks out all the pain you should feel, so you can keep going.  This was nothing like that.  It was a deep meditative state, that almost felt like I took a cat-nap right through my 10 minutes of cardio.  When the timer went off, I snapped awake, which means that I wasn't quite awake the second before.

I have no idea exactly how I did this or why, but there it is in a nutshell. (Austin Powers:  "Why are we in this nutshell?")  Maybe that's an appropriate place for it, but all I know is, I felt GOOD.  Not sleepy, or even that relaxed.  Just good.  Wherever I was, I think I will try to get back there next time, and pay more attention to the road signs.