Quote of the Week...from Dean Karnazes

Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.
                                                                                       ---Dean Karnazes.

Dean Karnazes is one of the most renown ultra-marathon runners in the world, ultra-marathons being races beyond the standard 26.2-mile marathon distance...usually measuring 50 or 100 miles.  I first read his book Ultra-Marathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner back in 2010 and have it on my Kindle, regularly rereading it although I have no intention of ever running that far...I'll just stick with half-marathons as my "ultra" distance, thank you.  But the above quote resonates with me, especially since this past Sunday morning I practiced it while participating in my first half-marathon in two years...

I enter long-distances races with the aim of running throughout them, but in any event I always resolve to finish them...even if I have to walk part of the way.  In this recent race I had to walk brief stretches while I got through a coughing fit and a bad cramp in my right thigh...but I stayed the course and finished the race.  In my "official" marathon back in 2011, I injured my IT-band just below the knee and, after 10 miles, had to alternate running and walking until around the 19-mile mark, when the increasing pain compelled me to walk (slowly) the rest of the way.  But I finished it!  I know another long-distance running enthusiast who annually trains for marathons and proudly insists that he never walks during his races...as if it is somehow cheating to do so.  But in the trail races dominating the ultra-racing calendar, Karnazes not only sometimes has to walk, but also climb...and yes, even crawl on occasion!  And those races often require all participants to stop at various points on the course and submit to being weighed and examined by a physician in order to avoid serious medical complications arising from the distance and conditions.  Jeff Galloway, a great American marathon runner, developed a plan whereby runners will walk "x" minutes and then run "y" minutes in the appropriate ratio that enables them to be able to train for longer distances and then successfully finish their races...even marathons...this way.  Now if you want to make up your own rules for yourself that prohibit you from ever walking, then that's your business...but don't hang that legalism on me.  Besides, being brought up in the Judeo-Christian tradition, I've come to believe in the application of the concept of a Sabbath in just about any endeavor I do...work intensely for a set time and then lighten up for a brief period before resuming the intensity.  Galloway has found that this system of his has helped runners avoid many of the chronic repetitive motion injuries that often befall this group...

Many good quotes that contain a literal meaning can carry over and be applied to other aspects of one's life...the above quote is a case in point.  And if you expand its meaning to life itself, then it also has a more universal application to others, not just highly trained distance runners.  And here is that meaning for me: having a purpose in life is crucial to us...and always being engaged in actualizing it is also important.  But circumstances, either external...such as inadequate financial resources, conflicts with others, or rejection by potential schools, employers, publishers, etc, or those of an internal nature...such as illness, injury, physical or mental disabilities, or the lack of skill and knowledge...can present themselves to us as obstacles to the realization of these purposes.  It is during these times that we shouldn't give up, but rather "walk"...or even "crawl" toward our ends until once again we can break out into a "run"...but even if it takes crawling to the end, then crawling it will be...