Pain

The Body. As drawn by one of my favorites, Leonardo Da Vinci. It's official title is Studio del corpo umano. Study of the human body. We associate lot's of things with the body, happiness, health, movement, pain. Mine has been walking, running, biking, and working on this planet for over 20,000 days now, he thought, wow, that's a lotta mileage. He wondered how many miles he had left on this old model from 1952. And if the current and constant pain in his left glute, coupled with last nights throbbing right hamstring was an indication that more work was necessary, or less. Was he ready to downshift and ease into the mind numbing world of the Lazy-Boy recliner, or charge to the park for another 10K in the rain? He rewound the training diary to 2002, a mere 2,190 days past, and felt the satisfaction in corporal fatigue during his ramp up to Ironman Canada. How good it felt after a 50 mile ride or a 20 mile run. It was pain of a different type. Happy, not hurt. Challenged, not crippled. He wanted that back, wanted to feel like one of Leonardo's models again. He wanted the roundness that comes as a result of effort, work and mileage. He was willing to endure some "O" to get more "Q" (where Ouch equals Quality). He wondered if this was training smart or training stubborn. Smiling, he realized that his body would be the judge of that. After all, ultimately when the Body stops movin' you're days are done. You only get one, so study it as art, regardless of its actual mileage. He wondered what Leo would do. Ouch.