Why no shoes for Huntsville?

Running barefoot is a way of taking a chance at remaking myself if only a small part. Sometimes you need to shake things up to make yourself feel alive. Saturday, I decided to test my limits and in so doing became my best despite the fact my fastest marathon was more than 50 minutes faster than this day. Also, I didn't achieve all my goals. I wanted to run fast enough to qualify for Boston (3:20). I didn't. No matter either that a month earlier I ran a marathon almost completely barefoot at a faster pace. This day I went the whole distance. I like to put my goals out there; put the them far enough in front of you that they are obtainable if you stretch but are not a given. Then go for them with all you have. Sometimes you won't make it, but like Adam White once told me: "Rob, there are no failures only degrees of success". Saturday was a success. I remade myself.

In order to achieve this goal I had to break myself down first. Think of the analogy of the clay vessel. Clay is molded to form a cup. It's the non-being utility of the clay the cup initially depends in order to become something of value. Therefore we must first turn such non-being (potential) to our advantage and get the most utility from it's powerful yet untapped potential. By re-thinking what it is we have always done, and then tying a slightly different approach, we just might surprise ourselves.

Sometimes its the reinvention that is the hardest thing to overcome. We get stuck in a metaphysical sense. What if we are already something but it's not what we really like? What if that something we are, is imperfect or of lesser value than what we know we can become? Isn't it better to be remade rather than remain intact but without fully realizing our potential? I say NO. Sometimes we need to be broken down and pounded back to the dust; only to be whetted and turned back to the clay. By being reborn through our destruction we are returned to our non-being (potential). Why? All because we can serve yet a greater purpose than the vessel we once were. It's a powerful idea. Never stop pressing yourself no matter how silly it seems.