The Art Of Maintenance

It's not about getting better, it's first about staying right where you are.

I just got home from a 5-mile or so run. These days doing more biking than running but nothing beats a run. Running, you are always “on” and getting fit. Cycling, you really got to push it and suffer to get any effect. Word.

I showered and turned on the TV and listened to this interview with Malcolm Gladwell, my fellow Canuck runner (hahaha - he also has some other blessed talents). He says some things about cycling that I support (not dissing cyclists though) but he said something else that resonated soundly with me, to my core.

He spoke about how lucky people are to be able to dedicate some portion of their life to running. I echo that and will widen it - we are all so lucky if we can have a period in our life to pursue our dreams, strive for excellence and be dedicated and immersed into a world where our talent is 100% something we pursue. I’ve pushed for this all my life - as a big brother, a writer, as someone passionate about “self”. It should also be a central tenet of our educational systems, but unfortunately isn’t. See the Canuck Kiernan Egan’s Learning In Depth - so little used in our school curriculums.

But here is the caveat. This passionate drive isn’t about “being better”. If you focus on that exclusively, you’ll never get better, get there. It’s really about maintenance. The work you put in, day in and day out.

I’m a big fan of George Sheehan and his writing/essays. I’ve copied with permission what he has to say about maintenance below. A must-read. Just change “running” for whatever your own passion is.

Maintenance is the ability to day in and day out, put the work in. Be THAT workhorse. Be that passion. The hardest part of any workout is putting your shoes on, it is! Just getting out the door. I used to be the “Baryshnikov” of my day. I’d run everywhere, school, gym and back. To friends’ parties. To the family gathering across the city. Up home 100s of miles for the weekend. Just putting in the work, maintaining …

I’ve been blessed as Malcolm Gladwell stated. Blessed to have a good, long period of dedication to my sport, running. I’ve run dozens if not 100s of marathons, and ultramarathons but even more to the point - I’ve strived to maintain myself. Keep running, keep up the daily toil. Even now at 60. I’m happy to maintain but I also realize and want to communicate to others, how important this is - even for elite athletes. Watching the World Championships this week - so much of the real story is lost. How much work and preparation these athletes did put in. How they didn’t get better each day, little by little. No, it doesn’t work like that. You put in so much work not getting anywhere until that one time it does. Like Cam Levins in the marathon, Wow! So well prepared, so true to the spirit of maintenance.

I remember my days running in Toronto in my later running career, with my beloved Longboat Roadrunners club. Miss each and every runner there and their support. George, Mike, Timo, Bert, Kevin, Adrian, Michal so many more blessed fellow runners. But during those days, I was in High Park doing my normal intervals and stopped to watch an interview with Jerome Drayton. He was being interviewed about his days as a running icon, marathon record holder etc … but what I remember thinking the most was “Will I be like that in 10 years?”

No disrespect intended but he was very overweight. You could still see the runner in him, his shoulders, his legs but he’d long ago left the realm of competitive running. And that’s ok, so many running to keep getting better and then let go. But I’ve always respected those that keep going, day and year after day after year. Maybe that’s the ultraman in me.

So kudos to all YOU that are maintaining yourself. I don’t go to races anymore, it isn’t about the trophies. I’ve really returned to what it was originally all about for me - dedicating oneself to the love of your passion. Maintenance.

Who Do I Run? George Sheehan

Why do I run? I have written over the years of the benefits I receive from running. Enumerated the physical and mental changes. Listed the emotional and spiritual gains. Charted the improvement that has taken place in my person and my life. What I have not emphasized is how transient these values and virtues are.

With just a little thought, however, it should be evident that physical laws parallel those of the mind and the spirit. We know that the effects of running are temporary. I cannot put running in the bank. If not curious, I will become dull witted in even less time than it took me to get in running shape. And since my entire persona is influenced by continual running, I must be constantly curious. Otherwise the sedentary minded life will inexorably reduce my mental and emotional well-being.

So, I run each day to preserve the self I attained the day before. And coupled with this is the desire to secure the self yet to be. There can be no let up. If I do not run I will eventually lose all I have gained-and my future with it.

Maintenance was a favorite topic of Eric Hoffer. It made the difference, said the former longshoreman, between a country that was successful and one that failed. However magnificent the achievement, without constant care the result was decay.

I know the experience intimately. There is nothing more brief than a laurel. Victory is of the moment. It must be followed by another victory and then another. I have to run just to stay in place.

Excellence is not a diploma attained and put in a trophy case. It is not sought after, achieved and, thereafter, a steady state. It is a momentary phenomenon, a rare conjunction of body, mind, and spirit at one’s peak. Should I come to that peak I cannot stay there. I must start each day at the bottom and climb to the top. And then beyond that peak to another and yet another. I must keep running.

Through running I have learned what I can be and do. My body is now sensitive to the slightest change. It is particularly aware of any decline or decay. I can feel this lessening of the “me” that I have come to think of myself.

Running has made this new me. Taken the raw material and honed it and delivered it back ready to do the work of a human being. I run so I do not lose the me I was yesterday and the me I might become tomorrow.

by Dr. George Sheehan