Sept 16th: Without Limits

Went to get myself registered for the marathon today. My BIB number is 151. So I guess there will be less than 200 people attempting the full monty. BTW today happens to be the 27th Annual Prefontaine Memorial Run in Oregon. I tried to get hold of the movie 'Without Limits', about Steve Prefontaine, which I had seen a long time back but they didn't have it. So I picked up 'Chariots of Fire' instead, a true story of two British athletes, Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics.

Both Steve and Eric seemed to have been the enlightened ones when it came to running, for them it was just not about winning. Steve once said, "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift", while Eric once said, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure." Both knew that the power comes from within, to see the race to the end. Abrahams after losing to Eric the first time they meet says, "If I can't win, I won't run." to which he is told "If you don't run. You can't win." He went on to win gold.

I'm sure those 200 odd people will leave me far behind as I see them run beyond the horizon..... But I'm not competiting with them. I'm not sure if I'll compete the long run too and I don't know what it takes to see the race to the end. Thats why I'm running... thats why I'll try... I mean you can't see movies and feel what those runners feel. You have to do it yourself... You have to try.



Sept 17th: The Full Monty