by Micah McKamie
Part of my morning routine is to immediately get up when I open my eyes, wake and bake, and get a good outside workout in before the day begins. This had not happened in a few days due to the weather and I was starting to feel a little cooped up. That particular morning I had been smoking an amazing Sativa from Troy Buds called Pure Power Plant, which had zipped me up pretty well, I was starting to really get the pushy effects. I was pumped up!!! So, I decided to brave the temperatures, get some fresh air, and some relief from my inner turmoil that was developing. I fixed my sunglasses, took a puff from my pen, and stepped into the snowy streets.
My entire life had been spent in Oklahoma and Texas up until the Army, and I had never seen actual snow on the ground in the Pan-Handle state. We have always had dustings and ice storms, but this was fluffy arctic snow. I had encountered this type of snow before when I was stationed at Ft. Drum, NY and this reminded me of that soft, but compact snow, and is so cold it moved like sand. I knew that this was not going to be an easy run due to my experience in these types of elements, however, I knew how necessary it was to get outside for my mental health.
I zipped up my jacket, set Pandora to my “Runner’s High” playlist. I could feel my medication starting to kick in. Now, one of the strange things you have to get used to with Training Through Terps is the heavy effect of some of the cannabis products we use. These effects, though manageable, have the ability to completely derail your workout. You will need to be patient with the process and open to adjusting your focus for that day’s fitness routine. Go in knowing that tenacity and determination are key to the success of this program. You will have to show some drive to make this work.
There is nothing easy about changing your lifestyle. However, most things in life worth doing aren’t simple. While Sativa strains can enhance your workouts, the high THC found in these strains can sit you down quickly and make you lose track of your focus at that time. The key is not giving up. I have found that a heavy Sativa high will subside quickly thus leaving you with an outrageous amount of energy that can be harnessed for your workouts, it just takes a few minutes to get your head out of the clouds and back into the focus at hand.
As I headed north towards Downtown Bethany, I began utilizing a meditative state to keep my focus and to “drone” through my workout. I put my body on autopilot and really focused on the things going on in my life and how I could navigate them. Who and what are causing me to feel the way that I am and how can I go about navigating this issue? This kind of process is a key aspect in my mental health and allows me to process things in a healthy manner, one that PTSD and ADHD don’t always allow.
The biggest issue this morning was that although I was feeling better, the ball of gross energy that felt like a panic attack coming on was not going away. I started wondering why I was out there and if this was even worth the time. I am never one to quit so, I summoned my focus, regained my meditative state and kept going.
By the time I reached Southern Nazarene University, my beard and eyelashes are sufficiently crowned with icy accouterments. I could see myself in the shop windows. I looked like an insane person running in that much snow, when it was that cold. As I rounded the corner onto 39th, I let out a sigh of relief. The sidewalk was clear!!! Up until that point, I had kept about a 9-minute pace due to the lack of traction. Now, I had finally found an area I could really open up.
I grabbed my pen, took a few huge rips, and proceeded to do a series of sprints that destroyed the growing panic attack energy inside. As I finished my workout-within-a-workout, the snow really started to come down. I turned towards home. I had barely realized it, but pretty much everyone had retreated indoors and I was left with just the sounds of Crozet to keep me company. I have always loved the way the world gets so quiet when it snows, and now that I had gotten the nasty feelings out I really began to enjoy the entirety of my run. It was so quiet. The snowflakes and clouds created a blanket to muffle the bustling sounds of the city around me.
As I finished up my route and trotted into the driveway, I felt a sense of accomplishment. It wasn’t the 5 miles that felt so good, or the fact that I did it in a subzero winter wonderland, it was that I had actually had some major mental breakthroughs on my run. Things that had haunted me for years had come to the forefront on this dredge through snow and ice. After to my running introspection, I was mentally prepared for what the universe had in store for me and in no way doubted my abilities. I walked up to the doorand I looked back North, where I had come from, reveling in the feeling that I had set out dreading this run yet ended up grateful for the experience.
I unlocked my door, headed to the kitchen table for my normal post-workout smoke and shake. I had this overwhelming feeling of being grateful. The universe had provided the perfect elements for my healing. Even though I didn’t see it at first, the holy trinity of marijuana, music, and moxie took what could have been horribly emotional day and a lost workout, and turned it into one of the most healing experiences of my life. I only needed the aspects of cannabis and a strong will to capitalize on it.
Training Through Terps is not just about the physical aspects of your fitness. It is giving you a bulletproof mindset. You find your clean motivation to not only complete your workouts at a high level, but it allows for you to live a happy healthy life past the traumas and issues you have had in the past. It is High time that we stop accepting what society tells us about cannabis and start expecting more from our weed.
