Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.—Katherine Mansfield
This is such a big idea. You will never get what you want until you know what you've got and what you need to fix.
Its like my rush to run a marathon, for which, I want to put in a about a time of 4:30. A very modest goal. I was looking at the Twisted Ankle which is a trail marathon in some pretty rough terrain, hills, single track etc. That would be the cool race. That would be the "see how badass a runner I am" race.
I need to be honest with myself. I'm not badass. I'm losing weight which is making me stronger. I'm reading my body better. But with the time I have to train, if I want a good race time, I need to pick a race I can run easy peasy. I'm pretty sure I'm going with Scenic City.
Its a trail run, like the Twisted Ankle, which is good for my knees but its smooth and even and relatively flat. Its fast so I have half a chance of getting a decent time. It doesn't mean giving up what I want, running marathons, running crazy dangerous trail races. It means, I'll get this one under my belt and then I'll start upping the ante.
It means maybe doing the Pike's Peak Ascent but not the marathon. The Ascent will be hard enough. I need to recognize the difference between suicide and a challenge. I need to push to the impossible but have a realistic plan to get there. Its like the stunt men say, stunts are well calculated risks.
It means looking at what I have and figuring out how to get what I want in a way I can get it.
Showing posts with label Motivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Motivation. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Motivational Quote #13
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. - Mahatma Gandhi
This speaks to me. I have so much guilt and shame. They're like muscles that I can't seem to stop working on. I know that's contradictory but its like this: I have to let go of what I think I ought to be doing and do what the moment asks for. I should listen to my body, my mind. Am I tired, am I cheating? I need to do things right or not do them at all. And even that's confusing. Its like if I castigate myself ofr failing or doing wrong, if I punish my body than no one can say I didn't do my best. Its like I have to try and in failing be my own father to saw the work I'm as tough as my Dad. I gotta get beyond this. Nothing good can come from this.
This speaks to me. I have so much guilt and shame. They're like muscles that I can't seem to stop working on. I know that's contradictory but its like this: I have to let go of what I think I ought to be doing and do what the moment asks for. I should listen to my body, my mind. Am I tired, am I cheating? I need to do things right or not do them at all. And even that's confusing. Its like if I castigate myself ofr failing or doing wrong, if I punish my body than no one can say I didn't do my best. Its like I have to try and in failing be my own father to saw the work I'm as tough as my Dad. I gotta get beyond this. Nothing good can come from this.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Motivational Quote #10
On a good day, it all blends. I feel a part of a private universe where everything comes together and feels great. - Matthew Shafner, lawyer
I get the Runner's World kick in the butt quote every day.
Most of them are inane things some runner of little consequence has said and it doesn't matter that they're runners of little consequence. It’s just that what they have to say is usually of little consequence. And today’s quote is almost the same as all the rest except for that bit about a private universe which I mistook for public universe, while I was reading it.
I mean to say, I thought he meant running was a way to escape solipsistic mind, the trapped in your own thoughts mind because, for me, running is about escaping from my own narcissism and being part of the world.
I forget my mind. I become nature. I become the city, the trail, the lake. My legs become deer legs, pigeon legs, dog legs, all legs. I’d like to think it’s the thing Buddhists call being or what my friend Al called pre-reflective cogito, the mind experiencing without reflection.
I do not care for the kind of running where runners think about things. All day long, I sort the flotsam and jetsam. Running is for me about escape from that. I really have no idea what this runner meant but I believe I understood what I read.
I get the Runner's World kick in the butt quote every day.
Most of them are inane things some runner of little consequence has said and it doesn't matter that they're runners of little consequence. It’s just that what they have to say is usually of little consequence. And today’s quote is almost the same as all the rest except for that bit about a private universe which I mistook for public universe, while I was reading it.
I mean to say, I thought he meant running was a way to escape solipsistic mind, the trapped in your own thoughts mind because, for me, running is about escaping from my own narcissism and being part of the world.
