40 Days to Better: Day 35

After ten days of running, I took this morning off.  My dog was happy as she got to go for a half-hour walk at 6 AM.  The skies look gray today.  Can't be sunny all the time, I suppose.  And while my stomach is now feeling better, the skies look how my attitude was yesterday as I slogged through ten miles at a relatively high temperature for October and my stomach was in knots for reasons that remain a mystery to me.  

Most of my reading recently has been for stuff directly related to work.  Yesterday, I had a chance to finish a book my 17 year old had picked up for me for Father's Day.  It was a book about Steve Prefontaine.  He was an amazing American runner in the early 1970's who died a tragic death in 1975.  The last chapter of the book began with a quote from him, "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift."

That is a profound statement.  He made it, I presume, mostly about running.  However, it applies to so much.  I have been given many gifts.  Sometimes I feel like I have lived up to the call to give my best.  Sometimes, I know I have fallen short.  

As I look ahead, I want to focus on what the book that I have referred to many times in the forty days suggests (the book being The Answer to How is Yes).  It suggests focusing on what matters most.

If I focus on what matters most and giving my all--what more could I ask for.

What I struggle with is that a lot of things matter.  So sometimes choosing what matters most is a real challenge.

In addition, the people in my life around me don't always agree with me on what matters most.

So there will need to be tradeoffs.

There will need to be compromises.

But experience suggests that following the road to better to a place in which I am clear about what I think matters most and giving my all to what matters most will be fulfilling for me.

Then, I have to try to create an environment where each person around me can give what they feel is their all to what matters most and the world should be a happier place for all.

Of course, a final reflection for this morning is that I also have to realize that in the same way that I ask others to allow me to choose my focus and define giving my best, I have to allow that in others as well.

Running and Free Will

Yesterday I was catching up on some reading and paged through a recent Runner's World.  There was a great article about the Steve Prefontaine Memorial Race.  One quote from Prefontaine (a US distance runner in the early 1970's who died an early death in a car accident) in the article was the following: 

The best pace is a suicide pace, and today looks like a good day to die.

This quote fascinates me after two recent runs for the following reason.  First, when I ran the 1:30:39 recently and had negative splits, I commented to my running partner that I felt completely in control and how different that felt from when I ran a half-marathon race the last time in November when particularly my first five miles felt like I was pushing too much.  Today, in our 5x1600m workout, the first 1600 was at an easy 6:20something pace.  Then the other four were all sub 6:05.  All, except for the last one felt completely under control. Even the last one felt mostly under control.  It helped to have a buddy who is faster than me pacing it out.  I just followed along and for a couple ran along side him for the last lap.  Our very last lap of the morning resulted in my buddy and I running a 5:53 total with the last lap being at about 85 seconds was just on the border of control.  But it was still under control.  It was just fast enough to make a difference and bring us home with our fastest mile of the day being our last.

The choice to go out a little slow and come back is a strategic choice.  It is a matter of free will.  It is a choice I make about how to run.  

I like to feel under control when I run.  When I don't, it worries me.  It worries me that I might injure myself.  It worries me that I might not last.

Obviously Prefontaine was different.  If he took his own statement seriously, he would have just gone with "the sky's the limit" attitude for every race and pushed as hard as he could.  That is also part of free will.  Just how much effort to exert every single time.

Maybe his attitude and an amazing endurance was why he was a great runner and I am just a good amateur.  

What I like to ponder is how a quote like his could apply not only to my running (especially with Boston coming up) with to the rest of my life and what is the difference between going out with a lot of effort but still feeling like I am in control and just turning over my fate to my faith and pushing with every last ounce of energy that God has bestowed upon me.

Perhaps I will find out in Boston.

Then, I can carry that forward in my life.