I’m a runner.  I ran in high school for a short period of time when I was going to Monterey High School.  I went to 4 different high schools growing up so it was hard to get into anything for long enough to figure it all out.  I remember wearing Reeboks, having shin splints, and having to soak my shins in an ice bath.  The rest of the team would be running to Lover’s Point for a 7 mile run.  I was trying to learn how to deal with the pain.  There was not a coach that I connected with, no friends to give me pointers–perhaps about the right kind of shoes, and really no mentor.  So at that point I decided that running was not fun, it was painful, and I just didn’t get it.

Flash forward to me at 29.  I had a 2 year old kid.  I was in school for my first degree at the University of Arkansas.  I was standing at the top of The Hill–UofA is also known as The Hill because it is on a huge hill–contemplating whether to wait for the bus or run the 2 miles down the hill to my house.  I ran, backpack and all.  That was the first time I ever experienced the exhileration that comes only from running.

Endorphins are amazing.  I can swim, bike, lift weights–no other sport gives me the same ‘high’ that running does.

I run for my mental health.  In the winter time I get SAD if I don’t keep my cardio up.  I run when I’m just normally sad.  I have sobbed and wailed through many a run, grieving the many losses that come with this hard life we live.  It has helped me to process those losses.  I run when I’m angry or agitated with a situation (this is not a frequent occurrence, but it does happen), or when I’m just feeling pent up, or like I have an excess of energy and I need to blow off steam.  I run to increase my happiness and sense of accomplishment.  Sometimes I feel like, ‘if I can run 7 miles, man, I can handle anything today.’

I run for my physical health.  My heart is happy I’m running, my lungs-especially in the wintertime-feel so expansive after a run, my endurance gets better the more I run.  Physically, I’m in better shape because I run.

Sometimes I run for the community of it.  I keep thinking I need to get out and ‘find my tribe.’  Part of me is a little intimidated about running with people.  I’m not super competitive with my running.  I stop and take pictures, catch my breath and walk if I want.  I’m afraid I might be a bad running companion for others.  Part of me is downright selfish about my running headspace and not really wanting to share that with others.  It’s my flow, man.  Don’t mess with my flow.  If somebody else is there then it will be ‘our flow.’  I’m not sure I’m down for that.  I should try it I’m sure.  Maybe if I find my running tribe it will elevate my flow.

I run because trail running in the woods is beautiful and rejuvenating, and you never know what you will see.

I run for the practice.  Running is a practice for me, like yoga or meditation.  It is the practice of actively getting out of my comfort zone and overcoming.  It is doing something because it is hard.  It is being uncomfortable in order to feel better.  It makes everything else so much easier.  It is going out in 90 degree weather, sweat dripping into my eyes and mouth, one foot in front of the other, with gratitude that these are the challenges that I get to work with from day to day.  It is going out in subfreezing temperatures that I abhor, welcoming that pain and discomfort with gratitude that I can still do this, that I can still conquer this and forget about the cold and discomfort in the middle of it all.

I am actively trying to diversify my exercise routine, do more swimming (I suck at swimming), more cycling.  It might be easier for me to find my tribe with cycling.  I’m not so stuck in my ways.

Ultimately, I run because it makes me feel alive.  We only get the chance to be on the planet for a short while.  I want to feel as good and alive as I can while I’m here, and running helps me do that.

Why do you run?  Or what practices do you have that help you?  And why do you do them?

Email to schedule an appt for a massage: imspa@hotmail.com

Wendy Finn is the mother of 4 boys, former owner of I.M. Spa, registered nurse at a hospital, Raw Food Enthusiast and educator, runner, world traveler in pursuit of superior massage education, a Master Massage Therapist of 25 plus years, a massage therapy educator, and a gardener.  She’s passionate about touching people and sharing health.

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Massage appointment times available March 23rd, 30th, April 6th, and 8th, 13th, and 20th.  Text 479-466-8294 to request an appointment or request an appointment through the Integrated Massage Facebook Page

I love my job as a nurse.  It’s another way of serving, and I have found that my life makes more sense when I am serving others.  Left to my own devices my brain becomes a treacherous self involved place.  There are a lot of things I don’t love about it, but some of the things I do love about it are my coworkers–I work with some amazing humans and I’m fortunate to be able to spend my days with them.  I love the patients.

Mostly I work with grouchy old dudes.  They are often cute and curmudgeonly.  I love it when I get to send them home after a bout with pneumonia, flu, or infection.  I especially love it when I get a patient who is open to taking responsibility for their health and they want to hear about food, meditation, and exercise.

Another thing I love about it is that it allows me to have large chunks of time off when I can create other things, be with friends, develop curriculum for teaching massage, take on a few massage clients, write.

Today is the first of 5 days off.  But there is soooo much I want to do!  I’m developing curriculum for continuing education classes, compiling information for writing a book, spending as much time as I can with my kids, repairing the siding on my house, helping my kid paint his bedroom, giving my kids massages, hanging out in the hot tub with them, training for a 25K, teaching a dance class.  There are so many things to do in this life.  I wish the days were longer.  I’m grateful for my job that lets me have time at home to play.

I’ve been doing massage on Fridays and some Sunday afternoons.  Usually the times fill right up, and often if there is a cancellation there is somebody waiting to take that spot.  I’m really grateful to be doing some massage now.  I’m especially grateful that my  children, even my adult children  still ask me for massage.  It’s pretty special.

Let me know if you want some time on the table.

