Day 17— What I’m Thinking When I’m Running
I really like running in the mountains.
Is it a hobby? No, for me it’s almost like my life.
Running in the mountains is, in general, called “Trail-running”.
Trail-running races are held not only in Japan, but also all over the world- including in the Antarctic all year round.
Trail-running races are in a little strange situation; unique runners gather together, and they compete with a unique mindset.
What’s the difference between a marathon and trail-running?
Everyone knows that the length of a full marathon is 42.195 kilometers.
It’s a long distance race.
So, what’s the longest distance for trail-running?
The answer is 100 miles (about 160 kilometers).
For marathon, we have reached the age where humans can break the record around 2 hours.
But, how long does it take trail-runners to run 100 miles?
For example, the winner of the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, one of the top competitions in the world, ran for 20 hours this year.
The final runner reached the goal 47 hours after he started.
Almost all runners (of course top runners), don’t sleep at all during the race.
At some aid stations, they just take meals and a short rest.
They keep running for nights and days.
They run while fighting against drowsiness.
Some runners even sleep while standing!
They keep running despite the pain they feel throughout their body.
Sometimes, their body rejects the food and they end up vomiting.
But, once in a while, they continue to run with only their willpower.
In the end, when they reach the goal, many of them say,“I’m worn out.”
But, after a week, they go back to saying “What will I challenge next?”
What for?
What do they run for, going so far, pushing themselves?
There are various values and thoughts.
So, what am I running for in the mountains?
Running in the mountains feel like I am rehearsing for my life.
[What I’m thinking when I’m running]
I finished 100 miles in Malaysia this June.
I kept running for about 30 hours in a 30 degree weather.
But, I have no guts.
I often get tired at over 50 kilometers, and try to find reasons to give up.
“It is too hot to run.”
“I am exhausted”
“I can’t control my body the way I imagined”
“I was not feeling well. Yes, I must not be feeling well”
But these excuses are not worth giving up.
As long as I don’t lose consciousness or feel heavy pain, I continue running.
Despite all the excuses that flashes across my mind, I just can’t allow myself to stop running.
In the first place, there is a secret word in this community.
“We must make a comeback”
This means that we get this sudden charge of energy even if we are in bad condition.
It might be due to the energy support, heat adaptation, altitude accommodation, stabilization of running form and so on.
It′s very ordinariness.
We stop feeling the pain even though we are in pain.
We recover even though we are not feeling well.
We get used to heat even though we are heating up.
Knowing them empirically helps us face sufferings and difficulties.
In other words, we are becoming able to overlook these situations.
We learn to be generous to suffering and difficulties.
We learn to welcome them as elements for enjoying the race.
We even come to feel them as close friends.
“Oh, are you in pain? No problem, let’s see how it goes.”
“You look so tough. So, let’s experiment what you can do to recover now. ”
“I’m sure that these difficult situations get better before long.”
As a result, we happily lose any reason for giving up the race.
By the way, I’m often asked ”What are you thinking of when you run?”
In fact, when running, I sometimes practice pronouncing “Kyary Pamyu Pamyu” correctly and try to talk to animals and the nature that I encounter.
But, these actions are only limited to when I’m doing well.
Most of the time during running, I’m thinking about myself.
It’s about my physical condition and about my mental condition.
Am I running in the correct form?
Is my energy fulfilled?
Do I have symptoms of dehydration?
Which muscles are tired?
To rest the tired muscles, which other muscles should I use?
Is my mental condition in a positive state?
If not, why?
Due to shortage of energy?
Due to any anxious matters?
If I have any anxiety symptoms, what can I do to reduce them?
I face myself like this- I search inside of myself to find the best way to improve the situation.
I do only things that I need to keep up my performance as much as I need.
On the contrary, it makes me feel bad when I look at other runners.
I get exhausted because I strain myself, trying to match my pace with others.
I injure myself because I don’t notice the signals my body sends to alert me.
Worrying about others does so much harm and no good.
That’s why I find it best that I concentrate on myself when I run.
【Running and my life】
Written above are some of my thoughts about running.
As a matter of fact, running in the mountains allows me to become more aware of my surroundings and provides inspiration for my life.
It gives me suggestions on how to deal with difficulties and great challenges.
When I face difficulties in my work or daily life, I often feel, “This situation seems like that time I experienced during the race. ”
And, thanks to this feeling, I can afford to get over the big walls somewhat easily.
I think that running in the mountains is a rehearsal for my life and it leads my pessimistic self to be tough with myself.
For me, running in the mountains means preparation for battle with life.
While saying this, I can’t sometimes finish.
Not everything goes well, so both my life and running is interesting, I think.
This article is part of the HENNGE Advent Calendar 2019. An Advent calendar is a special calendar used for counting down the days till Christmas. HENNGE Advent Calendar 2019 presents one article by one HENNGE member per day for 25 days until Christmas, 2019
