The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner
Saturday, August 1, 2009 at 1:20am
"One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter." - James Earl Jones
I remember a day sitting outside beneath a porch watching as the rain poured down over the beautiful green countryside. As if from a veiled mist a silhouette appeared along the horizon. Traveling along a worn path wearing shorts and a sweater the shape began to take form. It was a runner. I remember putting down my book to watch as they passed by rhythmically running, as it seemed, in step with the fall of the rain. Captivated by the scene as it unfolded before me I tried to make sense of the myriad of thoughts and emotions that played across my mind. In a matter of moments that seemed to last much longer the runner was gone. A momentary vision quickly lost to my sight as they were embraced by the falling rain like a shroud. As I returned my attention to the present moment from my reverie I found myself trying to make sense of what I had just witnessed. Out of the confusion of my mind a single phrase made itself clear to my conscious mind as I took my pen and scrawled it along the inside cover of the book I had been reading. When finished, I looked down to reflect upon the only words I could use to describe what I had witnessed: The loneliness of the long-distance runner. I didn't know who the runner was, didn't know where they were from or where they were going. I just remember feeling a profound sense of longing as if a part of me had left with the runner. Or, maybe it was just that I longed to be the runner. This all occurred long before running instilled itself into the very depths of my soul, but I've recently begun to think about them once more. A wraith in the mist. A figure of solitude, carrying a solidarity of purpose like a banner across the sky. So ominous, the individual with their relentless sense of purpose. So alone, with no one and nothing but themselves. So alone...
"The woods are lovely dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost
Far away is the land of rest,
For the lonely one who runs.
Endless miles that you must test,
Neath the passing of the suns.
Wasted now this traveler,
Whose wearied woes wear on
Darkness threatens purpose sure,
Yet still they run towards dawn.
Running through the emptiness,
Running through the day.
Running through the dewy mists,
Running for the Way.
Often they look up to the heavenly sky,
Often they looks down to the dreary road.
Often they wish to lay down and die,
Often they wish to surrender life's load.
Though the faint may not uptake the part,
Yet still they stare in wonder.
It remains for those who have the heart,
To shake the world with thunder.
The loneliness of one who runs,
A soul bereft of hearth and home.
Nay, these are gifted lucky ones,
Their chosen destiny to roam.
So if you ever feel so deeply pained,
By one who seems to wander.
Be comforted in knowledge gained,
They live to travel yonder.
Do not despair or lose control,
Wear hope upon your chest.
Know that you will reach the goal,
And win the final land of rest.
"I want to know the thoughts of God. All the rest are details." - Albert Einstein
I am an overly passionate person. I tear up in movies. A lot of them. I'm deeply moved by seemingly insignificant displays of nature. Like koalas sleeping on a tree. Yet nothing in my life has compared to the sights I have witnessed while searching the road on my lonely, long-distance runs. I stood on the apex of a bridge after hours of running following an all-night adventure. Standing there, watching the sun rise, I knew joy in my heart. Spontaneously climbing the summit of a mountain after spending the afternoon trekking the trails I gazed across the open sky, and felt serenity flow through my consciousness. Wandering through city streets in a foreign world and marveling at some of man's most beautiful architectural achievements, I stood alone in a sea of humanity, and felt kinship with the universe. Battered and broken by the road I set out to conquer, I stood beneath the starry sky not knowing where I was, and felt beauty's caress stream down my face. All the roads I've traveled, and all the paths I will. The loneliness of the long-distance runner may be a part of who I am, but I will never have to ponder the thoughts of God on my journey. Never alone.
"The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing."
- Michael E. Gerber
I've got the bit between my teeth now, as the saying goes, and I might as well continue. I remember once reading a poem that said running a mile would give you a smile. Well despite the pain and fatigue that the miles may bring, there is nothing quite as satisfying as seizing life and challenging yourself to some new feat whether it is some no-name dirt path or the famous streets of a world-class race. Either way, you can feel brave within your heart when you push off from the start. You can live decisively with your feet as you run across the street. You can know certainty within your soul, when you finally end and reach the goal. The start, the finish and the steps in between are many experiences as plain can be seen. Yet singly thought of they come up as one, the race of your life is never quite done. It's not about winning, it's not about wealth. It's not about glory, or even your health. So why do we do all this running we do, I know the answer's within me, the rest's up to you.
"I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs." - Jesse Owens
What more can I say? I ran as a young child, barely off my mother's apron strings. I couldn't even jog as a youth. I learned to run at the end of high school, and lost it periodically throughout college. Now my sights are set beyond the heavens. Yet ever since I was a little boy I loved it. There is nothing between me and running. It is the single most pure and simultaneously most purifying aspect of my life. Wherever I am, wherever my travels take me and wherever the weave of my life leads me to, I will always have that dear and comforting presence to carry with me. The roads I travel on may indeed be lonely ones, but in many ways I have been alone for nearly my entire life. Perhaps that explains in some ways my strong connection with running. I've never had to feel alone, even if I was.
"Now bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible." - Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
I have stumbled and I have fallen. I have faltered and I have strayed. Yet each time I have found my way back. The closer one is to the light, the darker their shadow becomes. Such a great paradox for the attaining of one's life goals. And though I may not be that strength which in yesteryear moved heaven and earth, that which I am, I am. One tempered soul of heroic heart, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find...and not to yield. My adaptation of the end to Lord Tennyson's Ulysses is perfect for where I am now. I will achieve what no one has ever done before. For no other reason because it is believed impossible.
"We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves...The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or hump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable." - Sir Roger Bannister
The reasons why...
