Marathon

Glenn Gould on Marathon

Glenn Gould on Marathon ? Well, actually… no. It is Glenn Gould on Art:

The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenaline but rather the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.

                                                                 Glenn Gould

These words cover so many things in my life, actually, including the persuit of the many marathons. A ladyfriend once suggested that running the marathons is a kind of escapism ? Well, no ! I can understand this kind of ignorance as most ‘normal’ people fail to know themselves, to really look into the deepest and darkest corners of their minds and to confront themselves. I fall in the opposite category: I do not know how not to.

My personal experience is that true happyness and ‘self-love’ is achieved through these lifelong relationships and interests, for my part given in music, chess, spirituality, Nature (especially mountains), skiing, travelling… and… well, yes, I could go on a bit. These days MY MARATHONS, obviously, are my highway No. 1  to transcendence and self-appreciation (not to mention all the great fun, visits to interesting cities and countries and all the many good friends that the marathons have spinned off). 

I don’t mention persons. Of course, love is first and foremost achieved by the love to the important persons in our lives ! However, unlike the things above persons tend to come and go throughout a lifetime… love-affairs begin and end, children grow up and move away, one job is followed by another etc., so if you base your hopes of happyness on others entirely, you will end up short one day, it may come late – but it will come ! What do you do then ? See ?

So – get into a relationship durable for the rest of your life. With yourself ! For example, try on a marathon 😉 

50 marathons in 22 months !

Well, I guess it is nothing extraordinary after all… but it counts a bit for me ! 

This past Saturday, I completed my marathon number 60 since my debut in May 2004, and the race was my marathon number 50 within 22 calendar months (actually, run number 51 in the timespan of the past 22 months).

Well, it changes nothing, really… the important thing is always the next run… and I take one run at a time. I enjoy one run at a time.

Surely, as time passes by… experience and numbers do add up… but I tend to focus on… “this run”, i.e. being in the present moment.

The Five World Major Marathons !

This passed weekend I made my collection of the Five World Major Marathons complete. So, it took about two and a half year to grab’em all.. not bad, I think. The story goes as follows:

Berlin       2004, 2006
London     2005
New York 2006
Boston     2007
Chicago   2007

The next goal must be to collect some of the ‘adventure’ marathons, e.g. the Chinese Wall, Taj Mahal etc. We”ll see.

Chicago marathon 2007

Yesterday, I completed the perhaps most extreme marathon race I have participated in so far. Unusual high temperatures and a very high humidity made the Chicago marathon appear like a Badwater experience.

Actually, it became so hot that the race was officially cancelled and we were forced to walk to the finish line. Fortunately, we did get an official time and a medal… it would have been hard to accept if the expensive and long trip to Chicago from Denmark would have been all lost.

However, that would still have been minor compared to the tragedy that the family of a young father to three children now suffers since this young man died in the race yesterday. My deepest condolences to them.

You can enjoy my pictures and video from the race and the route here.