Dreams Come Alive

I am reading and completely gripped by Dean Karnazes’ Ultra Marathon Man: Confessions of an All Night Runner. The book peers into the mind of an ultra endurance athlete and his attitude toward upping the ante. His vivid description of his experience in the Western States 100 was sublime, even tear jerking. At one point a Native American volunteer at a checkpoint offered this pearl of wisdom: “Pain is the body’s way of ridding itself of weakness.” Hmmm…I am still wrapping my head around that one. I do understand it on an intellectual level, but am attempting to comprehend it on an experience level.

It brings to mind my thought strategy during my previous marathon. Pain is only undesirable if we perceive it to be ‘bad’ and unwelcome. As long as we see it from that angle, our automatic position is that of avoidance. And when encountered, we focus our energies on discarding it, which simply increases our attention on it, hence amplifying our agony.

So at the marathon I approached the aches and pains as a sign that I was doing something right, a validation of my choices. In fact I was perverse enough to welcome it, to embrace the pain as my comfort zone. So did it work? Well it did not make the pain go away, but neither was the hurt a problem or an anomaly either. It just was …my body’s way of ridding itself of weakness?

To some, such running is madness, lunacy, psychotic and irrational. Others are fabulously fascinated; mega moved; super spurred and infinitely inspired to put on a pair of running shoes and pop out the door for a run.

And that was exactly what I did. Throwing together a pair of boxing gloves (for bulk), two old Economics textbooks (reordering of resource allocation), a snickers bar and 4.5 litres of water into a rucksack, I popped out for a half marathon. And never did feel better.

While the city was beginning to quieten down and people were retiring for the night, I was just getting started, taking in the night sky, slicing through the still air, feeling alive.

Om.