Running and Being - Dr. George Sheehan

One of my favorite running books is by George Sheehan, often called the philosopher of running. I came across Running and Being in my second year of running, so I had some experience to reflect back on. Many of the references to marathons and road races were somewhat lost on me, as well as the discussions of the running boom in the 70's.

What I did find very rewarding were the discussions of why we run, the different states of being when running, and how running shapes us as people and our lives. I'll admit that I majored in philosophy at UCLA so I have a philosophical perspective in general. Although I considered it, I don't think Dr. Sheehan's book took its inspiring title from Martin Heidegger's Being and Time, which I had read a bit of in college. Certainly, I had a lot more fun, and gained significantly more insight into "Being" from Dr. Sheehan than I did from the stodgy German existentialist philosopher. Nothing against Heidegger. He just probably didn't run.

One of my favorite quotes from Dr. Sheehan's book is "Happiness is different from pleasure. Happiness has something to do with struggling and enduring and accomplishing.” So much else in life follows from this simple precept. It is similar to another favorite quote of mine from Marcus Aurelius, found in his notebooks which eventually were published as The Meditations - "The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, in so far as it stands ready against the accidental and the unforeseen, and is not apt to fall." He I surmise was once a runner.

Running Through the Wall

Before I even set out to run my first ultramarathon, the Skyline 50k, I read Running Through the Wall: Personal Encounters with the Ultramarathon by Neil Jamison. It is a collection of stories by over three dozen ultrarunners, speedsters and back-of-the-packers, young turks and older legends.

What I remember most when I first read the stories was how generous and friendly all the authors were. I knew Tim Twietmeyer and Ann Trason from the A Race for the Soul production. These were world-class runners. To read their stories about overcoming the challenges during their races made it seem like a shared adventure. Only later would I learn and cherish the legendary sense of common-bond found in the ultrarunning community. What amazes me today when I look through the table of contents is how many of these storytellers I have met, spoken with, or shared a trail.

In the last few days Endurance Planet, presented by ZombieRunner, has launched a monthly Tales from the Trails program. The program is described as "an audio magazine for ultrarunners". In its first (free) edition it includes Joel Zucker's Hardrock 100 race report, Andy Jones-Wilkin's adventure in winning 2007's Vermont 100, and Carey Smith, whom I wrote about yesterday, and his story at Arkansas Traveler 100. These "tales" will surely be the start of some new runners' adventures in ultramarathons.

The Will to Continue...

"The will to continue isn't about choosing reasons to take the next one hundred steps; it's about connecting with the forces that give one's life meaning, that which one values about all else. Success on an expedition, as in life, isn't about brute strength, or even endurance, but resilience: the ability to remind oneself, over and over, of the joy of living, even amid the greatest hardship."

--From No Horizon Is So Far: Two Women and Their Historic Journey Across Antarctica by Liv Arneson, Ann Bancroft, and Cheryl Dalhe

Find out more about these two amazing women, one American and the other Norwegian, who dazzled and educated more than 3 million elementary school children from 65 countries by connecting them to their expedition with internet and satellite phones.