Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Bad Days

Ultra running and other endurance sports (kettlebell sport a definite) are all about managed suffering. At the top level of course genetics, training and other issues come into play to separate first from second - but at the level played out in mid pack and back of the pack it comes to how much suffering are you willing to endure. And it varies. Somedays and some races I can endure far longer then I would have possibly imagined - and somedays, inexplicably, I throw the towel in early. Usually it's mental, sometimes physically, yet the two are so intwined it's all but impossible to say what broke first. Can this be managed? Can we harness will ower to improve our chances of survivial? Yes, but that simply won't change the fact that sometimes we al have a bad day, sometimes we all quit. And here's the real solution - we pick oursel;ves up, dust ourselves off and begin again - maybe right away, maybe tomorrow and maybe another race - it doesn't matter. What matters is the journey that brings to the ultimate end - and that's the self awareness that we continue - always. And in every journey, there's always more htan one beginning.

Peace,
Eric

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