“Ampayman, Meg Jan. Let’s do it.”
Some of my friends describe the gym that they go to back home every week as their church. They say it’s like a watering hole; people gather there, build community, and worship life through exercise.
 |
| Talin 5K with my Dog |
Like the endorphins it produces, exercise emits a sort of sanctified sublimity and attracts people into community wherever it lives. My Peace Corps service in Armenia has been no exception to this phenomenon.
Last fall, for example, a good friend of mine named Hasmik asked me to train her because she wanted to climb Mt. Ararat (16,946 ft.) by the end of the summer. Hasmik had never trained seriously for anything before and her experience with fitness was fairly limited.
So we created a six-month training plan that included trekking down long river trails, scaling mountains, sprinting hill workouts, and pushing endurance runs on the track – dodging haystacks, snow, and plenty of cattle pies along the way.
I’ve never been in better shape in my life. More importantly, Hasmik was second in her group to reach Mt. Ararat in August with suprisingly little chaffing, barely sore muscles, and tremendous success.
Anywhere you step foot outside your door in small-town Sisian, Armenia, you can point to a new mountain you’d like to climb and proceed with the ascension without seeing another soul for miles. The lakeside views, mountain chains, and wide-open landscape is ideal terrain for any adventure runner/fitness fiend.
 |
| Hasmik Atop Mt. Ararat |
Running hoisted Hasmik to the top of Noah's Biblical mountain, solidified our friendship, and attracted the attention of many curious Armenians as well. Women in this community rarely exercise, especially during the day, so to see two crazy “aghcheekner” plus a dog jogging through the muddy swamps (roads) of Sisian is quite an anomaly.
Throughout our training, we’ve accumulated several canine companions, a beautiful athletic family of new friends, plenty of offers to come in for tea or hop in someone’s car to avoid the heat/cold, and lots of awkward stares.
But running bridges cultural gaps because it connects our bodies to something real and euphoric – something that transcends the frivolity of language and culture. Hasmik and I connect through strides when we trudge through a snowy field or release our legs to tumble ourselves down a mountain. No words needed.
Exercise is like church for me because it directs our attention to greatness and liberates us, if only for a workout, from the monotony of triviality. It chizzles the fat from our bodies and the excess from our minds.
Hasmik and my experience in Armenia remind me that exercise invites community and disciplines our minds and bodies to create better people for a better world.
As long as I have my sneakers, then, I’ll never run out of ways to create meaningful relationships and celebrate life in a brand new community.
Gnatsek vaselu (Go out and run)!
