Refresh, again.

I read this story from the newsletter of Runners for Life:

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up.
It knows that it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve.
It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle
when the sun comes up you'd better be running.

(But, unless you're a runner, you won't understand.)

I was quite taken by imagining how Nature has programmed so many creatures into being fit and non-sedentary for their very survival and how humans have through a quirk of evolution, managed to avoid it completely.

I also recently finished the last few pages of Murakami's "What I talk about when I talk about running". I have been savouring this book for over 6 months now believe it or not. I was extremely reluctant to ever reach the end because I don't think I have enjoyed any book as much as this one. The connection between what the author is saying and your personal experiences ran so deep as to be almost a reflection of your own life, if you know what I mean.

A combination of that little story and Murakami's conclusions about running has revealed again a profound sense of meaning to me not just in terms of running but in terms of what simple action means to all creatures and how there is so much meaning and fluidity that can be derived from mere action, how our senses and surroundings are revealed to ourselves in sharper, brighter colours. More than ever, I am determined now to squeeze out every ounce of whatever it is that running has to offer me: the gap between mind and body is only increasing and this is my prime. They say youth is wasted on the young: well not this time its not. I feel a sense of rejuvenation that is hard to explain. And more than ever, I yearn for early morning, slanting rays of the sun and the road.