As I mentioned in my previous post, I was not accepted to run in the 2019 Tokyo Marathon. That's just how lotteries work. 300,000 applicants, and only room for about 28,000 runners. Ah well. That's life. Luck of the draw, and no big deal. Onto bigger and better things! I've decided on running the Shizuoka Marathon in February now, and am really looking forward to it. I ran 7 miles tonight for the first time in a long time, thinking about this marathon, my life, and exploring some new ground--both physically and metaphorically.

The typhoon heat is gone, and autumn is here. Wonderful night for a run.

Why do I run? Well. Why wouldn't I? In part, I think it's kind of protest against all the madness and bullshit that gets shoved into our heads everyday. It's a way to reconnect with myself. It just feels good. I run because I want to. What better reason would there be for doing it? Along these same lines I was also thinking: why does society at large so often try to shame us for what we want to do? Not really about running, per se, but about our lives themselves. Why do we need to try to justify ourselves, our actions, and our career paths with "sensible reasons" to an indifferent mob and their "public opinion"?

I run to get their claws out of my head, and to rediscover myself. And the world. And to find something new. To breath the fresh air and feel the impressions of a thousand different smells, sights, sounds, and thoughts, as I lose myself in the silent, rhythmic void of my breath and the movement of my shoes on the pavement and dirt roads. Movement toward a goal. My original self. The world, unfiltered.

There are many possibilities. Running somehow helps to remind me of this. It is one thing to do things we do not wish to do--like work crappy jobs--to help us in pursuing what our true passions are. The truly toxic thing, though, is to let them succeed in convincing you that your gift, your passion, and what you want, is not valid or sensible in the first place.

Fuck that. Run.

I hope you will enjoy the post-run video talk to accompany this post. Cheers!

~ gs