Ultras on a short track or loop?

Time for a rant: About being bored on the track, speaking as
one who has spent a total of 23 24-hour days and nights
circling various tracks and short and flat pieces of road.

Persons who say that they *are* bored (as distinguished from
those who fear they will be) are rare, and generally say so
for one of a few reasons:

(1) They have no clue. They may even say it in an
   egotistical, hostile was that implies a mental
   deficiency on the part of one who *does* enjoy the
   experience, thereby dismissing the likes of Yiannis
   Kouros.

   Such persons seem to need to be entertained. Their minds
   are blank. While the entertainment value of beautiful
   scenery is not to be denied, viewing it is still a
   "push" experience, whereas thinking is entirely
   interactive. Those who prefer to avoid it or don't know
   how to do it will likely be bored.

   Persons with blank minds never think about much that is
   important: they don't think about problems; they don't
   think about their spouses or families; they don't think
   about art or music or beauty; they don't seek to
   understand truth; they never give any thought to God. To
   quote a source that a few people respect:

     ... whatever things are true, whatever things are of
     serious concern, whatever things are righteous,
     whatever things are chaste, whatever things are
     lovable, whatever things are well spoken of, whatever
     virtue there is and whatever praiseworthy thing there
     is, continue considering these things. -- Phillipian
     4:8

   Time spent running provides plenty of opportunity to
   reflect on these things; the reflection, sometimes
   called meditation, is educational and upbuilding. At the
   other end of the process, after a run, the person who
   does it is better off than he was before he started. He
   may even be smarter and wiser.

(2) They would rather be doing something else.

   When I train for months, and sometimes a whole year, to
   participate in a track race, once I am there and in
   motion, I am doing exactly what I have chosen to do, and
   want to do more than anything at that particular time.

   How can a person possibly be bored when he is doing
   exactly what he wants to do? And if he doesn't want to
   do it, given that running for hours at a time on a track
   is not exactly easy, then why not quit and go do
   something else? Better yet, don't even show up so
   someone else who wants to do it can have his place?

(3) They aren't running hard enough. Are you bored while
   running? Try kicking it up a notch or two. I guarantee
   you it will engage your attention.

As our venerable horsedoc himself discovered, being an
uncommonly bright individual, the actual experience did
not prove to be boring at all, nor will it be so for
most persons who actually try it.

--
Lynn David Newton
Across the Years Webmaster
www.acrosstheyears.com