I used to be a runner. Well. Maybe that’s not right. For several years on end, I ran every day. At the height of things, I was doing six miles per day.
I recently heard a quote from another runner named Mark in Blacksburg, VA. The quote was this.
There.
That’s no mistake. That was his full quote.
He said he had been a runner at times, and just like me, it was very hard sometimes. He would get through those struggles by spotting a place in the distance. He said it could be a tree, or a light pole, or a bridge. Anything, really. It just had to be something that was a reasonable distance away. And then, for the next few minutes, he would say to himself, “That’s where I am going. Right there.”
So that long run became a series. He would find a place and focus on it. And just make it “there.”
This is how life can be for us if we choose to make it that way. Sometimes our days seem long. Or a task seems nearly impossible. Or an event or appointment is arduous.
Maybe at those times, to move through those things, we can just say, “There.” We can focus on something a short distance away and take things inch by inch.
Back to the running thing.
Interestingly enough, the Swedes use a variation of this in interval training. They call it Fartleks. This is not about passing gas.
The word itself is Swedish:
Fart = speed
Lek = play
They essentially do what I described earlier. When they run, they pick a point up ahead and focus on getting there.
Fartlek was developed in the 1930s by Swedish coach Gösta Holmér. He did this because he wanted runners to build endurance and speed naturally by varying their pace over the trails. They use nature as cues. Like hills, trees, and flowers, and such.
They try to make training less rigid and more joyful.
And back to our lives and how we live them. When we experience those things that seem hard, or long, or tedious, perhaps we can apply this technique to our inner spirits. We can make that “thing” less rigid and more joyful, but by focusing on a small, good thing just ahead.
Moments. One by one. Each step. Leading to the next.
Oh. And remember to tie your shoes.
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“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” — Robert Collier
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“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” — Confucius
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“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” — Vincent van Gogh
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“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.” — Marcus Aurelius
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