Friday, August 29, 2008

Ultramarathon Man

I just came across these quotes from Dean Karnaze's new book. Somehow they seem to sum up a bit of what I was trying to say in my last post. This is, I think, why I got so hooked on running:

"Running is not fun. It's too hard to be fun. Even the most devoted runners would not describe the experience of performing a typical workout-let alone competing in a race- as fun...I'm not saying running doesn't feel good. It does feel good, in a way that any form of hard work feels good to those who have a taste for it... A hard run leaves you exhausted and glad to be done with it. Some days you dread even starting a run. But the overall running experience just feels right, like an expression of who you really are."

"Running teaches you that there's a difference between working hard and feeling bad. Consumer culture tries to teach us otherwise. How many television commercials talk about 'making life easier'? ...But it's just not true. Challenging and testing your mind and body, even to the point of exhaustion, failure, and breakdown, can feel as wonderful as anything else life has to offer."

"Every runner has the potential for mental toughness somewhere inside. Whenever runners allow suffering to defeat them and consequently fail to do their best, it is not because they lack mental toughness but because, for some reason, they just didn't have the courage that day to access it."

2 comments:

Sass said...

That is so true! People on the runners community have talked about his book (s?) before - I should get myself a copy of it at some stage I reckon

Pip said...

I'd quite like a copy as well. Perhaps one of us can buy it and the other can chip in or take second dibs!

So nice out there. Am heading into Extreme soon to change to go for a run around the Mt Vic trails.