Thoughts from Grand Cache

In the misdst of a team relay running the Death Race here in Grand Cache Alberta, I am drawn to make several parallels to Arthur Boer's "The Way is Made For Walking".

Like him we are certainly hoping not "to be in that number" which is marked by such harsh acroynm's as "DNF" for Did Not Finish. We are here to finish the race. Not to win or be done in 18 hours, but just to have a team of 3 guys cover the entire race within the allotted 24 hours.

Like Boer we are all recognizing the need to travel light while at the same time meeting the minimum safety requirements which include hat and mitts for mountain summits, head lamps for night time, and adequate water for basic survival. There are many luxury items that we carry along in running and in life like iPods, digital camera's, and sunglasses that don't necessarily get us anywhere, but make our journey more comfortable. Do we take them or not?

The rules really are different. Where else does a stranger ask for and expect to get "a size 7 women's left shoe" as she runs past a bunch of onlookers?

But what struck me most was the summation of what I have not been able to describe to this point of why we keep doing this stuff.

T.S Elliot is quoted in Boer's chapter on "The Road That Leads to Life". He says "And what you thought you came for
Is only a shell, a husk of meaning"

We came for fun, for a challenge, but ultimately I know that these things are only just the husk of the grain of meaning that is found in the experience. Maybe I still can't describe what that grain all includes, but it absolutely includes learning about life.

Even at the Death Race.

http://www.canadiandeathrace.com/

GO DEATH RACERS!!!