“When you’re a competitive runner in training you are constantly in a process of ascending” (Parker 198).

Read Once a Runner and Again to Carthge, then go for a run.

This quote is from John L. Parker’s Again to Carthage. Quentin Cassidy says it as he’s looking over his old training logs. He’s ruminating on the rarity of this state.

There aren’t very many parts of my life where I’m constantly ascending. Sure. I try to be a good guy. A good dad. A good teacher. I have my good days when I’m getting better and better, but you can bet that I also have my days where I’m failing.

A marathon training cycle is one of the few places where my arrow is pretty consistently pointing up. This hit me this week when I was running a track interval workout. I ran 3200 meters at 6:35/mile, 2000 meters at 6:15/mile, 1600 meters at 6:00/mile, and 1000 meters at 5:44/mile. Each of these had a mere 2:30 recovery.

I say this not to brag (well, maybe I’m bragging a little bit) but to point out that a month ago I would have puked way before I finished that workout.

This is one of the reasons I love the marathon and the training that goes into it. I’m still pushing the boundaries of what I can do. I can see improvement throughout the course of the training cycle. It’s an area where I can always be chasing excellence.

It gives me hope that I can try to swing my arrow upward in a few more areas of my life. Isn’t that a great thing about athletics? It allows us to find bravery and hope within.