UltraMarathon Man

In the running world, nearly everyone knows the name Dean Karnazes. This guy is absolutely amazing. He has accomplished things beyond comprehension with his running and has a book out about his journeys while running 50 marathons in 50 days. I've yet to read the book, but saw this excerpt on fellow runner Felicia's blog this morning and had to pass it on:

Karnazes wrote about "hard work" in the book and I wanted to share this passage:

Running teaches you that there's a difference between working hard and feeling bad. Consumer culture tries to teach us otherwise. How many television commercials talk about "making life easier"? If everything you knew about life came from TV, your goal would be to live the easiest, most comfortable and unchallenging life you possibly could. You would believe that the only good feelings are sensual pleasures such as the taste of a good soft drink and the fun of driving an expensive car and lying on the beach.

But it's just not true.

Challenging and testing your mind and body, even to the point of exhaustion, failure, and breakdown, can feel as wonderful as anything else life has to offer. I suppose the enjoyment of hard work is more of an acquired taste than the taste for pleasure and fun, but once you've acquired it, you're blessed with more ways to feel good, and life is better. Harder and better.
-- Dean Karnazes, 50/50

Finishing my tempo run this morning I had nearly the same thoughts about life and hard work. About what running does for me and how much I truly enjoy it and love pushing myself that hard before most people are out of bed in the morning. As I came to the end of my run my eyes welled with tears as I thought about how lucky I was to run today and each day before, how my body has allowed me to run and how truly thankful I am for the gift of running.