There’s a young man doing a documentary on Dogpatch USA, a family amusement and theme park from the 70s and 80s that was based on the L’il Abner comic strip by Al Capp.  My brother, Rob, and I decided to go to an open call for interviews of people who had worked, or been involved with Dogpatch, and while the kind of information the interviewer was looking for seemed somewhat different from what we had to contribute, it was super fun to relive that time with my brother.

When we first started working at Marble Falls in Dogpatch, I was 10 years old.  It was 1980.  My dad gave me a guitar and told me to learn how to play it.  It wasn’t long before we were playing gigs together as a family.  At the time we were living in Low Gap, in between Ponca and Jasper, about a mile behind the Low Gap church down a dirt road.  We used to ride the bus to school and it took us an hour and a half each way.  That was part of the reason that our parents decided to home school us.  Too much time on the bus.

Our family was back-to-the-landers.  We bought 20 acres of land and proceeded to build an 11 sided log cabin by hand, with stone floors.  We loved it there. We didn’t have electricity, running water, or telephones.  My mom cooked every meal on a wood cookstove.  She gardened on a one acre garden and canned all of our food for the year.  We went to the store once a month for necessities, and tried to get by with what we had.  I think at one time I remember my dad saying that we lived on 1200 dollars a year.

My dad used to tell stories about taking the county road grader a case of beer in trade for dynamite that would help us blast past the rocks in our soon to be well.  Newton County was a dry county, meaning that it was illegal to sell beer there, and for as long as I can remember, there were several bootleggers where my dad went to get beer when he wanted it.

My mom and dad were musicians so it was natural for them to give us instruments and for us all to play together.  Sort of natural.  My dad was the task master who mandated that we practice so that we could excel at our music.  My mom played the bass, my brother played the fiddle, my dad played guitar, and I played guitar and mandolin.  We played old bluegrass songs and country songs.

At some point when I was almost 12 we moved to Possum Trot in Osage (Carroll County).  It’s a place best remembered by Frank Stamps’ store which still stands there today.  Frank has since passed on, but when we lived there in the early 80s we would go to Frank’s store where he would be with his white hair, tending shop with his 5 white dogs following him around everywhere he went.  We sometimes got to buy huge sandwiches there that he would make with his big meat and cheese slicer.  There were shelves and shelves of general store items, some of them covered in dust because product didn’t always move as fast as it did in more populated areas.  And in the winter time the wood stove in the middle of the store was surrounded by benches of old men chewing tobacco, whittling sticks, and telling tall tales.  It was a beautiful time.

When we first started working at Dogpatch we had a Volkswagen bug that we would load up with a bass, two guitars, a mandolin, a fiddle, and all of the sound equipment necessary to produce our show.  There were 4 of us.  It was an exercise in, how many elephants can you fit in an VW.

We performed 6 shows a day.  Every hour on the half hour.  I wore a black and white polka dot cancan dress.  Did I mention it was a summer gig in Arkansas.  There was a lot of asphalt and it was HOT.  My brother’s costume was red as was my dad’s and my mom also wore black.  In between shows I would run around the park, in and out of the character dressing areas, roller coaster rides, and arcades.  I remember riding a ride was a giant cylinder.  You stood against the wall and the centrifugal force would propel you against the wall as you spun deliriously in a circle, eventually the floor fell out.  I think if I rode that ride now I would puke my guts up, but then it was great fun.

Dogpatch was Daisy Mae and L’il Abner, costumed characters, and the Schmoo, hillbilly talking, goats on the roofs, and bluegrass music.  It was teenagers with summer jobs in the most beautiful place on earth.  It was a water slide and Ms. Pac Man when I didn’t have enough money to play arcade games.  It was roller coasters and slow train rides, waterfalls and trout farm.  It was music contests and Bill Monroe.  It was hours at home at night practicing with my family.  My brother with his self conscious slicked back hair and lack of a sense of humor.  My dad with his constant hope of hitting it big.  My mom working her butt off growing the food, cooking the food, canning the food, fixing everything, and at the end of the day singing and playing music.  Supporting.  Dogpatch was my first job.  I was 12.  I was a musician.  It was a different kind of existence.

My earnings at Dogpatch paid for my homeschooling books from Calvert.  It paid for my first braces on my very crooked teeth.  It was a sweet time.

This is the phone call we get over and over at the spa.  “I want to ask the acupuncturist some questions.”  We want to know if the needles hurt.  Is acupuncture recommended for pain, for endometriosis, for depression, for erectile dysfunction, for neuropathy, and for a million other ailments.  Can I receive acupuncture when I’m pregnant.

The answer is a resounding yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.  And no, the needles do not hurt.  They’re tiny.

In this New York Times article about bioelectronics, the author talks about getting the nervous system to heal itself, and that neuroscientists are learning how to hack into our nervous systems.

That is what acupuncture does.  And you can read Michael Behar’s behind the scenes interview about how Eastern Medicine practitioners have known this for 4,000 years.

Acupuncture works for so many things.  There is no way to know for sure if it will be the perfect thing for your body right now until you try it, and we would love to introduce you to the world of acupuncture.

Schedule an appointment at I.M. Spa: 479-251-7422

Wendy Finn is the mother of 4 boys, owner of I.M. Spa, a Raw Food Enthusiast and educator, a world traveler in pursuit of superior massage education, a Master Massage Therapist of 20 plus years, a gardener, and a nursing student.  She’s passionate about touching people and sharing health.  Schedule an appointment for a massage  479-251-7422