Ultra Marathon Man
I bought this book yesterday evening on my way to dinner at a Thai restaurant. I had been meaning to read this book by Dean Karnazes for quite sometime. This book is ofcourse an autobiography that centers primarily around the running or ultra-running adventures of a Greek descendant-American born athlete.
The book, if you ask me could be organized much better, but given that it's an out and out running-centric and egotistical yet inspirational book, I didn't mind it at all.
Great people should write inspirational books that brings the far-removed 'greatness' right back into the common-man's experience. The central theme of this book is that
'Suffering is spiritual'. The book has a great start, but sort of gets into discrete event-based sections as you go along, losing a bit of the coherence, but nevertheless being inspirational. I finished the book in two readings - the first 'three quarters', just as I fell asleep yesterday night and the rest today morning after I woke up.
The one experience that Dean narrates, where he is a bit drunk at a bar on his 30th birthday and decides that his life needs to change, was really a profound read. That night, he ran till dawn break the next day, for the first time in 15 years and this experience got him into what this whole book is all about - Testing the capability of body and mind through physical and mental exertion - a.k.a running ultramarathons.
I have a similar theory on what life is all about :- Psycho-physical-spiritual experiences. The word spirituality has been taken for granted, my definition is quite simple - Any experience that uplifts your being or spirit is spiritual; be it meditation or Tai-chi or running 48 hrs non-stop as Dean Karnazes does. Since the medium for spiritual experience could be a physical activity such as running, hiking or mountaineering or simple house-hold chores such as cleaning or mowing - the experience is physico-spiritual. Bring in the mind either through research or mental exertion or intellectual stimulation, it becomes psycho-spiritual. Club it all together and it becomes psycho-physico-spiritual, the experience called life.
The book, if you ask me could be organized much better, but given that it's an out and out running-centric and egotistical yet inspirational book, I didn't mind it at all.
Great people should write inspirational books that brings the far-removed 'greatness' right back into the common-man's experience. The central theme of this book is that
'Suffering is spiritual'. The book has a great start, but sort of gets into discrete event-based sections as you go along, losing a bit of the coherence, but nevertheless being inspirational. I finished the book in two readings - the first 'three quarters', just as I fell asleep yesterday night and the rest today morning after I woke up.
The one experience that Dean narrates, where he is a bit drunk at a bar on his 30th birthday and decides that his life needs to change, was really a profound read. That night, he ran till dawn break the next day, for the first time in 15 years and this experience got him into what this whole book is all about - Testing the capability of body and mind through physical and mental exertion - a.k.a running ultramarathons.
I have a similar theory on what life is all about :- Psycho-physical-spiritual experiences. The word spirituality has been taken for granted, my definition is quite simple - Any experience that uplifts your being or spirit is spiritual; be it meditation or Tai-chi or running 48 hrs non-stop as Dean Karnazes does. Since the medium for spiritual experience could be a physical activity such as running, hiking or mountaineering or simple house-hold chores such as cleaning or mowing - the experience is physico-spiritual. Bring in the mind either through research or mental exertion or intellectual stimulation, it becomes psycho-spiritual. Club it all together and it becomes psycho-physico-spiritual, the experience called life.
Kennenisa Bekele with the WR
A favorite in 1996 and 2000 olympics, El G finally realised his dream at the 2004 olympics with a double gold
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