Monday, July 23, 2012

9.8 miles: Running for the Love and the Test

Here's a beautiful line about running that absolutely melted my heart, and my legs:

Their strides opened up, their lungs gasped for air, and their legs burned. They were finding their limits and exceeding them with every step. They were testing themselves and discovering they were up to the challenge. They were running with free souls.

Because that's what running is all about.  Running free.  Disconnected from the artificial world man has created to dominate and placate Nature--and consequently, himself.

But we are free.  When we run, it's a space apart from our day.  It's the extra.  The part of ourselves we can't show to anyone else.

Our freedom:
I set out to find out how much pain I could endure, how much I was willing to give. Like the others around me, I wanted to know what would happen if I let go of all the constraints I normally place on myself. I wanted to know-no, I needed to know-if I could push past my own demons.

And so I ran the fastest mile of my life. World-record pace? Hardly. It wasn't even very fast for my age-group. But it was fast for me. It proved to me that I have the spirit, if not the body, of a champion. 

That's what we all discovered on that track. We discovered the truth in Pre's admonition to accept only our very best. We discovered that our best sometimes resides deep inside of ourselves, in remote parts of our souls. 

And we discovered that it is only by releasing ourselves from our self-imposed limits that we can finally see the power and beauty of the runner inside each of us. 
...
"The miracle isn't that I finished . . . The miracle is that I had the courage to start."

No comments:

Post a Comment