Saturday, March 11, 2006
Recently read this article titled "Marathon: Reaching or Grooving" -> http://www.georgesheehan.com/essays/essay42.html. The writer described a marathon that he was ashamed of, cos it was "a marathon without tears, without pain, without distinction... where prudence becomes timidity, where caution becomes cowardice, and where respect becomes fear". The runner knows that marathoning is a risky business where the initial pace can be all decisive. Too slow and you have a poor time; too fast and you may not finish. One of the biggest challenges of a marathon is giving the race all you have, making yourself vulnerable, opening yourself to the possibility of a great achievement or a wipeout. His advice is that instead of reaching for what you can, we should reach for what you cannot. If you try to be all you can be, you have to expect a failure from time to time.I pondered over what he said and thought about my own running so far. Most of the time I set two goals - a realistic goal, and a stretch goal. The realistic goal I share with others, the stretch goal I keep to myself, perhaps share with a select few. The realistic goal is usually not a stroll in the park either but still attainable if I show full commitment to the training plan I've drawn up. The stretch goal is something the optimistic me always has, in the event my lucky stars are all aligned. The two marathons and one ultramarathon I've completed over the past four months were very different journeys. For my first marathon, I did 5hrs 17mins, better than my realistic target of 5hr 30mins but worse than my stretch target of 5hr. For the ultramarathon, I participated for fun, only discovering in the actual event that I have it in me to do more, so decided to go for it. For my second marathon (and first away from home), I went in with fear, knowing that I am unlikely to achieve what I had targeted (sub 5hr), but yet deciding to go for it and hope for a miracle. Am satisfied with myself for all three, but not sure what's the greater achievement, and what criteria to use... but sets me thinking. Guess this is why they say running helps you delve into who you really are.
Just The Girl @
3/11/2006 01:26:00 AM