Putting it all out there

Often times, bearing our souls requires a sense of vulnerability. There are few better examples of this than the distance runner. After having spent time watching the documentary entitled "1Hundred", I found myself amazingly inspired perhaps in a way never before realized.  The film followed a handful of participants in preparing for and in the legendary Leadville 100 mile race in Leadville, Colorado. 

What spoke to me the most clearly was the willingness of the participants to lay everything they had on the line without hesitation.  Sure, there may have been doubts, but the level of commitment from each of them was incredible. There was no quit in them.  Run, walk, crawl...  There was one goal: Finishing. 

To these participants, speed or pace mattered little.  In fact, the level of camaraderie between event organizers, volunteers, participants, and residents of Leadville was impressive. In the end, what mattered was being in the moment, one singular stride at a time. 

This brings me to an interesting point and a revelation of sorts.  

Over the years, I have been fortunate to help hundreds of burgeoning runners get on the path to living a healthier life - one aspect of being. It is easy however to get preoccupied with some lofty standards that we feel, for whatever reason, we should be able to achieve without giving ourselves the opportunity to be and enjoy the ride. 

The subject of being will be discussed in further posts. 

What we wind up missing out on is the pleasure in the moment, the joy in the action of living forward, with eyes and hearts wide open, enjoying the ability to take that next step forward towards finding out who we truly can be. 

With that comes a little bit of a re-branding of this blog, for one, and more will be shared on that at a later time. 

The other take away from 1Hundred, for me, was the notion of "putting yourself out there" with regard to your goals.  Call it a higher sense of accountability, if you will.  For me though, I just want to share the ride. 

So it is with that I will say that I have registered for my first ultramarathon. The Dirty German 50K will take place on May 18, 2014 here in Philadelphia within the friendly confines of Pennypack Park.  Training is going well, focus is strong. 

This experiment of one, this journey to being is now in high gear.