Performance and Transformation

What if humans are pack animals? It seems like everything I do with another person gets a bit easier. I’m normally one who loves running long-distances alone. Today it was very out of character when I decided to run with the pace team in my local marathon. I wasn’t so sure at first. The group seemed a little crowded, but there was a lot of energy as we all banged out miles together. I realized about 4 miles in why I had never joined a pace team. I’m a fairly prideful person, and if I followed a pace runner it meant I couldn’t do it on my own. Once I accepted I couldn’t do my goal on my own and that I needed the other runners at my pace, I was able to concentrate on just sticking with them. Somewhere around mile 6 I started thinking of the group as a platoon, of which I was a member. I have no idea why a Platoon came to mind, maybe it’s because I finished reading Joker One two weeks ago by Donovan Campbell. It’s a great book about a platoon and i...

Racing makes all the difference. Ask most mesh short wearing, Nike sporting, sweat soaked Joe or Jane chugging down the sidewalk, “Are you a runner?” and they likely respond, “No.” That’s because racing makes all the difference. More so, training for a race makes us feel like runners. It’s not that a race is a magical event, but it does give shape and purpose to what we are doing. In those moments of training and racing, running becomes more than just a means to control weight, or more than a new hobby. With focus towards the goal of finishing a challenging distance or with a certain time, we get the gift of self-motivation. In self-motivation, we become citizens of a running sub-culture marked with the habits of perseverance and self-control. This is the place and time when someone becomes a runner. As residents of this land, we are able to get out of bed in the morning for a run. When we come home after a day packed with meetings the most restful thing w...