Endurance.
I just started reading Ultra Marathon Man by Dean Karnazes. I am one-third through the book, and already I am so pumped about running tomorrow morning! For those that aren’t familiar with the specific peculiarities of the Twelve Oaks subculture—there are a few of us (between 2 and 5) that gather most Saturday mornings at Grand View Drive in the Heights to run for a few miles, talk about life and just relax. Call it a tradition or even male-bonding, it’s just plain therapeutic.
Tonight, Rachel and I were at Border’s drinking a caramel latte & chai and I started into his book. I haven’t even bought it yet; I just sat there reading for about two hours. The funny thing is that the stories he tells are completely familiar to me, although I had never read anything of his life before tonight. Each story, from running track in jr. high school, wondering what was wrong with the hippie-cross-country guys compared to the seemingly normal track guys, wanting to do more for myself to be more in control of my destiny…and how it all came down to my desire to run today…it was the story of my life. Maybe that’s why I am getting so inspired and excited to run tomorrow. I want to push my body to the limit of exhaustion, and see how far I can go…just because I can.
His life is inspirational to say the least. If you have time, check out the blog he’s been writing about his upcoming Endurance 50. He’s running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days. That is an unbelievable feat. Most runners will tell you that you should take at least a week off from running after one marathon… let alone fifty. I’m really anxious to see how well he does. The sponsors (primarily the North Face) are pinning it as the “Tour de France” of running events.
But back to the book: go buy it today. And if you have a spare $12 on you, grab a copy for me, too, because I’d really like to finish reading it.
PS: just in case you were wondering:
a marathon is 26.2 miles.
Multiply that by 50 and you get 1,310 miles in just 50 days.
Categorized as Culture/Books & Film, My Life/Running, Ministry/Twelve Oaks