Canadian Ed Whitlock set a new 80 and over world marathon record with a time of 3:25:40 at the Rotterdam Marathon last Sunday. His world record annihilated the previous record set by Australian, Robert Horman in 1998 by over 14 minutes. Bill and I were talking about Ed on this morning's run. Bill has met Ed and had the opportunity to ask him about his training schedule. Ed replied (I paraphrase) "What schedule? I run around the cemetery. As long as I'm on top, the training is going well".
The image of Ed running amongst tombstones is such beautiful irony. It makes me smile and it makes we glow with pride for the potential of humanity. Mind, body, spirit all working in perfect harmony. There's a place for Ed in that old cemetery, but not yet, not by a long shot. I suggest we all do one extra hill repeat next week in honour of Ed.
Everyone is the age of their heart.
Guatemalan Proverb
We ran 15.5 chilly ones this morning. Bruce, Cheryl, and Jim added on another 6 to break 21 miles. Aside from the chill it was another very successful training run through Old Fort Garry, The University of Manitoba, Linden Woods and alongside Bishop Grandin Parkway. We got a little twisted around for the last part, but we were soon back on track. Upon Bill's lead we tried channelling the sun gods through pop songs with the word sun appearing in the title; Here Comes the Sun, Keep on the Sunny Side, Good Day Sunshine, California Sun, House of the Rising Sun,You are My Sunshine.. none of them really helped, but I did feel a little warm glow while singing ...
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy, when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away
Speaking of warm glows and all things running, here's a clip that will leave you smiling. The connection to running? Does there really have to be a connection? If I stretched it I could draw parallels to fluidity of movement, the desire to achieve greatness, the triumph of success over fear, the fear of falling, the ability to pick your self up, dust your self off, start over again, the exhilaration of movement, the clarity of mind, the pride, the after glow, the confidence of achievement... but then again, it's just a kid on a swing in my neighbourhood filmed lovingly by a dad. Let's leave it at that.
Run hard, swing hard, become all that you can be. To those of you injured, take heart, this too will pass.
It's a good day to be alive, especially if your a kid on a swing.
Mike
PS A huge shout out to my friends Chris from Toronto and Vivian from Winnipeg who are both running the Boston marathon on Monday. Run like the wind!
1 comment:
So Inspiring! Thanks :)
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