Monday Musings 220 - The run
is bigger than the runner
Claiming that I ran my first full
marathon, a neat 42 kilometers will be both, a truth and a lie. It is true to
the extent that I reached the finishing line in one piece and supported ably by
two aching limbs and yet it is a lie because what I did in the last 10 kms
cannot be called a run even if one were to be blessed with a hyperactive
imagination or a penchant for the hyperbole. I did something between a walk and
a crawl in those kilometers, supported by conversation with a fellow lady runner
who was in equal distress. As far as my own distress is concerned, let me only
comment that male distress often takes a U turn when it meets the distress of
the opposite gender.
Even though my amateur attempts
at long distance running are a few years old now, nothing had prepared me for
what I experienced. Here are a few things that I discovered.
The first one is that all long
distance runs, marathon being only one of them and one can safely treat life
and career and relationships as others of the ilk, is about dealing with
unpredictability. One can prepare and one must, but at the end of it all, one
has to deal with at least one thing that he was never prepared for. When that
happens and something or the other will
happen, there is no solution as you are in the middle of the run, you only deal
with it. Now dealing with a problem is
different from solving it. One
realizes through the experience of marathons that in long runs, one does not
always have the luxury of a solution – one only has resort of ability to deal
with it. So the big question I asked
myself – can I deal with a problem even when I cannot solve it?
The second experience is about
the whole array of things around preparing for the long run. My experiment of
the 42 without too many training attempts at the distance clearly showed in my
shoddy timings and a weak end. Motivation, energy, enthusiasm is good to have
and probably are critical too. However a runner buoyed only by them will
discover that they are insufficient if not fickle. Long runs are run on the
dint of old fashioned practice, training, regularity, discipline and diligence.
My last 30 days tapering of the practice, indiscipline of diet and dilution in
diligence was never compensated enough by the power of passion. So even if
there is the shadow of unpredictability looming large, there is no substitute
for preparation. So the big question I asked myself is how often do I submit to
the lure of allowing my sense of passion rule over my sense of preparation –
and how much of my outcomes are a result of it?
Long distance running is
different from all other competitive sports because in no other sporting
activity, maybe with the exception of mountaineering, even competitors respect
each. In some sense each one is running his own race, competing with his own timings,
his own limitations, and his own sense of self. When you see a fellow runner in
pain or in trance – and these are the only two states runners are in the last
few kilometers, the emotion that gets generated is not that of competition but
of respect – for you know what he is going through and what has taken for him
to reach here.
Even though all of them covet the
place on the podium there is no animosity or jealousy or a pettiness of mind –
but the magnanimity of heart that blooms out of respect. He is running his race and you are running yours. Even if there is
competition, it is uplifting and not petty. One cannot imagine a runner who
appreciates the nature of the long, very long run, do anything that is petty.
The nature of the run is such that it uplifts even those who might have
tendencies otherwise. So the big question I asked myself is how much everyone
around me deserves so much more RESPECT for what they have endured and still
have the gumption and courage to be in the run.
Finally and I am saving the best
for the last – the big realization is that when all is said done and everything is
done and dusted, every runner worth the salt that he loses recognizes that
whoever you are and whatever your timings are and howsoever large are your
accomplishments and talents, the run is always bigger than the runner. Often in
other runs like life and work, runners start believing in their own
indispensability and importance a tad too much, only to be jolted to reality
sooner or later and often in a manner that is tragic and painful. My suggestion
to those who are lucky enough not to have received such jolts so far is - run! You just need one long run to realize
that the run is bigger that the runner – any runner.
Guru
