Limits

Most runners in general and the unconquerable runner in particular face the limits of possibility in a very real and embodied way from time to time. Each race run takes everything. It is at the extreme of what the human body can accomplish over a given distance where we discover the best of ourselves. This revelation has proved to be the most rewarding and pleasurable part running. So much so, that even when I have races planned where I do not have any particular stake in my performance, I will still put everything out on the course.

Coming this week is a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot in Hailey, Idaho. I will be running this race. I was thinking during my run this morning how it would be nice to just run the 5k with a relaxed training pace. I chuckled a little at the thought. I knew then as I know now that I will run that race as hard and as fast as my body and mind are capable of. Of course, I am not training or making any special preparations. I am, as they say, running right through the race (meaning I am not altering my training plan...I have an 11 mile run the day before the scheduled race). Still, the pain and fear that comes from being at the edge of existence will be there.

It goes without saying, but the act of confronting our limitations and potential does not take place exclusively in running or racing. A good friend of mine has recently had to undergo surgery and have a pace maker placed in his chest. While this is a source of significant discomfort, as soon as he was able (and got his doctor's approval) he started to run again. Just running a couple of miles at a given time brings him right up to his limits. It is inspiring to see his courage and diligence manifest in such efforts.

Bottom line is that if we never reach our limits we never really live and never truly know the extent of who we are and what we are capable of in the face of such challenges. So it goes for the unconquerable runner to periodically push right up against these limits, to bleed a little.

New Beginnings

I recently completed the St. George marathon and ran a new personal record. It was a very satisfying and enjoyable experience. A couple of weeks have passed and now I am contemplating my next training plan.

The most effective training approaches in running involve periodization. The beautiful part of breaking your training into periods is that your training focus changes like the seasons. Like the change from Summer to Fall, a liminal space is created that offers a moment to reflect on where you have been and where you would like to be.

I am very satisfied with how St. George went but part of me is not satisfied. I believe that there is more. I will run the Boston marathon next April and want to set a personal record there as well. Boston is a more difficult course with well known challenges. I believe that such an accomplishment is possible and within my ability to reach but only after the trial of miles and miles of trials.

The training that will get me to that level of fitness will involve running distances right up to the ceiling of what my schedule and commitments will allow. Part of me is very excited to take on the challenge; another part feels anxious and a little scared.

I have to simply remind myself that the ideal of the unconquerable runner is made real in the effort and struggle, in stepping up to the line each day. There are no compromises in the pursuit of excellence.

The Place For Community

Running of the type the unconquerable runner engages in does not take place in a vacuum but within an identifiable community. From a first glance, running may appear to be one of the most individualistic participatory sports out there. But if we reflect for a moment we soon realize that no race takes place without a community of other runners with whom we can test and measure our performance. Furthermore, beyond this minimalist appraisal there are actually a number of ways in which a running community can and does make the unconquerable runner an ideal more attainable.

One of the more subtle ways a running community sustains a runner is in motivation.  Of course if one asks any runner why he runs there are a number of answers he may give but the drive of an upcoming race or commitment to a daily running partner cannot be ignored.  My involvement with running clubs in the past has gotten me out of bed at five on Saturday mornings largely because I committed to be there with my friends and running peers. The expectations of members in a shared community can be powerful motivation as well as a source of great support during difficult times in one's life as a runner.

A running community also provides some of the most meaningful celebratory congratulations a runner can receive because other runners know the challenges and difficulties before the accomplishment. Whether a 5k or a marathon, every runner knows that just competing and finishing takes hours of training and sweat. This shared recognition seems to be the fact behind the most common words between runners on a race course: "good job"!  I recently reached a long sought after goal of running a marathon under three hours. My running friends emailed me or called to express their heartfelt congratulations on the milestone accomplishment. When I shared the news with a brother (a non-runner) he simply asked, "Is that fast?" 

Another of the many benefits of involvement in a running club has been the pooling of training and injury experience.  When our running club gets together each week, we have the opportunity to talk and discuss our successes and challenges.  Unfortunately, overuse injuries in their many varieties often come up.  Fortunately, our group is large enough and diverse enough that someone either has had firsthand experience with the problem or knows of some simple strategies that can help alleviate or eliminate the issue.  

Lastly, being a runner is an identity and often when one is with other runners there is an immediate sense of solidarity and belonging. I have never felt more at home and with my own people than standing in a crowd of runners at the start of race. We have all put in miles on pavement through all sorts of weather conditions. We are runners! More than that, we are runners striving to realize the ideal of being unconquerable runners. Continually striving for excellence and our very best, we come closer to being unconquerable because we are all members of a shared community.

Of Human Bondage: The Burden of Contingency

A simple truth of being human is that we all share a condition of bondage.  This bondage is not to some evil empire or totalitarian dictator but the circumstance of our existence: contingency. We depend on the particular alignment of numerous accidents in order to sustain our lives and civilization.  Our daily sustenance requires external resources such as food and water--not to mention air-- just to stay alive.  Even our mental well being necessitates positive interaction with other human beings.

Given the insurmountable nature of this state of being, the challenge lies in our engagement with these contingencies. We have a choice: either we can consciously struggle against these limitations or passively play the role of a victim.  The victim feels the buffets of these barriers without expectation or understanding.  The unconquerable runner on the other hand knows, explores, and engages every boundary in order to understand and intelligibly interact with such barriers.  It is by coming up against such limits that he overcomes and pushes them back. Faster times over greater distances are achieved through attending to physical conditioning, diet, and mental stamina.

The key to successfully accomplishing such feats lies in careful cultivation and patient persistence. A good diet only has positive effects on a marathoner's performance after weeks and even months of eating appropriate combinations of proteins and carbohydrates. Endurance follows weeks and weeks of consistent running.  Avoidance of injury relies heavily on routine stretching and strength condition.  Time spent running on the road and track provides a runner with the mental stamina and confidence necessary to face the race. Improvement is seen only after a runner puts in much time and careful attention to such details over extended periods of time.

Here, once again, the utility of running as a life metaphor comes clear in how the unconquerable runner engages the limitations.  Dependence on daily nutrition becomes an asset by selecting the types of foods that maximize running performance.  By completing daily distance runs the runner activates the body's ability to increase its capacity to metabolize oxygen and glycogen efficiently.  In this way, barriers come to provide a means for overcoming and pushing beyond them. In an ironic turn, we as humans possess the surprising quality of surpassing our contingencies by wisely and carefully engaging them.  Running from them, seeking to find escape from these restraints actually leads to debilitation and weakness. 

Thus the unconquerable runner embraces and engages his limits and, by so doing, rises above the status of victimhood.