Tuesday, January 5, 2010

metaphor for life.

People say that running is a metaphor for life. I've considered that to be insane before. I've read quotations about it and I've heard people use running as a metaphor in person.

The first person that I really paid attention to who used running as a life metaphor was my favorite professor, who related running to writing papers. The metaphor actually worked well for me, though, sadly, I don't remember exactly what he said. I know that I stayed after class and discussed it with him a little bit, though. It was something about running, like writing, is easiest the first few miles, then it gets more difficult as you keep going. However, I think it is quite different. In my case, the first mile SUCKS the most. In both races that I have run, the first mile was the worst, well, particularly in the second half marathon that I ran, because I don't know the exact time of the first mile in the first race. I know that every time that I run, though, that first mile is the absolute worst. It's dreadful. It only gets better from that point on. Actually, I think that the first mile is worse than the twelfth and thirteenth miles in a half marathon, and maybe that's just me, but I don't know.

Anyhow, my professor isn't the only person that relates running to life. I've noticed it all over the place. Oprah says that running is like life, because you only get out of it what you put into it. That's true. Sometimes, though, it feels like I get a lot more out of running than I've put into it. The process of becoming a runner has definitely changed me as a person.

I just read "The Time Traveler's Wife"- which is a fantastic book, I recommend it to anyone. However the main character in the book, Henry, has to run for his life constantly. He finds himself in situations in which he has to literally run in order to survive.

I just think that it is important to see and understand all of these different viewpoints that the world shows us about running. We're always in a hurry these days, we're always in a rush. I've been that same person, trying to pack as much into one day as possible. Okay, so I'm still that person, working too much while in school, and pushing myself until, eventually, I won't be able to anymore, but that's not what I'm getting at. I really want to make an effort to step back and relax once in a while. I think that going out for a run is a wonderful way to relax. It's not about being first or beating the time that I had yesterday, it's about taking some time to myself, to relax my mind. All that there is out there is myself. There's nothing that I can do but continue to push myself forward, to propell myself until I get to my destination. There's something wonderful about running like that.

Goal: 1000 miles/365 days
So far: 115.56 miles/57 days
To go: 884.44 miles/307 days

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