legs beneath
we all, and by "all," i mean "most all in the literal sense, all in the figurative sense," have a pair of sticks underneath us that get us to where we need to go and keep us standing when opposing forces try to do otherwise. for many folk, their legs do that, and nothing more. obviously for runners, the relationship between us and our legs is a little different.
i would speculate that many runners would say that (and i know that this is true for myself) they "didn't know they could do what they do now until they actually went out and did it." i say this often: i was not born a runner. my parents gave me many things to equip me for life, however, the genetic ability to run distance was not one of them (and they'd be the first to tell you).
with training, with endurance, with time, you discover your legs provide an amazing foundation for your body. to endure elements, exhaustion, heat, stress over phenomenonal time and distance is something that you would have never have guessed as being a feature by design.
quite often people react to their finding out of my running with puzzlement. token reactions: that-is-crazy, i-could-never, why-would-anyone, blah blah. my reaction quite often is along the lines of "you could run a 5K given a month of training, easy." if said person is of even the most average build, i quite often tell them that they could run a marathon, given the time and training.
these people could discover the foundation that they have underneath them, if the right amount of stress and endurance is applied.
over the past month, i am beginning to learn what foundation i have underneath me. i have never had to endure the difficult more in life before than i am enduring now, and often i have looked at others in dire straits and wondered: oh-my-god, how-do-they-even, where-do-they-get. albeit running is by choice and life sometimes is by consequence, the outcome can sometimes be the same: you discover what type of sticks you have underneath you.
for many, the discovery of running is the discovery of finding their foundation. however, my past 9000 miles haven't told me as much about my foundation as much as the past 3 months have.
i would speculate that many runners would say that (and i know that this is true for myself) they "didn't know they could do what they do now until they actually went out and did it." i say this often: i was not born a runner. my parents gave me many things to equip me for life, however, the genetic ability to run distance was not one of them (and they'd be the first to tell you).
with training, with endurance, with time, you discover your legs provide an amazing foundation for your body. to endure elements, exhaustion, heat, stress over phenomenonal time and distance is something that you would have never have guessed as being a feature by design.
quite often people react to their finding out of my running with puzzlement. token reactions: that-is-crazy, i-could-never, why-would-anyone, blah blah. my reaction quite often is along the lines of "you could run a 5K given a month of training, easy." if said person is of even the most average build, i quite often tell them that they could run a marathon, given the time and training.
these people could discover the foundation that they have underneath them, if the right amount of stress and endurance is applied.
over the past month, i am beginning to learn what foundation i have underneath me. i have never had to endure the difficult more in life before than i am enduring now, and often i have looked at others in dire straits and wondered: oh-my-god, how-do-they-even, where-do-they-get. albeit running is by choice and life sometimes is by consequence, the outcome can sometimes be the same: you discover what type of sticks you have underneath you.
for many, the discovery of running is the discovery of finding their foundation. however, my past 9000 miles haven't told me as much about my foundation as much as the past 3 months have.
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