Writing an online journal is generally a mental sort of activity but this entry is a paean to the purely physical. People who like long distance workouts keep telling me they get their body moving and just zone out. I generally don't (one reason I don't do endurance well) but yesterday during my second lap I came as close as I ever have to that state and I can see the appeal. I was working hard, feeling my body move in rhythm, thinking desultorily about other things while I corrected details of my stroke, feeling strong and fluid and controlled. I could get to like that.
I rarely read about adults, especially women, who are not just working out but who are doing more than trying to look good or even feel good, who are striving to do something with their bodies rather than to their bodies. So this entry is a shout-out to all those who are trying to get faster or stronger, go farther or do better, those who know what it's like to push and try and sweat and sometimes see results. It's for all those women who regularly kick my butt in races and show me how much better I can be, and for all those athletes in college and high school who are young and enjoying their strength and skill -- I hope they grow to be old and still building skills and enjoying the rhythm and strength of their bodies. "There's nothing quite like six across and flat out" -- and knowing this is what all that training was for.
It's also for those who aren't trying to win any races, but who push their bodies so they can enter into the world outside, to see and feel and be and do what's out there, what's over the next mountain or around the next corner. And mostly it's for me and all the other bodies out there striving, seeking, sweating, and trying not to yield.
Posted by dichroic at June 3, 2004 02:54 PMThe zoning out is wonderful. Just hoping I won't have to do it for almost 18 hrs this yr :-)
Posted by: caroline at June 4, 2004 08:54 AMI profoundly envy people who are athletically gifted enough that they can find the zone. For me it's a constant struggle just to keep basic form. I'm shockingly unco-ordinated.
There was a 60-something woman in the 10K I ran and she brought it in at under 48 minutes. She didn't look like a fitness model, but oh, man, that woman had the stuff. I want to have the stuff, too.
When I was young I never took on anything unless I was convinced that I would succeed. Now, in my 50's, I'm learning the joy in the words "personal best". I will never be in the top half of any race I run, but I do hope to keep improving my times.
The last person to come in on Sunday was a woman about my age. She was a good 20 minutes after everyone else, but the look on her face when she crossed the line was simply beatific. Clearly, this was her first race and just finishing was a major goal met. The best part? The crowd gave her truly heartfelt applause.
I got a wonderful e-mail this morning from a woman who says she almost always comes in last in any distance race she takes on. When her family asks her why she bothers she said she tells them, "Last place is still miles ahead of never getting off the couch."
How cool is that, eh?
Posted by: Marn, eh at June 7, 2004 09:14 PM