East Side Circuit

It was an east side circuit today. 45M Plus in 14 Hours or so. Windy always, at times chilly, occasionally rainy, hot, sunny, and long. This was a time on feet (TOF) work out. Very little running or jogging, but at the same time only three significant stops and all of these for less than 15 minutes. My endless legs were showing signs of wear up on Peacocks last week, so I decided I needed some Hard Hot Highway to toughen 'em up. Well I got that and more. The first seven miles was very hard with a lot of pain and muscle cramping. Frogs Legs did no good, so I was ultimately forced to turn to Vitamin I. I don't do that too much any more, but out there on the Kalanianeole, with the wind whippin up and the concrete sending shudders thorough my bones I knew I had to do something. I got a little faster as the 'I' took effect, but mostly it was the 1,2,3,4 pace repeated again and again. I couldn't think beyond that cadence and function very well. Head down, world just what I could see ahead of me, and the effort to move Left, right, left, right...each step done well....left right left right.

So I'm out there weathering this onslought of difficulty and my mind returns to the concept of suffering. Now for those of you who have problems with this idea, lets change the word to endurance. Endurance as a concept of proactive suffering. To gain endurance we go out and seek suffering, gain an understanding of it, and learn how to deal with it. On the other side of this is passive suffering, or disoluteness or dissipation, which an individual expriences through lack of action. Think of these as two sides of the same coin, called suffering.

I believe that suffering is the main topic of Humanity. People talk a lot about it, let it determine the course of their lives, and ultimately do little about it. Human suffering defines humanity, and all religion, philosophy, and societies are primarily attempts to define, or deal with suffering. I'm not going to go into a definition of suffering here, for my purposes here it is that physical and mental trauma that one endures in ultra runs. Consult some bhudist texts if you wish a more detailed analysis.

Ultra runners go thorugh stages of endurance testing. Each stage is defined by our ability to deal with the increased pain or suffering we encounter as we push the envelope of our experience. ---Here we are of course looking at pain and suffering that is not physically detrimental to us. Going out and chopping ones leg off may be an avenue to understanding pain and suffering, but it is not a valid option for an ultra-runner. Part of moving through these stages is comprehending the positive and negative aspects of suffering on the body.

As a runner moves over the ground the mind often moves into a meditative state. Each step creates a wide array of experiences, some benifical, others with negative impacts on the body. As runners move they constantly assess the state of there bodies,