Body and Soul

“Now my heart stumbles on things I don’t know. My weakness I feel I must finally show”

This line from, Awake my Soul by Mumford and Sons, constantly rings in my head. There are many times where my emotions push me to a point of weakness. Sometimes this is not a bad thing, but there are some circumstances where I wish I had more control over my emotions.

Yesterday in class, we read 4^th Maccabees and discussed this very topic. Here, the author believes that reason is the master of emotions and supported his thesis by telling stories of people who survive unfathomable pain to stain true to their religion. How did the Jewish people bear the torture without giving in to Antiochus IV? These people had reason, a choice of life and wisdom, which gave them the knowledge of the divine.

I chose to apply this concept to running. Currently I am training for the Tacoma Half Marathon and it is physically and mentally painful. The longest race I've competed in has been a 5K and jumping from 3.1 miles to 13.5 is incredibly daunting. In order to succeed, I need to master my emotions by knowing the reason behind my running. For me, running is not a way to keep the calories down, it is a form of therapy and provides an outlet for me to escape from a stressful world. I am only young once, and I want to push my body to be the best it can be. This will only happen if I overcome the pain and focus on my goal.

After class, I was so inspired that I went on long run on the boardwalk. There were several times when I wanted to stop, but I overcame my screaming muscles and aching lungs by trumping my emotions. Yesterdays class provided a tool to ignore my body's physical pain and focus on the reason running helps my soul.