In these first days of the month of January of the year two thousand and eight, the breezes are opportune to refresh the spirit and resolutions, to send you good wishes and share good news. At the beginning of this new year, nothing better than to start with optimism, determination and our eyes focused on our dreams and illusions.
As we start a new year, and I begin by referring to the marathon that has just begun, however, I have no intention of making an innovative comparison between the heroic experience of a marathon and life, nor am I going to run unscathed once again the classic motivations that exalt the spirit of the ultimate competition in athletics. That intention I successfully leave to the included video, which does it better than I do in five lifetimes. However, as 2008 begins, I can’t help but fully identify with the idea that marathoners are, in essence, long-distance runners, and that as we begin another year, we have the opportunity for one more goal.
When I think of long-distance runners, I celebrate the fact that we do not give up in the face of a cramp or a bout of them, nor do we stop persevering and overcoming all adversity until we see ourselves crossing the finish line marked in our minds and hearts. We are stubborn, stubborn and even obsessive. Long-distance runners know that the competition is with ourselves and absolutely no one else, and so we focus on beating personal bests, improving our enjoyment of running, or simply getting there no matter when the stopwatch stops. Whatever the self-imposed purpose, however, long distances are run with joy and in a runner’s high that is already more than recognized.
We long distance runners know that there are years when injury or illness may force us to stay home, just as we know that being at the starting point is in itself a success and a privilege that few know. We long-distance runners have an administration of resources that allows us to go further, and therefore, we know those who boast in a hundred meters or ten thousand. Often we get further simply by having achieved a rhythm and maintaining it, by trusting in constancy and good pace, as well as by correcting and overcoming the many mistakes we make along the way. In general there are no great victories and there are no great defeats, but a gradual and careful ant construction of a condition that, over time, manages to go further with greater strength and endurance than others.
If one day we come to the conclusion that we do not want to run anymore, we do it because we, the long distance runners, decide to do so, or because God decides it for us. We focus on moving forward, without forgetting for a second that we will get tired, that energy will have its limit and that no matter how much we have trained, we will not be able to go beyond our maximum potential in the best case scenario. That is to say, we know that we cannot run at the maximum of our physical condition for more than a few minutes, or on the contrary, saving reserves and opening margins, for longer and more kilometers if we do it only at our 70% or maybe 80%. It is not a question of great victories, quick wins or great risks, but of a balanced administration of the resources we have, without counting on those we do not have. There is no time nor any case in envying or complaining about the resources of others, the only ones that count are those that each one has.
This year I hope to run my fourth marathon and in my heart I hope to compete in April. However, at the end of the year I was attacked by a flu that took me to the hospital after Christmas, forced me to take antibiotics and rest more than I would have liked and with that, interrupted my training program. Then, a reaction in my middle ear flared up and because of this, I went through dizziness and vertigo until I finally got back to normal a couple of days ago. However, to complete my little streak of minor ailments, the congestion has brought back the cough and so, here I am with antihistamines trying to clear my system and my head, that I will have to choose to redefine my expectations and the flight plan to the finish line of my next marathon. That is, nothing new in life and everything is business as usual, because clearly a hiccup happens to anyone and so does a sneeze, this is a negative parenthesis and although I want to avoid them, it will not be the last one to arrive. For this reason, there is no room for any complaint or whining of any kind, this is not the time to blame the wind or the drizzle that got me wet in December, but to accept the conditions of the moment, regroup resources and restore the plan, I obviously want to run the marathon, even if it’s in October. I don’t care so much about when as I do about running it, and so I’m willing to adapt as conditions dictate.
Perhaps we long distance runners have no confidence in a stroke of luck or an esoteric explanation, because luck does not exist and everything that is well prepared leads to a good result, God willing. In long distances there are no shortcuts or pedals, there is no step that can be avoided and only one at a time. A marathon is only for those who understand that it is not a matter of winning or losing, but of knowing how to get there. A marathon is for those who know or have had to learn to listen, which is not achieved without advice, opinion, rectification and amendment.
Of all that has been written in this extensive typing to start January, however, nothing excites me more than to share with you that the definition of long distance runner to which I refer, does not require special shoes, a sun hat or Polar on the wrist, but simply a goal and a desire to arrive at a cost. In my family I learned to run long distances, although there is no marathon runner. From my peers in life, from many friends and not a few examples I learned that to go far, you have to be prepared to pay the price. I am sure that you are a long distance runner, if you have reached this paragraph after so much boring, and for that reason, I have referred to you too and not only to those of us who sweat a marathon. You’ve probably come a long way too, and so it’s worth reviewing what it will take to get even further. Anything new here? Possibly not, and yet it may not hurt to reiterate it, underline it, exalt it and mark it firmly.
The spirit of a marathon began with a legend, or if you want to look at it that way, with a story. Phillipides is supposed to have died running the distance, in some versions 35 Kms and in others up to 240 Kms, to announce the victory of the Greek army with a single last word before his death: Nike (the name of the goddess Victory in Greek). In the end it counts the idea of winning and doing it in the most intimate and deepest personal definition.
The past year is right there in the past, and what matters is to move us from whatever our emotion is to one of authentic and reiterated gratitude, that we are alive to begin the year and to focus on the present, to live it and make it even more important, relevant and memorable. The future will be a result of what we believe in, and therefore, of the decisions we make today as a consequence of those beliefs.
2008 brings us new opportunities and a new 365-day marathon.
What do you think?