"Believe that you can run farther or faster. Believe that you're young enough, old enough, strong enough, and so on to accomplish everything you want to do. Don't let worn out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself." John Bingham, running speaker and writer
While checking out what was on YouTube, I ran across this trailer of The Spirit of the Marathon--you can watch the full version here. As I was watching, I began tearing up. The movie wasn't just focused on the elites, there were ordinary people being interviewed. Ordinary like you and me--unless you are an elite runner. I wondered then why this moved me to tears. Was it because these ordinary people became extraordinary as a result of running a marathon? Was it because they had to face and surmount their fears? Was it because they proved their limitations wrong? Or was it because I know how painful running 26.2 miles can be? Yes to all of these. With two weeks (I started writing this on the 13th of September) left before the Montréal Marathon, it's my emotions, my spirit, that are becoming more and more sensitive and vulnerable.
What brought me to run my first marathon distance? One simple word: No. It seemed to me that as I was growing up, the word "no" was used quite a lot. No, don't do that. No, you can't do that. No, you aren't that. I wanted to prove to myself, but mostly to that voice in my head from childhood, that I can do this, that I can run 26.2 miles. At that time, I was a beginner runner, but I had entered in 5k, 8k, 10k and even 15k races. Like most runners who have run those distances, the thought of running a marathon have surely crossed their minds, as it did mine.
But I keep coming back to the 26.2 mile (42 kilometer) race distance. Why? Is it to push back the "no" that keeps coming back on a regular basis? I've read a moving article about this although I wasn't able to find it; otherwise, I would've linked it here on this blog. A week has gone by since I've touched this blog. I just felt a block in my writing, and I wanted to finish this blog before the marathon. So this morning, one week before the marathon now, I asked myself, "Why, Joel? Why do you keep coming back to the marathon?" As luck would have it, I found a piece of that answer from an e-mail from a fellow athlete: "Being a mindful athlete is a humbling experience..."
A humbling experience. The marathon shows me my weaknesses. It shows me where I skimped on my training. The marathon, likewise, shows me my strengths. It rewards me by pushing myself beyond my limits. In a very deep sense, the marathon is a spiritual experience. My runs are my meditation. My breathing is my prayer.
When I cross the finish line of a marathon, I am not the same person when I crossed the start line. This is why the marathon has such an emotional effect on me. Each marathon participant, I know, has changed in some way. Each marathon participant has moved beyond themselves.
While checking out what was on YouTube, I ran across this trailer of The Spirit of the Marathon--you can watch the full version here. As I was watching, I began tearing up. The movie wasn't just focused on the elites, there were ordinary people being interviewed. Ordinary like you and me--unless you are an elite runner. I wondered then why this moved me to tears. Was it because these ordinary people became extraordinary as a result of running a marathon? Was it because they had to face and surmount their fears? Was it because they proved their limitations wrong? Or was it because I know how painful running 26.2 miles can be? Yes to all of these. With two weeks (I started writing this on the 13th of September) left before the Montréal Marathon, it's my emotions, my spirit, that are becoming more and more sensitive and vulnerable.
What brought me to run my first marathon distance? One simple word: No. It seemed to me that as I was growing up, the word "no" was used quite a lot. No, don't do that. No, you can't do that. No, you aren't that. I wanted to prove to myself, but mostly to that voice in my head from childhood, that I can do this, that I can run 26.2 miles. At that time, I was a beginner runner, but I had entered in 5k, 8k, 10k and even 15k races. Like most runners who have run those distances, the thought of running a marathon have surely crossed their minds, as it did mine.
But I keep coming back to the 26.2 mile (42 kilometer) race distance. Why? Is it to push back the "no" that keeps coming back on a regular basis? I've read a moving article about this although I wasn't able to find it; otherwise, I would've linked it here on this blog. A week has gone by since I've touched this blog. I just felt a block in my writing, and I wanted to finish this blog before the marathon. So this morning, one week before the marathon now, I asked myself, "Why, Joel? Why do you keep coming back to the marathon?" As luck would have it, I found a piece of that answer from an e-mail from a fellow athlete: "Being a mindful athlete is a humbling experience..."
A humbling experience. The marathon shows me my weaknesses. It shows me where I skimped on my training. The marathon, likewise, shows me my strengths. It rewards me by pushing myself beyond my limits. In a very deep sense, the marathon is a spiritual experience. My runs are my meditation. My breathing is my prayer.
When I cross the finish line of a marathon, I am not the same person when I crossed the start line. This is why the marathon has such an emotional effect on me. Each marathon participant, I know, has changed in some way. Each marathon participant has moved beyond themselves.
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