Sometimes you have one of those
days that open your eyes a little bit.
Today was one of those days for me. Two things really caught my
attention. The first one being a running
friend of mine finding out that he has a degenerative joint disease in his right
hip, and will likely need a hip replacement.
The other thing is finding out that an old friend’s dad is having a
cancer scare. Hearing about things like that
make you take stock of your life, your health, and those people you care about.
It leads me to think about lifestyle
choices, and the potential risk that comes with them. If you are a distance runner, you have probably
been told more times than you’d like to count that running all those miles is
hard on your heart, that we won’t have any knees left by the time we turn 50,
that it’s dangerous to run at night, in the dark, in minimalist shoes, in
traditional running shoes, whatever. You’ve
probably heard it all, and probably from a sedentary know-it-all while he sips
his 8th cup of coffee and chomps his Nicorette on his way to peruse
the vending machine snack options.
(Okay, maybe that’s just my specific example, but you get the idea.) All our lifestyle choices come with their own
inherent risk no matter what it is.
There is no ‘perfect’ life to lead, so then we are all left with our own
free will to choose to do what we want.
I have chosen the path of distance running.
Who knows, someday I may have to go
under the knife to replace my worn out body parts with new and improved bionic
parts, or I may keel over of a heart attack on a mountain trail, but the life
that my running has given me is something I’d never take back, or wish to
change. I compare that to the concept of
renting or owning. You could rent a
house and keep most things in boxes, not hang anything on the walls to avoid
nail holes, and always change into a pair of house shoes when you walk in the
door so you don’t track anything across the floors. Or you could really own that house, hang your
favorite things up on the walls, put up a dart board knowing you’ll miss your
target sometimes, but you don’t care because you just love playing. That’s how I feel I have treated my body – I’m
mindful of it, but I feel alive when I push limits, breathe hard, jump higher
than before, hike to the top of a mountain, run hilly trails for 6 hours. Part of this sport is how it feels –to feel alive and acknowledge the
experience of it all – cold mountain air, standing in a stream after a race,
connection to your running mates when you push through something hard together. You’re really living in your body, not just
existing.
This concept crosses over every aspect
of your life – your work, your relationships, how you treat strangers, choosing
to bury your head in your smart phone or interact with the world around you –
they’re all facets of your existence that you can really live in or just
exist. And the beauty of it all, is that
it’s your choice, until that day that the choice is taken away. Today I am thankful that the choice is
mine. Time to run.
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist,
that is all. - Oscar Wilde
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