I forget my mind. I become nature. I become the city, the trail, the lake. My legs become deer legs, pigeon legs, dog legs, all legs. I’d like to think it’s the thing Buddhists call being or what my friend Al called pre-reflective cogito, the mind experiencing without reflection.
I do not care for the kind of running where runners think about things. All day long, I sort the flotsam and jetsam. Running is for me about escape from that. I really have no idea what this runner meant but I believe I understood what I read.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Motivational Quote #9
A runner must run with dreams in his heart, not money in his pocket. - Emil Zatopek
When I read that I cried, nothing speaks to the why of doing anything in life like that quote. Alberto Salazar said something similar about going all out or not bothering but that was full of macho bullshit. I mean, I get it. Run with all your heart or don't bother lacing up. Somehow though, this quote speaks to me. Zatopek was offered, by his government, a chance to be a running ambassador for his country but instead he chose to be a janitor because he refused to serve tyranny. This man is the why of running for me. He lived a courageous life. I read one story about how he would be running a race and have a party the night before and so many people would need a place to stay he'd give up his room and go outside to sleep under a tree. He was happy and giving. I aspire to that. Some days I feel like a giant prick. I didn't train at Train.Fight.Win on Sunday because it was my rest day and I wouldn't change that even though it was like the one day we'd get to train with LA and Mike who moved to Denver. I don't run with Christina and Saiju for the same reason. I need balance in my life. I need to give back but not just because there's some kind of karmic debt. That's bullshit. I need to want to give back. How do you build that muscle?
When I read that I cried, nothing speaks to the why of doing anything in life like that quote. Alberto Salazar said something similar about going all out or not bothering but that was full of macho bullshit. I mean, I get it. Run with all your heart or don't bother lacing up. Somehow though, this quote speaks to me. Zatopek was offered, by his government, a chance to be a running ambassador for his country but instead he chose to be a janitor because he refused to serve tyranny. This man is the why of running for me. He lived a courageous life. I read one story about how he would be running a race and have a party the night before and so many people would need a place to stay he'd give up his room and go outside to sleep under a tree. He was happy and giving. I aspire to that. Some days I feel like a giant prick. I didn't train at Train.Fight.Win on Sunday because it was my rest day and I wouldn't change that even though it was like the one day we'd get to train with LA and Mike who moved to Denver. I don't run with Christina and Saiju for the same reason. I need balance in my life. I need to give back but not just because there's some kind of karmic debt. That's bullshit. I need to want to give back. How do you build that muscle?
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Motivational Quote #8
In life I’m a loser, I was born poor, as I am still poor now. I run to revenge myself. - Marco Olmo
He won the Mont Blanc ultra twice in 2006 and 2007 aged 58 then 59, ahead of much younger runners.
He won the Mont Blanc ultra twice in 2006 and 2007 aged 58 then 59, ahead of much younger runners.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Motivational Quote #4
The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds. - Iron and the Soul, Henry Rollins
You can apply this to any athletic endevour. Fuck. You can apply it to anything in your life.
You can apply this to any athletic endevour. Fuck. You can apply it to anything in your life.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Motivational Quote #1
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. - The Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, Frank Hebert
I think there is a difference between pain and discomfort. I think that in feeling discomfort we imagine it as pain and that stops us. We get that roiling sick feeling in our guts and instead of driving through the discomfort, we back off because we fear getting sick. Fear of the bear on our backs, at the last few miles, makes us slow down, fear of how it would look to others if we went slow makes us push at the wrong time. Fear the right thing or the wrong thing, its all just fear.
I think there is a difference between pain and discomfort. I think that in feeling discomfort we imagine it as pain and that stops us. We get that roiling sick feeling in our guts and instead of driving through the discomfort, we back off because we fear getting sick. Fear of the bear on our backs, at the last few miles, makes us slow down, fear of how it would look to others if we went slow makes us push at the wrong time. Fear the right thing or the wrong thing, its all just fear.
I need to think through things, make decisions based on what I know and what I don't know. If the opposite of love is fear than I must love the hill, embrace the bear. When discomfort comes, I must welcome it as a sign that I pushing passed my limits and then move on.
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