"I run because long after my footprints fade away, maybe I will have inspired a few to reject the easy path, hit the trails, put one foot in front of the other, and come to the same conclusion I did: I run because it always takes me where I want to go." - Dean Karnazes
"One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter." - James Earl Jones
I remember a day sitting outside beneath a porch watching as the rain poured down over the beautiful green countryside. As if from a veiled mist a silhouette appeared along the horizon. Traveling along a worn path wearing shorts and a sweater the shape began to take form. It was a runner. I remember putting down my book to watch as they passed by rhythmically running, as it seemed, in step with the fall of the rain. Captivated by the scene as it unfolded before me I tried to make sense of the myriad of thoughts and emotions that played across my mind. In a matter of moments that seemed to last much longer the runner was gone. A momentary vision quickly lost to my sight as they were embraced by the falling rain like a shroud. As I returned my attention to the present moment from my reverie I found myself trying to make sense of what I had just witnessed. Out of the confusion of my mind a single phrase made itself clear to my conscious mind as I took my pen and scrawled it along the inside cover of the book I had been reading. When finished, I looked down to reflect upon the only words I could use to describe what I had witnessed: The loneliness of the long-distance runner. I didn't know who the runner was, didn't know where they were from or where they were going. I just remember feeling a profound sense of longing as if a part of me had left with the runner. Or, maybe it was just that I longed to be the runner. This all occurred long before running instilled itself into the very depths of my soul, but I've recently begun to think about them once more. A wraith in the mist. A figure of solitude, carrying a solidarity of purpose like a banner across the sky. So ominous, the individual with their relentless sense of purpose. So alone, with no one and nothing but themselves. So alone...
"The woods are lovely dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost
Far away is the land of rest,
For the lonely one who runs.
Endless miles that you must test,
Neath the passing of the suns.
Wasted now this traveler,
Whose wearied woes wear on
Darkness threatens purpose sure,
Yet still they run towards dawn.
Running through the emptiness,
Running through the day.
Running through the dewy mists,
Running for the Way.
Often they look up to the heavenly sky,
Often they looks down to the dreary road.
Often they wish to lay down and die,
Often they wish to surrender life's load.
Though the faint may not uptake the part,
Yet still they stare in wonder.
It remains for those who have the heart,
To shake the world with thunder.
The loneliness of one who runs,
A soul bereft of hearth and home.
Nay, these are gifted lucky ones,
Their chosen destiny to roam.
So if you ever feel so deeply pained,
By one who seems to wander.
Be comforted in knowledge gained,
They live to travel yonder.
Do not despair or lose control,
Wear hope upon your chest.
Know that you will reach the goal,
And win the final land of rest.
"I want to know the thoughts of God. All the rest are details." - Albert Einstein
I am an overly passionate person. I tear up in movies. A lot of them. I'm deeply moved by seemingly insignificant displays of nature. Like koalas sleeping on a tree. Yet nothing in my life has compared to the sights I have witnessed while searching the road on my lonely, long-distance runs. I stood on the apex of a bridge after hours of running following an all-night adventure. Standing there, watching the sun rise, I knew joy in my heart. Spontaneously climbing the summit of a mountain after spending the afternoon trekking the trails I gazed across the open sky, and felt serenity flow through my consciousness. Wandering through city streets in a foreign world and marveling at some of man's most beautiful architectural achievements, I stood alone in a sea of humanity, and felt kinship with the universe. Battered and broken by the road I set out to conquer, I stood beneath the starry sky not knowing where I was, and felt beauty's caress stream down my face. All the roads I've traveled, and all the paths I will. The loneliness of the long-distance runner may be a part of who I am, but I will never have to ponder the thoughts of God on my journey. Never alone.
"The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing."
- Michael E. Gerber
I've got the bit between my teeth now, as the saying goes, and I might as well continue. I remember once reading a poem that said running a mile would give you a smile. Well despite the pain and fatigue that the miles may bring, there is nothing quite as satisfying as seizing life and challenging yourself to some new feat whether it is some no-name dirt path or the famous streets of a world-class race. Either way, you can feel brave within your heart when you push off from the start. You can live decisively with your feet as you run across the street. You can know certainty within your soul, when you finally end and reach the goal. The start, the finish and the steps in between are many experiences as plain can be seen. Yet singly thought of they come up as one, the race of your life is never quite done. It's not about winning, it's not about wealth. It's not about glory, or even your health. So why do we do all this running we do, I know the answer's within me, the rest's up to you.
"I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs." - Jesse Owens
What more can I say? I ran as a young child, barely off my mother's apron strings. I couldn't even jog as a youth. I learned to run at the end of high school, and lost it periodically throughout college. Now my sights are set beyond the heavens. Yet ever since I was a little boy I loved it. There is nothing between me and running. It is the single most pure and simultaneously most purifying aspect of my life. Wherever I am, wherever my travels take me and wherever the weave of my life leads me to, I will always have that dear and comforting presence to carry with me. The roads I travel on may indeed be lonely ones, but in many ways I have been alone for nearly my entire life. Perhaps that explains in some ways my strong connection with running. I've never had to feel alone, even if I was.
"Now bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible." - Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
I have stumbled and I have fallen. I have faltered and I have strayed. Yet each time I have found my way back. The closer one is to the light, the darker their shadow becomes. Such a great paradox for the attaining of one's life goals. And though I may not be that strength which in yesteryear moved heaven and earth, that which I am, I am. One tempered soul of heroic heart, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find...and not to yield. My adaptation of the end to Lord Tennyson's Ulysses is perfect for where I am now. I will achieve what no one has ever done before. For no other reason because it is believed impossible.
"We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves...The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or hump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable." - Sir Roger Bannister
The reasons why...
"I run because long after my footprints fade away, maybe I will have inspired a few to reject the easy path, hit the trails, put one foot in front of the other, and come to the same conclusion I did: I run because it always takes me where I want to go." - Dean Karnazes
posted by Marcos Redondo - Running For Hope at
11:15 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home