While on vacation, I took a few moments to check in on the blogosphere. On Running & Rambling, Donald posted about Vibram’s Grip Your World contest. I was jazzed and, with one day left before the contest deadline, I trekked out with my own Vibram’s to create my own entry for the contest.

Well, I did a little hiking out in Squamish, British Columbia wearing my five fingered (or toed rather) footwear, took a few pictures along the way, and promptly forgot about the contest until it was too late. I’m not sure that it matters much anyway.

My grip-your-world perspective, though wonderful in my own mind, is probably not exactly what they were looking for. None-the-less, I shared it with them anyway — AFTER the deadline.

I do love my Vibram’s.  I love the way they provide a heightened awareness of the world beneath my feet. While wearing them, I feel more grounded and in touch with the earth. But that’s not what I wrote about.

I wrote about how running (in general) is how I deal with the feeling of my world slipping away from me, how running reminds me that life is good and to hang on to it — to “grip my world.”

It’s not profound but, for me, it works.

Vibram’s Grip Your World site is still taking entries.  The contest, however, is over.  Whether you entered the contest or are only now pondering the question, how do YOU grip your world?  Do tell.

While swimming laps, I glanced over to the next lane just as another swimmer glided past. Moving through the water appeared to be effortless. I watched him flip turn at the wall and come back in my direction. I turned away and resumed my focus on the pulls until he was far enough ahead to not notice my attention.

At the wall, I fumbled with a wall turn. I silently cursed the hand paddles and leg buoy and hoped the guy in the next lane didn’t see.

As I continued to observe, I found it clear that 100’s were going on in the lane beside me. The guy stopped at the wall for a short while before resuming his workout. As I stopped to drop my paddles and buoy, I was relieved to see that he was staring at the clock. Whew!

I gulped down a few sips of gatorade and pondered the next part of my workout. I was inspired by this guy’s focus. Taking a big breath, I glanced over at the clock and pushed off just as he was approaching. Doing my best to focus on my own stroke, I began psyching myself up for a flip-turn attempt. I quit doing them some time ago when I was failing to get over nicely.

Gasp, stroke, stroke, turn, push. Not great, but not too bad. I pushed off and continued on picking up speed as I went. Before long, I was at the other wall. Psych, gasp, stroke, stroke, funky turn. Oh shoot, where is the wall? The guy in the next lane was approaching quickly. I found the wall and pushed off. I wondered if he saw my feeble attempt at turning.

The good part, was that no matter what that thing at the wall was, I somehow managed to push off and continue on with my workout. I decided to let it go as long as I could find the wall and resume my stroke. I continued on, sometimes flipping, often times flopping.

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