This post is really a "call for comments" and maybe a bit more. Some of us have been running/ultrarunning for 10 years, some for 5 and some for 20 or more. What is enough? Is 5K enough? If you've run 100 miles numerous times, is that enough? What is the next thing? After 7 or 8 years do you, or have you thought, "Man WTF am I doing? Why am I still doing this?"
You got some runners that 5k is enough and they do them for 20 years, and thats just fine. Maybe they jump into a marathon or half from time to time. Then you got some folks who run around for 6 days or 200 miles or walking for 100K etc... It seems that there is no satiation to their quest of achievements. Some folks take up the "next challenge" because it it truly challenging, and sometimes it's because everyone else has done it, so I want this on my bucket list.
Then there are folks who try to court sponsorship claiming that because of X,Y,Z factors, they are the most awesome and they have this story. Whether it's contrived or not, I will leave it up to the reader to interpret. Still others just go about their bad ass achievements and they aren't seeking any limelight. They just deliver, and everyone else can stand there, agape.
Where do you want your running to take you? To what end and for what purpose? Is running the end you seek, or some other end? Can you achieve them with out the fan fare and hoopla? Does anyone even give two shits?
You got some runners that 5k is enough and they do them for 20 years, and thats just fine. Maybe they jump into a marathon or half from time to time. Then you got some folks who run around for 6 days or 200 miles or walking for 100K etc... It seems that there is no satiation to their quest of achievements. Some folks take up the "next challenge" because it it truly challenging, and sometimes it's because everyone else has done it, so I want this on my bucket list.
Then there are folks who try to court sponsorship claiming that because of X,Y,Z factors, they are the most awesome and they have this story. Whether it's contrived or not, I will leave it up to the reader to interpret. Still others just go about their bad ass achievements and they aren't seeking any limelight. They just deliver, and everyone else can stand there, agape.
Where do you want your running to take you? To what end and for what purpose? Is running the end you seek, or some other end? Can you achieve them with out the fan fare and hoopla? Does anyone even give two shits?
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3 comments:
Well John I wish I could answer your question but I I really know about running is that it is similar to my favorite pastime fly fishing and one of my favorite writers wrote something that inspired my writing and parts of it are fitting here: like "solitude without loneliness". Google it and find your own meaning..,
My running was always goal oriented - I got driven by the unknown of how far I could push myself, and motivated by the fear that it was not going to be far enough to finish. Once I pushed those boundaries enough to realize that they are only self-imposed illusions I moved on to other things. I ran a few 100s, proved whatever it was I needed to prove to myself and was happy with it. On the down side, I once ran my perfect race to qualify for Boston, realized I would never again get anywhere close to the way I ran and felt that day, and lost the challenge and the motivation. It took a good few years, and being fatter, older and (a lot) slower to regain it, along with a set of new, much humbler goals.
Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.
Albert Einstein
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