Runners are more than familiar with pain. It's our bread and butter. We love to hurt. We believe in endurance, in suffering, in brutal and soul-withering work.
But ours is not a violent sport.
See, there's a difference between pain and violence. Violence violates. You see it so clearly in what happened today. The morning showed pain as triumph and pain as failure. The suffering carved out on the face of Dulce Felix (what a sweet name) as her legs no longer worked, as her glory faded into defeat, as the marathon gods smote her for believing too much, for wanting too much, was noble suffering. The suffering of loss, but sensible loss, human loss. This sort of loss was not a violation because all it risked was victory -- such a small thing in the grand scheme. Sweet happiness led the race, and then faded. Such is life. It requires endurance.
With Jeptoo we saw strength overcoming pain. We saw her, after 24 miles of hard running, run harder. We saw the glory of a healthy body at t…
Quite an impressive year, Jeff, total distance and times both. Of special interest to me is how, in the doing of it, you also managed to find the time to make 42 blog posts! Congratulations on all!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dallas! The key to it all was neglecting personal relationships and professional responsibilities. It's pretty straightforward if you've got your priorities wacked. ;)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
people who count stuff are messed up.
ReplyDeleteNumbers are a part of the game. Which is more essential--quantity or quality? An idea for a new post?
ReplyDelete