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Dec 12, 2008
A cornucopia..
Another thing that I forgot to write in my previous post about the half-marathon is the first impression.
You walk into the grounds, to go sign in and it is like a festival, with sponsors booths, drinks, snacks, people milling about, people stretching, warming up, etc.
But you see people there in all sizes and shapes. Men, women, old, young, very old, skinny, fat, athletic builds, non-athletic builds, pretty much everything. You see all that and it is very motivating. I can do this. If that guy in the 70-99 age group category can be running 21km, I can as well. If that guy who looks like he is in much worse shape than me can do this, so can I.
Seeing the cornucopia of people who do this, despite the odds stacked against them, is very inspiring.
Also, there is a tendency to be familiar with your surroundings and think that they are what is basically normal all over the place. Suddenly you go to a place that is new, and you see well over a thousand people with other interests. All sorts of people. Religious, not religious, athletic, not athletic. And it is not just the marathon. There was also a bike race, and a "hand-bike" race with tens of people racing in them.
Life really consists of great variety, whether you see it on a normal basis or not. It is a mistake to think that what you see in your normal daily life is what is normal for everyone else and everywhere else.
You walk into the grounds, to go sign in and it is like a festival, with sponsors booths, drinks, snacks, people milling about, people stretching, warming up, etc.
But you see people there in all sizes and shapes. Men, women, old, young, very old, skinny, fat, athletic builds, non-athletic builds, pretty much everything. You see all that and it is very motivating. I can do this. If that guy in the 70-99 age group category can be running 21km, I can as well. If that guy who looks like he is in much worse shape than me can do this, so can I.
Seeing the cornucopia of people who do this, despite the odds stacked against them, is very inspiring.
Also, there is a tendency to be familiar with your surroundings and think that they are what is basically normal all over the place. Suddenly you go to a place that is new, and you see well over a thousand people with other interests. All sorts of people. Religious, not religious, athletic, not athletic. And it is not just the marathon. There was also a bike race, and a "hand-bike" race with tens of people racing in them.
Life really consists of great variety, whether you see it on a normal basis or not. It is a mistake to think that what you see in your normal daily life is what is normal for everyone else and everywhere else.
Labels:
half marathon,
marathon
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Based on this post I imagine that running a marathon will soon be banned by the ortho-rabbis. After all, anything that makes ortho-jews connect to the outside world must be bad.
ReplyDeleteFatwa to be issued soon.
But I support your running and your assimilation.
That is encouraging. Are there actually "fat" people running 21K though? I would think it would be too harsh on the knees? I am overweight (fat?) and I'm too scared to do more than 5k, not to risk injury. And I'm talking about sloooow 5k too :p Takes me about 45 minutes to do them.
ReplyDeletethere were some large people. I would not want to decide at what point a person is considered fat or just too overweight....
ReplyDeleteBetween us living in RBS and my sister living in Har Nof, my kids think that everyone in Israel lives on top of a hill, in a shtark frum neighbourhood fully dressed and behatted at all times.
ReplyDeletewe have to get out more!!!
along with water it is important to get electrolytes; sugar, potassium, etc. i take a belt with fruit juice along with me.
ReplyDeletesee you (maybe) in tiveria.