Buzz Aldrin on Moon |
Marathon racers talk about “the wall.” But it’s an experience that’s not confined to running. Everyone has their wall. Aspiration can be deceptive. Workaholics don’t like to accept the idea of limits. Many athletes involved in extreme sports seek to get close to the feeling where they can’t go on—which creates its own high. Of course, there is no such thing as limitless behavior or aspiration. Faust sold his soul for ultimate knowledge, but was the wager worth it? When Roger Bannister ran a 4-minute mile he set a record, which has since been broken numerous times. Hicham El Guerrouj currently holds the men’s title at 3:43.13. Advances in training and diet are constantly being made, but it’s unlikely that any human being will ever run a 3-minute mile (unless of course humans become a race of cheetahs). Great champions perform physical feats. The talent may run from javelin throwing to eating hotdogs (the record is currently held by Joey Chestnut who ate 63 Nathan’s hotdogs and l0 buns in l0 minutes). But everyone has their personal best, which looks like a an reverse parabola on a graph. It’s up, up, up and then all downhill after a certain point. Even if you’re not a champ, you have to learn to live with decline just as you once exulted in the triumph of attainment.
read "Diasporic Dining: Did Mao Order In Chinese?" by Francis Levy, HuffPost
and listen to "You Make My Dreams Come True" by Hall&Oates
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