Of all the seminars I've worked with Jonesy, there's one that stands out. He was asked to define the difference between winning a marathon and setting the world record. His answer was simple.
To win a marathon, Jonesy flatly stated, you only have to beat everyone who shows up that day. To set the world record, you have to beat everyone who has ever shown up.
The room went silent. None of us had ever thought of it that way. And no one, except a former world record holder, could have explained it as such.
John goes on to write:
It's hard for me to imagine the courage it takes to pursue such a dream. Yet, having stood next to Jonesy, I believe the rest of us just aren't asking enough of ourselves. We are limited most by our imaginations--or more precisely, our lack of imagination. We tend to see ourselves only as we are, not as we might be.The bold is mine for emphasis.
The Pacers were running our track workout last night. Just as we were starting to warm up, the lights went off. Oh well, we could still run in the dark. My watch does not read well in the dark so I determined to just run on the feeling. To let my feet be quiet and happy. To concentrate on the form, the stride, the rhythm, the breathing, and just run. Not worrying about pace, or hitting the split.
Quiet feet are happy feet. They spend very little time on the ground. They touch and push off quickly. Heavy feet are noisy feet. Heel and toe. Heel strike, long roll forward along the lenght of the foot and rise to push off on the ball and toes. But your foot is on the ground a long time. It is slower this way. Keeping up on your toes is harder.
In the dark, it was so much easier. The eyes took awhile to adjust but the white lines on the track were all that I needed to guide me. I could tell I was going a pretty good pace due to my buddies falling behind me. It felt good to run fast. (It did not feel good to leave my buddies behind me.)
We need to do this more often.
Run as we feel.
Run without holding back.
To run as we might be able to run.
And after doing so in the dark,
it will be easier to do so in the light!
