“UNTIL I TOOK UP distance running, I found it easy to take it easy.
I had no difficulty following the warnings of the experts. ‘Avoid stress,’ cautioned the physicians. I did.
‘Reduce your tensions,’ advised the psychologists. I did.
‘Rest that restless heart,’ counseled the clergy. I did.
Doing these things requires no effort when you are lacking what Santayana called America’s ruling passion—a love for business—when you are a lifelong non-joiner whose greatest desire is not to become involved, when almost everyone you meet is less interesting than your own ideas, and when your inner life has more reality than your outer one.“
George Sheehan said that.
The doctor was a friend of mine. Not close but I had his number and he’d take my call. The kinda guy who you’d listen to and feel smarter. Lot smarter. Kind of man you’d watch, maybe study, and you could feel better. Lot better.
Thought about George just this morning. I was pushing it, pushing it, must have been going fifteen minutes per mile. Back away now, don’t get sucked in by my slipstream. He would’ve laughed and told me, yes, that’s what I’m talking about.
Forget the race, forget the pace, feel the movement….
I stay in touch with athletes I have known for almost a half century. Some truths become even truer when you are old. You can work harder than anybody ever worked but you are only going to be who God and Nature and your parents’ genes permit.
I know I tried. Know other folks who tried.
Same even truer when you are old.
Everything Dr. George wrote was a memoir, to my way of thinking. Everything was about himself and his runs and the mind and heart and soul and spirit that ran alongside.
And really what else is there?
“There will never be a day when we won’t need dedication, discipline, energy, and the feeling that we can change things for the better.”
Recovery day. Valentine’s. No alcohol. Not even red wine. Think I might’ve aged out of alcohol. Any type, any amount. Not even a glass or two of doctor-recommended red wine. Talk about discipline. [Update 2020. Right on five Foster’s weekly.]
Recovery day is a little bit shorter, a little bit slower. Overcast, breezy, sixty-five degrees, wish I’d known to train here forty years ago.
One hill reminds me of the soapbox derby track at Bush Park, great for downhill speedwork.
“To keep from decaying, to be a winner, the athlete must accept pain–not only accept it, but look for it, live with it, learn not to fear it.”
For most old athletes, there is little need to look for pain.
“Out on the roads there is fitness and self-discovery and the persons we were destined to be.”
There is often great clarity in pain.
“Success rests in having the courage and endurance, and above all, the will to become the person you are.”
And becoming the person you are is much easier than becoming somebody you are not.
“I have met my hero, and he is me.”
And he’s old and he gets up before dawn and heads out into the cold dark of winter, completely focused on kicking some ass.
Even if it’s only his own.
