Running around a corner
The other day I went running. I ran eight miles for the first time in decades. About halfway through, I took a sharp right turn with the road. After I was through the turn, I did something I never do. I'm not sure what made me do it, but for some reason I looked back.
This was a very mundans event on the surface, but it sparked a philosophical thought process in me that I thought about for the rest of my run. When I looked back, there was nothing there. It was simply somewhere I had been. It held no value to me anymore in the context of my run.
Everything that a runner focusses on during a run is where he/she is at the moment, and what lies ahead. The focus is always on how you presently feel, and planning for the rest of the run. The focus is always going to be on the next mile, the next hill, the next time split. If you're getting tired or something's hurting, you focus on trying to compensate for it. It does no good to concentrate on why you're tired, or why a muscle is tight, you just need to fix it the best you can.
Here's where the philosophy part comes in. It was at that moment when I looked back, that I realized how useless it was to have done it. That turn was behind me, and it needed to be left there. It would do me no good to live in the moment of rounding that corner.
We've all heard the metaphors and cliche's about living in the present, living life to the fullest, and not trying to re-live the past. I've always agreed with them, just as I'm sure everyone does. I was amazed though, by how much more meaningful those sayings became, simply by me looking back during a run.
When I wrote my first book, Jared's Island, I created the main character to be someone who only looked to the future. I didn't plan it that way, it just happened. When the book began, he was in a bad way. During the first couple of pages he said something like, "Well, enough of this," and he set out to make a new life for himself. He never looked back again. Even when he was scared of what was coming his way, I never once had it in my mind that he wonder if he had done the right thing by jumping in a rowboat and riding through a storm all alone. He always evaluated where he was in his world, and went from there. Granted, he was a strong-willed kid, but he never looked back.
We all look back in life to different degrees. It's funny how life can throw a lesson at you when you least expect it. This wasn't necessarilly a lesson I needed to learn, but it was still a very interesting experience.
This was a very mundans event on the surface, but it sparked a philosophical thought process in me that I thought about for the rest of my run. When I looked back, there was nothing there. It was simply somewhere I had been. It held no value to me anymore in the context of my run.
Everything that a runner focusses on during a run is where he/she is at the moment, and what lies ahead. The focus is always on how you presently feel, and planning for the rest of the run. The focus is always going to be on the next mile, the next hill, the next time split. If you're getting tired or something's hurting, you focus on trying to compensate for it. It does no good to concentrate on why you're tired, or why a muscle is tight, you just need to fix it the best you can.
Here's where the philosophy part comes in. It was at that moment when I looked back, that I realized how useless it was to have done it. That turn was behind me, and it needed to be left there. It would do me no good to live in the moment of rounding that corner.
We've all heard the metaphors and cliche's about living in the present, living life to the fullest, and not trying to re-live the past. I've always agreed with them, just as I'm sure everyone does. I was amazed though, by how much more meaningful those sayings became, simply by me looking back during a run.
When I wrote my first book, Jared's Island, I created the main character to be someone who only looked to the future. I didn't plan it that way, it just happened. When the book began, he was in a bad way. During the first couple of pages he said something like, "Well, enough of this," and he set out to make a new life for himself. He never looked back again. Even when he was scared of what was coming his way, I never once had it in my mind that he wonder if he had done the right thing by jumping in a rowboat and riding through a storm all alone. He always evaluated where he was in his world, and went from there. Granted, he was a strong-willed kid, but he never looked back.
We all look back in life to different degrees. It's funny how life can throw a lesson at you when you least expect it. This wasn't necessarilly a lesson I needed to learn, but it was still a very interesting experience.
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