I keep thinking about a conversation I had at the Derry race with a woman I had briefly met before. We were talking about our goals for the race, and I said that I wanted to push myself and suffer. She raised her eyebrows and said, "Well, I just want to have fun". Then she turned to our common friend Mary and said: "She wants to suffer, I want to have fun. Suffer, have fun". I did not make much of it, until later, when Mary apologized for her, saying that she is going through a tough time. Mary was concerned I was offended. I was not. Honestly. This is not because I have thick skin (which I do, if I don't know you or you don't mean much to me, you won't offend me, no matter what you say). My take on this was that she did not get my language. For her suffering meant a bad thing, so understandably she was puzzled. For me, suffering meant a means to an end, a good thing, something I want to master, something that will make me a stronger runner.
Runners (and here I mean those who race, as opposed to those who run for fitness) speak a different language. Runners have different meanings and perceptions of words and emotions. A typical person is repulsed by pain - evolutionary, we are predispose to overreact to pain and avoid it, because typically pain means something life threatening; why would anyone want that? Runners have a different meaning for pain. Pain means I am running well. Pain means I am pushing myself. Pain means I am giving my all. The only pain I don't like is the pain from an injury. That's the pain I give in to (I did not use to, but I know better now). Instead of avoiding the pain, runners (try to) embrace it!
I was told many times that I must have a high threshold for pain. I actually don't think I do. Yes, I have been known to ask my dentist to do a filling without anesthesia bc I wanted to be able to go back to work and talk thereafter, but in many parts of the world people don't have the luxury of anesthesia or pain control, so I don't think that is a big deal. I don't think the issue is pain threshold. The issue is attitude toward pain and fear of pain. If you fear pain, you are giving it power and you are going to have a hard time with it in life or in running. Fear makes the body to tense up, your biochemistry to change, thoughts to get more negative, sensations (pain ) more intense. The vicious cycle starts and ultimately you slow down. Or give in. Or avoid. Or convince yourself that you can't take it instead of trying to prove yourself that you can.
Running lets us explore pain and learn to master it in a controlled situation. And that is a good thing, because if there is one guarantee in life, that is ....pain.
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15 comments:
Hmm, I think it is the pain that we create in our body by pushing ourselves. Stress might be a better word (although I am no doctor,that is for sure.)
Have fun is also a goal too. I remember the hardest race i ever ran was a half marathon in 2007 in like 80 degree heat (same day as the disastrous Chicago marathon). I suffered. I stressed. And when I was done, I could honestly say that I did not have fun. But that is the nly time I can think of. Part of the "fun" is in pushing ourselves.
My father always used to tell me nothing worth having comes without hard work. And that is the reason suffer in a race = fun race. For me anyways.
I work with a radiologist who has a husband who runs. She is always telling me things that he has to say about running. I was telling her about a 5k race where I felt like total crap all the way through the race. I would not allow myself to slow down..I sucked it up and just went with the pain. It was that 5k where I ran my fastest race to date. My radiologist told me that her husband runs every race like that. He runs until he feels like throwing up and until he has nothing left. He says if he doesn't run like that for every race he knows he didn't give it his all:) Now,I think of that every time I run. Was the pain and agony of that race worth it? You bet it was!!
great post and sooo very true. i have a friend who runs on occasion and when i was telling her about my 10k race before it and how it was going to hurt, she was like why on earth would you want to do that? it's just different for us :)
Well said. Exactly.
Yep I agree about that pain and needing to chase it to meet our goals. Where we differ is that I am still afraid of the pain and although I push myself there I kind of dread and fear it. Like before a race - I know that in order to do my best, it will hurt, I will suffer to a certain extent and it won't be fun. But I'm always glad after the fact.
Guess what? I love pain. I have a high-threshold for it and I relish it. I don't like injury pain either but I tolerate it because it is temporary. That's funny that the lady kept saying that running was fun because pain can be fun too...just how much can we tolerate and with stand? I don't fear the pain in a race, I wait for it to come and deal with it, it's a challenge for me. Weird, right?!
i would definitely think she just didn't "get" it. good for you for not letting it bother you though!
i know exactly what you mean by 'suffering'. it's just not a negative thing, especially to runners.
My favorite race mantra comes from our mutual intellectual crush Murakami: "Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional." It's how we convert the pain to a desirable outcome that makes an athlete. The research indicates that fitness runners try to dissociate from pain, whereas elite athletes dig into it and try to understand it so they can perform optimally.
Great post, Ana-Maria.
Nice post. If I'm not suffering like crazy at the end of a race, then I didn't have fun during the race. Those races where I just can't seem to put myself in the pain cave, I never have memories of having "fun." There's no fun in finishing and knowing I had more to give.
I'm one of those not thick skinned people so I especially like how the feel of a good, painful run helps cover my emotional pain! I can't tell you a marathon where I've actually felt great....yet I keep doing 'em! Love that pain!!! Happy Thursday :).
I remember having a similar conversation with a gal I was racing against last year... she used to be very competitive but after a race she was telling me how she just 'does it for fun' now.. it came across as her criticizing me for 'taking it too seriously'... to which I replied, "I'm doing this for fun too, but giving a half-ass effort is not fun for me."
I don't know...I might think of it a little differently. I've run some great races that I pushed hard, ran a PR, but never thought of it as painful or as suffering. Of course, there are the painful races too, but those are usually bad days when there is sickness or injury to contend with. I've never thought of running as being suffering. For me, when I'm running well, I get into this zone. I honestly don't know how to describe it...it's like meditating. From a more scientific prospective, I probably just make a boat load of endorphins and just don't notice the discomfort.
Interesting post. It's interesting to hear how others think about racing.
Katie, I think you are in a different class. I hear about amazing runners who describe the same thing: Jack Fultz when he won Boston, Joan Benoit, etc. I think I had a bit of that at Baystate but looked at it as perhaps not pushing enough! Maybe I was wrong.
Excellent post! I think this is something I just finally figured out how to do. I used to stop or slow down at the first sign of discomfort, but thanks to some of the amazing but SUPER painful workouts I endured at school (will talk more about this on my blog eventually), I think I've finally come around to looking at suffering and discomfort as positive things. But honestly, it is incredible what amazing things your body can do if you just embrace the suffering rather than freak out about it. knowing this, I am so excited to really test my limits in future races.
i think, like you said, suffering is something you have to learn to embrace and not view it as a "bad" thing or something to be feared. i compare it alot to childbirth...are you prepared to let your body do what it is supposed to do or are you going to fight against it?
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