You are a Runner

You are a runner. You focus your mind and body on the pursuit of self-improvement, omitting feelings of discomfort during every training session . Each and every day, you acknowledge a feeling of isolation from people around you, accepting the fact that most will never understand your relentless drive to be better than you were yesterday.

In 1970, Novelist Richard Bach wrote a story about a seagull; Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Jonathan, too, focused himself on the pursuit of self-improvement. He learned to accept his isolation from other birds, who only used flight to acquire food. For Jonathan was different...he loved to fly.

"But way off alone, out by himself beyond boat and shore, Jonathan Livingston Seagull was practicing. A hundred feet in the sky he lowered his webbed feet, lifted his beak, and strained to hold a painful hard twisting curve through his wings. " (1)

And so you train. You feel uninspired by the daily status-quo. You want something more...something better. It is not materialism, nor power, that moves you forward. It is the intangible quest for internal peace and vitality. To run, climb, hike....fly without effort.

"It wasn't long before Jonathan Gull was off by himself again, far out at sea, hungry, happy, learning. " (1)

Through exhaustion, your learn about yourself. Each training run is an opportunity to leave it all behind...the noise, the stress, the incessant obstacles to calm, internal, peace. Done with your daily practice, you remove your shoes at the front door, your legs covered in dirt. Hungry and dehydrated, your mind has once again been liberated from the confines of modern life. You are thankful. You feel connected to your body at a cellular level, and quietly give thought to the next session where you can continue your learning. Your family greets you.

Through rest and recovery, you start planning your next training session. Where will it be? How will it challenge you...deeper you go, accepting that progress means distancing your perspectives from most others. Your coworkers, your family, your non-running friends, are not receptive to introspective discussion on training or endurance. For them, it is clearly something they do not understand. Running is "pain", right? You want desperately for them to feel what you feel, to be free from their narrow-minded perspective, but over time, you accept that your flight time is precious.

Running is an expression...an experience. You connect emotionally with your body and the earth. With the first steps of any run, your mind is busy with conflicts and noise. Your breath and effort calm...the noise is gone. All quiet now...you are flying.

At this moment, time is stopped. The earth's wisdom can be heard. Your mind is clear...your ears are open. Is it God? It is energy...you are flying. Each step is automatic, smooth. Beauty is all around you. Colors are deep...everything is clear. Life is perfect.

Feelings are intangible but you know where this experience is found. With greater depth, you explore the idea of running as something much greater than physical movement. Perhaps you have begun to realize that it truly is...

"To begin with " he said heavily, "you've got to understand that a seagull is an unlimited idea of freedom, an image of the Great Gull, and your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip, is nothing more than your thought itself." (1)

You are your body. You are your mind. We are all energy.  And today you can fly higher than every before... if you believe it is possible.

There is no limit.

run long,
jerry

"We are racing against nature, clock, time, distance...your body cannot carry you...to run for 24 or 48 hours or 6 days. No one completes the race via his body but via his mind." -Yiannis Kouros; Forever Running

(1) Jonathan Livinston Seagull; Richard Bach, 1970
(2) Forever Running; Yiannis Kouros