Exercise and the Raw Human Experience

Here's a great piece of writing that describes the shear power of exercise. It's taken from the CrossFit Endurance Blog:

Mark Twain said, “why not go out on a limb? That’s where the fruit is.” When I started the ice age 50 mile trail race at 6:00 am in the morning I looked around at the other 250 people who were crazy enough to do this and I felt for the first time in a long time that I wasn’t the only nut in the bunch. But even among this running community I would be considered a lunatic for training less than 6 hours a week and of that amount only about 3 of those hours were dedicated to running. I can only imagine what they would say to me if they found out that my longest training run was 13.1 miles and also that I have only gone over 20 miles once in my life. I had friends who are doctors wondering what in the world I was doing training in this manner. I myself was a bit worried at times, but I enjoyed the crossfit too much to stop training this way, I enjoyed being fresh and not tired and injured all the time to stop and change routines. I figured that if I’m sore after a 50 mile run so what? That’s only one day and at least I’m not sore and tired all the time. When the race started I felt completely fresh, my legs felt strong and anxious and I struggled in vain to hold myself back for the first 20 miles of the run. I had taken Brian’s advice and buried my heart rate monitor in my drawer at home and just ran how I felt I should run and I felt liberated not having to be worried about where my heart rate was or exactly how far into the run I was. I found myself loving the downhill portions, feeling like it was a game of tetris with the rocks and roots as the obstacles and the touching my foot down in the perfect spot as quickly as I could as the point of game. I though “who needs video games, I’ve got my feet and some rocks and roots to dodge.” I remember getting frustrated as I had to slow down when more careful people took their time. I kept thinking, “all you have to do is lift your feet, it’s not that hard.” All the speed work, interval training and tabata’s were rewarding me with quick and light feet. Unfortunately that feeling didn’t last forever, although I thought it would but somewhere along the way at about mile 33 I found my happy spot. I say happy spot now with affection because at the time it wasn’t a very happy spot, but it is the spot that I had looked forward to and read about. This was the spot where ease turn to work and where work turns to pain and where pain turns to misery. It’s also the spot where my misery turned to happiness. This is the spot where my competitive spirit melted away and I saw the other runners not as competitors and not as somebody that I was better than, but instead I saw them as fellow participants in this experience. Looks and appearances no longer mattered. I no longer thought that I shouldbe better, stronger or faster than anybody no matter how they looked. My eyes no longer judged their physical deficiencies, instead I saw their powerful inner determination and I wondered about this breed of people, knowing that they were probably in more pain than me and wondering where did they get their strength from? I found that I was honored simply to be a part of them. In my previous races I was used to finishing in the top 25%, but in this race was I humbled to the point of simply wanting finish. Finishing times no longer mattered. I just wanted to finish. Along the way I experienced emotions that I either hadn’t felt in a long time or maybe I had never felt at all. Why hadn’t I done this sooner? Sure it was getting harder and harder to lift my legs, but that no longer bothered me. All sensations were heightened. The simple orange slice was delicious beyond words. A word of encouragement from an unknown stranger was enough to bring emotions unknown to the surface. I felt the hand of a friend (friend isn’t nearly a strong enough word) pulling me out of the depths telling me to dig in and that this is the point that matters. It’s amazing how a few simple words of encouragement could change my whole mentality. I felt how through the quite silence of lonely footfalls of miles after miles on a lonely trail a friendship can be cemented and bonded when no words are spoken and how words are the worst indicators of the respect and admiration that can be felt when going through this experience together.

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One last thing for the guys, I didn’t realize this during the training, but it was something that my wife said after the race and I can’t remember the exact words but it alone made the whole thing worthwhile. She laid it on me like a bomb because it had never crossed my mind, I always I thought I was being selfish with this goal in seeking something that I wanted, but she said something to the effect of, “I think it’s so sexy that you set a goal for something very difficult that’s so far out there that most people can’t comprehend and you’re so determined that you don’t give up and you just finish with out questioning yourself.”

What a great piece of writing.

"The fulness of life
Lies in dreaming and manifesting
The impossible dreams." -- Sri Chinmoy