The last four months or so, one of my old roommates from college has been preparing for the San Fransisco Marathon, scheduled for today, 29 July. Last night he called from just outside Alcatraz, complaining of severe low-back pain, not unlike what he experienced four years ago after developing a kidney-stone during XC season. Early this morning he sent a message confirming the kidney-stone diagnosis, and with only hours before the race he withdrew from the competition to recover.
I thought about that a lot today, wondering what it would be like to spend months preparing for a race and then having to withdraw at the last minute. Would I feel sad, angry, or some combination of both? If it was a race for which I was sorely unprepared, might I feel relieved? Or say if, on the day of a marathon, the weather took a turn to the absurd, such as happened in Chicago some years ago with 90+ degrees F for the from start to finish? In such cases, would a DNS (did not start) feel quite so bad?
It is hard to say, but an old Taoist story may offer some insight:
Once there was an old farmer who had worked his crops for many
years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to
visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically. "we'll see," the farmer replied.
The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses.
"How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed. "we'll see," replied the old man. The
following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and
broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his
misfortune. "we'll see" answered the farmer. The day after, military officials
came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg
was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how
well things had turned out. "we'll see" said the
farmer.
The story is interesting in many ways, but I think it fits well with the situation we've been discussing above. First, a supposedly-bad thing happens to the farmer, followed by a supposedly-good thing. Back-and-forth goes "Fortune," yet the farmer remains unfazed by anything, be it good or bad. Indeed, as the story seems to say, things that seem good in the moment can turn out rather badly, and things that seem bad at the moment can turn out well. In short, it's not worth getting excited by either.
That's easy enough to say, but perhaps far more difficult to practice. Of course most of us will get excited when things go well, and perhaps feel down when they don't. It's natural enough, and I wouldn't expect anyone to be so cold to either that nothing moves them.
Yet the story may help us remember--both when times are good and when they are not--that we don't know what the future will bring, and how things go now is not a perfect indication of how they will go later. As an old Buddhist story about a king who is thrown this way and that by good or bad fortune concludes, "This too, shall pass."
No doubt my old roommate will feel some disappointment about not getting to run the race. But having completed a successful build-up, I suspect that training won't go to waste. And while I wish he could have run, his present misfortune might prove motivational for him later, and instructional for the rest of us now. At least, that is one way to take it. So far as the future goes, I guess "we'll see."
Feel better soon ol' boy,
Happy Sunday, friends :)
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