Quote of the Week...from Emil Zatopek

If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon.
                                                                   ---Emil Zatopek

Emil Zatopek was a famous distance runner from Czechoslovakia who won the Olympic gold medals in 1952 for the 5,000 meter, 10,000 meter, and marathon (26.2 miles) races. He was a talented athlete who probably worked harder at his sport than any others of his era, with a harsh, self-imposed training regimen.  But I didn't select him for those reasons...it is the quote's meaning that I'd like to discuss here...

I've run a mile many times...and I've managed to finished two marathons, one public and one while training on my own.  Back in February 2010 I ran my first-ever half marathon race here in Gainesville and began to set my sights on the marathon event.  I trained hard the rest of the year and by the time fall arrived I was regularly going out on runs for fifteen miles or more.  When I hit the twenty-mile mark toward the end of the year, I knew that a marathon run was attainable...which I accomplished the afternoon of January 15, 2011 (actually I ran about 27 miles).  But I soon came to the conclusion that, at least for myself, this distance took up too much of my time with training and that it made me too injury-prone...I subsequently would only train for half-marathons, which I have run over the past eight years...

The point to all this is that while Zatopek's quote sounds like an either-or, strictly binary proposition, in truth you can experience a markedly different life and run some pretty impressive distances without letting it overshadow everything else you're doing in your life.  And, quite frankly, if you've participated in some of these marathon races, you'll find that in many of them the course is doubled over in places so that you're just repeating much of the same terrain...that's no fun!  I'm glad I downsized from trying to do marathons and my body appreciates it as well...a half-marathon is a good, solid long-distance event as are 10Ks (6.2 miles) and 15Ks (9.3 miles).  As a matter of fact, as I find myself mysteriously getting older each year, I'm finding those last two more fun to run in.  But having said all this, I also recognize that each of us is different and some have come to consider the marathon as the crowning event of their running aspirations.  And, of course, if you're not into running, none of this applies except as an analogy to other areas with which you are engaged.  The main thing is to avoid automatically buying into how others define your interest: that's something you...and only you...get to do...