The past few days, I felt as if I had reached a plateau in my month of self-discipline; I was meeting my goals, but it felt like I wasn't challenging myself as much as I should be. So, while I was at a Halloween party (and not drinking!) yesterday, a girl mentioned that she had begun training for a marathon. Somehow, I convinced myself that the best idea for me would be to follow suit.
And now, I am telling people about my decision so that I am locked in and invested. It is a natural next step, one that will carry me far beyond my month of discipline. it will affect my diet, my activities, and challenge me to a great extent. It is in some ways a perfect fit, although I do dread the long runs and the infamous 'wall'.
At the same time, I wonder why we have this obsession with the marathon. So many people make such a big deal out if it. To be honest, I don't think I will feel any differently after completing the run, after all, it is just some arbitrary goal of running for an arbitrary distance in an arbitrary amount of time. Who cares? Well, I'm not really that cynical, but the whole point is that it is a very challenging task that most people are unable to accomplish and that, barring injury, I will accomplish in approximately four months.
Incremental progress, thats the name of the marathon game. I looked at the workout plans, and you can just see the mileage per week creep up over time. I am both excited and scared for this new task; I wonder if I have time and energy to divert from my studies to this new goal. Although perhaps this concern is unwarranted; I will have nothing but my thoughts to save me from boredom and my mind will inevitably drift to the problems of my research.
As was said in the Bruce Lee movie, "Enter the Dragon": We forge our bodies in the furnace of our will. So my body will become a lean running machine through the repetition of many steps on many different days. Each individual run will have negligable effect, but over time, as moving water slowly carves a river, I will carve twenty six miles and enter an elite subclass (1%) of all people living on this globe.
Each day I will be forced to excercise not only my body but also my willpower. I do not enjoy running for running's sake, it is a means to an end on my quest for self-discipline. I know that I am becoming more disciplined, but my progress is not yet satisfactory. This difficult path that will unfold slowly and painfully and culminate in a few hours of running and more days of recovery, is but a physical analogy for the process of denying my primal instincts. Instead of sitting on a couch eating fried chicken day in and out (which might be a sort of wonderful heaven), I engage my willpower to take me out in the world and accomplish the tasks I have set for myself.
Four months from now, I will have finished my first (and most likely, only) marathon.
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