kerouac

i am beginning to think that once the railroad was here, it must have been a pretty good gig driving steel across this country. journey to the newly opened, not yet paved, section of a rails to trails that is an extension of the row river trail leading out of cottage grove. mid day sunlight. long shorts. marathon was the distance. well, 26 miles. out and back. because i could.

i have been reading a lot about eastern culture along with some fiction from the mountains of the south dated in the 1800's. i compare that with modern western culture. the comforts we have now at our disposal that are supposed to be tools for happiness. i have been, in some cases, in so much comfort that i hated it. artificial lighting, air conditioning. where are our hardships? our struggles? have we fazed out our inner sense of adventure? i remember some time ago having a conversation with a recent champion of a race called hardrock while running on a trail and he remarked to me that he was most at peace when he was in a struggle. he was happiest when he was pushing himself. when he got up every morning and looked into the mirror, there was nobody else he wanted to be.

he told me on that day, you cannot be afraid to fail. the opinion that was shared in conclusion to the conversation was that if you look at people who have achieved success and are happy, they can probably show you some failure along the way. more than one failure, actually, they can probably show you many. they are successful because they are constantly trying to go further and farther and faster. expanding...if you will.

today. i just wanted to go 26. whether i was ready to or not.

i think it's not about the single day. it's about the lifestyle. soreness. fatigue. schedule. weather. how many of us are defeated by hardship while training for an event that we are conditioning ourselves to go further, faster, higher.

believe you can do it. no shortcuts. pay your dues.