Friday, October 22, 2010

Being Like Mike

Wow. Cory's last blog is really good! Who knew he had thoughts? It's kind of embarrassing for me--having to have a shirt made with an arrow and the legend "I'm With Erasmus."




Not that I'm a superficial guy myself. I even have a favorite philosopher, but in my case it's a contemporary thinker--Mike Tyson. Not only has Mike offered the deep thought, "If I only tattoo half my face, then I must only be half crazy", but he has given me a philosophy of life: "Everybody has a plan, until they get hit in the mouth."






I'm going to postulate that what marathoners and ultramarathoners are about, after you scrape down past the DSM IV stuff, is about Mike's philosophy. 'Cuz one thing I know for sure is no matter how prepared you are and how smart you are, a race like the JFK is going to hit you in the mouth. And more than once. Something will happen that throws up all over your plans like a President at a Japanese state dinner.


We wish it weren't true; we wish races were about having done good training and having a good race strategy, and then the race itself is easy. But what racing is really about is how you handle the throw-up. Your best success, unfortunately, comes from doing what is not easy.


At least, that is what Tysonists believe. And while I belong to no organized religion, I am attracted to the "hit in the mouth" message of Mike.


That and the idea of following his advice on relationships. I will be sure to shout to the other runners, "My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want to rip out your heart and feed it to you. I want to eat your children." Who wouldn't be charmed by friendly banter like that?!

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