The allure

Last Friday I presented a poster at a poster session for prospective graduate students. There I was to excite prospective students about the research being performed at the UW-Madison. During a lull I struck up a conversation with Jim Rawlings, an expert in control theory, a CBE professor, and an avid endurance athlete. We started talking about running and, as he recounted his experiences training for marathons while in graduate school, I was inspired to start training hard again. Afterwards, I mulled over the idea in my head, not knowing if it was a good idea. Last year I had decided to move on to bigger and better things because I felt couldn't do everything that my heart desired. Yet, even today, the allure of training for a marathon persists.

After much deliberation and thought, I have concluded that I will begin to train in earnest. As long as running is making me friendly on the bike path, saying hello, and smiling at other runners that are moving along,the running and training are doing me good. As soon as I find myself becoming so focused that I ignore others and the opportunity to lift and strengthen, I will have crossed the line from running being a healthy stress outlet to a source of the pride that corrodes my soul like a canker. When that happens, I will stop training competitively. In the meantime I must keep the competition between me and my old self.