How incredible is this video?
Did you see the man extend his hand or how about the look on her face when she was pulled across the finish line and firmly embraced by a proud supporter?
Why would anyone put themselves through this torture and how is an iron will of this ilk even explained, let alone comprehended?
First of all, just to get this out of the way, the first of half of this video is hilarious! There is no mistaking that the person who posted this video did so with comic intentions. I don't know why, but there is just something inherently amusing and laughable in the display of full-blown human corpus malfunction; seeing physically elite adults deprived of decades worth of muscle memory and involuntarily reduced to apparent infancy is, all at once, odd, sobering, strange and absurdly affecting. At least for me, as I watch these individuals struggle, with all of their mind, body and soul, to reach their goals, there is a moment when the puerile amusement shifts into a more profound emotional reaction.
To offer a little more perspective on this topic, the event these runners were competing in is the Ironman World Championships in Kona. So, the two wobbly creatures in the video are, in fact, world class athletes who were required to finish at a top level in qualifiers just to be invited to this event. What I find to be most remarkable, through all of the 60 mile running weeks, 200 mile bike rides and 5000 yard swim workouts, is that the most important training component has to be the development of an extraordinary mental toughness.
I admire these competitors for their courage. I applaud them for the their strength of character. Ultimately, I marvel at the human capability to conquer and endure, over mounting physical barriers, 'till the race has been run.
No comments:
Post a Comment