I’ve always called races “the victory lap.” All the hard work was put in before you even cross the start line. The race is just the culmination of all that hard work.
Here’s some obscure words: Endotelic vs. Exotelic. Joy in doing thing itself vs joy in what the thing gets you. Better to learn to love the thing.
RANT INCOMING:
In Buddhism, there is a concept called dukkha. It’s like a wobbly wheel. It refers to this quality in life that something isn’t quite right, and is often translated as suffering, although I personally don’t like using the word suffering because it’s too dramatic. It conjures images like chemotherapy or something extreme, and while that stuff is part of human experience, I don’t think that’s quite what this word is getting at. If you think about human evolution and what we’ve needed to do to survive in the past, it makes sense that we are never comfortable for very long. We need to continue venturing out and acquiring things that ensure our survival, so we get restless. Physical exertion is part of that. We hate exerting energy because we need to conserve our precious calories to survive, yet we must physically exert ourselves to procure more calories. There is a tension there. We hate running, but we gotta do it. Running brings pain, pain causes the release of endorphins that elevate our mood. That tension is part of our experience and is inescapable. I call it “the bill.” You will suffer. You can choose how you suffer, but the bill has to be paid. If you run today, you’re paying the bill when you put your shoes on and maintain your pace even when it hurts, but you are rewarded afterwards. If you don’t run, you are going to pay the bill by feeling worse than you did if you had run, because that chemical cascade that happens when you exercise helps regulate all kinds of things in your body, including mood. It is crucial for a properly functioning body because that’s how we’ve evolved. The pursuit of comfort is a trap. Comfort was really really hard to get in the world we’ve evolved in. But the modern world is different. Comfort is very easy to get, and that’s a problem for our minds. It will make us sick if we do what we’ve been evolutionarily programmed to do. Sadly, we are not adapted for this modern world. But we can learn not to run from discomfort, and can even learn to enjoy the battle. But it never stops being a battle.
I mean if seeing how slow you are compared to everyone else is rewarding, the sure. For me, the ugly AF shirts that are unwearable outside of training are the reward.
Training is the accomplishment. Races are the reward.
Love this!! Well said.
I’ve always called races “the victory lap.” All the hard work was put in before you even cross the start line. The race is just the culmination of all that hard work.
Here’s some obscure words: Endotelic vs. Exotelic. Joy in doing thing itself vs joy in what the thing gets you. Better to learn to love the thing.
RANT INCOMING:
In Buddhism, there is a concept called dukkha. It’s like a wobbly wheel. It refers to this quality in life that something isn’t quite right, and is often translated as suffering, although I personally don’t like using the word suffering because it’s too dramatic. It conjures images like chemotherapy or something extreme, and while that stuff is part of human experience, I don’t think that’s quite what this word is getting at. If you think about human evolution and what we’ve needed to do to survive in the past, it makes sense that we are never comfortable for very long. We need to continue venturing out and acquiring things that ensure our survival, so we get restless. Physical exertion is part of that. We hate exerting energy because we need to conserve our precious calories to survive, yet we must physically exert ourselves to procure more calories. There is a tension there. We hate running, but we gotta do it. Running brings pain, pain causes the release of endorphins that elevate our mood. That tension is part of our experience and is inescapable. I call it “the bill.” You will suffer. You can choose how you suffer, but the bill has to be paid. If you run today, you’re paying the bill when you put your shoes on and maintain your pace even when it hurts, but you are rewarded afterwards. If you don’t run, you are going to pay the bill by feeling worse than you did if you had run, because that chemical cascade that happens when you exercise helps regulate all kinds of things in your body, including mood. It is crucial for a properly functioning body because that’s how we’ve evolved. The pursuit of comfort is a trap. Comfort was really really hard to get in the world we’ve evolved in. But the modern world is different. Comfort is very easy to get, and that’s a problem for our minds. It will make us sick if we do what we’ve been evolutionarily programmed to do. Sadly, we are not adapted for this modern world. But we can learn not to run from discomfort, and can even learn to enjoy the battle. But it never stops being a battle.
I mean if seeing how slow you are compared to everyone else is rewarding, the sure. For me, the ugly AF shirts that are unwearable outside of training are the reward.