Simple yet Complex

One of the things I love about running is the unbelievable simplicity. It has to be the most basic athletic endeavor that we know of.

I have always loved the Summer Olympics because I can imagine how it all started. A bunch of Greek dudes were sitting around and one of them said to the other, "I bet I can throw this stick farther than you." Hence... Javelin. Carry this line of thinking out over the basic Track and Field events and you have rock throwing, wall jumping, wall jumping with a stick, moat leaping, and of course... running. The best of all is running because it is simply a result of one man (or woman now) looking at the others and saying, "I bet I can run from here... to there... faster than you can."

I love all kinds of activities, but when I am running, and I mean really running, I like to think it takes me back to that original mindset. Just me and the Greeks contemplating athletic supremacy.

Marathon bound?

Nothing exciting about today's run. 40 minutes. Slow pace. East River.

I find that even though my longest run I have ever completed is just over 10 miles, I almost always have the thought of marathons when I run. In fact, I am not sure if there has been a run in the past 9 months (when I started running again) that I have not had, at some point in my run, the following thoughts:

- I wonder what my mile split time is.

- I wonder if I could keep this pace up for 26.2 miles.

- I wonder what that marathon time would be.

I haven't even seriously considered training for a marathon... or a half marathon for that matter. At this rate, I am going to have to run a marathon just so I don't go crazy.