Raw effort. Muscles, tendons, ligaments. Lungs working. Heart pumping. Shoes that cover your feet, or go without and run along the ocean or in the soft grass. The rawness of running creates a perfect beauty that makes the movement human’s natural progression.
The world constantly turns over more need for gadgetry. Sports are evolving into lifestyles where investments the size of mortgages and college tuitions are everywhere. What does it leave us I ask? Where do we stand after it’s over? When the wind blows are you listening to what it is saying or blocking out what you don’t want to hear. Are we living in a state of denial?
I question if we have lost the meaning and reason behind our first steps. Why did you take that first run? What was it like the very first time you ever bought a pair of running shoes? Why did you buy them, what inspired you?
And that first bike ride. I mean all the way back to that very special day the training wheels were taken off your bike. Do you remember when that trusting parent or friend let go of the broomstick that stuck up from your bike and you rode away to the cheers of everyone behind you. Now that my friends, is natural progression. There was not much concern of how much money your bike cost or what components it housed.
And what about that first time you got in the pool? Maybe the first time you made it from one end to the other. And then talked about it for the next week.
I am frustrated that so many today have lost the joy and seem to only be looking for the next way to place higher, go faster, win more; and they look outside of their soul. They say, “there has to be something I can find, I can have, I need”.
My friends, you need to look inside. That is often the answer.
There is something about running. I often don’t even like referring to it as a sport only because to me it is something more raw and beautiful. You can’t buy shoes to make you run faster, clothes to make you lighter and more aero-dynamic, or something to carry you over hills and mountains. It is just you. You have to confront yourself, face your fears, understand your goals, enjoy every step you take for each step is a wonderful gift, and be blessed that we have so much to explore within ourselves internally and externally, with just using what we have. That my friends is what makes a champion inside and out.
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